Research Methodology and Computational Techniques

PHC1: Research Methodology and Computational Techniques

No of hours: 21+21 = 42 hrs (Offered in III and IV semesters respectively)

Objectives & Skill components:

  1. To equip rigour & independence of thought, foster individual judgment and skill in the application of research methods
  2. To develop skills required in writing research proposals, reports, journal articles, dissertation & thesis
  3. To introduce the concept at the heart of every research project – the research problem, & discuss what a “researchable” problem is
  4. To strengthen computational skills & techniques
  5. To familiarize usage of resources & tools like MATLAB, LATEX, Origin etc.

Course Outcomes:

CO1: Familiarity with research methods, analysis & techniques in doing research.

CO2: Know about different types of sources and articles, doing literature review etc.

CO3: Usage of various computational resources & techniques in scientific research.

UNIT- I – Research Methodology & The Research Problem:
07 hrs

Meaning & definitions of Research, Objectives & motivation in Research, general characteristics & criteria of good research; Types of research. Scientific thinking, defining a research problem, selecting the problem, sources & evaluation of a problem. Hypothesis, designing experiments, analysis, results & models.

UNIT – II – Manuscript writing and Document Preparation:
07 hrs

Scientific writing: Structure and components of research paper, types of reports, research papers, thesis, research project reports, citations, impact factor, different styles for science journals. Conducting & reporting literature review, report structure – writing abstract, introduction, review of literature, result, and conclusions. Concepts of bibliography and references, reference managers.

UNIT – III – Articles, Journals & Publication:
07 hrs

Different types of articles & journals (Original Research, Review Articles, Short reports or Letters, Case Studies, Methodologies). Volume & issue. Primary & secondary literature, peer review & popular/news articles, arxiv, preprints & accessing journals, journal indexing, DOI, authorship & acknowledgements. ISBN, ISSN & Conference Proceedings. Role of journals & importance of scientific publications, ethical issues & copyright, IPR & Industry Institute collaborations. Steps involved in publication of papers. Writing projects for funding – different funding agencies/schemes, major & minor research projects.

UNIT – IV – Computational Techniques:
21 hrs

MATLAB: Introduction, Basic features, Mathematical functions, Basic plotting, Matrix generation, Array operations, Solving linear equations, Introduction to programming in MATLAB, Control flow and operators.
Origin: Introduction, The Origin Workspace, Multi-sheet Workbooks, Managing Data and Metadata. Importing Data from different sources, Working with Excel and Origin, Basic Data Manipulation, Creating and Customizing Graphs, Custom Graph Templates and Themes, Publishing Graphs, Basic Data Analysis.
LATEX: Introduction, Document structure, Typesetting text, Packages, Classes, Tables and Figures, Equations, Inserting references, Presentations using beamer.

References:

  1. Research Methods in Education – Cohen L., Lawrence M., & Morrison K. (OUP, 2005)
  2. Research Methodology – Best and Kahn (PHI)
  3. The Scientific Endeavor: Methodology & Perspectives of Sciences – Jeffrey A Lee (Pearson India, 2010)
  4. How to Write & Publish – RA Day and Barbara Gastel (Cambridge, 2006)
  5. The Craft of Scientific Writing – Michael Alley (Springer, 1996)
  6. Research Methodology: Research and techniques – Kothari C. R. (New Age International, 1980)
  7. Research Methodology: A step-by-step guide for beginners – Kumar R. (TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Corwall, 2011)
  8. Practical Research: Planning and design – Leedy P. D. (McMillan Pub. Co., 1980)
  9. Fundamental of Research Methodology and Statistics – Singh, Y. K. (New International, 2006)
  10. Your Research Project: A step-by-step guide for the first-time researcher – Wallinman N. (Sage Publications, 2006)
  11. http:// cloud.originlab.com/pdfs/Origin91_Documentation/English/Origin_9.1_ User_Guide_E.pdf
  12. https://www.originlab.com/pdfs/Origin2017_Documentation/English/Origin_ User_Guide_2017_E.pdf
  13. https://www.originlab.com/pdfs/Origin2017_Documentation/English/ Origin_Tutorial_2017_E.pdf
  14. Desmond J. Higham & Nicholas J. Higham, ‘MATLAB Guide’, III Edn. (Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics)
  15. Tobin A. Driscoll, ‘Learning MATLAB’, 2009 Edn. (Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics)
  16. David F. Griffiths & Desmond J. Higham, ‘Learning Latex’, 2016 Edn. (Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics)
  17. https://www.latex-project.org/help/documentation/
  18. http://www.docs.is.ed.ac.uk/skills/documents/3722/3722-2014.pdf
  19. https://www.tug.org/twg/mactex/tutorials/ltxprimer-1.0.pdf