Research Methodology for course work students

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Christ University is a nurturing ground for an individual’s holistic
development to make effective contribution to the society in a dynamic
environment
Vision
Excellence and Service
Core Values
Faith in God | Moral Uprightness
Love of Fellow Beings | Social Responsibility | Pursuit of
Excellence
Research Methodology
CHE 541B
Dr Avijit Kumar Das

Christ University
About the class
Spectroscopy (CHE 541B)
Unit 6. Research methodology (5hrs)
Introduction – meaning of research. Types of research, research methods vs
methodology. Scientific method of conducting research. Review of literature. Selecting
and defining a problem. Science journals. Impact factor, citation and citation index.
Indexing agencies (Scopus, Web of Science), Research proposals
Reference: Research Methodology (Methods
and Techniques), C. R. Kothari

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What is Science ?
Attempt to understand, explain and predict the world we live in
Then how about literature, tradition and astrology?
What makes something Scientific?
Subjectivity Objectivity Falsifiability
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❑ Science is both a body of knowledge and a process
❑ Science is exciting
❑ Science is useful
❑ Science is ongoing
❑ Science is a global human endeavor
Nature
of
Science
Ref: https://undsci.berkeley.edu

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Science
Checklist
Ref: https://undsci.berkeley.edu

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Relating
Evidence
and Ideas
Ref: https://undsci.berkeley.edu Ref: https://undsci.berkeley.edu/teaching/guide_to_us.php

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⮚ Advocated very high intake of Vitamin C
for treating many diseases.
⮚ Claim discarded by Scientific
community due to lack of scientific
evidence
Objectivity Vs Subjectivity
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Wilhelm Ostwald
➢ Rejected atomism
➢ Accepted it later

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Limits of Science
Science doesn't make moral
judgments
Science doesn't make aesthetic judgments
Science doesn't tell you how
to use scientific knowledge
Science doesn't draw conclusions
about supernatural explanations
Ref: https://undsci.berkeley.edu/teaching/guide_to_us.php

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• A systematic process of collecting and logically analyzing
information (data)
Research
• The way one collects and analyzes data
• Methods developed for acquiring trustworthy knowledge
via reliable and valid procedures

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• Pursuit of data with help of study, observations,
comparison & experiment
• It consists of enunciating the problem, formulating a
hypothesis, collecting (organizing & evaluating) the facts or
data, analysing the facts (making deductions) and reaching
certain conclusions either in the form of solutions(s) towards
the concerned problem or in certain generalisations for some
theoretical formulation.

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Objectives of Research Methodology
1. To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to achieve new
insights into it (exploratory or formulative research studies);
2. To portray accurately the characteristics of a particular
individual, situation or a group (descriptive research studies);
3. To determine the frequency with which something occurs or
with which it is associated with something else (diagnostic
research studies);
4. To test a hypothesis of a causal relationship between variables
(hypothesis-testing research studies).
The purpose of research is to discover answers to questions through the
application of scientific procedures.

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Theories
Laws
Hypothesis
Experimental facts
Models

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https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/pauling-lecture.pdf

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1852 – Frankland proposed the idea of valency
1858 - Kekulé and Couper – quadrivalent Carbon
1861 – Molecular structure
1874 – Van’t Hoff – Tetrahedral shape –optical activity
1913 – Werner’s theory
1916 – Lewis structure
1925 – Quantum mechanics
1927 – Heitler and London’s valence bond theory
1931 - On the Nature of the Chemical Bond – Linus Pauling

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Motivation in Research
1. Desire to get a research degree along with its consequential
benefits;
2. Desire to face the challenge in solving the unsolved problems,
3. Desire to get intellectual joy of doing some creative work;
4. Desire to be of service to society
5. Desire to get respectability.
What makes people to undertake research?

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Types of Research
1. Descriptive vs. Analytical: DR includes surveys and fact-finding enquiries (description of
state of affairs as it exists at present, for example, frequency of shopping, preferences of people, or
similar data). In AR, researchers use facts or information already available, and analyze these to
make a critical evaluation
2. Applied vs. Fundamental: Applied research aims at finding a solution for an immediate
problem facing a society or an industrial/business organisation, whereas fundamental research is
mainly concerned with generalisations and with the formulation of a theory.
3. Quantitative vs. Qualitative:

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Types of Research cont..
4. Conceptual vs. Empirical: CR is related to abstract idea(s) or theory. It is
generally used by philosophers and thinkers to develop new concepts or to reinterpret
existing ones. On the other hand, ER relies on experience or observation alone, often
without due regard for system and theory. It is data-based research or experimental
research.
5. Some Other Types of Research: one-time research or
longitudinal research; field-setting research or laboratory
research or simulation research; clinical or diagnostic research;

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Research Methods versus Methodology
Research methods or techniques refer to the methods the researchers use in
performing research operations. Research methods can be put into the following three
groups:
1. Methods which are concerned with the collection of data.
2. Statistical techniques which are used for establishing relationships between the data and the
unknowns;
3. Methods which are used to evaluate the accuracy of the results obtained.
Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem. It may
be understood as a science of studying how research is done.
Research methodology considers the logic behind the methods we use in the context of our research
study and explain why we are using a particular method or technique and why we are not using others
so that research results are capable of being evaluated either by the researcher himself or by others.

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Importance of Knowing How Research is Done
• The knowledge of methodology provides good training specially to the new
research worker and enables him to do better research.
• The knowledge of research methodology provides tools to took at things in life
objectively.
• It enables users to make intelligent decisions concerning problems in practical
life at different points of time.
• Knowledge of how to do research will inculcate the ability to evaluate and use
research results with reasonable confidence.

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Research Process

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Defining the Research Problem
Components of a research problem:
(i) There must be an individual or a group which has some difficulty or the
problem.
(ii) There must be some objective(s) to be attained at.
(iii) There must be alternative means (or the courses of action) for obtaining
the objective(s) one wishes to attain.
(iv) There must remain some doubt in the mind of a researcher with regard to
the selection of alternatives. This means that research must answer the
question concerning the relative efficiency of the possible alternatives.
(v) There must be some environment(s) to which the difficulty pertains.

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SELECTING THE PROBLEM
Components of a research problem:
(i) Avoid subject which is overdone
(ii) Keep away from controversial subject
(iii) Too narrow or too vague problems should be avoided.
(iv) The subject selected for research should be familiar and feasible so that the
related research material or sources of research are within one’s reach.
(v) Important criteria to be considered are, the importance of the subject, the
qualifications and the training of a researcher, the costs involved and the time
factor
(vi) The selection of a problem must be preceded by a preliminary study.

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Literature Review
➢ An Annotated Bibliography:
“brief explanations or notes for each reference“
➢ A Review Article: considers the state and progress of current literature on a
given topic or problem by organizing, integrating, and evaluating previously
published books and articles.
➢ “A review article is a critical evaluation of material that has already been
published with the purpose to offer an overview of significant literature published
on a topic.“
➢ It is a vital part of research papers including theses and dissertations
‘The idea of examining the scholarly literature on a topic’

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Literature review in research - Significance
• It can bring clarity and focus to the research problem (learn what aspects
of the subject area have been examined by others, what’s been found out, what gaps have
been identified and what suggestions have been made for further research);
• Improve your research methodology (aware of any problems and pitfalls with
the methodologies used by others to find answers to research questions);
• Broaden your knowledge base in your research area (to ensure you read
widely around the subject area of research to the extent of an expert);
• Contextualize your findings (enable you to compare your findings with those of
others and contribute how your findings fit into the existing body of knowledge).

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Purpose: guide focus, depth and design (Motivation)
a. convince the reader that the research area is significant /
important / interesting
b. convince the reader that we shouldn’t be (completely)
satisfied with the existing literature on the topic and that your
research will fill some important or interesting gap or address
some important limitation or deficiency
D. Ridley (2008), The Literature Review: A step-by-step guide for students (Los Angeles: Sage)

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Purpose: guide focus, depth and design (Motivation)
D. Ridley (2008), The Literature Review: A step-by-step guide for students (Los Angeles: Sage)

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Finding the literature (types of information Sources)
• Encyclopedias & Dictionaries - to get an overview and
definitions for a topic,
• Books & E-Books - Library, Bibliographies
• Articles from journals - covers the scholarly interpretation,
most up-to-date information,
• Electronic Databases – SciFinder, Reaxys, Web of Science,
Medline/Pubmed, ScienceDirect, etc
• Theses & Dissertations
• Websites (Internet!) - require careful evaluation of their quality.
• Google Scholar

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Best resources for finding research articles
▪ Web of Science: This collection contains over 18,000+ journals and
includes: Science Citation Index, from 1965; Social Sciences Citation Index,
from 1965; and Arts and Humanities Citation Index, from 1991. Search by
subject, author, or cited reference. An excellent current awareness and
bibliography-building tool.
▪ SciFinder: A research and substance discovery tool of the Chemical
Abstracts databases containing literature from many scientific disciplines and
the CAS registry database.
▪ Royal Society of Chemistry: Current and archival content from RSC
journals, covering the fields of biology, biophysics, chemical science,
materials, medicinal drug discovery and physics. The Journals Archives
includes all 238,000 articles published by the RSC and its forerunner societies,
from 1841 to 2004.

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https://www.elsevier.com/solutions/scopus

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Online search Engines / databases
http://www.cas.org/training/scifinder
http://www.organic-chemistry.org/
https://doaj.org/
http://abc-chemistry.org/index.html
http://researchguides.case.edu/az.php
?a=all

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Reviewing the Literature
• Choose a topic. Define your research question.
• Decide on the scope of your review (How many studies do you need to
look at? How comprehensive should it be? How many years should it
cover? How many sources does the assignment require?)
• Select the databases you will use to conduct your searches.
• Conduct your searches and find the literature. Keep track of your
searches!
• Review the literature.

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Starting to think about your own literature review
• Who are the key players in my field? This could be
anything from academics, medics, governing bodies, schools
of thought etc. (Sources!)
• What are the main ideas/debates in my field?
• How have these ideas changed over time?
• What are some of the problems with these ideas/debates?
Is there a problem with the methodology?
•What are you going to do differently?

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Scope/Purpose of Journals

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Types of Articles

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Impact Factor/Journal Citation Reports (JCR).
▪ The impact factor of an academic journal is a measure reflecting the average
number of citations to recent articles published in that specific journal.
▪ Journal Impact Factors are released annually by Thomson Reuters' Journal
Citation Reports. http://libguides.du.edu/c.php?g=204307&p=1348066

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Impact Factor/Journal Citation Reports (JCR).

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h – index of authors

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Letters or Communications

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Reviews

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News (Trade Publications)

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Literature Review Summary
❑ Scopus
❑ Web of Science
❑ Scifinder
❑ PubMed
❑ Google Scholar
❑ Journal Websites
Information about
the published
articles
Published articles
can be downloaded
Back references in
articles can be
referred

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Publication Process - Summary
Write the article
Submit to the Editor
Reject Sent for Peer Review
Reject Accept Major/Minor Revision Suggested
Submit to another journal Do the revision and resubmit

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Whitesides’s Influential Paper
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Who is Whitesides?
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Publications ~ 1500
h index ~ 206
Citations ~ More than one lakh
Areas of research:
NMR spectroscopy
organometallic chemistry
molecular self-assembly
soft lithography
microfabrication
microfluidics
nanotechnology

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Important Guidelines from Whitesides’ Paper

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Results and discussion comes together
Give the results based on the figures and discuss it based on literature and your
inferences
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Suggestions about Results and Discussion

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Suggestions about Conclusion

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Suggestions about Experimental Session

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Guidelines about style

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How to Make Your Next Paper Scientifically Effective
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Prashant Kamat and George Schatz, J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2013, 4, 1578−1581

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Basic Elements of Academic Writing
Introduction: Gives a quick idea of the topic of the
literature review
Body: Contains your discussion of sources and is organized
either chronologically, thematically, or methodologically
Conclusions/Recommendations: Discuss what you have
drawn from reviewing literature so far. Where might the
discussion proceed?

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Writing a review
• Start with an overview
• Decide on organizing principles (themes, trends,
methodology, chronology, controversies – usually a
combination of some of these)
• Use headings for the different sections of the review
• Provide summative signposts of where your argument is
leading
• Summarise your review/highlight ‘gap’ in research

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Clarity
Tips for clear writing:
• Clear introduction: overview of topic, aim of review and
structure
• Clear paragraph structure
• Make sure the subject of your sentence is clear
• Don’t assume knowledge
• Make sure key terminology and difficult ideas are always
explained thoroughly (ask your yourself: does it make sense?)
• Be objective and balanced
• Use signposts to orientate the reader

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Paragraphs and flow
❑ Paragraph:
-Topic sentence
-Discussion of topic
-Closing sentence
❑ Thematic and grammatical links
-Logical progression from one paragraph to the next
-Demonstrate links in your language

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Citation and writer’s voice
Whose voice is dominant - the writer’s or the original author’s?
• The moon is made of cheese (Brie 1999).
• Brie (1999) argues that the moon is made of cheese.
• As Brie (1999) points out, the moon is made of cheese.
• According to Brie (1999), the moon is made of cheese. However, ….
• Brie (1999) argues out that the moon is made of cheese. However, ….

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Editing and Proofreading
Editing and proofreading are fundamental aspects of
good academic practice.
• Editing is the process of continually revising and
improving your written work. It is often an activity that forms
a major part of the writing process.
• Proofreading is the final check before printing and
submission. It is a process that helps remove errors and
improve presentation.

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Technical hints
• If you decide to use explanatory diagrams to emphasize sections
of text, make sure you use high resolution.
• Latin text is italicized such as in-vivo, e.g., i.e., etc. Cis-, trans-
, R and S are derived from Latin and also italicized.
• For chemical structures, use the ACS 1996 setting in
ChemDraw. When you open the program, click ‘Apply Document
Settings From’ in the File menu. By selecting ACS 1996, your
structures will automatically be the correct arrangement and size to
be seen on an A4 page.

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➢ Customize your talk
➢ Know your audience, occasion and available time
➢ Complement visual and audio content
➢ Don’t use lengthy sentences in the ppt
➢ Tell a story
➢ Don’t fall in pits like “sales pitch, ramble, org bore, inspirator show”
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Oral presentations
“Style without substance is awful” – Chris Anderson (Head of TED)

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Ethical Practices in Research
Chopstick Nanorods: Tuning the Angle between Pairs with High Yield” Nano Letters
(2013, DOI: 10.1021/nl400959z)

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Ethics and political sensitivity
From the abstract of retracted article: Aerospace materials of ancient ancestors are more highly advanced than
compared to that of modern. This paper introduces modern day rediscoveries and Reinventions from Vimana shasthra. Our
team SWASTIK (Scientific Works on Advanced Space Technology Investigators for Knowledge) is group of researchers
working on ancient science and technology. Our team’s works on different types of ancient materials properties for
advanced space radiation, Raja Loh…..

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Ethical Practices in Research
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Intellectual honesty

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Intellectual honesty

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