Systems Engineering Research Methods

One of the challenges of systems engineering research is that the expertise and the application happen “in the field”. The field can be an industrial company or a government agency. Researchers need methods to research in the field; methods to try-out ideas, collect data, analyze, and evaluate. In this paper, we present a simple research model to help researchers to shape their research. We provide and discuss a number of elementary research methods. The model and the elementary research methods are based on our systems engineering research experiences in the past five years. We conclude the paper with some validation challenges and pitfalls.