  The Research Methodology in Software Engineering and Computer Science (RM) is
a compulsory course that must be studied by graduate students at Blekinge
Institute of Technology (BTH) prior to undertaking their theses work. The
course is focused on teaching research methods and techniques for data
collection and analysis in the fields of Computer Science and Software
Engineering. It is intended that the course should help students in practically
applying appropriate research methods in different courses (in addition to the
RM course) including their Master's theses. However, it is believed that there
exist deficiencies in the course due to which the course implementation
(learning and assessment activities) as well as the performance of different
participants (students, teachers, and evaluators) are affected negatively. In
this article our aim is to investigate potential deficiencies in the RM course
at BTH in order to provide a concrete evidence on the deficiencies faced by
students, evaluators, and teachers in the course. Additionally, we suggest
recommendations for resolving the identified deficiencies. Our findings
gathered through semi-structured interviews with students, teachers, and
evaluators in the course are presented in this article. By identifying a total
of twenty one deficiencies from different perspectives, we found that there
exist critical deficiencies at different levels within the course. Furthermore,
in order to overcome the identified deficiencies, we suggest seven
recommendations that may be implemented at different levels within the course
and the study program. Our suggested recommendations, if implemented, will help
in resolving deficiencies in the course, which may lead to achieving an
improved teaching and learning in the RM course at BTH.
