My Experience with Research and Research Methodology

1. My Experience with Research and Research Methodology Suresh C. Mehrotra, UGC-BSR Faculty Fellow, Department of Computer Science & IT, Dr. BabasahebAmbedkarMarathwada University, Aurangabad 431004, Maharashtra, India

2. What is Research! • Search , Research, Achieve. • Must have interest for innovation/ new methods/ new equipment. • Traffic Light Timing, Multifilament bulb, Railway bogie indication on the platform, etc tO Nano Technology • Research is a systematic/critical investigation in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions. • Research provides structure for logical arguments • Research should be inspired like seeds grow in a tilled land. Ideas grow in a prepared mind (inbox / out side box thinking). • CV Raman did research while working in accounts office. Had limited lab facilities. • Ramanujam was born genius. • Interdisciplinary and socially oriented vs. fundamental blue sky • research • Grand challenge problems. ex: global warming, climate change, health care, disaster management, display technology.

3. Who wants to do research • Student • Staff member • Organization • The environment must facilitate/encourage. • Research needs thinking Methods of doing research • Identify gaps in knowledge. • Identify a problem of importance. • Ask yourself why the particular problem is taken. • what method will be adopted (Why that particular method). • what data to be collected. • what will be the output/deliverables.

4. Methods of doing research (contd.) • Work towards the goal to find a solution through scientific rigor and questioning. • Develop new knowledge or new methods of doing. • Internet helps a lot. • Systems approach: inputs, outputs, controls and flowcharts. • Modeling : descriptive, predictive, prescriptive, deductive and inductive. • Innovation in research • Challenge the conventional wisdom. • Innovation is becoming routine eg: fuel efficiency, MTBF, optimization, factors of safety, etc..

5. Methods of Research Theoretical, applied, descriptive, Inferential, Evaluative. The most commonly used methodology for research. Descriptive: The basic intent of descriptive research is to identify the cause of something that is happening. For example: A. What age group is buying a particular brand of cola? B Does a company’s market share differ between geographical regions? Inferential: Inferential observational variables require the researcher to make inferences about what is observed and the underlying emotion. For example, you may observe a girl banging on her keyboard. From this observation you may assume (correctly) that she is frustrated with the computer. Evaluative: Evaluative the observational variables required for the researcher to make an inference and a judgment from the behavior. For example, you may question whether computers and humans have a positive relationship. "Positive" is an evaluative judgment. You observe the girl banging on her keyboard and conclude that humans and computers do not have a positive relationship.

6. Research and Development • Applied research vs. pure research • Leads to development of new instrument/ application. • Research methodologies are generic for any discipline. It will vary in detail: ex: marketing research needs lot of interaction with people (market survey) and travel to arrive at the demand profile. This versus, research in engineering needs primarily getting deep into the subject through literature survey, design and experimentation. • What are some of the Limitations Encountered when doing or thinking of doing a Research Project? • Time constraints • Financial consideration • Anticipating and avoiding problems • Equipment limitations • Human resource limitations • “Out of the box” thinking • “In the box” thinking

7. Research Methodologies • What is research methodology? • What constitutes a research topic? • How to select a research topic? • What are some of the limitations encountered when doing or thinking of doing a research project? • What is a literature review? • Where do I find sources of information for my literature review? • How to select an appropriate methodology? • What are some of the common types of qualitative methodology? • What are some of the common types of quantitative methodology? • What type of data to collect? • How to collect data? • How to analyze data? • What are some of the tests used on categorical data? • What are some of the tests used on continuous data? • How to draw conclusions from data? • How to present research findings? • How to present your paper.

8. What is Research Methodology? • Is defined as a highly intellectual human activity used in the investigation of nature and matter and deals specifically with the manner in which data is collected, analyzed and interpreted What Constitutes a Research Topic? • Unanswered question • Unsolved question • Concern • Query • Statement of inquiry

9. How to Select a Research Topic? • Personal interest • Social problem • Testing theory • Prior research • Program evaluation • Human service practice. Ex: effect of mobile phones

10. Thrust areas in Computer Science Areas of research support, normally include (non exhaustive): • Networking: Computer & social networks • Grid/Cloud computing • Green computing • Image Processing • Pattern Recognition • Natural Language Processing • Speech Processing • Information Retrieval • Document Analysis • Optimization Techniques • Soft Computing • Software Testing • Cognitive Science/Artificial Intelligence

11. Overview* • Research Basics • What research is and what is not Research • Where research comes from • Research deliverables • Methodologies • Research process • Quantitative versus qualitative research • Questions * This presentation is only an overview of research. The only way to get better at research is to do it.

12. Research Basics • What research is and isn’t • Research characteristics • Research projects and pitfalls • Sources of research projects • Elements of research proposals • Literature reviews What Research Is Not • Research isn’t information gathering: • Gathering information from resources such as books or magazines isn’t research. • No contribution to new knowledge. • Research isn’t the transportation of facts: • Merely transporting facts from one resource to another doesn’t constitute research. • No contribution to new knowledge although this might make existing knowledge more accessible

13. What Research Is • Research is: “…the systematic process of collecting and analyzing information (data) in order to increase our understanding of the phenomenon about which we are concerned or interested.”1 Research Characteristics Originates with a question or problem. Requires clear articulation of a goal. Follows a specific plan or procedure. Often divides main problem into subproblems. Guided by specific problem, question, or hypothesis. Accepts certain critical assumptions. Requires collection and interpretation of data. Cyclical (helical) in nature.

14. Research Areas • Research begins with a problem. • This problem need not be Earth-shaking. • Identifying this problem can actually be the hardest part of research. • In general, good research areas should: • Address an important question. • Advance knowledge. • PhD students have a different “bar” than Masters students owing to the requirement that their research be “original and significant.” The following kinds of projects usually don’t make for good research: • Self-enlightenment. • Comparing data sets. • Correlating data sets. • Problems with yes / no answers.

15. High-Quality Research • Good research requires: • The scope and limitations of the work to be clearly defined. • The process to be clearly explained, so that it can be reproduced and verified by other researchers. • A thoroughly planned design ( as objective as possible). • Highly ethical standards be applied. • All limitations be documented. • Data be adequately analyzed and explained. • All findings be presented unambiguously and all conclusions be justified by sufficient evidence.

16. Sources of Research Problems Observation. Literature reviews Professional conferences. Experts. Stating the Research Problem • Once you’ve identified a research problem: • State that problem clearly and completely. • Determine the feasibility of the research in it. • Identify sub problems: • Completely researchable units. • Small in number. • Add up to the total problem. • Must be clearly tied to the interpretation of the data.

17. Important Considerations in Research • Estimate of errors must be carried out in different parameters considered in research • The sensitivity analysis must be carried out in a good quality research

18. Hypotheses • Hypotheses are tentative, intelligent guesses for the solution to the problem. • There is often a 1-1 correspondence between a subproblem and a hypothesis. • Hypotheses can direct later research activities since they can help determine the nature of the research and methods applied. • All research has limitations and thus certain work that willnot be performed. • The work that will not be undertaken is described as the delimitations of the research.

19. Definitions • Define each technical term as it is used in relation to your research project. • This helps remove significant ambiguity from the research itself by ensuring that reviewers, while they may not agree with your definitions, at least know what you’re talking about. • Assumptions are those things that the researcher is taking for granted. • For example: a given test instrument accurately and consistently measures the phenomenon in question. • As a general rule, you’re better off documenting an assumption than ignoring it. • Overlooked assumptions provide a prime source of debate about a research project’s results.

20. Importance of the Study • Many research problems have a kind of theoretical feel about them. Such projects often need to be justified: • What is the research project’s practical value? • Without this justification, it will prove difficult to convince others that the problem in question is worth studying. • Many times the ability of a researcher to justify the importance of their research topic is directly proportional to their ability to receive funding. This basically requires good salesmanship.

21. Literature Review • A literature review is a necessity. • Without this step, you won’t know if your problem has been solved or what related research is already underway. • When performing the review: • Start searching professional journals. • Begin with the most recent articles you can find. • Keep track of relevant articles in a bibliography. • Don’t be discouraged if work on the topic is already underway. • Some journals include IEEE and ACM. Be careful of trade journals; they’re often not peer reviewed which can call the content into question in terms of its reliability and quality.

22. Literature Review Pitfalls(1 of 2) • Be very careful to check your sources when doing your literature review. • Many trade magazines are not peer reviewed. • Professional conferences and journals often have each article reviewed by multiple people before it is even recommended for publication. • The IEEE and ACM digital libraries are good places to start looking for legitimate research.

23. Literature Review Pitfalls(2 of 2) • The Internet can be a good source of information. It is also full of pseudo-science and poor research. • Make sure you verify the claims of any documentation that has not been peer reviewed by other professionals in the computing industry. Processes & Methodology Research Process Common Methodologies. Methodology Comparison.

24. Research Process • Research is an extremely cyclic process. • Later stages might necessitate a review of earlier work. • This isn’t a weakness of the process but is part of the built-in error correction machinery. • Because of the cyclic nature of research, it can be difficult to determine where to start and when to stop.

25. Step 1: A Question Is Raised • A question occurs to or is posed to the researcher for which that researcher has no answer. • This doesn’t mean that someone else doesn’t already have an answer. • The question needs to be converted to an appropriate problem statement like that documented in a research proposal. Step 2: Suggest Hypotheses • The researcher generates intermediate hypotheses to describe a solution to the problem. • This is at best a temporary solution since there is as yet no evidence to support either the acceptance or rejection of these hypotheses.

26. Step 3: Literature Review • The available literature is reviewed to determine if there is already a solution to the problem. • Existing solutions do not always explain new observations. • The existing solution might require some revision or even be discarded. • The literature review is often a good source for additional ideas. This is also a good place to go in conjunction with the prior step; there’s no point in wasting good brain cells coming up with hypotheses that solve a problem that has already been adequately addressed.

27. Step 4: Literature Evaluation • It’s possible that the literature review has yielded a solution to the proposed problem. • This means that you haven’t really done research. • On the other hand, if the literature review turns up nothing, then additional research activities are justified. • Keep in mind that just because you didn’t find a solution today, doesn’t mean that one won’t show up tomorrow. This is one of the reasons that researchers are always reading and trying to keep up to date with current trends.

28. Step 5: Acquire Data • The researcher now begins to gather data relating to the research problem. • The means of data acquisition will often change based on the type of the research problem. • This might entail only data gathering, but it could also require the creation of new measurement instruments. Step 6: Data Analysis • The data that were gathered in the previous step are analyzed as a first step in ascertaining their meaning. • As before, the analysis of the data does not constitute research. • This is basic number crunching.

29. Step 7: Data Interpretation • The researcher interprets the newly analyzed data and suggests a conclusion. • This can be difficult.* • Keep in mind that data analysis that suggests a correlation between two variables can’t automatically be interpreted as suggesting causality between those variables. • For an example of this, do a quick bit of reading on the hoops researchers had to go through while trying to show a causal link between smoking and certain kinds of cancer. Step 8: Hypothesis Support • The data will either support the hypotheses or they won’t. • This may lead the researcher to cycle back to an earlier step in the process and begin again with a new hypothesis. • This is one of the self-correcting mechanisms associated with the scientific method.

30. Common Methodologies • Methodologies are high-level approaches to conducting research. • The individual steps within the methodology might vary based on the research being performed. • Two commonly used research methodologies: • Quantitative. • Qualitative. • The choice of methodology might be governed by the kind of research being conducted. For example, the hard sciences tend to favor quantitative methodologies whereas the social sciences often gravitate toward qualitative approaches.

31. Methodology Comparison Quantitative • Explanation, prediction • Test theories • Known variables • Large sample • Standardized instruments • Deductive Qualitative • Explanation, description • Build theories • Unknown variables • Small sample • Observations, interviews • Inductive These are some of the differences in the intent and approaches between quantitative and qualitative research. Keep in mind that research design is not a simple task.

32. CURRENT SCIENCE,10 JULY 2010“Research & Human element” by P.Balaram Some extracts and comments • Communication System has increased the Generation gap. • Internet is an attractive media, both for knowledge improvement / technical discussions and also for expressing frustration / anger. -Useful as an initial step for research - unseen audience to the sender • there are websites, where graduate & P.hD fellows are expressing their sufferings by working under “aggressive / ambitious supervisors” • Relaxed ambience promotes research • P.hD fellows and students have tremendous pressure; only fittest will survive to build long career at the best Institutions • Tenure system for the young faculty and pressure to raise research grants to support Labs. contd….

33. The march of technology has not reduced the burden of the student, if strict quality is to be maintained.- Success demands perseverance and hard work.- In any area of research ,the ability to fail repeatedly without getting disheartened, is the key to success in difficult problems.- In experimental research we may need teams of workers. The supervisor must be both a manager and a coach.- work ethics in general are defined by traditions.- How a Professor/ Research guide trains his/her students is dependent on how he /she got trained and tempered by his/her own personality.- A reputed professor, on the other hand, has enormous powers through his/ her recommendations to make/ break some one’s career.- If a student is, non- conformist or rebelling type, he will have the sword. These matter a lot especially if the academic job market is dim.- Please note that the ambience in different Institutions is varied.

34. Everybody wants to work in an up-surging field and, not at the periphery like the ones left to do research themselves.-One finds competitive research and also the pressure of competitive research, in well established / visible Institutions.-The pressure to publish in high impact journals is always there, if not increasing.-Peer review comments on proposals or on individuals, is certainly based on quality publications .-Many fields, say in Biology, require large teams working coherently. In India, coherent working is rare.-Collaboration/ Interaction between research groups, and coherence/cooperation in groups, is important for high quality work output.

35. Credit sharing in collaborative work (some real and some imaginary) are always discussed, since this is related to the “first author” issue in a research paper. • When we are looking for single authorship, are we discouraging team/collaborative/group work! -in the limit, is not the research student affected! especially when a research student is working closely with the supervisor. -What about the person who takes the burden of keeping the facility/ Lab in working condition always! -Research is best done in an ambience/environment that makes every one enjoy his/her work. This is possible in Institutions, where the collective morale is high and the individuals are high performers. • Give importance to others’ work/achievements. • -There is no simple rule to make a group work harmoniously. Modern Science is intensely competitive.

36. Likely questions in Reviewer's mind during the REVIEW PROCESS I . Nature of the Problem It is doubtful that new or useful information will result from the project . Is the basic hypothesis sound? C. The proposed research is scientifically premature due to the present inadequacy of supporting knowledge . II. Approach to the Problem A. The research plan is diffuse and not presented in concrete detail. B. The research plan has not been carefully designed. Greater care in planning is needed. C. Will the proposed methods yield accurate results? D. The procedures to be used should be spelled out in more detail. A more thorough treatment is needed. continued….

37. Likely questions in Reviewer's mind during the REVIEW PROCESS contd. (2) III. Competence of the Investigators A. The applicants need to acquire greater familiarity with the pertinent literature. B. The problems to be investigated are more complex than the applicants realize. C. The applicants propose to enter an area of research for which they are not adequately trained . D. The principal investigator intends to give actual responsibility for the direction of a complex project to an inexperienced co-investigator . E. The reviewers do not have sufficient confidence in the applicants to approve the present proposal, largely based on the past performance of the applicants . continued….

38. Likely questions in Reviewer's mind during the REVIEW PROCESS contd. (3) IV. Conditions of the Research Environment A. The investigators will be required to devote too much time to teaching or other non-research duties. The PI has already many projects on hand. B. Better liaison is needed with colleagues in collateral disciplines- especially for interdisciplinary projects. C. Based on the above analysis, a carefully designed, well reasoned proposal will overcome these common pitfalls. It also represents and important credibility statement about the investigator.

39. Grand Challenges for Engineering.Engineering for the Developing World http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/ Engineers have a collective responsibility to improve the lives of people around the world.  The world is becoming a place in which the human population (which now numbers more than six billion) is becoming more crowded, more consuming, more polluting, more connected, and in many ways less diverse than at any time in history. There is a growing recognition that humans are altering the Earth’s natural systems at all scales, from local to global, at an unprecedented rate. The question now arises whether it is possible to satisfy the needs of a population that is growing exponentially while preserving the carrying capacity of our ecosystems and biological and cultural diversity. A related question is what should be done now and in the near future to ensure that the basic needs for water, sanitation, nutrition, health, safety, and meaningful work are fulfilled for all humans. These commitments were defined as the "Millennium Development Goals" by the United Nations General Assembly on September 18, 2000 (United Nations Development Programme, 2003). Continued..

40. Research Proposals • Research proposals are documents that describe the intended research including: • Problem and sub problems. • Hypotheses. • Delimitations. • Definitions. • Assumptions. • Importance. • Literature review. • There are some basic variations on this theme, but all of these areas will be covered. This format serves to crystalize your thought process and to help ensure that no critical elements of your research have been neglected.

41. Funding agencies & their interest AICTE DST UGC CSIR RESPOND(DOS) DAE DBT MICT MHRD

42. PROPOSAL WRITING: STAGES AND STRATEGIEShttp://facstaff.gpc.edu/~ebrown/infobr3.htm#worksheets Preparing the Proposal: Stages Worksheets for Proposal Preparation Time/Task Chart Strategies & Writing Tips Proposal Checklist Subjective variables effecting funding decisions by funding agencies: Funding Agencies: CSIR, DST, UGC, ISRO, AICTE, DAE, DBT, HRD/MICT

43. A. Define the project (establish a working title). B. Identify the agency and obtain guidelines and deadlines. C. Write preliminary material (pre proposal). D. Conduct literature search. E. Write first draft of full proposal. Consider the following parts: Introduction (Research history, pilot project, literature review, the institution) Problem Statement 3. Abstract or Project Summary 4. Objectives 5. Methodology 6. Evaluation 7. Dissemination (eg. where material might be submitted for publication/patent) 8. Budget 9. Appendices 10. Curriculum Vitae PREPARING THE PROPOSAL: STAGESIndividual funding agencies will have different forms or requirements.

44. PROPOSAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES AND WRITING TIPS Do not assume that the reader will be intimately familiar with the subject. Sequence the components of the proposal in a logical manner. Use paragraphs/subparagraphs headings whenever possible to break up narrative texts. Use visuals to enhance and explain concepts and relationships. (Do not overuse.) Don't overemphasize a point. State it, support it, and move on to the next point. Use briefs summaries at end of major headings to help the reader know where they are and where they are going. Avoid equivocal language, such as: "might, could, ought, may, should, hope, will consider, it appears". Don't avoid significant issues which apply to the project or the possible connected problems which may be relevant to the project. It is better to write about these anticipated problems than to avoid these questions. Avoid inflated rhetoric or impossible promises. Avoid unsupported subjective arguments. Carefully review, edit, and proofread -- again and again . Get others to help, as in another opinion in a medical manner. Avoid errors in grammar, spelling, math, and maintain a clean overall appearance. A proposal should be readable, should not be missing pages, and should be written in the same consistent style throughout.

45. Look for large sections of text. Break them up with paragraphs and headings. If titles and subtitles are difficult to assign or do not sequence properly, refine the organization of the text. Diagrams and arrows can help show the flow of ideas and highlight important points. 2) Make the proposal easy to read and understand the essence (skim). Set a topic sentence into every paragraph. Set parallel structures and comparisons side by side, if possible, to make the correspondences self-evident. Use white spaces to provide visual relief and to frame the text pleasingly. Ex: begin the text of the paragraphs far away from the margin. Skim the proposal yourself, or better yet, ask someone for whom the proposal is new to skim it. Continued…. Organizing the proposal contd.

46. Make transitions smoothly. Do not let the reader get lost at junction points. Proper sequencing, clear reference to earlier discussion, and constructive reasoning from such references join up with selective repetition of key phrases and words to assure easy shifts of perspective between sections, paragraphs and even sentences. No jumps in the flow Direct, Concise Language Use active verbs and simple constructions. Change passives to actives. For example, "It has been reported by the DST that the medical proposal was found to be complex," becomes, in the active voice: "The DST found the medical proposal complex.“ Or.

47. Simplify sentences. Don’t have a page full of text (black). Have a blend of long and short sentences. Use concrete, "picture" language. Except when familiarity with technical terms must be shown, substitute everyday words for the more abstruse/difficult to understand (ex. "end" instead of "terminate"; "begin", not "institute"). Convey liveliness and enthusiasm. This marks the proposer's commitment to the project. Organizing the proposal contd.

48. PROPOSAL WRITING: TITLES Some principles for developing effective titles: Try to formulate a title with 10 words or less. Some granting agencies specify a title with less than 60 letters or characters. Use as short but as descriptive a working title as possible Use a clear adjective-noun combination to identify the project with its generic class. Example: "Visual Acuity in Infants", rather than "Studies on the Development of Objective Techniques for Monitoring the Development of Visual Acuity in Infants". Select words which accent the main category of the study and which help to describe its distinctive features. If necessary to further distinguish the focus of the problem, use a subtitle. Example: "Visual Acuity in Infants: Objective Monitoring of its Development" Avoid fillers and non-communicating paragraphs such as A Study of... An Exploratory Study to Determine... An Examination of... A Method to Explore... Be clear the focus of your project: is the methodology itself or the results of using the methodology.

49. PROPOSAL WRITING: ABSTRACT (1 / 3) Contents : While the abstract's contents should vary to include information most salient to each project, each abstract should say something about each of the following topics: Subject: What is the project about? Purposes and Significance: Why is the project being done? What is to be accomplished? Why is it important? Activities: What will be done? What methods will be used? Target Population: What special group is being studied or served? Location: Where is the work being performed (if different from the location of the Principal Investigator's organization)? Expected outcomes: What types of findings or results will be produced? To whom will these be useful? How will they advance knowledge or the state of the art in your profession?

50. Writing the Abstract contd..(2 / 3) In general, abstracts should not exceed 200 words. They are intended to provide a general understanding of what the project is about, not detailed explanations. Each sentence should say something specific and worth knowing. Allowing 200 words, with roughly 20 words per sentence, the abstract will have approximately 10 sentences. It needs no introductory or concluding sentence and it is generally one paragraph. It may, however, be divided into paragraphs if the topic allows. The abstract should be written last, after the entire proposal is composed. It should be a very clear, direct statement of the project so that a reviewer can decide whether or not it fits the funding priorities of the agency and who to use as a technical reviewer. Often the abstract is entered into computerized retrieval sources as the project description, so it is worth taking time to write it well.