EBOOK - Research Methodology and Scientific Writing - Full Edition (C. George Thomas) | Cộng đồng Kỹ thuật cơ điện Việt Nam EBOOKBKMT

This book presents a guide for research methodology and scientific writing covering various elements such as finding research problems, writing research proposals, obtaining funds for research, selecting research designs, searching the literature and review, collection of data and analysis, preparation of thesis, writing research papers for journals, citation and listing of references, preparation of visual materials, oral and poster presentation in conferences, and ethical issues in research . Besides introducing library and its various features in a lucid style, the latest on the use of information technology in retrieving and managing information through various means are also discussed in this book. The book is useful for students, young researchers, and professionals.

CONTENTS:

1 Research: The Search for Knowledge ........................... 1

1.1 Acquiring Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

1.2 Science and Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

1.3 WhatisResearch? ....................................... 6

1.4 Qualities of a Researcher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

1.5 HistoryofResearch ..................................... 11

1.6 Induction and Deduction in Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

1.7 Hypothesis, Theory, Law, Fact, and Others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

1.8 TheScientificMethod ................................... 26

1.9 Research Methodology and Research Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

1.10 The Research Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

1.11 Academic Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Bibliography .................................................. 32

2 Philosophy of Research ........................................ 33

2.1 Philosophy and Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

2.2 Epistemology ........................................... 35

2.3 Empiricism ............................................. 36

2.4 Rationalism ............................................ 37

2.5 Skepticism ............................................. 38

2.6 Falsifiability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

2.7 ThePrincipleofParsimony ............................... 40

2.8 Pseudoscience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

2.9 Reductionism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

2.10 ParadigmandParadigmShift ............................. 44

2.11 Post-modernism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Bibliography .................................................. 47

3 Approaches to Research ....................................... 49

3.1 Intuition in Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

3.2 Unconventional Ways to Intuition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

3.3 VariablesinResearch .................................... 54

x Contents

3.4 Formal Approaches to Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Bibliography .................................................. 63

4 Major Research Methods ...................................... 65

4.1 NaturalObservation ..................................... 65

4.2 HistoricalResearch ...................................... 66

4.3 Ethnographic Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

4.4 Cross-Sectional Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

4.5 LongitudinalStudy ...................................... 69

4.6 Cohort Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

4.7 CaseStudy ............................................. 71

4.8 Correlational Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

4.9 Model Building . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

4.10 ActionResearch ........................................ 73

4.11 ParticipatoryLearningandAction ......................... 74

4.12 PLATools ............................................. 77

4.13 Some Special Research Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Bibliography .................................................. 90

5 Experimental Research ........................................ 93

5.1 CauseandEffectRelationships ............................ 94

5.2 Hypothesis in Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

5.3 Validity of Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

5.4 Principles of Experimentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

5.5 ‘Control’ in Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

5.6 Classification of Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

5.7 Experimental Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

5.8 Field Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

5.9 Field Experiments in Agriculture: Some Practical

Considerations .......................................... 114

5.10 Randomized Controlled Trial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

5.11 PairedDesign ........................................... 123

5.12 Quasi-experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

5.13 Ex Post Facto Experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

5.14 Requirements of a Good Experiment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Bibliography .................................................. 132

6 Collection and Analysis of Data................................. 135

6.1 Sampling .............................................. 135

6.2 Scales of Measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

6.3 CollectionofData ....................................... 142

6.4 Observation ............................................ 143

6.5 Surveys ................................................ 146

6.6 PossibleErrorsinResearch ............................... 149

6.7 AnalysisofData ........................................ 151

6.8 DescriptiveStatistics .................................... 151

Contents xi

6.9 InferentialStatistics ..................................... 153

6.10 SomeCommonStatisticalTests ........................... 157

6.11 Popular Statistical Packages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

6.12 MonitoringResearch .................................... 165

Bibliography .................................................. 166

7 Planning and Writing a Research Proposal ...................... 169

7.1 ResearchProjects ....................................... 170

7.2 FindingaResearchProblem .............................. 172

7.3 Analysis of Research Ideas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

7.4 Planning a Proposal: Some General Considerations . . . . . . . . . . 176

7.5 Proposal Outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

7.6 Presentation and Evaluation of Proposals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

7.7 Students’ Outline of Research Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

7.8 Major Funding Agencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Annexure ..................................................... 195

Bibliography .................................................. 197

8 Publications and the Library ................................... 199

8.1 RoleofLibrariesinInformationRetrieval .................. 199

8.2 Laws of Library Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

8.3 Classification and Arrangement of Publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

8.4 ToolsforIdentifyingLiterature ............................ 210

8.5 Types of Publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

8.6 GreyLiterature ......................................... 219

8.7 Microfiche . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

8.8 DigitalLibraries ........................................ 220

Bibliography .................................................. 224

9 Academic Databases........................................... 227

9.1 Bibliographic Databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

9.2 General Search Engines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

9.3 MetasearchEngines ..................................... 239

9.4 Academic Search Engines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

9.5 CitationIndexes ......................................... 244

9.6 CitationAnalysis ........................................ 248

9.7 Online Searching Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

9.8 Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International

(CABI) ................................................ 255

9.9 The Indian Academy of Sciences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

9.10 National Institute of Science Communication

andInformationResources(NISCAIR) ..................... 256

9.11 ICAR Initiatives for Knowledge Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

Bibliography .................................................. 259

xii Contents

10 The Literature Review......................................... 263

10.1 Importance of the Literature Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

10.2 Planning a Literature Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

10.3 LocatingRelevantLiterature .............................. 267

10.4 Managing Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

10.5 Reliability of a Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

10.6 Writing a Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

Bibliography .................................................. 274

11 Preparation of Research Papers and Other Articles .............. 275

11.1 The IMRAD Structure for Research Reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

11.2 Research Papers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

11.3 SelectingaJournal ...................................... 279

11.4 The Structure of a Research Paper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

11.5 Other Considerations in the Preparation of Research

Papers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286

11.6 Review and Peer Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

11.7 Review Papers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

11.8 Conference Papers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

11.9 ElectronicPublications ................................... 293

11.10 Short Notes and Other Forms of Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

11.11 Copyediting and Proofreading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

Bibliography .................................................. 301

12 The Structure of a Thesis ...................................... 303

12.1 ThesisorDissertation? ................................... 303

12.2 PartsofaThesis ........................................ 304

12.3 Preliminary Pages of a Thesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

12.4 The Subject Proper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306

12.5 TheAbstract ........................................... 312

12.6 Formatting Requirements of a Thesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312

12.7 Paper and Text Spacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313

12.8 Thesis Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

Bibliography .................................................. 318

13 Tables and Illustrations ........................................ 319

13.1 MakingofaTable ....................................... 319

13.2 Arrangement of Data in Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321

13.3 Illustrations ............................................ 323

13.4 BarDiagrams ........................................... 325

13.5 PieDiagrams ........................................... 330

13.6 TheLineGraph ......................................... 330

13.7 LineDrawings .......................................... 333

13.8 Photographs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334

Bibliography .................................................. 334

Contents xiii

14 Reasoning in Research......................................... 337

14.1 SomeLogicalTerms ..................................... 337

14.2 Evidences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340

14.3 Inductive and Deductive Reasoning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342

14.4 FallaciousReasoning .................................... 345

14.5 FormalandInformalFallacies ............................. 346

14.6 CommonFallacies ...................................... 347

Bibliography .................................................. 360

15 References: How to Cite and List Correctly...................... 361

15.1 Importance of Referencing in Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362

15.2 Citation and Listing Systems of References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363

15.3 Common Documentation Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368

15.4 CSE Style: The Name-Year System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369

15.5 Citation of Sources in the Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370

15.6 Examples of in-Text References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376

15.7 Listing References in the “References” Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379

15.8 Examples of Writing References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384

15.9 Websites and Other Online Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389

15.10 Reference Management Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392

Annexure ..................................................... 393

Bibliography .................................................. 399

16 Improve Your Writing Skills ................................... 401

16.1 UsePlainEnglish ....................................... 401

16.2 Use Paragraphs Properly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402

16.3 Avoid Gender Specific or Discriminatory Language . . . . . . . . . . 404

16.4 Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408

16.5 Verbs:CarewithTenses .................................. 409

16.6 TheActiveorPassiveVoiceDilemma ...................... 412

16.7 Be Definite About the Use of the ‘Articles’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413

16.8 Prepositions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415

16.9 Relative Pronouns: Use the Most Appropriate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417

16.10 Transitional Words and Phrases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420

Bibliography .................................................. 430

17 Use Appropriate Words and Phrases ............................ 433

17.1 Economy in Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433

17.2 Singular and Plural Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436

17.3 CommonlyConfusedWords .............................. 438

17.4 Avoid Using More Words Instead of a Single Word . . . . . . . . . . 444

17.5 Avoid Unnecessary Qualification of Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446

17.6 Remove Unnecessary Phrases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449

17.7 Avoid Clichés . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451

Bibliography .................................................. 452

xiv Contents

18 Punctuation Marks and Abbreviations .......................... 455

18.1 Periods ................................................ 455

18.2 Comma ................................................ 456

18.3 Semicolon ............................................. 458

18.4 Colon ................................................. 459

18.5 QuotationMarks ........................................ 460

18.6 Apostrophe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461

18.7 Brackets ............................................... 462

18.8 Parentheses ............................................. 462

18.9 Dashes ................................................ 463

18.10 Hyphens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464

18.11 Virgule ................................................ 464

18.12 Italics ................................................. 464

18.13 Capitals ................................................ 465

18.14 Abbreviation, Initialism, and Acronym . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468

Annexure: Abbreviations Commonly Used in Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470

Bibliography .................................................. 472

19 Units and Numbers............................................ 475

19.1 UnitsandDimensions ................................... 475

19.2 ABriefHistoryoftheUnits .............................. 476

19.3 TheSISystem .......................................... 478

19.4 SI Unit Rules and Style Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486

19.5 Non SI Units Accepted for Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490

19.6 CarewithNumerals ..................................... 491

19.7 RomanandArabicNumerals ............................. 493

Bibliography .................................................. 494

20 Conference Presentations and Posters ........................... 497

20.1 ScientificMeetings ...................................... 497

20.2 General Features of a Scientific Conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498

20.3 Planning and Delivering a Presentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502

20.4 Preparing Good Presentation Slides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512

20.5 PosterPresentationinMeetings ........................... 516

20.6 Students’ Seminar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519

20.7 Group and Panel Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520

Bibliography .................................................. 521

21 Guidelines for Successful Lecturing ............................. 523

21.1 Qualities of a Good Lecturer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524

21.2 Planning for Lecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526

21.3 The Process of Lecturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529

21.4 UseVisualAidsEffectively ............................... 533

21.5 Sustain the Interest of Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535

21.6 Improve Motivation of Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 536

21.7 Build Rapport with the Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 538

Contents xv

21.8 Plan and Prepare for Group Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 538

21.9 Conduct of Examinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539

Bibliography .................................................. 540

22 Note Taking, Note Making, and Assignments .................... 543

22.1 The Issue of Forgetting and Recall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 544

22.2 NoteTaking ............................................ 545

22.3 NoteTakingSystems .................................... 549

22.4 ListeningandNoteTaking ................................ 554

22.5 NoteMaking ........................................... 556

22.6 Note Making from Text Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558

22.7 AssignmentsasaPartofLearning ......................... 560

22.8 EssayAssignments ...................................... 561

22.9 Writing Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567

Bibliography .................................................. 568

23 Ethics and Related Issues in Research........................... 569

23.1 NurembergCodeandAfter ............................... 570

23.2 Some Concepts in Ethics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570

23.3 Intellectual Property Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574

23.4 Fraud and Misconduct in Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 580

23.5 UnscientificPracticesinThesisWork ...................... 584

23.6 Ethics in Science Practicals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 586

23.7 WhistleBlowing ........................................ 587

23.8 Scientific Values: Needed a Code of Conduct . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588

Bibliography .................................................. 588

24 Plagiarism: Prevention and Cure ............................... 591

24.1 WhatisPlagiarism? ..................................... 592

24.2 Acknowledge Sources Appropriately . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595

24.3 Paraphrasing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597

24.4 DirectandIndirectQuotations ............................ 601

24.5 Summarizing ........................................... 604

24.6 EvaluationofText ....................................... 605

24.7 Plagiarism Checking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 606

Bibliography

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