RESEARCH METHODOLOGY UNIT –I INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH METHODOLOGY (PART-2) BY S.RAVIKUMAR RESEARCH SCHOLAR PONDICHERRY ENGINEERING COLLEGE CONTENT Research Process Significance of research Objective and Motivation Types of Research Research Process Research Problem formulation Identification of Research Topic Problem Definition • LITERATURE SURVEY • LITERATURE REVIEW • RESEARCH DESIGN TERMINOLOGY & BASIC CONCEPTS • EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS LITERATURE SURVEY-Outline • • • • • Literature Survey. Why? Sources of Literature Strategies to search Awareness Major publications & Reference manager Tools The Literature A collection of all the scholarly writings on a topic The Literature Survey is not google Literature Survey: Why? • • • • • • • • What approaches have others used? What are the gaps? What difference are you making? Novelty in Familiarity and Familiarity in Novelty Placing in Current Context Avoiding duplication Clarification of controversial results State of the art: extend and build on the work of others Literature survey in the context of thesis • • • • • Theses should be based on original research Unintentional duplication is not acceptable To gain knowledge of the background work To establish context of your work To question, Point out anomalies / gaps Sources of Literature • • • • Open Access INDEST Arrangement Your Library Subscriptions Peer Sharing sources: ResearchGate, academia.edu Sources of Literature Primary Sources • • • • • • • • Journals Periodicals Research Reports Conference Proceedings Official Publications Standards Theses, Dissertations To be published works Secondary Sources • Compilations • Reviews • Reference Books / Handbooks / Encyclopedia / Dictionaries • Text books / Monographs • Indexing and Abstracting services Tertiary Sources • Directories, Year books, Bibliographies • List of secondary sources Other Sources Examples • Dictionaries and Handbooks: classical lists of definitions, alphabetical list of compounds with data. • Encyclopedias: relevant topics in alphabetical order, may be too elementary for expert. • Physical data collections: spectra, thermodynamic parameters, etc. • Reactions and syntheses guides. • Analytical methods. • Comprehensive treatises on specialist topics. Some Terminology- Literature Search • International Standard Book Number (ISBN) • International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) • Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number: online Publication Universal Decimal Classification (UDC) catalogue : Books • Research Information Services (RIS)format : Bibliographic Information • BibTeX (.bib) format: Bibliographic Information JOURNAL IMPACT FACTOR AWARNESS • Journal impact factor is that to see how many times the articles in a particular journal are being referred by other journals and other articles • basically it gives you a sense of how often these articles are being read and being used by other scientists • This is a number which is controversial; one cannot compare these impact factors across research areas. • In communities - research communities - where the number of journals are limited, the number of scientists are limited, then the journal impact factor tends to be on the lower side. • It is not an absolute method by which we can say a journal is less or more important. Citation Index AWARNESS This is about a journal article; how many times has it been cited. We do call some articles as citation classics. What we mean by that is there is an article that has been referred by so many people, maybe hundreds, that you could now call it as a classic. • Citation is basically how many times it has been referred by other successful journal publications. h-Index controversial index; it basically refers to how many times a particular author’s publications have been cited and how many of them exceed the number of publications. basically when we say that an author has an h-index of say n, then he has n papers that are cited n times or more. So, which also means that an author, who has higher h index, is an author whose papers are being read widely and are being referred widely. And, most probably, he is a more successful scientist. JOURNAL PAPER CONFERENCE PAPER Exact and qualitative research Less strict review.. result….. May be the results of few Published after strict review months or a year ago.. by other experts Can hear the authors talk May be the results of few directly in the meeting. year ago research TECHNICAL REPORTS • Usually from government or industryfunded research like NICEE, IITK GSDMA • often contain information before it is published in a journal – but not reviewed by referees (i.e. not ‘peer reviewed’). • some agencies (NASA, DOE) may place reports on the web. • Abstracted by Chemical Abstracts. CONFERENCE PAPERS • Papers presented at a conference may be ‘published’ intact • usually no experimental details • usually not peer-reviewed • abstracted by Chemical Abstracts Strategies to search • Keyword search: systematic manual search • Backward chronological search : snowball or back reference method • Forward chronological search : citation based Strategy to Search • Defining key words may be difficult – there are no specific guidelines • Focus on key words and phrases which define the topic. • Choose the field carefully: Article Title Abstract keywords / Authors / First Author / Source Title / Article Title / Keywords / Affiliation (Name, City, Country) language / ISSN /DOI/ Reference /Conferences etc • Choose the Time Span – Published from YYYY/all years to YYYY/present • Pick the Subject areas as appropriate Strategies of Search • It is often useful to start reading with the most recent publications. This allows: 1) Focusing more quickly on current knowledge, 2) Recent research often includes references to relevant earlier research • First read the abstract or summary to determine relevance of the article. • As you read, keep in mind that the central purpose is to identify and describe the relevance of the study to your research. STRATEGIES TO SEARCH BACKWARD CHRONOLOGICAL SEARCH (CITATIONS) FORWARD CHRONOLOGICAL SEARCH (CITATIONS) • Identify the latest relevant paper in your area • Look up each of the references listed • Repeat to extend the tree backward • Identify the citation classic in your area • Lookup which all papers refers to it • Find out which of these are well cited • Repeat to extend the tree forward Citation Information • Thomson ISI / Web of Science (isiknowlegde.com)-THMOSON REUTERS • SciFinder (www.cas.org) • Scopus (www.scopus.com) • Scitation (scitation.aip.org) Major Publishers • • • • • • Elsevier Springer Taylor and Francis Nature Maney Publishing APS, AIP, ACS, AIChE, TMS, ASM, ACM, IEEE, etc Online access • • • • • • Science Direct-(Elsevier) Springer Link Informa World Ingenta Connect Crossref.org Prola.aps.org etc., Reference Mangers • • • • • • • JabRef EndNote Reference Mangers ProCite Mendeley Zotero Comparison of reference Management software on Wikipedia LITERATURE REVIEW ...is a process of reviewing work of others within your field and using that as basis for your data collection. Basic advice : Structuring your literature review is a important and creative task Purposes of the Literature Review • The central purpose of the Literature Review is to provide the researcher (and the reader) with an understanding of literature about the proposed research. • This includes the strengths and weaknesses! • The research problem is the focus of the literature review • But the literature may be related to the research project in several ways – through the problem, the objectives, the conceptual framework, and methods and procedures. Specific purposes, functions and benefits of a literature review include: A. Prevents duplication of what has already been done (Some duplication or confirmation of research is necessary, but excessive duplication is wasteful) B. Help to identify new areas where research is needed (and how new research can contribute) C. Provides ideas and direction for: 1. 2. 3. 4. How to handle problems encountered Techniques Sources of data Novel approaches for the research Notes • Be sure you have a complete citation of each source. • Keep written notes – don’t rely on memory. • Be thorough and systematic in keeping notes; note problem, objectives, methods, findings and conclusions • Note questions, shortcomings or problems with the study. • Notes can be on note card, full sheets of paper, or directly in word processing files (which can use the “search” function).
