Provide details about designing the research concepts as precursor to formulate a research project. Describe research topic, research questions, research hypotheses, rationale and justification

1. BUILDING RESEARCH
CONCEPTS
© Copyright, 2020
SK Soam
ICAR- National Academy of Agricultural Research Management
Hyderabad- 500 030
soam@naarm.org.in

2. What do we discuss in this session?
■ ResearchTopic
■ Research Question
■ Research Hypotheses
■ Relevance of Research Objectives
– Capabilities
– Rationale
– Justification

3. Problem to Developmental Research
Project

4. How do we select a research topic?
■ Personal experience
■ Curiosity based on something in media
■ State of knowledge
■ Problem solving
■ Social premium
■ Personal values

5. What is the next important step?
Improve your own Insight
■ Library visits or Databases- Web of Science?
■ Research papers or Patent documents- USPTO/Thomson
Analyst
■ Peer group- How do you reach to them?
■ Talk to knowledgeable people-Who are these, How and
Where available?
■ Use some resources for stakeholder interaction- who gives?

6. Research topic to Research Question
■ Relationship with topic?
■ Variables-nature of relationship?
■ Did you specify the universe?
■ Did you define unit of analysis?
■ Is it too broad or too narrow?- How can we double the income
of farmers?
■ Are these questions more focused, concrete and disaggregate?
■ Your limitations?
■ How do we phrase?

7. Top 100 research questions for biodiversity
conservation in Southeast Asia
(A research Paper by authors from 39 organizations)
BiologicalConservation
Volume 234, June 2019, Pages 211-220
■ Can payments for ecosystem services (e.g. carbon sequestration, green water credits,
biodiversity enrichment) lead to adoption of recommended land-use and management
practices by resource-poor farmers in developing countries?
■ What are the best options for agriculture increasing food production while simultaneously
reducing its contribution to greenhouse gas emissions?
■ What is the relationship between productivity and biodiversity (and/or other ecosystem
services) and how does this vary between agricultural systems and as a function of the
spatial scale at which land is devoted mostly to food production?
■ What are the advantages and disadvantages of organic production systems in terms of
biodiversity, ecosystem services, yield and human health, particularly in resource-poor
developing countries?

8. ICAR Reg. Committee Meeting, Kolkatta [June
2014]. Some RQ documented by SK Soam
■ 1. How can we increase the productivity of Rice-Fallow production system [about 15
m ha land] through introduction of millets/ pulses/ fodder sorghum?
■ 4.Whether cultivation of hybrid rice is more profitable over traditional rice grown by
the small and medium farmers in Telangana and AP?
– Indicators- yield advantage, input use cost, input use efficiency, quality advantage,
duration requirement, cropping systems requirement
■ 7. How can PPP initiatives include hybrid seed production as farmers’ led enterprise in
seed production hub ofTelangana?
– Indicators- seed producers, stakeholder requirements, seed demand-supply, seed
deficit
■ 9. It is often perceived that innovative farmers are not able to expand their
technologies among the fellow farmers in the similar niche, how can we improve the
knowledge networks for multiplier effect of creativity of innovative farmers?

9. ICAR-SoC held on 5th August/Item no. 2020/8/3
Interaction with Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, he advised a Hackathon on
‘Empowering of women farmers through promotion of gender friendly farm
equipment’
■ Descriptive (1 variable-1universe-1 event)/ Survey/ Empathy
■ What kind of farm implements are used by the women labourers engaged in
rice farming in Odisha?
■ Explanatory (comparative or relational with more than 1 variable and
universe)/ Collaboration and networks/Visualization
■ Whether farm equipment needs of men and women labourers engaged in
rice farming in Odisha are different? And are related with health issues
■ Exploratory (Unveil ‘Why’s/ Cause-effect relation)/ equipment/ idea/
prototyping
■ Why its important to design specific farm equipment for the women
labourers engaged in rice farming in Odisha?

10. Steps: RQ to Research Hypotheses
■ What are detailed expectations
■ Precisely indicate what you foresee
■ Make it easy leap from a well formulated RQ to res project
■ Its opportunity to test tentative answers by formal methods
■ Hypo are tentative answers to RQ, which are embedded within
good RQ, turn RQ into assertions (affirmations)
– Variables
– Universe
– Unit of analysis
– Indicators

11. Major Skeleton of ResearchObjectives
ResearchTopic: Rice Farm Women Labourers & Agrl Implements
Research question
■ What kind of farm implements are
used by the women labourers
engaged in rice farming in Odisha?
■ Whether farm equipment needs of
men and women labourers engaged
in rice farming in Odisha are different,
and are related with health issues?
■ Why its important to design specific
farm equipment for the women
labourers engaged in rice farming in
Odisha?
Hypotheses
■ All age group women labourers engaged in
rice farms at Odisha use hand-tools of cast
iron for rice transplantation and harvesting
■ Use of battery operated transplanters by
women and plastic pressure-push sprayers
by men will reduce back pain and other
drudgery related sickness among rice
farming labourers of Odisha
■ Gender friendly farm implement design for
labourers at rice farms in Odisha would
reduce drudgery and save enough time for
home production and social activities

12. Info-matrix

13. Rationale
■ Scientific logic
■ Offshoot of earlier research
■ Supplement to earlier research
■ Compliment to earlier research
■ Confirm earlier research results
■ Deny earlier research results
■ What new knowledge is added

14. Justification
■ Part-A: Strengths
■ Capability of the organization
■ Capability of the team
■ Collaboration and networks
■ Part-B: Amount of benefits gained
■ Socio-economic impact
■ Social-equity impact
■ CPR impact
■ Sustainability

15. Research ConceptWriter
https://naarm.org.in/dwrp/