Research
Methodol
ogy
By:Dr. Noman
Islam
Research Seminar
What is Research?
•
Creation of new knowledge in a logical and
systematic way
•
Finding solutions to problems (scientific,
social, economical etc.) in an objective
manner
Quantitative Vs Qualitative Research
•
Quantitative research
is based on the
measurement of quantity or amount
–
It is numerical, non-descriptive, applies statistics
or mathematics and uses numbers
–
The results are often presented in tables and
graphs
•
Qualitative research
is concerned with
qualitative phenomenon involving quality
Research Vs Research Methodology
•
Research methods are the various procedures,
schemes and algorithms used in research
•
Research methodology is a systematic way to
Motivation
•
To get a research degree (MS, PhD), promotion and
jobs, curiosity
•
Above all, to serve society
•
Higher education is the solution to all the problems of
Pakistan
•
Srilanka literacy rate is around 100%
– But they are not considered an advanced country due to lack of higher education
•
Few years back, no university from Islamic world was
on top 500 universities of world
Why should I do research?
•
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you
can use to change the world” – Nelson Mandela
•
There are several avenues for research in Pakistan
– Countering terrorism – Disaster management – Economy
– Health care – Education – Defense
1. Is being a top student enough? Neither necessary nor sufficient…
2. Do you know your intellectual or mental limit? Ready for failures?
3. Are you extremely motivated? All you need is passion…
Research is not a job, and is more like a hobby!
1. Novelty (better if you were not able to publish it at first)
2. Simplicity (better if your advisor refused to grant you a degree)
3. Universality (better if others found it trivial at first sight)
What is Good Research?
1. Think research is only for genius.
2. Think yourself is a genius.
3. Think you need to know everything about the subject in advance.
4. Think you should wait for the most important problem to work on.
5. Think a solution is correct just because you cannot find anything wrong.
How to Do Research? Common
1. Be both confident and humble
2. Be both critical and collaborative
3. Be both ambitious and realistic
4. Be proactive and willing to take a chance!
How to Do Research?
1. An endless cycle between excitement and depression…
2. An endless cycle between sense of success and failure…
3. An endless cycle between over-confidence and self-doubt…
Research needs faith in there are always interesting new things for you to discover and by doing so you can make the world a better place!
Various steps of Research
1. Selection of a research topic
2. Definition of a research problem
3. Literature survey and reference collection
4. Assessment of current status of the topic
chosen
5. Formulation of hypotheses
Various steps of Research
6. Research design
7. Actual investigation
8. Data analysis
Presenting your research
1. Conference
2. Journal
3. Book chapter
4. Book
5. Thesis
6. Technical Reports
Writing a Research Report
• Articles, papers, or reports about primary research generally take a structure or form that seems difficult but is intended to help make reading it or using it for research quick and efficient.
• A research report has seven components:
1. Abstract or Summary 2. Introduction
3. Review of Literature 4. Methods
5. Results
Writing a Research Report
1. Abstract or Summary
The abstract or summary tells the reader very
briefly what the main points and findings of the
paper are.
–
This allows the reader to decide whether the
paper is useful to them.
–
Get into the habit of reading only abstracts while
searching for papers that are relevant to your
research.
–
Read the body of a paper only when you think it
will be useful to you.
Writing a Research Report
2. Introduction
The introduction tells the reader:
• what the topic of the paper is• why the topic is important—justifies the topic • what to expect in the paper
–
Introductions should
• funnel from the broader topic generally, justifying it, down to the narrow specific topic of the paper
• Takes the focus to the narrow area that the literature review will cover
–
Introductions are sometimes folded into
Writing a Research Report
3. Literature Review
The literature review tells the reader what other
researchers have discovered about the paper’s narrow topic or tells the reader about other research that is relevant to the topic.
– Focused on the narrow topic of the research. Irrelevant information is NOT discussed.
– Often what students call a “research paper” is merely a review of literature.
– A literature review should shape the way readers think about a topic—it educates readers about what the
community of scholars says about a topic and its surrounding issues.
Writing a Research Report
3. Literature Review
– Parenthetical Citations have stylistic conventions.
In text, just pointing out where info came from: • blah blah (Author Year) or (Lee 2004).
In text, where you quoted someone:
• “Quote quote” (Author Year: Pages) or (Lee 2004: 340).
In text, more than one source:
• (Author Year; Author Year) or (Lee 2004; Seymour & Hewitt 1997)
In text, if you want to use the author’s name in a sentence: • Author (Year) says that… or Lee (2004) claims that girls…
Quoting a person and using their name:
Writing a Research Report
4. Methods
The methods section documents the
ways that researchers tested their
hypotheses to determine whether
there was evidence in the data to
support the predicted relationship
between the variables. Think in terms
of:
“
Who, What, When, Where, Why
and How?
”
Writing a Research Report
5. Results
The results section chronicles the
Writing a Research Report
5. Results
The results section includes:
– Professional tables showing descriptive and inferential statistics
– Narrative describing most relevant findings in tables
– The narrative and tables are complementary.
• The narrative discusses ONLY VERY IMPORTANT findings and
refers to where information can be found in the tables as different facts are discussed.
• The tables contain almost all statistical information so that the
author does not have to write a narrative for every detail in the analysis.
Writing a Research Report
5. Results
The results narrative includes:
–
Evaluations of the hypotheses. Were the
research hypotheses supported?
–
Statements about new discoveries or
Writing a Research Report
6. Conclusions and Discussion
This section:
– Summarizes the most salient findings in the results (tell the reader what you found out about your topic).
– Assesses how one’s findings relate to what the
community of scholars already knew about your topic. – Discusses the general significance of your findings for
your topic in genearal.
– (moves back out from the specific to the general topic)
Writing a Research Report
6. Conclusions and Discussion
– You should discuss the shortcomings of your study and what implications these have for your findings.
– Discuss things future researchers should investigate about your topic.
– Leave the reader with the understanding he or she ought to have about the topic you spent so much time
Writing a Research Report
7. References
–
The references are just as important as any
other part of your paper.
–
They are the link to the library, the repository of
empirical evidence gathered from primary
research. (they make it easy to find sources of
facts and ideas)
–
permit your reader to assess the worthiness of
the claims made in your paper.
Writing a Research Report
7. References
Should be hanging indented, alphabetical on author’s last name (by increasing year within same author) with information in order determined by type of source:
Article
Last Name, first name. Year. “Article title.” Journal Name Volume(number): 1st Page- Last Page.
Lee, James Daniel. 2005. “Do Girls Change More than Boys? Gender Differences and Similarities in the Impact of New Relationships on Identities and Behaviors.” Self and Identity 4:131-47.
Chapter
Last Name, first name. Year. “Chapter Name.” Pages in the book in Book Name, edited by first name last name. City of Publisher: Publisher.
Writing a Research Report
7. References
Should be hanging indented, alphabetical on author’s last name (by increasing year within same author) with information in order determined by type of source:
GSS:
Davis, James Allan and Smith, Tom W. General social surveys, 1972-2008 [machine-readable data file] /Principal Investigator, James A. Davis; Director and Co-Principal Investigator, Tom W. Smith; Co-Principal Investigator, Peter V. Marsden; Sponsored by National Science
Foundation. --NORC ed.-- Chicago: National Opinion Research Center [producer]; Storrs, CT: The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, University of Connecticut [distributor], 2007.
A website:
Last Name (if available), first name. Year (if available). “Article or web page title.”
Journal or Report Name Volume (if available). http://address. Date accessed.
Plagiarism
Finally…Avoiding Plagiarism
•
What is it?
– All knowledge in your head has either been copied from some place or originally discovered by you. – Most knowledge was copied.
– This is true in most settings. General knowledge is copied. Most teachers’ lectures are copied
knowledge.
Plagiarism
Finally…Avoiding Plagiarism • What is it?
– Among other things, plagiarism refers to taking others’ work and representing it as if it were your own.
– In academics this is bad because with plagiarism:
• One cannot assess students’ development accurately
• The person who makes his or her livelihood by scholarly pursuit is being robbed of credit
• It masks the lineage of ideas and facts.
Plagiarism
Finally…Avoiding Plagiarism
– To avoid plagiarism:
1. Document every source for information that is not “general knowledge”—this includes facts and ideas.
2. Cite every time a fact or idea is used unless it is clear that one citation is referring to a group of facts or ideas.
3. If you quote material, put quotation marks around the quoted stuff and include a page number within the citation.
4. It is alright to paraphrase material, but you still have to cite from where the paraphrased material came.
5. When in doubt, cite the source.
Plagiarism
•
Self plagiarism
•
Plagiarism Detection software
–
TurnItIn
•
Punishment
–
Student: Demotion of class, cancellation of degree
–
Professional: Demotion, Ban from academia
Impact Factor
•
The impact factor is a measure of the
frequency with which the average article in a
journal has been cited in a particular year. The
JCR also lists journals and their impact factors
and ranking in the context of their specific
HEC journals
•
W, X, Y, and Z category journals
•
ISI Master List
•
ISI Thomson Reuter
•
Springer
•
Elseveir
•
InderScience
•
IEEE
•
ACM
Starting your Research
•
http://www.scholar.google.com
•
http://www.ieeexplore.com
•
http://www.sciencedirect.com
•
http://www.springerlink.com
•
http://www.acm.com
•
http://www.researchgate.com
