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Introduction: Importance of academic research in
Economics
Positive science and Normative
deductive and inductive methods
Problems of Research in Social Sciences:
Quantification,
Organizing
Controlled
Experiments, Replication and Verification
Criteria of Good Research
Research Methods: Social Survey, Case Study,
Experimental Method, Econometric Method
...

The research Design
Steps in Research Process
Structure of Research Report
Identification of research problem
review of literature
framing research questions
hypothesis formation
Academic Report Writing:

Module IV:

Preparation of Synopsis
Explaining the Research Problem
Preparation of Bibliography
Notations and Symbols
Techniques for Referencing
Importance of footnotes
Bibliography and references
Preparation of Articles for Journals, Books
Preparation of Abstracts
Ethics in research: Scientific integrity
Plagiarism (definition of
plagiarism- consequences of
plagiarismunintentional
plagiarismforms
of
plagiarism),
Good reference practice
Verification and subsequent
use of research material
Empirical Investigations

Module II:

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Sources of Primary and Secondary Data
Census and Sampling Methods
Economic Statistics in India
...
NAS and NSSO
Data structure
key concepts and variables
Data portal of RBI
Module I:
Introduction: Importance of academic research in Economics
...
Research Methods: Social Survey, Case Study, Experimental Method,
Econometric Method
...
One can also define
research as a scientific and systematic search for pertinent information on a specific
topic
...

1
2

3
4

–William Emory defines Research as “any organised enquiry designed and
carried out to provide information for solving a problem”
The new Oxford English Dictionary defines research is “the scientific
investigation into and study of material, sources etc inorder to establish
facts and the reach new new conclusions”
...

“A careful investigation or inquiry specially through search for new facts
in any branch of knowledge” Advanced Leaner’s Dictionary
...

2
...

4
...


Research is a systematic and critical investigation into a phenomenon
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It adopts scientific method
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2

6
...


Research is directed towards finding answers to questions & solutions to
problems
...


OBJECTIVES OF RESEARCH
The purpose of research is to discover answers to questions through the application of
scientific procedures
...
Thus each research study has its own specific
purpose, we may think of research objectives as following:
1)

To study purposive, systematic and critical investigation into a phenomena
...


To adopt scientific methods of investigation and involve
observable or empirical facts
...

4)
5)

Research emphasizes the development of generalization, principles or

theories
...

6)

To develop new tools, concepts and theories for a better study of unknown
phenomena
...

9)
To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to achieve new insights to it
...

11)
To determine the frequency with which something occures or with which it is
associated with something else
...
Therefore, here we are
concerned with research methodology to be used in the science of Economics
...
A research purpose is met through
forming hypotheses, collecting data, analysing results, forming conclusions,
implementing findings into real-life applications and forming new research questions
...
This knowledge can be either the
development of new concepts or the advancement of existing knowledge and theories,
leading to a new understanding that was not previously known
...

The developing countries have urgent problems such as poverty, unemployment,
economic imbalance, economic inequality, low productivity, etc
...
Economic research
plays a significant role in this respect
...

The facts discovered through research are systematized and lead to development of
knowledge
...

Economic research equips the Society with the first hand knowledge about the
organization and working of the economy and economic institutions
...

Research also aims at finding an order among facts
...
Such predictions are useful in economic planning e
...
predictions about
population growth and consequent requirements of this population growth in the number
of educated unemployed, requirements of power or energy in different productive sectors
of the economy
...

Systematic research can give the required data base for planning schemes for
development and for taking policy decisions in vital areas of development and for taking
policy decisions in vital areas of development
...
help in gauging the impact of plans on the economic development
and also suggest ideas for change or reformulation
...

In short, the area of economic research is almost unlimited
...

The purpose of research is to further understand the world and to learn how this
knowledge can be applied to better everyday life
...

4

Although research can take many forms, there are three main purposes of research:
1
...
Exploration research therefore aims
to gain a better understanding of the exact nature of the problem and not to provide
a conclusive answer to the problem itself
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2
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Descriptive research focuses on the ‘how’ and ‘what’, but not on the ‘why’
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Explanatory: Explanatory research, also referred to as casual research, is
conducted to determine how variables interact, i
...
to identify cause-and-effect
relationships
...

In a globalised world, the role of research in an academic institution is significant for its
sustainability and development, and it is imperative to have knowledge-driven growth
based on innovation
...
Eg: Applied
Microeconomics, Behavioural and experimental ecnomics ,decision theory, development
economics, Econometrics, Environment, energy and resource economics, Labour
economics, Health economics, Financial economics, game theory, international
economics, macroeconomics, monetary economics, public economics, political economy
Developing new theory
As a result of research in economic sciences, new theories can be developed to explain
emerging or existing economic phenomenon
...

Economic growth and development
Economics of the developed countries are different from that of developing countries
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Interdisciplinary studies

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Economics plays an important role in many other disciplines, such as political science,
public policy, demographics, finance, banking, law, management, agriculture &
environmental studies, and anthropology
...
The quest for knowledge is the basic principle behind research
...
The promotion of
research in a huge and diverse country like India will help the nation evolve as a
knowledge reservoir in the international arena
...
Normative Economics: An Overview
Positive economics and normative economics are two standard branches of modern
economics
...

•

Positive economics describes and explains various economic phenomena or the
"what is" scenario
...
"
• While positive economics is based on fact and cannot be approved or disapproved,
normative economics is based on value judgments
...

Positive Economics
Positive economics is a stream of economics that focuses on the description,
quantification, and explanation of economic developments, expectations, and associated
phenomena
...
It
attempts to establish any cause-and-effect relationships or behavioral associations which
can help ascertain and test the development of economics theories
...
These statements can be measured against tangible
evidence or historical instances
...

Here's an example of a positive economic statement: "Government-provided healthcare
increases public expenditures
...
Its validity can be proven (or disproven) by studying healthcare spending
where governments provide healthcare
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Its goal is to summarize people's desirability (or the
lack thereof) to various economic developments, situations, and programs by asking or
quoting what should happen or what ought to be
...
Normative
economics statements are rigid and prescriptive in nature
...

An example of a normative economic statement is: "The government should provide basic
healthcare to all citizens
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Importance of Positive and Normative Economics
Common observations indicate that discussions around public policies typically involve
normative economic statements
...

Though normative statements are generalized and subjective in nature, they act as the
necessary channels for out-of-the-box thinking
...
But normative economics cannot be the sole basis for decision-making
on key economic fronts
...
Coupled with positive economics, normative economics may
be useful in establishing, generating, and fulfilling new ideas and theories for different
economic goals and perspectives
...
Nonetheless, numerous
policies on issues ranging from international trade to welfare are at least partially based
on normative economics
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These two ways of deriving economic generalizations are now explained in brief:
(1) Deductive Method of Economic Analysis:
The deductive method is also named as analytical, abstract or prior method
...

For instance, if we accept the general proposition that man is entirely motivated by selfinterest
...

The classical and neo-classical school of economists notably, Ricardo, Senior, Cairnes,
J
...
Mill, Malthus, Marshall, Pigou, applied the deductive method in their economic
investigations
...

(ii) Defining of terms: The next step in this direction is to define clearly the technical
terms used analysis
...

(iii) Deducing hypothesis from the assumptions: The third step in deriving
generalizations is deducing hypothesis from the assumptions taken
...
(Their inverse relationship between price and quantity demanded of a
good is a well established generalization)
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It is less time consuming and less expensive
...

(iii) There being limited scope of experimentation, the method helps in deriving economic
theories
...

Demerits of Deductive Method:
It is true that deductive method is simple and precise, underlying assumptions are valid
...
More often the assumptions turn out to be based on half truths or have no relation
to reality
...

(ii) Professor Learner describes the deductive method as ‘armchair’ analysis
...
As such deductive reasoning is not applicable
universally
...
It requires a great deal of care to avoid bad
logic or faulty economic reasoning
...
They advocated a more realistic method for economic analysis
known as inductive method
...
It involves the process of reasoning from particular facts to
general principle
...

In this method, data is collected about a certain economic phenomenon
...

For example, we observe 200 persons in the market
...
From this
observation, we can easily draw conclusions that people like to buy from a cheaper shop
unless they are guided by patriotism or they are devoid of commonsense
...

(ii) Formation of hypothesis
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(iv) Verification
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(ii) In order to test the economic principles, method makes statistical techniques
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(iii) Inductive method is dynamic
...

(iv) Induction method also helps in future investigations
...

(ii) The collection of data itself is not an easy task
...
The results, therefore, may
differ even with the same problem
...

Conclusion:
The above analysis reveals that both the methods have weaknesses
...
Modern economists are of the view that both these
methods are complimentary
...
Alfred Marshall has rightly
remarked:
“Inductive and Deductive methods are both needed for scientific thought, as the right and
left foot are both needed for walking”
...

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Problems of research in social sciences; Quantification,
organizing controlled experiments, replication and verification
The social sciences deal with human beings
...
The usual criticism is that
social science research largely emanates from ill conceived notion of research and its
application in complex human setting
...
The issue is that of a careful balance
between quantitative and qualitative techniques of research depending on the nature of the
problem, sample and the nature of the data
...
Social scientists will need to carry out observations as carefully as are
done in natural sciences
...
This lack of ‘quantifying’ and ‘generalising’ of data, quite often becomes a
drawback in social research as well
...
We may talk of
growing indiscipline, but unless we can measure it, we cannot generalise the concept
...
Social sciences have not
been able to establish generalisations equivalent to theories of the natural sciences or, to
predict events accurately
...
In fact, there are several limitations involved
in the application of the scientific approach in social sciences
...
The tools for
measurement in social sciences are much less perfect and precise than the tools of the
natural sciences
...
We have already pointed out that
an understanding of human behaviour is complicated by the large number of determining
variables acting independently and in interaction
...
Furthermore, these devises permit the researcher to
attribute the variance only to factors operating at the time of measurement
...
Since research in behavioural sciences
including research in education is complicated by these factors, researchers must exercise
caution in making generalisations from their studies
...
If initial findings
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were consistently confirmed, then, one would have more confidence in making broad
generalisations
...
In his “Principles of
Economics”, Paul Samuelson refers to the incapacity of economists to make experiments
...
Just like astronomists or meteorologists,
they usually have to solely use their observation”
...
] there is no laboratory in which
economists can test their hypotheses” 
The main reason is that in economics — just like in any other social sciences — it is very
difficult to claim that an event is the result of one cause only
...
In his first
experimentation, Chamberlin (1948) — one of the pioneers of experimental economics —
stressed that causality was problematic: “it is known that in his choices of methods, the
economist can hardly use laboratory techniques like in natural sciences
...
On the other hand, non intentional variables can’t be held constant
or eliminated in an economics laboratory because the real world of human beings, firms,
markets, and governments cannot be reproduced artificially and controlled”
...
95)
...
In less than half a century, laboratory experiments have known
an extraordinary success among economists
...
The complexities involved in research of human
subjects present problems in ‘control’ that are unparalleled in natural sciences
...
Such control
is not possible with human subjects
...
They try to
identify and control as many of these variables as possible, but the task is very difficult
...
Research methods and
findings are presented to the professional community for other researchers to analyse,
confirm or reject them
...
This characteristic of research, i
...
verifiability, is related to the criteria of
objectivity and precision
...
Through this process, a body of new
knowledge is developed and new questions identified
...
In
qualitative research, verification refers to the mechanisms used during the process
of research to incrementally contribute to ensuring reliability and validity and, thus, the
rigor of a study
...
Verification has a positivist tradition
...

Verifiability is achieved primarily through two different approaches: first, analyzing the
same data on the same sample through alternative analytical tools (statistical methods),
second, replicating the study on a different sample
...

Replication studies infer the same method and methodology being adopted as close to the
original as possible
...
They serve to 'bring the original study up-to-date'
...
Any piece of research must be repeated by other investigators before
its findings can be considered as reasonably well established
...

The importance and prevalence of replication research varies greatly depending on the
discipline and research area
...
In social sciences, such as
sociology, psychology, and economics, as well as linguistics, conducting replication
research contributes to “the essence of the scientific method” involving “observations that
can be repeated and verified by others” (American Psychological Association , 2010 : 4)
...

Considering the relevance and influence of economic research beyond academia—in a
field like evidence-based policy making, for instance—as well as the increasing impact
(measured by extramural citations) of empirical economic research on other scientific
disciplines replication studies are relevant for economics
...

Al finds that between 1974 and 2014 0
...

Difficulties in Replication
A chemist can objectively observe the reaction between two chemicals in a test tube
...
This
replication is much more difficult to achieve in social sciences
...
Social
phenomena are singular events and cannot be repeated for purposes of observation
...


Criteria of good research/ Characteristics of Scientific Research
It is expected on general or common ground that scientific research has to satisfy the
following criteria:
1
...

The research procedure used should be described in sufficient detail to permit
another researcher to repeat the research for further advancement, keeping the
continuity of what has already been attained
...


The procedural design of the research should be carefully planned to yield results
that are as objective as possible
...


The researcher should report with complete frankness, flaws in procedural design
and estimate their effects upon the findings
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5
...
The validity and reliability of the
data should be checked carefully
...

6
...

Qualities of a Good Research
7
...
Systematic characteristic of the research does not rule out creative thinking
but it certainly does reject the use of guessing in arriving at conclusions
...


Good Research is Logical: This implies that research is guided by the rules
of logical reasoning and the logical process of induction and deduction are of great
value in carrying out research
...
In fact,
logical reasoning makes research more meaningful in the context of decision making
...

Good Research is Empirical: It implies that research is related basically to
one or more aspects of a real situation and deals with concrete data that provides a basis
for external validity to research results
...

Good Research is Replicable: This characteristic allows research results to
be verified by replicating the study and thereby building a sound basis for decisions
...


Evaluation of Good Research
A good scientific research has to satisfy several requisites
...
This means, in some cases the formulation of a hypothesis, in
the proper meaning of this expression- a trial hypothesis that will point the
investigation
...


Unequivocal definition of terms and concepts and statistical units and measures,
so that others will understand exactly, and be able to repeat the analysis and test the
generalizations
...


ii
...


iv
...

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v
...


Rigorous and exacting experimental or statistical procedure in summarizing the
data and in isolating the attributes or variables and measuring their relationships and
inter- effects
...


Statement in confusing terms of the exact conclusion that warranted for the cases
examined
...


Sound logical reasoning as to the bearing of these conclusions on the trial
hypothesis and in the formulation of generalizations
...


Statement of conclusions or generalizations definitely and clearly so that others
will be able to check them
...

x
...


Complete and careful reporting of the data and the methods of analysis so that
others can check the analysis, or test the generalizations with new sets of data
...


Research methods: Social survey, case study, experimental method,
Econometric method (Definition, features, importance and limitations)
Case study
Case research is an in-depth investigation of a problem in one or more real-life settings
(case sites) over an extended period of time
...
Case studies can
be positivist in nature (for hypotheses testing) or interpretive (for theory building)
...
It is a method of study in depth
rather than breadth
...
The case study deals with the
processes that take place and their interrelationship
...

The object of the case study method is to locate the factors that account for the behaviourpatterns of the given unit as an integrated totality
...
Young describes case study
as “a comprehensive study of a social unit be that unit a person, a group, a social
institution, a district or a community
...
Analysis tends to be qualitative in nature, but heavily
contextualized and nuanced
...
Under this method the researcher can take one single social unit or more of such units
for his study purpose; he may even take a situation to study the same comprehensively
...
Here the selected unit is studied intensively i
...
, it is studied in minute details
...

3
...
Through this method we try to understand the complex of factors that are operative
within a social unit as an integrated totality
...
Mere
quantitative information is not collected
...
As such, case study deepens our perception and
gives us a clear insight into life
...
The objective of the
study may be to suggest ways to reform the criminal
...
In respect of the case study method an effort is made to know the mutual interrelationship of causal factors
...
Under case study method the behaviour pattern of the concerning unit is studied
directly and not by an indirect and abstract approach
...
Case study method results in fruitful hypotheses along with the data which may be
helpful in testing them, and thus it enables the generalised knowledge to get richer and
richer
...

Advantages: There are several advantages of the case study method that follow from the
various characteristics outlined above
...

(i) Being an exhaustive study of a social unit, the case study method enables us to
understand fully the behaviour pattern of the concerned unit
...
It gets at behaviour directly and not by an indirect and abstract approach
...

(iii) This method enables the researcher to trace out the natural history of the social unit
and its relationship with the social factors and the forces involved in its surrounding
environment
...
Case studies, thus, enable the generalised knowledge to get richer and
richer
...

This is the reason why case study method is being frequently used, particularly in social
researches
...

(vii) The researcher can use one or more of the several research methods under the case
study method depending upon the prevalent circumstances
...

(viii) Case study method has proved beneficial in determining the nature of units to be
studied along with the nature of the universe
...

(ix) This method is a means to well understand the past of a social unit because of its
emphasis of historical analysis
...

(x) Case studies constitute the perfect type of sociological material as they represent a real
record of personal experiences which very often escape the attention of most of the
skilled researchers using other techniques
...

(xii) This method makes possible the study of social changes
...
This also facilitates the drawing of inferences and helps in
maintaining the continuity of the research process
...

(xiii) Case study techniques are indispensable for therapeutic and administrative purposes
...
Case data are quite useful for diagnosis, therapy and other practical case
problems
...
However, interpretation of findings may depend on the observational and
integrative ability of the researcher,
2
...
findings from a single case site may not be readily generalized to other case sites
...
Case situations are seldom comparable and as such the information gathered in
case studies is often not comparable
...

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5
...
” Real information is often not collected because
the subjectivity of the researcher does enter in the collection of information in a
case study
...
The danger of false generalisation is always there in view of the fact that no set
rules are followed in collection of the information and only few units are studied
...
It consumes more time and requires lot of expenditure
...

8
...

9
...

10
...
Sampling is also not possible under a case study method
...
Response of the investigator is an important limitation of the case study method
...
In case the same is not true, then consequences follow
...

Conclusion: Despite the above stated limitations, we find that case studies are being
undertaken in several disciplines, particularly in sociology, as a tool of scientific research
in view of the several advantages indicated earlier
...
Besides, case studies, in modern times, can be conducted in
such a manner that the data are amenable to quantification and statistical treatment
...


Social Surveys
Social Surveys are a quantitative, positivist research method consisting of structured
questionnaires and interviews
...
A Social
Survey involves obtaining information in a standardised from large groups of people
...

Surveys are carried out by a wide range of organisations such as government departments,
schools and colleges, businesses, charities, and market research and consumer groups
...

19

Types of Social Survey and Key Terms
Social Surveys are typically questionnaires designed to collect information from large
numbers of people in standardised form
...
Most questionnaires will have a
high degree of structure, and it is difficult to see how one could have an ‘unstructured
questionnaire’
...

Pre-coded, or closed question questionnaires are those in which the respondent has to
choose from a limited range of responses
...
This later form of scaling is known as a ‘Likert Scale’ (basically a
strength of feeling scale)
...

Open-ended question questionnaires are less structured than pre-coded questionnaires
...
Open questions allow individuals to write their own answers or
dictate them to interviewers
...
The most obvious difference choice is between whether respondents complete the
surveys themselves, making it a ‘self-completion questionnaire’, or whether the
researcher fills in the information, effectively making it a structured interview
...

• Simply putting the questionnaire online and leaving it to be completed
• Doing a structured interview in person, either on the street, house to house
...

20

Structured interviews with closed questions
One obvious way of improving the response rate to questionnaires is to conduct a face to
face interview by paying a researcher to read out the questionnaire to the respondent and
writing down their responses on their behalf
...

On the downside, structured interviews are more time consuming
...

Structured Questionnaires and Interviewer Bias
At a more theoretical level, having an interviewer present opens up the possibility of
interviewer bias occurring, where the presence of the researcher interferes with the results
obtained
...

If one is researching the prevalence of domestic violence against women, for example,
one might reasonably expect a female victim to give different responses to a female
researcher rather than a male researcher
...
Each of these nuances may affect the results, meaning the
reliability of the research is compromised because it is difficult for another researcher to
repeat the exact conditions under which previous interviews took place
...

The Theoretical Advantages of Social Surveys
Detachment, Objectivity and Validity
Positivists favour questionnaires because they are a detached and objective (unbiased)
method, where the sociologist’s personal involvement with respondents is kept to a
minimum
...

For example, based on government statistics on educational achievement we know that
white boys on Free School Meals achieve
at a significantly lower level than Chinese girls on Free School Meals
...
Good questionnaire design and appropriate
sampling would enable us to test out this hypothesis
...

Representativeness
Questionnaires allow the researcher to collect information from a large number of people,
so the results should be more representative of the wider population than with more
qualitative methods
...

Reliability
Questionnaires are generally seen as one of the more reliable methods of data collection –
if repeated by another researcher, then they should give similar results
...

With self-completion questions, especially those sent by post, there is no researcher
present to influence the results
...
For this reason, questionnaires are a good method for conducting
longitudinal research where change over time is measured
...
It is difficult to see how any other
research method could provide 10s of millions of responses as is the case with the UK
national census
...

With self-completion questionnaires there is no need to recruit and train interviewers,
which reduces cost
...
With online questionnaires, precoded questions can be updated live
...

It is also a relatively unobtrusive method, given the detachment of the researcher, and it is
quite an easy matter for respondents to just ignore questionnaires if they don’t want to
complete them
...
The result is
that the respondent may not be able to express themselves in the way that want to
...
This
is especially true where very complex topics are involved – If I tick ‘yes’ that I am
Christian’ – this could mean a range of things – from my being baptised but not practising
or really believing to being a devout Fundamentalist
...

Thirdly, researchers may not be present to check whether respondents are giving socially
desirable answers, or simply lying, or even to check who is actually completing the
questionnaire
...
For example,
Shere Hite’s (1991) study of ‘love, passion, and emotional violence’ in the America sent
out 100, 000 questionnaires but only 4
...

All self-completion questionnaires also suffer from the problem of a self-selecting sample
which makes the research unrepresentative – certain types of people are more likely to
complete questionnaires – literate people for example, people with plenty of time, or
people who get a positive sense of self-esteem when completing questionnaires
...

Although questionnaires are a relatively cheap form of gathering data, it might be
necessary to offer incentives for people to return them
...

Ethical Issues with questionnaires
They are best avoided when researching sensitive topics
...
The combination of the theory of Economics, Methods of Statistics and
Mathematics is referred to as Econometrics [Measurement in Economics]
...

This provides an empirical content [numerical estimates] to various economic
relationships
...

The goal of an applied econometric study might be to test a hypothesis – for example, to
determine how much of the ‘gender pay gap’ can be explained by differences in education
and experience
...
Or econometric techniques could be used to generate
forecasts, like the Bank of England uses to determine the level that the base interest rate
should be set each month
...
Koutsoyiannis
We can distinguish three main goals of econometrics:
1) Analysis i
...
testing of economic theory
2) Policy making i
...
supplying numerical estimates of coefficients of economic
relationships, which may be then used for decision making
3) Forecasting, i
...
using numerical estimates of the coefficients in order to forecast
the future values of the economic magnitudes
...
Successful econometric applications
should really include some combinations of all three aims
...
Some basic assumptions were
set regarding the motivation of individual economic units
...

Econometrics aims primarily at the verification of economic theories
...
e
...
Today any theory,
regardless of its elegance in exposition or its sound logical consistency, cannot be
established and generally accepted without some empirical testing
...
The knowledge o the numerical value of these coefficients is very
important for the decisions of firms as well as for the formulation of economic
policy of the government
...

3) Forecasting the future values of economic magnitudes
In formulating policy decisions it is essential to be able to forecast the value of the
economic magnitudes
...

For eg, suppose that the government wants to decide its employment policy
...
With econometric techniques we may obtain such an
estimate of the level of employment
...
If the forecast value of
employment is higher than the expected labour force, the government must take
different measures in order to avoid inflation
...

LIMITATIONS OF ECONOMETRICS
The major limitations of econometrics are:
1) Econometric modeling depends excessively on statistical causality which may exist
even when there is no actual causality
...

And if the assumptions are not true, the model becomes invalid and descriptively
incorrect
...
But there is always the possibility that there are other
variables – of vital importance and although perhaps unobservable and non-additive, that
were not considered for the model
...
A perusal of the leading econom(etr)ic
journals shows that most econometricians still concentrate on fixed parameter models and
that parameter-values estimated in specific spatio-temporal contexts are presupposed to
be exportable to totally different contexts
...


Experimental Method
The Experimental Method collects data through well designed and controlled statistical
experiments
...
This calls for an experiment, in which all variables
other than manure that affect yield, like water, quality of soil, quality of seed, use of
insecticides and so on, need to be controlled so as to evaluate the effect of different levels
of manure on the yield
...
Two branches of statistics –
The Design and Analysis of Experiments and Analysis of Variance — deal with these
...
Eg Imagine taking 2 samples of the same
plant and exposing one of them to sunlight, while the other is kept away from sunlight
...

If after the duration of the research, we find out that sample A grows and sample B dies,
even though they are both regularly wetted and given the same treatment
...

What is Experimental Research?
Experimental research is a scientific approach to research, where one or more
independent variables are manipulated and applied to one or more dependent variables to
measure their effect on the latter
...

The experimental research method is widely used in physical and social sciences,
psychology, and education
...


27

Mostly related to a laboratory test procedure, experimental research designs involve
collecting quantitative data and performing statistical analysis on them during research
...

What are The Types of Experimental Research Design?
The types of experimental research design are determined by the way the researcher
assigns subjects to different conditions and groups
...

Pre-experimental Research Design
In pre-experimental research design, either a group or various dependent groups are
observed for the effect of the application of an independent variable which is presumed to
cause change
...

Although very practical, experimental research is lacking in several areas of the trueexperimental criteria
...

The study is carried out after some treatment which was presumed to cause change,
making it a posttest study
...

With the former being administered at the beginning of treatment and later at the end
...
All the groups are post-tested, and the observed differences between the groups are
assumed to be a result of the treatment
...
Therefore, the quasi-experimental
research bearing a resemblance to the true experimental research, but not the same
...

28

This is very common in educational research, where administrators are unwilling to
allow the random selection of students for experimental samples
...

True Experimental Research Design
The true experimental research design relies on statistical analysis to approve or disprove
a hypothesis
...

The true experimental research design must contain a control group, a variable that can be
manipulated by the researcher, and the distribution must be random
...
After close observation, both groups are post-tested,
and a conclusion is drawn from the difference between these groups
...
After close observation, both groups are post-tested
to measure the degree of change in each group
...
In this case, the randomly selected subjects are
placed into 4 groups
...

Examples of Experimental Research
Experimental research examples are different, depending on the type of experimental
research design that is being considered
...

Administering Exams After The End of Semester
During the semester, students in a class are lectured on particular courses and an exam is
administered at the end of the semester
...


29

Only one group of carefully selected subjects are considered in this research, making it a
pre-experimental research design example
...

Further making it easy for us to conclude that it is a one-shot case study research
...
This way, organizations can
determine an employee's skill set at the point of employment
...
Further evaluation is carried
out at the end of each training to test the impact of the training on employee skills, and
test for improvement
...
This is a
pretest-posttest control group experimental research example
...
Imagine a case whereby the students assigned to each
teacher is carefully selected probably due to personal request by parents or due to
stubbornness and smartness
...
By
evaluating the effectiveness of each teacher's teaching method this way, we may conclude
after a post-test has been carried out
...
For
example, a very smart student will grab more easily than his or her peers irrespective of
the method of teaching
...
The
dependent variables are the variables being treated or manipulated and are sometimes
called the subject of the research
...
Extraneous variables, on the other hand, are other factors affecting the
experiment that may also contribute to the change
...
Many experiments are carried out in
the laboratory, where control can be exerted on the extraneous variables, thereby
eliminating them
...
The choice of setting used
in research depends on the nature of the experiment being carried out
...
g
...

Why Use Experimental Research Design?
Experimental research design can be majorly used in physical sciences, social sciences,
education, and psychology
...

Some uses of experimental research design are highlighted below
...
In most cases, rather than directly using patients as the research subject,
researchers take a sample of the bacteria from the patient's body and are treated
with the developed antibacterial

The changes observed during this period are recorded and evaluated to determine its
effectiveness
...

•

•

Education: Asides from science subjects like Chemistry and Physics which
involves teaching students how to perform experimental research, it can also be
used in improving the standard of an academic institution
...

Human Behavior: Social scientists are the ones who mostly use experimental
research to test human behaviour
...


The other person is placed in a room with a few other people, enjoying human interaction
...


31

What are the Disadvantages of Experimental Research?
•

•

•

•
•

•
•
•

It is highly prone to human error due to its dependency on variable control which
may not be properly implemented
...

Exerting control of extraneous variables may create unrealistic situations
...
This may also
result in researchers controlling the variables to suit his or her personal preferences
...
So much time is spent on testing dependent
variables and waiting for the effect of the manipulation of dependent variables to
manifest
...

It is very risky and may have ethical complications that cannot be ignored
...

Experimental research results are not descriptive
...

Human responses in experimental research can be difficult to measure
...
They are used in different cases, depending on the
type of research being carried out
...
It
measures and observes the variables of interest without changing existing
conditions
...
No matter the
kind of absurd behavior that is exhibited by the subject during this period, it's condition
will not be changed
...

•

Simulations: This procedure uses a mathematical, physical, or computer models to
replicate a real-life process or situation
...


This method is commonly used in engineering and operational research
•

Surveys: A survey is a tool used to gather relevant data about the characteristics of
a population, and is one of the most common data collection tools
...

Surveys can be shared with the respondents both physically and electronically
...

Conclusion
Experimental research designs are often considered to be the standard in research designs
...

In this research design, one or more subjects or dependent variables are randomly
assigned to different treatments (i
...
independent variables manipulated by the researcher)
and the results are observed to conclude
...

Experimental research is suitable for research whose goal is to examine cause-effect
relationships, e
...
explanatory research
...


LIMITATIONS OF SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH
Limitations of social science research can easily be understood by comparing it with
physical science research
...

Difference between
Science Research

Social

ScienceResearch and Physical

Social sciences are not exact like Physical sciences i
...
physics, chemistry, etc
...
The approach in Social Science studies is evaluative
...
For example, economics is defined as a
study of mankind in ordinary business of life
...
It is, therefore, more difficult to
comprehend and predict human behaviour than the physical phenomena
...
It is said that
human behaviour is more complex and more mysterious than that of nuclear forces
...

1
...

2
...

3
...

4
...
Hence
the study of truth becomes infinitely variable, unique in each case and often nonmeasurable, whereas in physical sciences, it is repetitive, simplified and observable
...
A physicist can exclude outside‟ disturbances like wars, floods and
famines, political instability from the system he is studying, whereas an economist
cannot exclude the effect of such disturbances on the subject matter under investigation
...
His system is open‟
to
all
the
socio-economic-politicaltechnological- psychological changes
...

The work of a physical scientist is confined within the four walls of a laboratory
...
Hence, the scope of work
is too vast
...
A
scientist can conduct controlled experiment repeatedly; a social scientist cannot do it,
because society is not amenable directly for experimentation
...
It is
like two plus two equal to more than or less than four
...
Further, it is very difficult to assess the cause and effect
relationship between different forces in social sciences
...
For example, in period of rising
prices any increase in the price of a commodity, increases its demand instead of reducing
it
...

Amongst the social scientists, economists frequently disagree among themselves
...
Such things do not happen
in the case of physical sciences
...


Metho of
d study

Deductive method is Inductive method is
used in social science used
in
physical
research
...


Nature
Laws

Social sciences studies
laws related human The physical sciences
social life and human studies physical laws in
natural phenomena
...


of

human Based on the Laws of
the Nature
...
a physical relation
...


The basic elements of
the physical sciences
are
the
physical
elements ruled by
natural laws
...
There
are no standard units of
measurement
...

There are certain and
standard micro units of
measurement
...


Objectivity

Objectivity is attained
in
physical
Objectivity is achieved easily
whereas
with difficulty in social sciences
sciences
...

subjectivity
...

y
Society
is their
laboratory
...

Because of their lesser
accuracy,
social
make
Predictability sciences can
comparatively fewer
predictions
...


Physical sciences have
their
laboratories
because they can easily
be made for studying
physical objects
...

The physical sciences
can
make
more
predictions due to a
higher degree of
accuracy
...


Tradition in the community is a powerful retarding influence

2
...


3
...


Problems with research in Indian institutions
Our education system faces a number of constraints and challenges—quality research is
one of them
...
Not many institutes have mandatory research goals for
36

individual faculty, and most do not have adequate systems or infrastructure for quality
research
...

Problems faced by Researchers in India
Researchers in India particularly those engaged in research in Social Science face the
following problems
...

2
...

4
...

6
...


The lack of scientific training in the methodology of research
...
departments
...
is not willing to supply basic documents
...

Another difficulty is insufficient secretarial assistance
Library management is not satisfactory in many places
...
The
research Design: Steps in Research Process & Structure of Research ReportIdentification of research problem- review of literature- framing research questionshypothesis formation
...
It can be defined as a
scientific and systematic enquiry either to discover new facts or to verify old facts, their
sequences, interrelationships, causal explanation and the adherence to natural laws
governing them
...

Research Methodology is a wider term
...


Research Methods, comprises of research techniques and tools
...
Tools are the
instruments that are used for data collection and its analysis
...
Census and
survey methods are mainly used to collect quantitative data
...
Data analysis involves
a set of statistical techniques used in establishing relationships between the different
variables and in evaluating the accuracy of the results
...
Any one of these three elements by itself may not be adequate in many
situations
...
Similarly, data can not be explained
without comprehending the philosophy or perspective behind the characteristics
underlying the variables to which the data relates
...


Importance of Theory
Theories are formulated to explain, predict, and understand phenomena and, in many
cases, to challenge and extend existing knowledge within the limits of critical
bounding assumptions
...
The theoretical framework introduces and
describes the theory that explains why the research problem under study exists
...
The theoretical framework must demonstrate an
understanding of theories and concepts that are relevant to the topic of your research
paper and that relate to the broader areas of knowledge being considered
...
You must review course readings and pertinent research studies for
theories and analytic models that are relevant to the research problem you are
investigating
...

The theoretical framework strengthens the study in the following ways:

38

1
...

2
...
Guided
by a relevant theory, you are given a basis for your hypotheses and choice of
research methods
...
Articulating the theoretical assumptions of a research study forces you to address
questions of why and how
...

4
...
A theoretical
framework specifies which key variables influence a phenomenon of interest and
highlights the need to examine how those key variables might differ and under what
circumstances
...

IMPORTANCE OF HYPOTHESIS
A research hypothesis is a specific, clear, and testable proposition or predictive statement
about the possible outcome of a scientific research study based on a particular property of
a population, such as presumed differences between groups on a particular variable or
relationships between variables
...
A quantitative
researcher usually states an a priori expectation about the results of the study in one or
more research hypotheses before conducting the study, because the design of the research
study and the planned research design often is determined by the stated hypotheses
...

Therefore,
▪ Hypothesis is a logical prediction of certain occurrences without the support of
empirical confirmation or evidence
...
e
...

Characteristics of hypothesis:
Hypothesis must possess the following characteristics:
(i) Hypothesis should be clear and precise
...

39

(ii) Hypothesis should be capable of being tested
...
Some prior study may be done
by researcher in order to make hypothesis a testable one
...

(iii) Hypothesis should state relationship between variables, if it happens to be a relational
hypothesis
...
A researcher must
remember that narrower hypotheses are generally more testable and he should develop
such hypotheses
...
But one must remember that simplicity of
hypothesis has nothing to do with its significance
...
e
...
In other words, it should be one which judges
accept as being the most likely
...
One should not
use even an excellent hypothesis, if the same cannot be tested in reasonable time for one
cannot spend a life-time collecting data to test it
...
This
means that by using the hypothesis plus other known and accepted generalizations, one
should be able to deduce the original problem condition
...

Importance or Role of Hypothesis
A hypothesis functions as an answer to the research question and guides data collection
and interpretation
...

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

It becomes the start point for the investigation
...

It helps in directing the inquiries in the right directions
...

It helps to assume the probability of research failure and progress
...

It helps in data analysis and measure the validity and reliability of the research
...

It helps to describe research study in concrete terms rather than theoretical terms
...
Simple Hypothesis:
▪
▪
▪

A Simple hypothesis is also known as composite hypothesis
...

It predicts relationship between two variables i
...
the dependent and the independent
variable

2
...


3
...


4
...
It is usually denoted by H0
...
Alternative Hypothesis:
▪

An alternative hypothesis is a statement which states some statistical significance
between two phenomena
...


6
...


7
...


Although there are different types of hypothesis, the most commonly and used hypothesis
are Null hypothesis and alternate hypothesis
...
Apart from
specifying the logical structure of data, research design also test and eliminate alternative
explanation
...
The various attributes of people, objects or concepts are being
increasingly included in explanation of human behaviour in Economics
...
“A research design is the arrangement of
conditions for collection and analysis of data in a manner that aims to combine relevance
to the research purpose with economy in procedure
...
As such
the design includes an outline of what the researcher will do from writing the hypothesis
and its operational implications to the final analysis of data
...

From what has been stated above, we can state the important features of a research
design as under:
(i) It is a plan that specifies the sources and types of information relevant to the research
problem
...

(iii) It also includes the time and cost budgets since most studies are done under these two
constraints
...

NEED FOR RESEARCH DESIGN
Research design stands for advance planning of the methods to be adopted for collecting
the relevant data and the techniques to be used in their analysis, keeping in view the
objective of the research and the availability of staff, time and money
...
Research design, in fact, has a great bearing on the reliability of the results arrived
at and as such constitutes the firm foundation of the entire edifice of the research work
...

The importance which this problem deserves is not given to it
...
In fact, they may even give
misleading conclusions
...
It is, therefore, imperative that an efficient and
appropriate design must be prepared before starting research operations
...
Such a design can even be given to others for their comments
and critical evaluation
...

43

FEATURES OF A GOOD DESIGN
A good design is often characterised by adjectives like flexible, appropriate, efficient,
economical and so on
...
The design
which gives the smallest experimental error is supposed to be the best design in many
investigations
...
Thus, the question
of good design is related to the purpose or objective of the research problem and also with
the nature of the problem to be studied
...
One single design cannot serve the purpose of all types of research problems
...

If the research study happens to be an exploratory or a formulative one, wherein the major
emphasis is on discovery of ideas and insights, the research design most appropriate must
be flexible enough to permit the consideration of many different aspects of a phenomenon
...
Studies involving the testing of a
hypothesis of a causal relationship between variables require a design which will permit
inferences about causality in addition to the minimisation of bias and maximisation of
reliability
...
It is only on the basis of its primary function that a study can be
categorised either as an exploratory or descriptive or hypothesis-testing study and
accordingly the choice of a research design may be made in case of a particular study
...

DIFFERENT RESEARCH DESIGNS
44

There are different ‘types of research’ depending on their nature and field of specialization
...
) is possible, it is necessary to recognize
that there may be overlapping features rendering such a classification less perfect to that
extent
...

A variable which can be measured can take values or scores either in quantitative or
qualitative terms
...
can be measured and expressed in quantitative terms
...
g
...
) are attributes on which a choice can be expressed (and a
score assigned) depending on the possible alternatives or choices
...
on which responses can only be
categorized or grouped are ‘qualitative variables’
...
Even variables which are expressed in qualitative terms can be counted
whereupon their total numbers become quantified expressions
...
In actual research (particularly research in the field of
social sciences), it is important to note that variables of both the nature normally co-exist
...
The type of research would also vary depending on the objectives
of the study
...
With this
background, we can now proceed to know the distinctions between different types of
research
...
The former i
...
, theoretical research can also
be considered as ‘fundamental research’ as its outcome serves as a foundation for all
subsequent development in the field
...
It, thus, aims at
obtaining knowledge of the logical processes involved in a phenomenon
...
Such a
research may either verify the old theory or establish a new one
...
Fundamental research is essentially positive in nature
...
It is, thus, applied to practical situations or contexts
...
It is useful to test the theories developed
empirically and can as a result also contribute to improving the tools and techniques of
measurement
...
Illustrations of applied research in economics can be measurement of poverty,
employment, rural development, agriculture, environment, etc
...
It aims to describe the
state of affairs as it exists
...
Survey methods of all kinds including comparative and correlational
methods are used in descriptive research studies
...
In descriptive research studies, the
researchers have no control over variable
...
Descriptive research deals with questions like ‘how does X vary with Y? or
‘how does malnutrition vary with age and sex?, etc
...
The researcher uses the facts or information
already available to analyse and make a critical evaluation of the data/information
...
The objective of quantitative research is
to develop mathematical models, and to test hypotheses
...

• The pursuit of identifying universal laws
...

• The possibility and necessacity of value free research
...

• An emphasis on deductive research via falsifiable hypothesis
...

In contrast, Qualitative Research captures a set of purposes associated with meaning and
interpretation
...
The key attributes associated with qualitative research are:
• A belief in a constructed reality, multiple realities, co-existence realities
...

46

• Impossibility to separate the researcher from the research subject
...

• The impossibility to generalize research findings beyond the limits of the immediate
context
...

• The explicit focus on inductive, exploratory research approaches
...

• Analyses holistic system
...
It is generally used by
philosophers and thinkers to develop new concepts or to reinterpret the existing theories
...
It is data based
...
This type of research is particularly useful
when validation or verification of an aspect is required
...
Exploratory research aims at developing the
hypothesis rather than testing a pre-conceived hypothetical contention or notion
...
Historical research utilizes existing documents to study events of
the past
...
Experimental research aims at
identifying the causal factors by means of experiments
...
Such research addresses the question of the
efficiency of a programme and are useful in taking policy decisions on issues like whether
the programme is effective and/or needs modification or re-orientation? Whether it should
be continued?
The Researcher can design his research depends upon the nature of the research being
conducted
...
Given the research
question or theory, what type of evidence is needed to answer the question (or to test the
theory) in a convincing way – constitutes the essence of the research design
...
While constructing a building, the first
decision to be arrived at is: whether we need a high rise office building, a factory, a school
or a residential apartment etc
...
Similarly, a social
researcher needs to be clear about the research questions and then the research design will
flow from the research questions
...
Obtaining relevant evidence entails specifying the type of evidence we need to
answer the research question, to test a theory, to evaluate programme or to accurately
describe some phenomenon
...
g
...
are all
47

subsidiary to what constitute the evidences that need to collect to answer the research
questions
...
Apart from specifying the logical structure of the data, it also aims to test and
eliminate alternative explanation of results
...
e
...
e
...
e
...
e
...

RESEARCH DESIGN VS
...
The research methods are made of
data collection and techniques of data analysis whereas the research design is a logical
structure of an enquiry
...
How the data are collected is irrelevant to the logic of
the research design
...
For example equating cross sectional designs with questionnaires or
case studies with participant observation result in evaluation of research designs against
the strengths and weakness of the method rather than their ability to draw relatively
unambiguous conclusion or to select between rival plausible hypothesis
...

Broadly Research Methods are put under two categories: (i) Mono Methods, (ii) Mixed
Methods
...
Since quantitative methods are associated with positivist and
postpositivist paradigm, quantitative method is also termed as (QN) method research
...

Quantitative Methods
The researcher using this approach tests theory through empirical observations and inclines
to establish cause and effect relationship
...
The variables that can be
measured are emphasized
...
Experimental research design is used to make the logical
structure of the research study
...

Qualitative Methods
Under qualitative approach, a researcher starts with observation as a basis for generating
theory and concentrates on meaning of observations
...
He allows interview topics to emerge during conversation and listens
to others’ interpretation and perspectives
...
are used as tools to collect
data
...

Mixed Methods
The combination of at least one qualitative and at least one quantitative component related
to measurement scale, tools of data collection or data analysis technique in a single
research study/project is known as mixed methods research
...

• Employment of two or more methods of data collection
...

• Employment of two or more data analysis techniques for example, content analysis and
factor analysis
...
The rationale for mixed method design research is to take
the best of qualitative (QL) and quantitative methods (QN) and combine them
...

In order to avoid misconceptions and mistakes while deciding the research design
issues, the following points need to be kept in mind
...
We need to focus our efforts more explicitly on
embedding and justifying our selected methods according to our research questions, data
needs, theoretical grounding and research design
...
e
...

c) We ought to be more aware of the actual inductive and deductive analytic phases of our
research projects
...
He must give due weight to various points such as the type of universe
49

and its nature, the objective of his study, the resource list or the sampling frame, desired
standard of accuracy and the like when taking a decision in respect of the design for his
research project
...
However, this does not mean that these steps are always in a given sequence
...
The steps are not mutually exclusive
...
The steps are briefly elaborated below:
Defining the research problem: Selecting and properly defining the research problem is
the first foremost step
...
It is
important to identify the general area of interest or a particular aspect of a subject matter
desired to be studied
...
Essentially two steps are involved in formulating the
research problem: (i) Understanding the problem thoroughly; and (ii) rephrasing it into
meaningful terms from operational/analytical point of view
...
Apart from the topic, following points need to be stated clearly in the
research problem:
1) rationale behind the research problem;
2) the aims and objectives as per the requirements of the research questions
...

The different steps to be followed while defining the research problem, therefore are:
• statement of the problem first in a general way to be later sharpened with the help of
literature review,
• understanding the nature of the problem, and
• surveying the available literature
...

• Basic assumptions or postulates relating to the research problem need to be clearly stated
...

• The time-period required and the scope of the study must be duly stated
...

b) Review of Literature: The review of literature is meant to gain insight on the topic and
gain knowledge on the availability of data and other materials on the theme of proposed
area of research
...
(i) literature
relating to the concepts and theory and (ii) empirical literature consisting of findings in
quantitative terms by studies conducted in the area
...
Academic journals, conference proceedings, government
51

reports, books etc
...
With the spread of IT, one can access
a large volume of literature through internet
...
A hypothesis is a tentative statement made which needs to be
tested for its logical and empirical confirmation
...
Hypotheses when empirically tested may either be
accepted or rejected
...
A
hypothesis stated in terms of a relationship between the dependent and independent
variables are suitable for econometric treatment
...
It also helps in
identifying the method of analysis to be used
...
Exploratory or descriptive
research can be carried out even without hypothesis
...
It is the blueprint for the collection, measurement and analysis of
data
...
Data
can be primary or secondary
...

The data already collected by some agency and available in some published form is
secondary
...
Primary data can also be collected by means
of experiments (e
...
, yield under certain conditions, observation at many time points of a
certain phenomena, etc
...
A survey is usually conducted by the canvassing of a questionnaire
...

The principle for classification or categorization of data has to be based on the problem
under study or the hypothesis formulated
...
They must be distinct, separate and mutually exclusive
...
Tabulation is a
means of organizing the responses to facilitate comparisons bringing up the inherent
relations between two or more variables
...
Analysis and inference is usually aided by the application of different statistical
and econometric techniques
...
It
is the ultimate test of one’s analytical ability and communication skills
...
The research report needs to be presented in such a
manner that the readers can grasp the context, methodology and findings easily
...
In the preliminary pages,
the report should indicate the title of the research study, name of the researcher (and his
team members) and the name of the institution and/or the month/year of preparation of the
52

report
...
Towards the end of the ‘preface’, the
important sources/persons can suitably be acknowledged
...
The introductory chapter should contain a clear statement of the objectives of the
study, rationale behind the study, a brief summary of the literature review, hypotheses
tested (if any) and the definitions of the major concepts employed in the study
...
The subsequent parts of the main text,
should present the major aspects of the study arranged in a logical sequence splited into
appropriate sections and subsections
...

The implications of the results of the study should be stated towards the end of the report
...
The conclusion drawn from the study should be clearly related to the
objectives/hypotheses stated in the introductory section
...
The ‘executive summary’ is placed right at
the beginning (i
...
before the introductory chapter) so as to provide a concise picture of the
entire report
...
They usually describe cause and effect relationships between a proposed
mechanism or process (the cause) and our observations (the effect)
...
If hypothesis is generated from a theory, it is called deductive approach
...

Deductive approach: Theory → Hypothesis → Observation → Confirmation
...

In qualitative research, a hypothesis might be framed in terms of social settinghaving
certain features, which through observation, can be confirmed or falsified
...


53

THE NATURE, SOURCES AND TYPES OF DATA
For undertaking any meaningful research in terms of situational assessment, testing of
models, development of theory, evaluation of economic policy, data is essential
...
In any research, the
researcher is expected to state the sources of the data used in the analysis, their definitions,
and methods of collection
...

1) Time Series Data: It is a set of observations on the values that a variable takes at
different times
...
e
...
), weekly (like money supply figures), monthly (i
...
consumer
price index etc
...
e
...
e
...

2) Cross Section Data: Cross-section data are data on one or more variables collected at
the same point of time
...

3) Pooled Data: In pooled data, the elements of both time series and cross section are
clubbed
...

Panel, Longitudinal or Micro Panel Data: This is a special type of pooled data in which
the same cross-sectional (say a family or firm) is surveyed overtime
...
g
...
), an international agency
(e
...
International Monetary Fund (IMF) or a private organization
...

The data collected by the investigator or researcher through field work is termed primary
data
...
under quantitative approach and participant observation, open ended interview, group
discussion, key information etc
...


Meaning:

Writing the research report is the final and very important step in the process of research
work
...
Of course, it requires different type of skills
...
It presents highly specific
information for a clearly targeted audience
...

It is a means of judging the quality of research
...
It provides factual base for
formulating policies and strategies relating to subject matter studied
...

2
...
As a matter of fact even the
most brilliant hypothesis, highly well designed and conducted research study and the
most striking generalizations and findings are of little value; if they are not effectively
communicated to others
...
All this explains the significance of writing research report
...
But the general opinion is in favour of treating the presentation of research
results or the writing of report is the last step in a research study and requires a set of skill
somewhat different from those called for in respect of the earlier stages of research
...

TYPES OF RESEARCH REPORT
Research reports vary greatly in length and type
...
Let us see few details about
some main types of research report:
Technical Report: In the technical report the main emphasis is on (i) the
methodology used, (ii) assumptions made in the course of the study, (iii) the detailed
presentation of the findings
including their limitations and supporting data
...


Summary of results

2
...


Methodology used

4
...


Analysis of data and presentation of findings

6
...


Bibliography & webliography
55

8
...


Index Summary of results

10
...


Methodology used

12
...


Analysis of data and presentation of findings

14
...


Bibliography & webliography

16
...


Index

However, it is to be remembered that even in a technical report, simple presentation and
ready availability of the findings remain an important consideration and as such the
liberal use of charts and diagrams is considered desirable
...
It gives emphasis on simplicity and
attractiveness
...

2)

The format of this report is different from that of a technical report
...
The style may be more journalistic, but precise
...

Interim Report: An interim report is published when there is long time lag
between data collection and the presentation of the results in the case of a sponsored
project
...
This report is
short and may contain either the first results of the analysis or the final outcome of the
analysis of some aspects which are completely analyzed
...
It presents a summary of
the findings of that part of analysis, which has been completed
...
When the findings of a study are of general interest, a summary report is
desirable
...
It also contains large number
of charts and pictures
...
It is a short report which can be published in a newspaper
...
It contains a
brief presentation of the statement of the problem, objectives of study, methods and
5)

56

techniques used and an over-view of the report
...
This abstract is primarily meant for the convenience of
examiner, who can decide whether the study belongs to his area of interest
...
A professional journal
may have its own special format for reporting research
...
In academic fields, the usual
practice is to write the technical report and then prepare several research papers
...
Researches conducted on behalf of Government or private or public
organizations are usually presented in the form of technical report
...
The order of the
headings and sub-headings may vary according to nature and type of research
...


Introductory Items: (Preliminary Pages)

1)

Title page
...


3)

The certificate of the research guide or supervisor
...


5)

Contents
...


7)

List of graphs and charts
...


Abstract or Synopsis
...
(This may include the following items)
...


Theoretical background of the topic
...


Statement of the Problem
...


Review of Literature
...


The Scope of the study
...


Objectives of the study
...


Hypothesis
...

2)

Definition of concepts used
...
Model or Chapter Scheme
...


i
...


Methodology, including overall type and methods used for data

ii
...


iii
...


iv
...


v
...


vi
...


vii
...


viii
...


3)

Results

4)

Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations
...


Concluding Items: (End Matter)

1)

Bibliography and Webliography
...


i
...

ii
...


iii
...


iv
...


v
...


vi
...


STEPS IN PLANNING REPORT WRITING
It is necessary to write research report with careful pre- planning
...
The considerations of effective communication are basically linked
with the target audience for whom the report is written and who writes this report i
...
the
1
...
The manner in which the research findings
are expressed i
...
style of writing, is also equally important
...
The identification of the
target audience depends on who is the researcher and what is his intention
...

The communication characteristics, i
...
the level of knowledge, the type of language that
is understood and appreciated, the expectation form the report are not identical for
different groups of audiences
...


Logical analysis of the subject matter: The subject matter can be developed
logically or chronologically
...
It is also based on logical connections or
associations between different factors
...

3
...
It is an aid to decide the logical arrangement of the
material to be included in the report and the relative importance of various points
...
It gives cohesiveness and
direction to report writing
...
In the topic
outline, the topic headings and the sub-topic headings are noted and the points to be
discussed under each head are noted in short forms or with key words
...

4
...

The rough draft can also include various suggestions which help in improving the final
writing
...
It is
possible to polish the language of the rough draft in the final draft
...

5
...
Both are
appended to research report in a systematic manner
...
Fist part may consist of
books, second part may contain magazines, periodical and newspaper articles and the
third part may contain web-addresses
...
For example, see
6
...

SUMMARY
Writing the research report is the final and very important step in the process of
research work
...

1
...

2
...
The
style may be more journalistic, but precise
...

3
...
It
presents a summary of the findings of that part of analysis, which has been completed
...


Summary report is written in non-technical and simple language
...
It contains a brief reference to the objective
of the study, its major findings and their implications
...


Research abstract is a short summary of the technical report
...

6
...

a
...

c
...


Concluding items : Bibliography and Webliography, Appendix
Steps in planning Report writing consists of different steps
...
Those principles comprise organization, style of research report and essentially
some precaution in writing a research report
...


Organization of Report:

In the organization of research report, following points are essentially be considered:
Size and physical design: Accordingly prescribed size of the paper and the
given general instructions are to be maintained throughout the writing of report
...

a
...

c
...

b
...
But if a quotation is of a
considerable length then it should be single-spaced and indented at least half an inch to
the right of the normal text margin
...


e
...


ii)

It should be written at the bottom of the page and separate from the main

text
...

iii)

It is always be typed in single space and make separate form one another by

iv)

double space
...

f
...

g
...


Use of Statistics, Charts and Graphs: For the more clarification and
61

simplification, use of statistics in research report is of great important
...
Statistics are
usually presented in the form of tables, charts, bars and line-graphs and pictograms
...
It should be suitable and
appropriate looking to the problem at hand
...

The final draft: Revising and rewriting the rough draft of the report should be
done with great care before writing the final draft
...

i
...

j
...
Index may be prepared both as subject
index and as author index
...
The index should always be arranged alphabetically
...


2
...
These aspects are
based on the principles of writing research report
...
The style of
the research report can be maintained by keeping the following precautions in mind while
writing the research repot
...


Precautions are to be taken while writing Report:

There are certain principles of standard practice which should be observed and take
precautions while writing a research report
...
Each chapter may be divided into
two or more sections with appropriate headings and in each section; margin headings and
paragraph headings may be used
...
A page should
not be filled from top to bottom
...
The report
should be long enough to cover the subject, but short enough to maintain interest
...
It should be so written as to sustain
a reader's interest
...
It is a formal presentation of an objective, unbiased investigation
...

b)

A research report does not require elegant words
...
The writer should keep in mind the
reading ability of the target audience and avoid unclear writing
...


ii)

Avoid offensive words
...
g
...

iii)

iv)

Avoid tautology or repetition like return back, the true facts and so on
...
For example, one can say 'many'
instead of 'large number'
...

vi)

vii)

Use of slang also does not make good reading in a report
...

Content: The report must present the logical analysis of the subject matter
...

c)

Grammar: Presentation in a report should be free from spelling mistakes and
grammatical errors
...

d)

Quotations: Footnotes, documentation, abbreviations are used strictly
according to the convention or rules of incorporating them
...
Do not use abbreviations in the text of the report
...

e)

f)

Index: It is also an essential part of a report and it should be properly prepared
...
The various difficulties experienced in the conduct of study may also be
mentioned
...
Intellectual honesty demands that all source material should be acknowledged
by the researcher
...

h)

Other essential Considerations: Appendices should be enlisted in respect of
all the technical data on the report
...

i)

SUMMARY
There are certain principles of standard practices which should be observed in
writing a research report
...


In the Organization of research report some points are essentially be considered
such as size and physical design, procedure, layout, treatment of quotations, footnotes,
documentation style, use of statistics, charts and graphs etc
...


The style of the research report is closely related with arrangement of the
content, grammatical aspect, quotations, index, calculations, use of graphical presentation,
arrangement of bibliography etc
...


Precautions are to be taken while writing report such as organization of report,
style, content, grammer, quotations, index, calculations, bibliography and webliography
etc
...


REVIEW OF LITERATURE
A literature review surveys books, scholarly articles, and any other sources relevant to
a particular issue, area of research, or theory, and by so doing, provides a description,
summary, and critical evaluation of these works in relation to the research problem
being investigated
...

Importance of a good Literature Review

64

A literature review may consist of simply a summary of key sources, but in the
social sciences, a literature review usually has an organizational pattern and
combines both summary and synthesis, often within specific conceptual
categories
...
The ana lytical
features of a literature review might:
•
•
•
•

Give a new interpretation of old material or combine new with old interpretations,
Trace the intellectual progression of the field, including major debates,
Depending on the situation, evaluate the sources and advise the reader on the most
pertinent or relevant research, or
Usually in the conclusion of a literature review, identify where gaps exist in how a
problem has been researched to date
...

Describe the relationship of each work to the others under consideration
...

Reveal any gaps that exist in the literature
...

Identify areas of prior scholarship to prevent duplication of effort
...

Locate your own research within the context of existing literature [very important]
...

First, there are the primary studies that researchers conduct and publish
...
Third, there are the perceptions,
conclusions, opinion, and interpretations that are shared informally that become part
of the lore of field
...
Given this, while lit erature
reviews are designed to provide an overview and synthesis of pertinent sources you
65

have explored, there are a number of approaches you could adopt depending upon the
type of analysis underpinning your study
...
The purpose is to develop a body of literature that establishes a con trarian
viewpoint
...
g
...
However, note that
they can also introduce problems of bias when they are used to make summary claims
of the sort found in systematic reviews [see below]
...
The body of literature includes all studies that address
related or identical hypotheses or research problems
...
This is the most common form of review in the social sciences
...
Historical literature reviews
focus on examining research throughout a period of time, often starting with the first
time an issue, concept, theory, phenomena emerged in the literature, then tracing its
evolution within the scholarship of a discipline
...

Methodological Review
A review does not always focus on what someone said [findings], but how they came
about saying what they say [method of analysis]
...
e
...
This approach helps highlight ethical
issues which you should be aware of and consider as you go through your own study
...
The goal is to deliberately
document, critically evaluate, and summarize scientifically all of the research about a
clearly defined research problem
...

Theoretical Review
The purpose of this form is to examine the corpus of theory that has accumulated in
regard to an issue, concept, theory, phenomena
...
Often this form is used to help establish a lack of appropriate theories or
reveal that current theories are inadequate for explaining new or emerging research
problems
...

Structure and Writing Style
I
...
g
...


The critical evaluation of each work should consider:
•

•

•

•
•

Provenance -- what are the author's credentials? Are the author's arguments
supported by evidence [e
...
primary historical material, case studies, narratives,
statistics, recent scientific findings]?
Methodology -- were the techniques used to identify, gather, and analyze the data
appropriate to addressing the research problem? Was the sample size appropriate?
Were the results effectively interpreted and reported?
Objectivity -- is the author's perspective even-handed or prejudicial? Is contrary
data considered or is certain pertinent information ignored to prove the author's
point?
Persuasiveness -- which of the author's theses are most convincing or least
convincing?
Value -- are the author's arguments and conclusions convincing? Does the work
ultimately contribute in any significant way to an understanding of the subject?

II
...
Problem formulation -- which topic or field is being examined and what are its
component issues?
2
...

3
...

4
...

Consider the following issues before writing the literature review:
Clarify
If your assignment is not very specific about what form your literature review should
take, seek clarification from your professor by asking these questions:
1
...
What types of sources should I review (books, journal articles, websites; scholarly
versus popular sources)?
68

3
...
Should I evaluate the sources?
5
...
Read them to get a
sense of the types of themes you might want to look for in your own research or to
identify ways to organize your final review
...

Narrow the Topic
The narrower your topic, the easier it will be to limit the number of sources you need
to read in order to obtain a good survey of relevant resources
...
A good strategy
is to begin by searching the USC Libraries Catalog for books about the topic and
review the table of contents for chapters that focuses on specific issues
...
For example, a book surveying the history of the Israeli Palestinian conflict may include a chapter on the role Egypt has played in mediating
the conflict, or look in the index for the pages where Egypt is mentioned in the text
...
This is
particularly true in disciplines in medicine and the sciences where research conducted
becomes obsolete very quickly as new discoveries are made
...

In other words, a complete understanding the research problem requires you to
deliberately examine how knowledge and perspectives have changed over time
...
You can also use this method to explore what is
considered by scholars to be a "hot topic" and what is not
...
Ways to Organize Your Literature Review
Chronology of Events
69

If your review follows the chronological method, you could write about the materials
according to when they were published
...
For example, a literature
review that focuses on continuing research about the emergence of German economic
power after the fall of the Soviet Union
...
For instance, you could order a review of literature on
environmental studies of brown fields if the progression revealed, for example, a
change in the soil collection practices of the researchers who wrote and/or conducted
the studies
...
However, progression of time may still be an important factor in
a thematic review
...
While
the study focuses on one topic, the Internet’s impact on American presidential
politics, it will still be organized chronologically reflecting techn ological
developments in media
...
Note however that more authentic thematic reviews tend to break
away from chronological order
...

Methodological
A methodological approach focuses on the methods utilized by the researcher
...
Or the review might focus on the fundraising
impact of the Internet on a particular political party
...

Other Sections of Your Literature Review
Once you've decided on the organizational method for your literature review, the
sections you need to include in the paper should be easy to figure out because they
arise from your organizational strategy
...
However, sometimes you may
need to add additional sections that are necessary for your study, but do not fit in the
organizational strategy of the body
...

Here are examples of other sections you may need to include depending on the type of
review you write:
•
•

•

•
•

Current Situation: information necessary to understand the topic or focus of the
literature review
...

Selection Methods: the criteria you used to select (and perhaps exclude) sources in
your literature review
...

Standards: the way in which you present your information
...
Writing Your Literature Review
Once you've settled on how to organize your literature review, you're ready to write
each section
...

Use Evidence
A literature review section is, in this sense, just like any other academic research
paper
...

Be Selective
Select only the most important points in each source to highlight in the review
...
Related items that
provide additional information but that are not key to understanding the research
problem can be included in a list of further readings
...
Sometimes you may need to quote certain
terminology that was coined by the author, not common knowledge, or taken directly
from the study
...

Summarize and Synthesize
Remember to summarize and synthesize your sources within each thematic paragraph
as well as throughout the review
...

Keep Your Own Voice
While the literature review presents others' ideas, your voice [the writer's] should
remain front and center
...

Use Caution When Paraphrasing
When paraphrasing a source that is not your own, be sure to represent the author's
information or opinions accurately and in your own words
...


V
...

•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Sources in your literature review do not clearly relate to the research problem;
You do not take sufficient time to define and identify the most relevent sources to
use in the literature review related to the research problem;
Relies exclusively on secondary analytical sources rather than including relevant
primary research studies or data;
Uncritically accepts another researcher's findings and interpretations as valid,
rather than examining critically all aspects of the research design and analysis;
Does not describe the search procedures that were used in identifying the literature
to review;
Reports isolated statistical results rather than synthesizing them in chi-squared or
meta-analytic methods; and,
Only includes research that validates assumptions and does not consider contrary
findings and alternative interpretations found in the literature
...
Thinking interdisciplinarily about a research problem can be a rewarding

exercise in applying new ideas, theories, or concepts to an old problem
...
However, particularly in
the social sciences, thinking about research problems from multiple
vectors is a key strategy for finding new solutions to a problem or
gaining a new perspective
...
While conducting a review of the literature, maximize the time you

devote to writing this part of your paper by thinking broadly about what
you should be looking for and evaluating
...
Some questions to ask:
•

How are they organizing their ideas?
• What methods have they used to study the problem?
• What theories have been used to explain, predict, or understand their research
problem?
• What sources have they cited to support their conclusions?
• How have they used non-textual elements [e
...
, charts, graphs, figures, etc
...

Here are several strategies you can utilize to assess whether you've thoroughly
reviewed the literature:
•

•

Look for repeating patterns in the research findings
...
At this point consider: Does your study
extend current research? Does it forge a new path? Or, does is merely add more of
the same thing being said?
Look at sources the authors cite to in their work
...

73

•

Search the Web of Science [a
...
a
...
This is called citation
tracking and there are a number of sources that can help you identify who has cited
whom, particularly scholars from outside of your discipline
...


IDENTIFYING A RESEARCH PROBLEM
Defining the Research Problem
A research problem is a definite or clear expression [statement] about an area of
concern, a condition to be improved upon, a difficulty to be eliminated, or a troubling
question that exists in scholarly literature, in theory, or within existing practice that
points to a need for meaningful understanding and deliberate investigation
...

In research process, the first and foremost step happens to be that of selecting and properly
defining a research problem
...
Like a medical doctor, a researcher must examine all the
symptoms (presented to him or observed by him) concerning a problem before he can
diagnose correctly
...
Exploratory or formulative research studies do not start with a problem or
hypothesis, their problem is to find a problem or the hypothesis to be tested
...
)
IMPORTANCE OF RESEARCH PROBLEM
The purpose of a problem statement is to:
1
...
The reader is
oriented to the significance of the study
...
Anchors the research questions, hypotheses, or assumptions to follow
...

3
...


74

4
...

In the social sciences, the research problem establishes the means by which you must
answer the "So What?" question
...
Note that answering the "So What?" question requires a commitment
on your part to not only show that you have reviewed the literature, but that you have
thoroughly considered the significance of the research problem and its implications
applied to creating new knowledge and understanding
...
e
...
e
...


STRUCTURE AND WRITING STYLE
I
...
Casuist Research Problem -- this type of problem relates to the determination of
right and wrong in questions of conduct or conscience by analyzing moral
dilemmas through the application of general rules and the careful distinction of
special cases
...
Difference Research Problem -- typically asks the question, “Is there a difference
between two or more groups or treatments?” This type of problem statement is used
when the researcher compares or contrasts two or more phenomena
...

3
...
?" with the
underlying purpose to describe the significance of a situation, state, or existence of
a specific phenomenon
...

4
...
The underlying purpose is to investigate
specific qualities or characteristics that may be connected in some way
...
g
...

NOTE: A statement describing the research problem of your paper should not be
viewed as a thesis statement that you may be familiar with from high school
...


II
...
To facilitate how you might select a problem from which
to build a research study, consider these sources of inspiration:
Deductions from Theory
This relates to deductions made from social philosophy or generalizations embodied
in life and in society that the researcher is familiar with
...
From a theory, the researcher can formulate a research problem or
hypothesis stating the expected findings in certain empirical situations
...

Interdisciplinary Perspectives
Identifying a problem that forms the basis for a research study can come from
academic movements and scholarship originating in disciplines outside of your
primary area of study
...
A review of
pertinent literature should include examining research from related disciplines that
can reveal new avenues of exploration and analysis
...

Interviewing Practitioners
The identification of research problems about particular topics can arise from formal
interviews or informal discussions with practitioners who provide insight into new
directions for future research and how to make research findings more relevant to
practice
...
, offers the chance to identify
practical, “real world” problems that may be understudied or ignored within academic
circles
...

Personal Experience
Don't undervalue your everyday experiences or encounters as worthwhile problems
for investigation
...
This can be derived, for example, from deliberate observations of
certain relationships for which there is no clear explanation or witnessing an event
that appears harmful to a person or group or that is out of the ordinary
...
This may reveal where
gaps exist in understanding a topic or where an issue has been understudied
...
e
...
Also, authors frequently conclude their studies by noting implications for
further research; read the conclusion of pertinent studies because statements about
further research can be a valuable source for identifying new problems to investigate
...


III
...
The statement need not be lengthy, but a good research problem
should incorporate the following features:
1
...
The problem that you choose to explore must be important to
you, but it must also be viewed as important by your readers and to a the larger
academic and/or social community that could be impacted by the results of your
study
...
Supports Multiple Perspectives
The problem must be phrased in a way that avoids dichotomies and instead supports
the generation and exploration of multiple perspectives
...

3
...
It seems a bit obvious, but you don't want to find yourself in the midst of
investigating a complex research project and realize that you don't have enough prior
research to draw from for your analysis
...

NOTE: Do not confuse a research problem with a research topic
...
In short, a r esearch topic is
something to be understood; a research problem is something that needs to be
investigated
...
Asking Analytical Questions about the Research Problem
Research problems in the social and behavioral sciences are often analyzed around
critical questions that must be investigated
...
e
...
"],
or, the questions are implied in the text as specific areas of study related to the
research problem
...
Either approach is appropriate
...
Practical considerations, such as, the length of the paper you are writing or the
availability of resources to analyze the issue can also factor in how many questions to
ask
...

Given this, well-developed analytical questions can focus on any of the following:
•
•
•
•
•

Highlights a genuine dilemma, area of ambiguity, or point of confusion about a
topic open to interpretation by your readers;
Yields an answer that is unexpected and not obvious rather than inevitable and self evident;
Provokes meaningful thought or discussion;
Raises the visibility of the key ideas or concepts that may be understudied or
hidden;
Suggests the need for complex analysis or argument rather than a basic description
or summary; and,
79

•

Offers a specific path of inquiry that avoids eliciting generalizations about the
problem
...
You should still ask
yourself these latter questions, however
...


SOME EXTRA NOTES IN SMALLER FONT
WHAT IS A RESEARCH PROBLEM?
A research problem, in general, refers to some difficulty which a researcher experiences in the context of either a
theoretical or practical situation and wants to obtain a solution for the same
...
The
individual or the organisation, as the case may be, occupies an environment, say ‘N’, which is defined by values of the
uncontrolled variables, Yj
...
A course of action is defined by one or
more values of the controlled variables
...

(iii) There must be at least two possible outcomes, say O1 and O2, of the course of action, of which one should be
preferable to the other
...
e
...

(iv) The courses of action available must provides some chance of obtaining the objective, but they cannot provide the
same chance, otherwise the choice would not matter
...
In simple words, we can say that the choices must
have unequal efficiencies for the desired outcomes
...
e
...
Thus, an individual or a group of persons
can be said to have a problem which can be technically described as a research problem, if they (individual or the group),
having one or more desired outcomes, are confronted with two or more courses of action that have some but not equal
efficiency for the desired objective(s) and are in doubt about which course of action is best
...

(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
...

(v) There must be some environment(s) to which the difficulty pertains
...
e
...
There are
several factors which may result in making the problem complicated
...
All such elements (or at least the important ones) may be thought of in context of a research
problem
...
The task is a difficult one, although it may not
appear to be so
...
Nevertheless, every researcher must find out
his own salvation for research problems cannot be borrowed
...
If our eyes need glasses, it is not the optician alone who decides about the number of the
lens we require
...

Thus, a research guide can at the most only help a researcher choose a subject
...

(ii) Controversial subject should not become the choice of an average researcher
(iii) Too narrow or too vague problems should be avoided
...
Even then it is quite difficult to supply definitive ideas concerning how a researcher
should obtain ideas for his research
...
He may as well read articles published in current literature available on the subject and
may think how the techniques and ideas discussed therein might be applied to the solution of other problems
...
In this way he should make all possible efforts in selecting
a problem
...
In other words, before the final selection of a
problem is done, a researcher must ask himself the following questions:
(a) Whether he is well equipped in terms of his background to carry out the research?
(b) Whether the study falls within the budget he can afford?
(c) Whether the necessary cooperation can be obtained from those who must participate in research as subjects?
If the answers to all these questions are in the affirmative, one may become sure so far as the practicability of the study is
concerned
...
This may not be necessary when the problem
requires the conduct of a research closely similar to one that has already been done
...
If the subject for research is selected properly by observing the above mentioned points, the research will not
be a boring drudgery, rather it will be love’s labour
...
The subject or the problem selected
must involve the researcher and must have an upper most place in his mind so that he may undertake all pains needed for
the study
...
This statement signifies the need for defining
a research problem
...
A proper definition of research problem will enable the researcher to be on the track
whereas an ill-defined problem may create hurdles
...
What techniques are to be used for the
purpose? and similar other questions crop up in the mind of the researcher who can well plan his strategy and find answers
to all such questions only when the research problem has been well defined
...
In fact, formulation of a problem is often more
essential than its solution
...

TECHNIQUE INVOLVED IN DEFINING A PROBLEM
Let us start with the question: What does one mean when he/she wants to define a research problem? The answer may be
that one wants to state the problem along with the bounds within which it is to be studied
...
How to define a research problem is undoubtedly a herculean task
...
The usual approach is that the
researcher should himself pose a question (or in case someone else wants the researcher to carry on research, the
concerned individual, organisation or an authority should pose the question to the researcher) and set-up techniques and
procedures for throwing light on the question concerned for formulating or defining the research problem
...
Defining a research problem properly and clearly is a
crucial part of a research study and must in no case be accomplished hurriedly
...
Hence, the research problem should be defined in a systematic
manner, giving due weightage to all relating points
...

A brief description of all these points will be helpful
...
For this purpose, the researcher must
immerse himself thoroughly in the subject matter concerning which he wishes to pose a problem
...
Then the researcher can himself state the problem or he can seek
the guidance of the guide or the subject expert in accomplishing this task
...
In case
there is some directive from an organisational, the problem then can be stated accordingly
...
At
the same time the feasibility of a particular solution has to be considered and the same should be kept in view while stating
the problem
...
The best way of understanding the problem is to discuss it with those who first raised it in order to find out
how the problem originally came about and with what objectives in view
...
For a
better understanding of the nature of the problem involved, he can enter into discussion with those who have a good
knowledge of the problem concerned or similar other problems
...

(iii) Surveying the available literature: All available literature concerning the problem at hand must necessarily be
surveyed and examined before a definition of the research problem is given
...
He must devote
sufficient time in reviewing of research already undertaken on related problems
...
“Knowing what data are available often serves to narrow the
problem itself as well as the technique that might be used
...
All this will enable a researcher to take new strides in the field for furtherance of knowledge i
...
, he can move
up starting from the existing premise
...
At times such studies may also suggest
useful and even new lines of approach to the present problem
...

Various new ideas can be developed through such an exercise
...
This is quite often
known as an experience survey
...
They help him
sharpen his focus of attention on specific aspects within the field
...

(v) Rephrasing the research problem: Finally, the researcher must sit to rephrase the research problem into a working
proposition
...
Through
rephrasing, the researcher puts the research problem in as specific terms as possible so that it may become operationally
viable and may help in the development of working hypotheses
...

(b) Basic assumptions or postulates (if any) relating to the research problem should be clearly stated
...
e
...

(d) The suitability of the time-period and the sources of data available must also be considered by the researcher in
defining the problem
...

CONCLUSION
We may conclude by saying that the task of defining a research problem, very often, follows a sequential pattern—the
problem is stated in a general way, the ambiguities are resolved, thinking and rethinking process results in a more specific
formulation of the problem so that it may be a realistic one in terms of the available data and resources and is also
analytically meaningful
...


HYPOTHESIS FORMATION- REFER EARLIER SECTION ON HYPOTHESIS

Module III

Academic Report Writing: Preparation of Synopsis; Explaining the Research
Problem and Preparation of Bibliography; Notations and Symbols; Techniques for
Referencing; importance of footnotes, bibliography and references, Preparation of
Articles for Journals; Books; Preparation of Abstracts
...


ACADEMIC REPORT WRITING
83

Academic writing refers to a style of expression that researchers use to define the
intellectual boundaries of their disciplines and specific areas of expertise
...
Like specialist languages adopted in
other professions, such as, law or medicine, academic writing is designed to convey
agreed meaning about complex ideas or concepts for a group of scholarly experts
...
However,
most college-level research papers require careful attention to the following stylistic
elements:
I
...
It must be cohesive and possess a logically organized flow of
ideas; this means that the various parts are connected to form a unified whole
...
The introduction should include a description of how the
rest of the paper is organized and all sources are properly cited throughout the paper
...

Tone
The overall tone refers to the attitude conveyed in a piece of writing
...
When presenting a position or argument that you disa gree
with, describe this argument accurately and without loaded or biased language
...
You should, therefore, state the strengths of your
arguments confidently, using language that is neutral, not confrontational or
dismissive
...

Diction
Diction refers to the choice of words you use
...
This is particularly true in
academic writing because words and terminology can evolve a nuanced meaning that
describes a particular idea, concept, or phenomenon derived from the epistemolo gical
culture of that discipline [e
...
, the concept of rational choice in political science]
...
If this
cannot be done without confusing the reader, then you need to explain what you mean
within the context of how that word or phrase is used within a discipline
...

Language
The investigation of research problems in the social sciences is often complex
and multi-dimensional
...

Well-structured paragraphs and clear topic sentences enable a reader to follow your
line of thinking without difficulty
...
Do not use vague expressions that are not
specific or precise enough for the reader to derive exact meaning ["they," "we,"
"people," "the organization," etc
...
e
...
g
...
k
...
' ["also known as"], and the use of unspecific determinate
words ["super," "very," "incredible," "huge," etc
...

Punctuation
Scholars rely on precise words and language to establish the narrative tone of their
work and, therefore, punctuation marks are used very deliberately
...
Dashes should be limited to the insertion of
an explanatory comment in a sentence, while hyphens should be limited to connecting
prefixes to words [e
...
, multi-disciplinary] or when forming compound phrases [e
...
,
commander-in-chief]
...
In general, there are four
grammatical uses of semi-colons: when a second clause expands or explains the first
clause; to describe a sequence of actions or different aspects of the same topic; placed
before clauses which begin with "nevertheless", "therefore", "even so," and "for
instance”; and, to mark off a series of phrases or clauses which contain commas
...

VI
...
It is essential to
always acknowledge the source of any ideas, research findings, data, paraphrased, or
quoted text that you have used in your paper as a defense against allegations of
plagiarism
...
Examples of other academic conventions to follow include the
appropriate use of headings and subheadings, properly spelling out acronyms when
first used in the text, avoiding slang or colloquial language, avoiding emotive
language or unsupported declarative statements, avoiding contractions, and using first
person and second person pronouns only when necessary
...

Evidence-Based
Reasoning
Assignments often ask you to express your own point of view about the research
problem
...
You need to support your opinion with evidence from
scholarly sources
...

The quality of your evidence will determine the strength of your argument
...
This is particularly
important when proposing solutions to problems or delineating recommended courses
of action
...

Thesis-Driven
Academic writing is “thesis-driven,” meaning that the starting point is a particular
perspective, idea, or position applied to the chosen topic of investigation, such as,
establishing, proving, or disproving solutions to the research questions posed for the
topic
...

IX
...
g
...
Higher-order thinking skills include cognitive processes that are used to
comprehend, solve problems, and express concepts or that describe abstract ideas that
cannot be easily acted out, pointed to, or shown with images
...
This is also one of the main functions of academic writing--examining and
explaining the significance of complex ideas as clearly as possible
...

Understanding Academic Writing and Its Jargon
The very definition of jargon is language specific to a particular sub-group of
people
...

For example, the idea of being rational may hold the same general meaning in both
political science and psychology, but its application to understanding and explaining
phenomena within the research domain of a each discipline may have subtle
differences based upon how scholars in that discipline apply the concept to the
theories and practice of their work
...
e
...
Subject-specific
dictionaries are the best places to confirm the meaning of terms within the context of
a specific discipline
...
Improving Academic Writing
To improve your academic writing skills, you should focus your efforts on three key
areas:
1
...
The act of thinking about precedes the process of writing about
...
Writing detailed
outlines can help you clearly organize your thoughts
...

2
...
Needless to say, English grammar can be difficult and
complex; even the best scholars take many years before they have a command of the
major points of good grammar
...

3
...
Whether your professor expresses a preference to
use MLA, APA or the Chicago Manual of Style or not, choose one style manual and
stick to it
...
Consistent adherence to a style of writing
helps with the narrative flow of your paper and improves its readability
...
g
...


II
...
While proofreading your final
draft, critically assess the following elements in your writing
...

Your paper tells the reader why the problem is important and why people should
know about it
...

You have provided evidence to support your argument that the reader finds
convincing
...

The paper is made up of paragraphs, each containing only one controlling idea
...

You have considered counter-arguments or counter-examples where they are
relevant
...

Limitations of your research have been explained as evidence of the potential need
for further study
...


PREPARING A SYNOPSIS
Synopsis
In order to clarify your thoughts about the purpose of your thesis and how you plan to
reach your research goals, you should prepare a synopsis
...
It serves to ensure that your supervisor gets a clear picture of your proposed
project and allows him or her to spot whether there are gaps or things that you have not
taken into account
...

Although there are no rigid rules for how a synopsis should look, it must contain:
•

Background:
Set the stage by addressing the scientific background: How will your proposed research
contribute to the existing body of knowledge? Use your own words and be as specific
as possible
...

Problem formulation – the problem you aim to address in your thesis,as described
in the lesson of the same name
...


•

Method outline:
What type of study is best suited to support the actions stated in the specific objectives?
What kind of data (qualitative, quantitative) will your study require? What is your
geographical study area and who is your target group(s)? Are there ethical
considerations you have to make? Etc
...
When is your deadline for e
...
literature search, potential fieldwork (e
...

interviews and/or questionnaire administration), data analysis, writing and layout?
Once your problem formulation and objectives are approved by your supervisor, all
details should be added to your time plan
...
Make sure
that your in-text citations and reference list are completed correctly, both in support of
your subsequent work, but also to demonstrate that you have a serious, scientific and
methodical approach to your work
...


At the beginning of your thesis period, your synopsis will be limited in scope and detail,
but as you work your way deeper into your topic and you get a clearer picture of your
objectives, methods and references, the more complete and detailed your synopsis will
become
...

89

Most study programmes will require that you present a final synopsis before starting data
collection
...
Carefully performed work creates respect and motivation
and saves a lot of you and your supervisor’s time
...
And be consistent
...


ABSTRACT
An abstract summarizes, usually in one paragraph of 300 words or less, the major
aspects of the entire paper in a prescribed sequence that includes: 1) the overall
purpose of the study and the research problem(s) you investigated; 2) the basic design
of the study; 3) major findings or trends found as a result of your analysis; and, 4) a
brief summary of your interpretations and conclusions
...
The abstract allows you to elaborate upon
each major aspect of the paper and helps readers decide whether they want to
read the rest of the paper
...
g
...
] must be included to make the abstract useful to
someone who may want to examine your work
...

Then ask yourself: if your abstract was the only part of the paper you could access,
would you be happy with the amount of information presented there? Does it tell the
whole story about your study? If the answer is "no" then the abstract likely needs to
be revised
...
Types of Abstracts
To begin, you need to determine which type of abstract you should include with your
paper
...

Critical
Abstract
A critical abstract provides, in addition to describing main findings and information, a
judgment or comment about the study’s validity, reliability, or completeness
...
Critical abstracts are generally 400-500 words in length due to the additional
interpretive commentary
...

Descriptive
Abstract
A descriptive abstract indicates the type of information found in the work
...

It does incorporate key words found in the text and may include the purpose, methods,
and scope of the research
...
Some researchers consider it an outline of the work, rather than a
summary
...

Informative
Abstract
The majority of abstracts are informative
...
A good informative abstract acts as a surrogate
for the work itself
...
An informative
abstract includes the information that can be found in a descriptive abstract [purpose,
methods, scope] but it also includes the results and conclusions of the research and the
recommendations of the author
...

Highlight
Abstract
A highlight abstract is specifically written to attract the reader’s attention to the study
...
In that a highlight abstract cannot stand independent of its associated article,
it is not a true abstract and, therefore, rarely used in academic writing
...
Writing Style
Use the active voice when possible, but note that much of your abstract may require
passive sentence constructions
...
Get to the point quickly and always use the past tense because
you are reporting on a study that has been completed
...
In most cases, the abstract page immediately follows the title
page
...
Rules set forth in writing manual vary but, in general,
you should center the word "Abstract" at the top of the page with double spacing
91

between the heading and the abstract
...

Composing Your Abstract
Although it is the first section of your paper, the abstract should be written last since
it will summarize the contents of your entire paper
...
Then revise or
add connecting phrases or words to make the narrative flow clearly and smoothly
...
e
...

Before handing in your final paper, check to make sure that the information in the
abstract completely agrees with what you have written in the paper
...

The abstract SHOULD NOT contain:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Lengthy background or contextual information,
Redundant phrases, unnecessary adverbs and adjectives, and repetitive information;
Acronyms or abbreviations,
References to other literature [say something like, "current research shows that
...
"],
Using ellipticals [i
...
, ending with "
...


DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SYNOPSIS AND ABSTRACT
An abstract summarizes, usually is one paragraph of 300 words or less, the major aspects of the entire
paper in a prescribed sequence that includes the overall purpose of the study and the research
problems you investigated, the basic design of the study, major findings or trends found as a result of
your analysis, and a brief summary of your interpretations and conclusions
...
It gives a panoramic view of your research for quick analysis by the reviewers
...
You need to provide a reference whenever you draw on someone else's words,
ideas or research
...
Films, television
programs, personal communications and online sources also need to be referenced
...


Citations provide information to help your readers locate the sources you consulted
when writing your paper
...
The MLA and APA styles require you to use
in-text citations, which are citations placed in parentheses within the body of your
paper
...
Both APA and MLA styles
require you to credit your sources in two ways
...

Preferred referencing styles vary between schools (or even courses)
Below you will find short style guides to three systems: Harvard, APA and FootnoteBibliography
...

1
...


2
...

a
...

For example, if you want to cite a book for reference, you have to do it the following
way
...
23)
Ward (1966, p
...
Abbreviated as 'edn')
publisher
place of publication
...

Ward, R 1966, The Australian legend, 2nd edn, Oxford University Press, Melbourne
...
List each item in alphabetical order, by author surname
...
Titles should be in italics
...
Each item should have a hanging indent
...

Footnotes (sometimes just called ‘notes’) are what they sound like—a note (or a reference to a
source of information) which appears at the foot (bottom) of a page
...

This number is called a note identifier
...


It looks like this
...
Footnoting should be numerical and chronological: the first reference is 1, the
second is 2, and so on
...


Second and Subsequent Footnotes
95

Second and subsequent references to the same source don’t need to be as detailed as the first
note—they just need the minimum information to clearly indicate which text is being referred
to
...
If you want to refer to the same
source again, a simple method is to give the author’s name, the year of publication and the
page number
...
87
...

Reid, p
...


If two or more works by the same author are referred to in the text, include the title:
1

E Gaskell, North and South, Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1970, p
...


2

E Gaskell, The Life of Charlotte Brontë, Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1975, p
...


3

Gaskell, North and South, p
...


Subsequent references to articles are done in a similar way:
17

M Doyle, ‘Captain Mbaye Diagne’, Granta, vol
...
99-103
...


19

Doyle, Granta, p
...


Abbreviations for subsequent footnotes
Another way to shorten second or subsequent references is with Latin abbreviations
...


96

op
...
= as previously cited
Use op
...
when you have already given full details of that source in an earlier note
...
cit
...
These abbreviations should be in lowercase, even when they appear at the
beginning of a note
...
214- 5 of the Style Manual
...
87
...
, p
...


13

M Doyle, ‘Captain Mbaye Diagne’, Granta, vol
...
99
...
cit
...
147
...


1
...


Citations may be placed at the end of a sentence before the concluding punctuation in
brackets
...

Broudy (1998, p
...

97

Quotation (exact words from the source)
Broudy (1998, p
...


2
...
Begin the reference list on a new page and title it
“References”
...
Each entry should have a hanging indent
...
For example, in the case of a book,
‘bibliographical details’ refers to: author/editor, year of publication, title, edition, place of
publication and publisher, as found in the title pages (some details will vary)
...
(1988)
...
London, England: Routledge
...
& Griffiths, A
...
The real McCoy
...

List each item in alphabetical order (by author surname)
...
All of the
references included in the list must also be cited in the text
...

When paraphrasing or referring to an idea contained in another work, the APA publications
manual 6th edn
...
171) encourages you to provide page numbers, to help the reader locate
the information in a long text
...


Other Styles
There are a number of other referencing styles available
...
The citations in-text
are very brief, usually just the author's family name and a relevant page number
...

In MLA style, you use parenthetical citations within the text of your paper to credit your sources and to
refer your reader to a more detailed citation of the source in the "Works Cited" list at the end of your
paper
...
A parenthetical citation in MLA style should include an author's last name and the
page number to which you refer in that author's work
...
When the citation appears at the end of a sentence, the period comes outside the
parentheses
...


Instructions and examples in this MLA guide are based on more detailed information in:
MLA Handbook
...
, Modern Language Association of America, 2016
...

In-text citations - General points
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

•

If the author's name is mentioned in the sentence, only cite the page number
...

Font and capitalisation must match that in the reference list
...

If you are citing more than one reference at the same point in a document, separate the
references with a semicolon e
...
(Smith 150; Jackson 41)
...

If you are citing two works by the same author, put a comma after the author's name
and add title words
...
Do this when citing each of the sources throughout the
piece of writing
...
g
...
Brown 26)
...

Each reference should be formatted with double-spacing and a hanging indent
...

Author's names should be listed with full forenames if known
...
If there are
additional authors their names are not inverted (e
...
Smith, Adam, and Laura Childs)
...
Thereafter, use three hyphens instead of the name, e
...

If a reference does not have an author, list it by title
...
) when inserting the reference into the alphabetical works cited list
...

For a journal article in an online database (e
...
via the Library website) include the
name of the database (italicised)
...

When the title page lists two or more publishers which seem equally responsible for the
work, cite each of them separating the names with a forward slash (e
...
Cambridge UP
/ Routledge)
...

Importance of citing your sources
Citations document for your readers where you obtained your material, provide a means
of critiquing your study based on the sources you used, and create an opportunity to
obtain information about prior studies of the research problem under investigation
...

Citing the works of others is important because:
1
...
Citations to
sources helps readers expand their knowledge on a topic
...

2
...
The list of sources
used increases your credibility as the author of the work
...
Other researcher's ideas can be used to reinforce your arguments
...

4
...
If you disagree with a researcher's ideas or you believe there is a gap in
understanding the research problem, your citations can serve as sources from which to
argue an alternative viewpoint or the need to pursue a different course of action
...
Just as the ideas of other researchers can bolster your arguments, they can also
detract from your credibility if their research is challenged
...
It prevents readers from concluding that you
ignored or dismissed the findings of others, even if they are disputed
...
Ideas are considered intellectual property and there can be serious repercussions
if you fail to cite where you got an idea from
...
Citing sources as a student in college will help you get
in the habit of acknowledging and properly citing the work of others
...
Whether you summarize, paraphrase, or use direct quotes, if it's not your original
idea, the source must be acknowledged
...
g
...
Appreciate, however, that any "commonly
known fact" is culturally constructed and shaped by social and aesthetical biases
...
library
...
edu
...
lib
...
edu/citing-referencing/mla8
https://usingsources
...
harvard
...
usc
...
Research ethics is a codification of
codification of ethics of science or scientific morality in practice
...
They are based on
general ethics of science, just as general ethics is based on the morality of society at large
...
The guidelines are based on recognized norms for research ethics,
regulating research in different areas and in different relationships:
1
...
)
2
...
)
3
...
)
4
...
)
The first two groups of ethical norms are internal, linked to the self-regulation of the re-search
community, while the latter two groups are external, linked to the relationship between
research and society
...
In other cases, norms are in opposition to
each other, making it necessary to balance different considerations; for example weighing
society's need for new knowledge against the possible strain imposed on people involved and
other parties affected
...
In such cases, researchers and the research community
have a particular responsibility to clarify ethical dilemmas and exercise good judgement
...
They identify relevant factors that
researchers should or ought to take into account, but which must often be weighed against
each other, as well as against other important considerations
...
If researchers fail to observe the legal requirements, they can be subject to
punishment and other sanctions
...
RESEARCH ETHICS, FREEDOM OF RESEARCH AND SOCIETY
1
...

102

2
...

Research policy bodies have an obligation to allocate resources based on the best interests of
society
...

3
...
The institutions must ensure that research that complies with scholarly quality
requirements is not suppressed because a topic is controversial
...
The communication and enforcement of research ethics standards
It is incumbent upon institutions and individual researchers to develop and maintain good
research practice
...

B
...
The obligation to respect human dignity
Researchers shall work on the basis of basic respect for human dignity
...
The obligation to respect integrity, freedom and right to participate
Researchers shall respect their subjects’ integrity, freedom and right to participate
...

Being subject to observation and interpretation by others can be experienced as degrading
...
g
...
g
...
g
...

7
...

8
...
Subjects shall also be informed
about who is funding the research
...
The obligation to obtain free and informed consent
As a general rule, research projects that include individuals can be initiated only after
securing participants’ free and informed consent
...

Free consent means that the consent has been obtained without outside pressure or constraints
on individual freedom of action
...

10
...

11
...

12
...
REGARD FOR GROUPS AND INSTITUTIONS
20
...
may have for not wanting information about themselves, their members
or their plans to be published
...
Regard for the public administration
Public agencies should make themselves available for research into their activities
...
Respect for vulnerable groups
Researchers bear a special responsibility for protecting the interests of vulnerable groups
throughout the research process
...
The requirement for independence
Researchers must not allow themselves to become dependent on informants
...
The preservation of cultural monuments
Researchers shall show due regard for preservation needs associated with all types of
cultural monuments
...
Research on other cultures and times
Research on cultures other than the researcher’s own pose special requirements for
dialogue with representatives and members of the culture under investigation
...
Limits on cultural recognition
...

27
...

Scientific Integrity Scientific integrity is the condition resulting from adherence to
professional values and practices when conducting, reporting, and applying the results of
scientific activities that ensures objectivity, clarity, and reproducibility, and that provides
insulation from bias, fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, inappropriate influence, political
interference, censorship, and inadequate procedural and information security
...
Distinctions
can be made between more or less severe breaches, from negligence and sordidness to
academic misconduct
...
The requirement
regarding scientific integrity applies in full to all types of research
...

Institutions shall also have procedures for handling suspicions and accusations of scientific
dishonesty
...
This implies e
...
that standards for good reference
practice should be included in teaching and supervision throughout students’ academic
careers, and that established researchers should serve as good role models for teaching and
research practice
...

28
...

In terms of research ethics, plagiarism involves stealing content from the works of other
writers and researchers and publishing it as one’s own
...
The grossest type of
plagiarism is pure duplication
...

Referring to another work early in one’s own text and then subsequently making extensive use
of it without further reference is also plagiarism
...
Following some simple
basic rules can help avert plagiarism
...
Paraphrasing
must not be so close to the original text that it is in reality like a quotation
...
A plagiarist undermines not only his or her own reputation as a
researcher, but also the credibility of the research
...
Good reference practice (Ref to Good Reference Practice section discussed in detail
below) (IMPORTANT)

All writers and researchers, regardless of whether they are amateur or professional,
students or established researchers, shall strive to exercise good reference practice
...
Everyone is obligated to give the most accurate references possible to the
literature they use
...

This simplifies the verification of statements and arguments, including the use of sources
...
Individual writers and
researchers must practise their craft with intellectual integrity and deal with primary and
secondary sources with honesty
...
Graduates should have
developed sufficient professional self-criticism to ensure good reference practice in their
future work
...
Verification and subsequent use of research material(IMPORTANT)

Research material should be made available to other researchers for verification and
subsequent use
...
In
qualitative research, verification refers to the mechanisms used during the process of research to
incrementally contribute to ensuring reliability and validity and, thus, the rigor of a study
...

Those responsible for collecting material generally have first claim on its use
...

31
...

32
...
g
...

33
...
This applies to professional findings as well as private lives
...
The responsibility of supervisors and project managers
Supervisors and project managers must take responsibility for the research ethics problems
their students or project members encounter
...
SCIENCE COMMUNICATION
42
...


107

Specialised research groups shall ensure that scientific knowledge is communicated to a
broader audience outside the research community
...
Participation in social debate and responsibility for how research is interpreted
Researchers ought to contribute to the public debate based on sound scientifi c reasoning
...
The communication of results and verifiability
The requirement regarding verifiability applies equally to science communication and
scientific publishing
...
This corroborates that the verifi ability
requirement must be just as important here as for scientific publications
...
It is also important to remember that specialists in
other disciplines are part of the relevant audience, and that a large percentage of the general
public has education beyond high school level
...

47
...

What are research misconducts?

(a) Fabrication - making up data or results and recording or reporting them
...

(c) Plagiarism - the appropriation of another person's ideas, processes, results, or words
without giving appropriate credit
...


Academic integrity is the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles
...
In other words, Academic integrity is the commitment to and
demonstration of honest and moral behavior in an academic setting
...
In simplest terms, it requires
108

acknowledging the contributions of other people
...

Writing with integrity means the author is writing using his or her own words and being sure to

not inadvertently mislead the reader about whether an idea was the writer’s own
...

Plagiarism
Plagiarism is presenting someone else’s work or ideas as your own, with or without their
consent, by incorporating it into your work without full acknowledgement
...
Plagiarism may be intentional or reckless, or unintentional
...
Plagiarism
is a type of intellectual theft
...
It applies equally to published text and
data drawn from books and journals, and to unpublished text and data, whether from lectures,
theses or other students’ essays
...

The best way of avoiding plagiarism is to learn and employ the principles of good academic
practice from the beginning of your university career
...

Importance of knowledge about Plagiarism
One of the contradictions of academic writing is that, while you are expected to research and
refer to experts and authorities, you are also expected to produce original work
...

It is important to recognise that all scholarship involves understanding, researching and
building on existing research to some degree
...
Therefore, it is important to learn how to reference
well, that is, how to consciously and clearly acknowledge the sources you have used in your
work so that your own contribution can be clearly identified and appreciated
...
It is
partly this tradition of acknowledgement of sources, in the form of ‘in-text’
citation or footnotes, that separates academic writing from other forms of knowledge: it is
part of the strength of academic research
...
By taking the ideas and words of
others and pretending they are your own, you are stealing someone else’s intellectual
property
...

Thirdly, a degree is evidence of its holder’s abilities and knowledge
...


No doubt some students/ researchers do cheat
...
But most cases of plagiarism are accidental and could be avoided if students became
more conscious of their own writing and research practices
...

Not all cases of plagiarism arise from a deliberate intention to cheat
...
However, these excuses offer no sure protection against a charge of
plagiarism
...
It is the responsibility of the
researcher to find out the prevailing referencing conventions in your discipline, to take
adequate notes, and to avoid close paraphrasing
...

Contract cheating
Contract cheating, or 'ghostwriting', is when a student engages another person to complete
work for them, and then submits the work as their own, regardless if money was paid or not
...

110

13
...
Informants are entitled to
be able to check whether confidential information about them is accessible to others
...
The obligation to respect confidentiality
Research subjects are entitled to a guarantee that all information they provide about their
private lives will be treated confidentially
...
Research
material must usually be anonymised, and strict requirements must apply for how lists of
names or other information that would make it possible to identify individuals are stored
and destroyed
...
The obligation to restrict re-use
Identifiable personal data collected for one particular research purpose cannot
automatically be used for other research
...

16
...
14 Such data shall not be
stored any longer than what is needed to attain the objective for which it was processed
...
Respect for posthumous reputations
Caution shall be exercised when deceased people are the subject of research
...
Respect for the values and motives of others
Researchers must show respect for the values and views of research subjects, even if they
differ from those generally accepted by society at large
...

19
...


Forms of Plagiarism
Copying

Using the same or very similar words to the original text or
idea without acknowledging the source or using quotation
111

Verbatim plagiarism

Inappropriate
paraphrasing

marks
...

If you copy language word for word from another source and
use that language in your paper, you are
plagiarizing verbatim
...
In this
way, you keep the meaning of the original text, but do not
copy its exact wording
...

This also applies in presentations where someone
paraphrases another’s ideas or words without credit and to
piecing together quotes and paraphrases into a new whole,
without appropriate referencing
...
Even if you don't intend to copy the
source, you may end up committing this type of plagiarism
as a result of careless note-taking and confusion over where
your source's ideas end and your own ideas begin
...
It's not enough to have good
intentions and to cite some of the material you use
...

If you keep track of the ideas that come from your sources
and have a clear understanding of how your own ideas differ
from those ideas, and you follow the correct citation style,
you will avoid mosaic plagiarism
...

Collusion includes:
•

•
•
•

students providing their work to another student
before the due date, or for the purpose of them
plagiarising at any time
paying another person to perform an academic task
and passing it off as your own
stealing or acquiring another person’s academic work
and copying it
offering to complete another person’s work or
seeking payment for completing academic work
...


Inappropriate citation

Self-plagiarism

Citing sources which have not been read without
acknowledging the 'secondary' source from which
knowledge of them has been obtained
...

Self-plagiarism is also referred to as 'recycling', 'duplication',
or 'multiple submissions of research findings' without
disclosure
...
However, most incidents of plagiarism are
not the product of deliberate cheating but of underdeveloped academic skills
...
If you develop these skills, your chances of being accused of
plagiarism will be greatly reduced
...
Your ideas may not be very clear or very well informed at first but
thinking about them and writing them down gives you a place to start recognising what you
need to know next
...
It is also when you start to
document how these ideas help identify how and why you think the way you do
...
Your note-making practice makes this possible
...

The skills of summarising and paraphrasing need to be exercised at this stage
...
Time can get away from you, and
you end up not thinking about your writing and just ‘popping’ the words of others into your
assignment
...

Writing takes practice, and often your first draft is submitted with disastrous results
...

Another step on this path to good academic practice is the discovery of the way people talk,
think and communicate in the subjects you are studying
...
You need to learn the variations of the language, the different ways of writing and
speaking about that particular world
...

You will learn about this culture from your lecturers and tutors, from your readings, and also
by developing your academic practices, one of which is referencing
...
Reading well, note-making, summarising, paraphrasing, writing, learning the
culture of your discipline, and becoming familiar with referencing conventions, all take time
...


Module IV:
Empirical Investigations: Sources of Primary and Secondary Data; Census and
Sampling Methods; Economic Statistics in India
...
NAS and
NSSO -Data structure, key concepts and variables- Data portal of RBI
Sampling is the statistical process of selecting a subset (called a “sample”) of a population of
interest for purposes of making observations and statistical inferences about that population
...
We cannot study entire populations because of feasibility and cost constraints,
and hence, we must select a representative sample from the population of interest for
115

observation and analysis
...

The sampling process comprises of several stage
...
A population can be defined as all people or
items ( unit of analysis ) with the characteristics that one wishes to study
...
Sometimes the population is obvious
...
At other
times, the target population may be a little harder to understand
...

The second step in the sampling process is to choose a sampling frame
...
If your target population is professional employees at work, because you cannot
access all professional employees around the world, a more realistic sampling frame will be
employee lists of one or two local companies that are willing to participate in your study
...

Also note that the population from which a sample is drawn may not necessarily be the same
as the population about which we actually want information
...
Sampling techniques can be grouped into two broad categories:
probability (random) sampling and non-probability sampling
...

According to Mildred Parton, “Sampling method is the process or the method of
drawing a definite number of the individuals, cases or the observations from a
particular universe, selecting part of a total group for investigation
...
According to King,” Law of
Statistical Regularity says that a moderately large number of the items chosen at
random from the large group are almost sure on the average to possess the
features of the large group
...
2) Law of Inertia of Large Numbers – According to this law, the
other things being equal – the larger the size of the sample; the more accurate the
results are likely to be
...
Much cheaper
...
Saves time
...
Much reliable
...
Very suitable for carrying out different surveys
...
Scientific in nature
...
Very accurate
...
Economical in nature
...
Very reliable
...
High suitability ratio towards the different surveys
...
Takes less time
...
In cases, when the universe is very large, then the sampling method is the only
practical method for collecting the data
...
Inadequacy of the samples
...
Chances for bias
...
Problems of accuracy
...
Difficulty of getting the representative sample
...
Untrained manpower
...
Absence of the informants
...
Chances of committing the errors in sampling
...
Since it is
often impossible and not practical to enroll the entire population in your study
researchers select a sample
...

TYPES OF SAMPLING
Sampling methods are broadly categorized into two groups: i
...
ii) Non probability sampling methods
...
Probability Samplling Methods

Probability Sampling
Probability sampling is a technique in which every unit in the population has a chance (nonzero probability) of being selected in the sample, and this chance can be accurately
determined
...
All probability sampling have two attributes in
common: (1) every unit in the population has a known non-zero probability of being sampled,
and (2) the sampling procedure involves random selection at some point
...
In this technique, all possible subsets of a population (more
accurately, of a sampling frame) are given an equal probability of being selected
...

Simple random sampling involves randomly selecting respondents from a sampling frame, but
with large sampling frames, usually a table of random numbers or a computerized random
number generator is used
...
Next, you sort
the list in increasing order of their corresponding random number, and select the first 200
clients on that sorted list
...
Because the sampling frame is not
subdivided or partitioned, the sample is unbiased and the inferences are most generalizable
amongst all probability sampling techniques
...
In this technique, the sampling frame is ordered according to some
criteria and elements are selected at regular intervals through that ordered list
...
It is important that the
starting point is not automatically the first in the list, but is instead randomly chosen from
118

within the first k elements on the list
...
e
...
This process will ensure that there is no
overrepresentation of large or small firms in your sample, but rather that firms of all sizes are
generally uniformly represented, as it is in your sampling frame
...

Stratified sampling
...
In the previous example of selecting 200 firms from a list of 1000 firms, you
can start by categorizing the firms based on their size as large (more than 500 employees),
medium (between 50 and 500 employees), and small (less than 50 employees)
...
However,
since there are many more small firms in a sampling frame than large firms, having an equal
number of small, medium, and large firms will make the sample less representative of the
population (i
...
, biased in favor of large firms that are fewer in number in the target
population)
...
An
alternative technique will be to select subgroup samples in proportion to their size in the
population
...
In this case, the proportional distribution of firms in the population is
retained in the sample, and hence this technique is called proportional stratified sampling
...

Stratified random sampling may be of two types
...
That is, the
population is divided into several sub-populations depending upon some known
characteristics, this sub population is called strata and they are homogeneous
...

119

Cluster sampling
...
In such case, it
may be reasonable to divide the population into “clusters” (usually along geographic
boundaries), randomly sample a few clusters, and measure all units within that cluster
...
However, depending on
between- cluster differences, the variability of sample estimates in a cluster sample will
generally be higher than that of a simple random sample, and hence the results are less
generalizable to the population than those obtained from simple random samples
...
Sometimes, researchers may want to compare two subgroups
within one population based on a specific criterion
...
You would
then select a simple random sample of firms in one subgroup, and match each firm in this
group with a firm in the second subgroup, based on its size, industry segment, and/or other
matching criteria
...
Such matched-pairs sampling technique
is often an ideal way of understanding bipolar differences between different subgroups within
a given population
...
The probability sampling techniques described previously are all
examples of single-stage sampling techniques
...
For instance, you can
stratify a list of businesses based on firm size, and then conduct systematic sampling within
each stratum
...
Likewise,
you can start with a cluster of school districts in the state of New York, and within each
cluster, select a simple random sample of schools; within each school, select a simple random
sample of grade levels; and within each grade level, select a simple random sample of students
for study
...

Non-Probability Sampling
Nonprobability sampling is a sampling technique in which some units of the population have
zero chance of selection or where the probability of selection cannot be accurately determined
...
Because selection is non-random, nonprobability sampling does not allow the
estimation of sampling errors, and may be subjected to a sampling bias
...
Types of nonprobability sampling techniques include:
120

Convenience sampling
...
For instance, if you stand outside a shopping center and hand out
questionnaire surveys to people or interview them as they walk in, the sample of respondents
you will obtain will be a convenience sample
...
The opinions that
you would get from your chosen sample may reflect the unique characteristics of this
shopping center such as the nature of its stores (e
...
, high end-stores will attract a more
affluent people), the demographic profile of its patrons, or its location (e
...
, a shopping center
close to a university will attract primarily university students with unique purchase habits),
and therefore may not be representative of the opinions of the shopper population at large
...
Other
examples of convenience sampling are sampling students registered in a certain class or
sampling patients arriving at a certain medical clinic
...

Quota sampling
...
In proportional quota sampling , the
proportion of respondents in each subgroup should match that of the population
...
But
you will have to stop asking Hispanic-looking people when you have 15 responses from that
subgroup (or African-Americans when you have 13 responses) even as you continue sampling
other ethnic groups, so that the ethnic composition of your sample matches that of the general
American population
...
In this case, you may decide to have 50 respondents from each of the three ethnic
subgroups (Caucasians, Hispanic-Americans, and African- Americans), and stop when your
quota for each subgroup is reached
...
The non-proportional
technique is even less representative of the population but may be useful in that it allows
capturing the opinions of small and underrepresented groups through oversampling
...
This is a technique where respondents are chosen in a non-random manner
based on their expertise on the phenomenon being studied
...
The
advantage of this approach is that since experts tend to be more familiar with the subject
matter than non-experts, opinions from a sample of experts are more credible than a sample
that includes both experts and non-experts, although the findings are still not generalizable to
the overall population at large
...
In snowball sampling, you start by identifying a few respondents that
match the criteria for inclusion in your study, and then ask them to recommend others they
know who also meet your selection criteria
...
Although this method
hardly leads to representative samples, it may sometimes be the only way to reach hard-toreach populations or when no sampling frame is available
...
Data can
be primary or secondary
...
The
data already collected by some agency and available in some published form is secondary
...
Primary data can also be collected by means
of experiments (e
...
, yield under certain conditions, observation at many time points of a
certain phenomena, etc
...
A survey is usually conducted by the canvassing of a questionnaire
...
The
principle for classification or categorization of data has to be based on the problem under
study or the hypothesis formulated
...
They must be distinct, separate and mutually exclusive
...
Tabulation is a means
of organizing the responses to facilitate comparisons bringing up the inherent relations
between two or more variables
...

Analysis and inference is usually aided by the application of different statistical and
econometric techniques
...
The
availability of data therefore, determines the scope of analysis
...

The data may be of three types; Time series, Cross-section and Pooled
...
Such data may be collected at regular time intervals such as daily (i
...

prices, whether reports etc
...
e
...
) quarterly (i
...
GDP), annually (i
...
government budget etc
...
For example the data on the census of population collected by the
Registrar General of India
...
For example, over a period of time say from 2000 to 2013, we have data on
saving, investment and GDP across Indian states
...

Dummy variable data
When the variables are qualitative in nature, then the data is recorded in the form of the
indicator function
...

They reflect only the presence/absence of a characteristic
...
are qualitative variables
...
Such values are denoted
by the dummy variable
...
Similarly, ‘1’ represents the liking of taste, and ‘0’
represents the disliking of taste
...
g
...
), an international agency
(e
...
International Monetary Fund (IMF) or a private organization
...

The data collected by the investigator or researcher through field work is termed primary
data
...
under quantitative approach and participant observation, open ended interview, group
discussion, key information etc
...
Data are nothing but the information
...
The data are name after the source
...
For
example, the statistics collected by the Government of India relating to the population is
primary data for the Government of India since it has been collected for the first time
...
Both the sources of
information have their merits and demerits
...

Primary Data
• Primary data is an original and unique data, which is directly collected by the
researcher from a source according to his requirements
...

• Data gathered by finding out first-hand the attitudes of a community towards health
services, ascertaining the health needs of a community, evaluating a social program,
determining the job satisfaction of the employees of an organization, and ascertaining
the quality of service provided by a worker are the examples of primary data
...

• There is no doubt about the quality of the data collected (for the investigator)
...

Disadvantages of using Primary data
1
...
)
2
...
Cost of obtaining the data is often the major expense in studies

124

•
•
•
•

Secondary Data
Secondary data refers to the data which has already been collected for a certain
purpose and documented somewhere else
...

Gathering information with the use of census data to obtain information on the agesex structure of a population, the use of hospital records to find out the morbidity
and mortality patterns of a community, the use of an organization’s records to
ascertain its activities, and the collection of data from sources such as articles,
journals, magazines, books and periodicals to obtain historical and other types of
information, are examples of secondary data

Advantages of using Secondary data
• The data is already there- no hassles of data collection
• It is less expensive
• The investigator is not personally responsible for the quality of data
Disadvantages of using Secondary data
• The investigator cannot decide what is collected (if specific data about something is
required, for instance)
...
As opposed to secondary data which is easily
accessible but are not pure as they have undergone through many statistical treatments
...


Secondary data means data collected by someone
else earlier
...


books,

personal interview, etc
...


Form

Available in the crude form

Available in the refined form

Accuracy and
Reliability

More

Less

to

the

May or may not be specific to the researcher’s
need
...
The data is
sourced from each of the 23 major states and 12 minor states or union territories
...
com provides secondary level socio-economic statistical data about India and its
states, Region and Sector on more than 35 variables
...
The database covers over 163,000 time series with historical data
from as early as 1951 and offers a wide range of dataset frequencies, from daily to annual
...
Open Government Data Platform India is also packaged as a product
and made available in open source for implementation by countries globally
...
gov provides public access to high value, machine readable datasets generated by the
Executive Branch of the Federal Government
...

UNData : Do keyword searches to find statistics from the United Nations on many topics
including "Agriculture, Crime, Education, Employment, Energy, Environment, Health,
HIV/AIDS, Human Development, Industry, Information and Communication Technology,
National Accounts, Population, Refugees, Tourism, Trade, as well as the Millennium
126

Development Goals Database
DataHub provided 8000+ free datasets from the Open Knowledge Foundation
...
Includes many large datasets from national governments and numerous datasets
related to economic development
...
" You must create a free account on the site to download data
...
EMU does not have access to the premium data on this site, but there
are many free data sets
...
net - Guide to Regional Economic Data on the Web: EconData
...
" Categorizes 750+ links to data sources by
subject and provider
...
Also offers a "free 100-page guide to finding and using economic data to
understand your regional economy
...
org - Registry of Research Data Repositories is a global registry of research data
repositories that covers research data repositories from different academic disciplines
...
There is also a Guide To Free Economics And Business Data On The Web
...

Damodaran Online offers many downloadable statistics and spreadsheets related to
corporate finance and valuation
...
Caution: although there are past years of data, he has changed methods over time--so
the data may not work well for time series analysis
...

Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) project provides an annual assessment of the
entrepreneurial activity, aspirations and attitudes of individuals across a wide range of
countries
...

127

Innovative Data Sources for Economic Analysis aim is to inform economic researchers and
policy makers about new and innovative data sources and analytic tools that have the
potential to improve understanding of the dynamics of U
...
economy, specifically as it
relates to innovation and entrepreneurship
...
Some
sources described here are not free
...
S
...
S
...
"
International Monetary Fund Data IMF time series data for many international economic
indicators
...

Penn World Table provides purchasing power parity and national income accounts
converted to international prices for 189 countries/territories for some or all of the years
1950-2010
...

UK Dataservice offers large number of data series -- UK, Europe, and international focus
...
N
...
Often data can be downloaded
...
Note additional links to statistical information
in the left margin
...

World Top Incomes Database - Paris School of Economics provides Distribution of
earnings and wealth by country
...

World Resources Instituteis a global research organization that spans more than 50
countries, with offices in Brazil, China, Europe, India, Indonesia, and the United States
...


What is Census?
Population Census is the total process of collecting, compiling, analyzing or otherwise
disseminating demographic, economic and social data pertaining, at a specific time, of all
persons in a country or a well-defined part of a country
...

Why Census?
The census provides information on size, distribution and socio-economic, demographic
and other characteristics of the country's population
...
Census data is also used for demarcation of constituencies and
allocation of representation to parliament, State legislative Assemblies and the local
bodies
...
The census data is also important for business houses
and industries for strengthening and planning their business for penetration into areas,
which had hitherto remained, uncovered
...
These include detailed underlying measures that rely
on double-entry accounting
...
As a method, the subject is termed national
accounting or, more generally, social accounting
...
While sharing many common principles with business accounting, national
accounts are based on economic concepts
...

National accounting has developed in tandem with macroeconomics from the 1930s with
its relation of aggregate demand to total output through interaction of such broad
expenditure categories as consumption and investment
...

National Accounts Statistics
129

THE White Paper on National Accounts Statistics (NAS) issued annually by the
Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) aims at presenting time series estimates of national income
and related aggregates like consumption, saving, capital formation, etc at current and con- stant prices
...

The Expert Committee has recommended an annual program for the NSSO having
three components viz
...
It is recommended to allocate resources to the three
components in a fixed proportion, say, 60: 25: 15
...

Under the Special Program, surveys at larger intervals on other important topics are
recommended
...
– once in ten years; (ii)
Environmental pollution, Literacy, Tourism, etc
...
– at short notice
...

The National Sample Survey(NSS) headed by a Director General is responsible for
conduct of large scale sample surveys in diverse fields on All India basis
...
Besides these surveys, NSS collects data on rural
and urban prices and plays a significant role in the improvement of crop statistics through
supervision of the area enumeration and crop estimation surveys of the State agencies
...

Central Statistics Office (CSO)

130

The Central Statistics Office coordinates the statistical activities in the country and evolves
statistical standards
...
CSO has the following Divisions:
a
...
Social Statistics Division (SSD)
c
...
Training Division
e
...
The Reserve
Bank of India (RBI) has rich traditions of publishing data on various aspects of the Indian
Economy through several of its publications
...
These reports have been organized under
sectors and sub-sectors according to their periodicities
...


NOTES ON VARIABLES AND KEY CONCEPTS
...
It tries to give the relationship a mathematical
form
...
These concepts or items ar represented by what are called variables
...
e
...
Variables are called variables because they vary, i
...

they can have a variety of values
...
Many items in economics can take on
different values
...
Economics however often uses the first letter of the item which varies to
represent variables
...

INDEPENDENT VARIABLES AND DEPENDENT VARIABLES
Independent variables are those which do not depend on other variables
...
The change is caused
by the independent variable
...
In our example salary is the independent variable and the amount you spend is the dependent
variable
...
They
are similar to (but not exactly the same as) dependent variables
...

In an economic model, an exogenous variable is one whose value is determined outside
the model and is imposed on the model, and an exogenous change is a change in an
exogenous variable
...

An endogenous change is a change in an endogenous variable in response to an
exogenous change that is imposed upon the model

---