0:18
Good evening students. Am I audible? Ok, so today’s the introductory class for research methodology. Okay, now you’re at the helm of doing research, joining into PhDs, okay, in the months to come. So, this plays a very, very, very vital part. So, how do you plan your research? How do you formulate a hypothesis? How do you do the review of literature? What is the methodology that has to be followed?
0:57
So, this research methodology, it plays a very, very important and significant part. So, if you’re clear in all these concepts, it will definitely help you in your research work. Okay. So, we are covering all the major portions of research methodology. So you have introductions, scope and significance of research methodology, review of literature. So, what is the correct way of reviewing literature? How do you collect articles? See when you get into your PhD, so this is one of the basic steps. The first few months maybe very, very boring because you’ll have lots of literature to work with, you’ll have to read loads and loads of paper, scientific papers, and believe me, it’s a very big gap, when you just go straight from the M.Sc into research. Now you need to bridge that gap. You need to bridge that gap, because see in M.Scs what we are doing? We’re just studying all the books, very few of us actually get an interest to study the journal articles. Okay, but when you enter into research, so all the big big names, PLOS, Nature reviews, everything you’re expected to just study and bring up something, bring up some creative ideas, some of your own hypothesis. So, all this comes at once, okay, then you have the research material tips on reviewing a research article. So, how do you write a research proposal? So, we’re going to speak upon the demonstration of writing a research proposal. Tips on conducting research in the lab. Very, very important things that should be kept in mind. So, before you enter any lab setup, you should be well versed with what you are going to face. Writing a research article, thesis submission and reasons for article rejection. So, what are the primary reasons? You have done a very good work and you have some beautifully executed experiments, but then every time your article gets rejected. So, what is the reason for article rejection and how we can prevent articles from getting rejected?
3:27
Let’s start with what actually is research methodology? So, what is it? So, it’s basically a defined set of criteria. So, it’s a procedure or technique, which is used to identify, select, process and analyze information about a topic. Okay, so, what you do? If you take a research paper, you evaluate the study, so, how valid it is, how reliable it is? As you, you know, go into the depth of papers, you’ll get an understanding of these concepts. So, research methodology is nothing but the science of how research is done scientifically. How research is done in a proper manner? So, there are various steps in the research methodology, you analyze the research problems, you analyze the logic behind the research problem. So, this basically provides a blueprint which other researchers follow. Now big thing that what is actually research?
4:45
So, what is research? While doing research, what is the aim? Our aim is to discover some new knowledge. Okay, or to seek answers to some unanswered questions. Questions, which have not been answered. So, some new knowledge is discovered or some new questions should be answered. So, you can also have like a basic research, there are various categories. So, you can have basic research or you can have applied research. Now, what is basic research, you want to know, you want to understand, a topic, further, okay. So, you want to have a fundamental knowledge, a fundamental understanding of that particular topic. So, you go into great depth of a particular topic. The other is applied research. So, what is applied research? Something that can be applied, some drugs that can be used in medicine, okay in treating patients, some new drugs, some new formulations. Something that can be used for. Okay, both basic and applied research is very, very important. There is sort of a hype that is created that everyone goes for Applied Research, but then when basic research is not there, then we do not have the knowledge to apply that to the applied research things.
6:18
So, basic research is also equally important. So, it’s not that one topic can be specifically categorized, under basic research and the other categorized under applied research, it’s not like that. So you have a very thin demarcation which is there, but all this is not that important, what is important that you are doing research and you are seeking answers to some of the unanswered questions. Okay, so, what is the primary aim other people, the scientific community, they’re able to learn something from your work, they’re able to gain something from your work, they’re able to learn some new things from your work, which is not present in the existing literature. So, what are you doing you’re adding up something to the existing repertoire of knowledge.
7:18
So, basic research gives you an advancement of the amount of knowledge, applied research, advancement of technology, application development, utility of applications, and these all things come together to improve the quality of life, okay, all these improve the quality of life.
7:48
So, these are the various types of scientific research. So, you select the area, one of the most important things, you select the area, in that area in that wide area you select a particular topic. You create a research question, some crude area which has not yet been investigated or something is missing in those portions. So, you select those areas, you search for research question, you formulate a hypothesis, you design a proper study, okay, and then you do all the experiments, whatever is there, if there’s fieldwork involved, if there is experimentation labwork which is involved. All that is done, the collection of data is done, interpretation of the results and then reporting of the work is done.
8:54
So, what is the research process? Identification of a topic and raise a research question. Okay. So, what is a good research question? You should, see this is the most important and vital part – what you are selecting for your studies, what is your research question? So, it should be such a topic which has no answer Okay, or it does not have a very good and valid answer in any literature, that is why literature review is one of the most important things, because that is what is giving you the idea of what topic you are selecting for research, because the topic of research your topic of research is going to directly influence the number of paper publications
9:45
Okay, it’s no use of doing ‘re’-search in literally terms. Re-search means old wine in a new bottle. Okay, so, there is no point in doing these things, ultimately, what happens, the papers gets rejected. So, the research question, the research topic, that should be very, very particular hypothesis formulation, one of the first steps, so, this offers answer to the research question okay. So, what is done, you formulate a hypothesis based on your answer okay. So, based on your answer, you formulate a hypothesis and then work according to that. You design experiments to test the hypothesis and then you draw conclusions, you repeat the experiments as many times as possible. Okay. So, this is all the research process, now, you have various research methods in this. So, you have like exploratory research, where you identify and frame a new problem, you have constructive research. So, in this you construct a new solution, something should be novel about that particular thing. So, you construct a new solution to a problem, you have empirical research. So, you evaluate and compare the existing solutions. You can also have a method, like some process is taking 10 steps, okay, but you design a method, in which it takes only five steps. So, that is something which is new, okay. So, that, that also is very important. Some very new things can be patented also, like new steps, new processes, they can also be patented. So, these are various types of research. Application – from the viewpoint of application, you have pure research and applied research, from the viewpoint of objectives, you have descriptive research, you have exploratory research, okay, correlation research, explanatory research. Inquiry mode – you have quantitative research and qualitative research. So, these are various types of research.
12:16
These are some types of research questions, some basic question that comes into the mind when you decide to create a hypothesis. Exploratory – So, what’s on there? Okay, what’s on there? So, what is the new thing that can be done. Descriptive, what does it look like? How does it work? So, these are some of the basic questions that comes into mind. Evaluative research, how does, how well does a method solve a problem, whether you can identify a particular method that will be more suitable for that problem, okay, you can devise a more shorter method, a more significant method, a more accurate method, a more inexpensive method, anything that should be novel, is something which you have contributed okay and that goes into your publications. Explanatory – So, why does something happen, the way it is? Why does it move straight or why does it move diagonally? Why does something happen? Corrected models, what could happen if we did some, if we did this, if we add this, Okay, that is predictive research, these are some of the basic models of research.
13:36
Research question is very important. So, you should have a basic understanding about what you are going to do. So, whoever the invigilator is, whoever is the guide, So, you make sure that there is a research question, there is a valid research question. The question is clear and specific. And that question is reflecting the objectives of the study.
14:16
It cannot be answered in simple terms. If something is there, which we can answer by common sense, so that becomes like very common, there is nothing unique in that. It has no answer in the literature. So, that is why exhaustive literature studies is done, because there is no use of repeating what actually exists okay. So, it should have no answer in the literature. Finding an answer to the question will solve or at least help in solving the problem to be studied. So, it can help completely or it can help a part, it can help in solving a part of the problem. Okay. So, these all basic things should be very clear.
15:08
How do you select the research area? So, what is the criteria for selection of the research area? So, you have lots of areas. Now, selection of a research area depends on who the researcher is? What is the researcher’s background. So, if you are very good in molecular biology or immunology, that depends on your background, because your whole expertise and knowledge is going to come handy into that. So, selection of the topic of research or the broad area of research is based on the researcher’s speciality, interest, scientific background, experience, all these are very very important, but then lots of times you also have – like you have nanotechnology, lot of chemistry thing is required in there. A lot of biotechnologists are doing good work in nanotechnology. So, you also have like cross disciplines, subjects which are also taken up, but then, if you have an experience, if you have a research topic, which is your expertise, which is your speciality, it does give you an upper edge. Okay, and again the research area, very importantly depends on the actual need for research in this area. So, is research actually required in that area, is really important that something needs to be done and available resources, whatever resources are available. Priority of a research topic depends on impact on health, magnitude, seriousness, preventability, curability. So, if suppose you’re taking something which has an impact on health, so, all these things should be considered, all these things should be considered. Now, whatever is the proposed study, remember one thing, in any experiment or in any study, always a more inexpensive form of the experiment is always preferred, a more economical form is always preferred over the others.
17:34
So, the proposed study, whatever the proposed study is there, care should be taken that it is feasible, okay, it is feasible, it is cost effective and applicability of the results, okay, the results are applicable as per formations and very important the results should always be reproducible. Suppose, you have sent the paper for review, now, this generally does not happen, that the reviewer is going to actually repeat the experiment, to see whether the result is coming or not. This rarely happens. I haven’t heard of this till date. But then because when you write a paper when you publish a paper, it is there in the circulation and people repeat your experiments, and if the results are not there, then there is a big question mark on your results. So, this thing should not be there.
18:46
Good laboratory practices and quality control. So, what are the good laboratory practices? So, good laboratory practices is nothing but how you do your work, safely. First priority is the individual’s health. Okay, that is the first priority. So, this is an organizational process and the conditions under which a study is planned, performed, monitored, recorded, achieved and reported. Okay, so this all comes under GLP or the good laboratory practice. GLP is very important. It’s an FDA regulation. So, it doesn’t simply cover the lab safety things. Okay. So, it’s not just some lab safety thing, is a small part of GLP. Why GLP is important? you need to develop quality test data. There should be mutual acceptance of the data, very importantly, there should not be any duplication of the data. Avoid technical barriers, protection of human health and the environment. So a very plain emphasis is laid on the protection of human health and equal emphasis is laid on the protection of the environment.
20:30
Because a lot of chemicals, most of the chemicals, if they are not disposed in a correct manner, they can cause a lot of harm to the environment. So care is taken for the proper disposal of the chemicals and various reagents that are routinely used. Now, why was the GLP created? What was the reason for it? So there is a history behind that. In the 70s, in the 1970s, FDA became aware of many, many cases of poor laboratory practices. Okay, so when they did investigations into that, so they found that there were a lot of fear fraud going on fraudulant activities, there was a lot of poor lab practices, which was there, duplication of the data, fabrication of the data, all these things were there. For example, some of the equipments were not calibrated. So, when you do not have the equipment which is calibrated to the standard form, so because whatever test sample you’re taking, it is going to take the standard reference sample. So, eventually, you’re getting the wrong results, if the equipment is not calibrated, Incorrect, inaccurate accounts of the actual lab studies and inadequate test systems. So, all these systems were widely practiced, there was no regulation. So, that is why you had GLP which was created. Ok, now very important example was the Industrial biotest Lab. Okay, so, Procter and Gamble and all big, big companies, they ran their test in this lab. Okay, so, Procter and Gamble, we know, it’s a very, very renowned company, for the cosmetics and all. So, what was discovered, that mice that they had used to test cosmetics, like the lotions and deodorants, these mice had developed cancer and they had later died. So, this was a very, very surprising discovery, which was made. So, what this lab did, they just, you know, threw away the dead mice and they, they just falsified the data, that the products were good for human consumption, there was no ill effect.
23:19
So, when this thing was discovered, then the persons who were involved in falsifying the data, they had to serve jail time, because see something is going to cause cancer and these people because just because of some money, they were falsifying data and they had nothing with the persons who could have got cancer due to the exposure to these cosmetics. So, that was the turning point. And that was when GLP came into picture very, very strictly. So GLP, it makes sure that the data submitted are a true reflection of the results that are obtained during the study, very, very important. Whatever result is obtained that is what should be reflected in these studies, no falsification no fabrication of the data. Whatever is there, whether it is positive result or a negative result – result is a result, that is what my supervisor personally used to tell me.Do not just think that you’ll get positive results, okay, negative results, they are also results. Okay, that is also something, lots of fabrication incidents that have happened, lots of things and lots are still happening, but then you know, you have your own own moral conscience that is there, especially in things which is directly affecting human health, which is directly related to someone’s condition – suppose a drug, cosmetics, anything which is used. There is something which is known as ethics. It all depends on the student. So, that was a very famous thing, it was there in the papers, it happened with Johnsons. So, who do we believe? Such a branded name, and that too something which is dealing with babies. One of the very important reasons for it, is to just you know, randomly publishing papers, okay the pressure of publishing papers, that very often leads to these things. And unfortunately, this is there in India, the pressure of publishing papers is a lot more in India than in the outside okay. So, that pressure is very high. So GLP also make sure that the data is traceable. So, whoever is publishing the papers, that data is traceable. Promotes international acceptance of the test. These are all the basic objectives of GLP. Scope – So, you have non clinical safety testing of test items, pharmaceutical products, pesticide products, cosmetics, viterinary drugs, food and feed additives, industrial chemicals, all these safety testing of the items are done, okay so, this is one of the main things of GLP. So, these are the GLP principles. To test facility organization and personal, quality assurance program, facilities, apparatus, material and reagents, the test systems standard SOPs – SOP is the standard operating procedures, performance of the study, reporting of study results, storage and retention of records and materials, these are some of the GLP principles which is there. Now coming to the SOPs which is one of the very important and basic things of GLP. So, what is SOP? It’s a written written procedure for a laboratory program. So, these are specifically protocols, how the experiments are carried on. So, these SOPs what they do, all the steps are mentioned in a chronological order, from first to the last. So, how much of the buffer is added, how much of a specific chemical is added, what are the steps, so, if you have to maintain the pH or you have to centrifuge it, all these are written in a chronological order. So, anyone who is repeating the experiment, they will be able to just reproduce it. So, you have SOPs, they’re written to explain how the procedure is supposed to work, in minute details. Again, cleanliness, very very important. Control laboratories and equipment should be kept clean, in accordance to the written cleaning schedules. All laboratory personels, they should wear clean protective clothing, which is appropriate to the duties which is being performed. Waste material disposal, very very important, because as I’ve already told, every reagent, every buffer or whatever chemical you use, that should be disposed off properly. Keep the workplace clean and uncluttered, Do not get distracted at work by other people. Premises – again the premises is important as in, it should be of very you know clean, ordered, traffic should not be there.
30:09
Design and Construction should prevent entry of rodents and insects. Interior surfaces of walls, floor, ceilings, should be smooth and free from cracks. Temperature, relative humidity should be appropriate for various design functions. Okay, so, all these things should be maintained. Now again, you have Animal House okay. So, Animal House should have the approval of the committee. See whenever animals are kept, whenever animals are kept, there you have lots of ethical issues that comes in okay. So animal, they should be kept properly, all the maintenance should be done properly, all the animals which used for the experiments, they are taken on record, whatever the animals are there. In the case of animal studies, they should be a separate facility for the instrumentation, for the chemical analysis, micro labs sterility reference sample or the control samples, so all these things should be carefully taken care of. Now, whoever is involved in doing work, so, they should be adequately trained, they should be adequately educated. Now, a person is appointed head of laboratory. So, this person who is appointed head of the laboratory, they should be responsible for the maintenance of the SOPs, so that everything is written and documented properly. Organizing the audits, follow up of corrective actions, investigation of technical complaints. So, everything goes in, whoever is appointed the head. So, everything goes in there, okay, and he’s basically responsible for maintaining and safe guiding the labs. Reagents – see, when you go into a laboratory, the first thing that you notice will be the innumerable number of reagents that are kept on the shelf Okay, now, it is very important whatever buffer you’re preparing whatever reagent you’re using, they should be dated there should be a proper date on that. So that you will be able to know whether it is fresh, it should be used or not, what type of reagent it is. So, whatever reagent is there, they should be dated upon preparation and they should be properly labeled for identification. Reagents made – they should be prepared by competent persons. Labels on the reagent bottle should indicate concentration, sanitization factor, shelf life, storage conditioned, data of the preparation, data or re-standardisation, signature of the chemist who has prepared it. So all these things should be mentioned on the reagents Okay, reference standards and working standards should be dated so, whatever reference standards is there, whatever working standards is there, they should also be properly dated okay, and they should be stored at proper conditions. Labeling is very very important, labeling with date. okay, simply if you label without the date, then to it is useless. Equipments.
33:57
So, these are very very small things, but these are very very important things. Okay, this, I’m telling you, my personal experience very very small things but very, very important. So, you have laboratory instruments and equipments, they should be serviced, they should be calibrated, because that is what is going to serve as standards, okay. So, they should be proper because you are comparing it with the particular standards, okay. Separate records should be maintained for each one of them. Servicing, calibration date should also be mentioned on them. Generally what is done in the laboratory, because there are many instruments, so, the instruments are divided among the students, okay. So, two three students can take care of like five six instruments or important instruments HPLC, two persons should look after them. So, that you know, the calibration dates, the servicing dates all should be recorded. Separate room under temperature control and humidity. So, you should have written operating instructions, they should be available, they should be displayed for each instrument and generally for new instruments, for very sophisticated instruments, new students, new persons, they are not allowed. So, every time there is a person who helps you to explain the instrument Okay, how to use an instrument, then records, whatever record is maintained for that instrument, it should have the name of the instrument, manufacturers name, manual model number, list of the spares and accessories, whatever is present for that particular instrument. Defective instrument should be withdrawn from use, untill the fault has been rectified. Sampling – samples should have a proper representative of the bulk product. Sample container again it should be properly labeled – batch number, manufacturer date, expiry date, name of manufacturer, everything should be there, and whatever the sampling instrument is there, equipment is there, it should be cleaned after each and every use and it should be stored separately from other laboratory equipments. Okay, so, whatever is the written SOPs, if the SOPs are written properly, they should include the messages, method of sampling, they should include which equipment is to be used, they should include the amount of the sample which has to be taken, okay type of the condition of the sample container, every minute details should be mentioned okay. So, that is what we tell the reproducibility of the results. So, if these small things are not mentioned, it might not be possible to reproduce the results because even small variations they give you an entirely different product. Okay, now documentation is very, very important, very very important, documentation. Before you start any experiment, write in the date, write in the methodology which is to be followed, the name of the experiment, what is to be done, the reagents, everything should be documented. Because what happens you’re starting on something, after six months if you see that you should be able to recognize it okay. So, this is what you had done six months before, because research is not like ending in one or two months, it can take four years, five years, six years, seven years. So, documentation should be very, very proper. So, even if you see something which you had written one year before or you had an experiment which you had done one year before, that you should be able to reproduce. Because during your PhD use you do so many experiments, some things work, some things do not work. So if you document everything, you’re not going to just simply repeat your mistakes, you’re going to think of something new that has to be done. Aim of documentation – to define specifications for all materials, method of manufacture and control. To inform all concerned person how and when and why a batch is rejective, to provide audit trail to permit investigation of any suspected defective batch okay. So, if any suspected defected batch is there and you are having the knowledge and you can father work on that.
39:05
Records. So, you have a test record, you have the record of the test samples, you have the record of the finished products, whatever test has been done, whatever the calculations has been done, any corrections that has been made, okay. So, all this thing is maintained. So, when you’re maintaining the records, it should have some basic details, okay, like the report number, the name of the sample, the date of reset of the sample, protocols, who ever is analyzing, analyst signature, basic data, calculations, okay, so all these things should be there. Samples get tested in accordance with the written methods and specifications.
40:06
So, you have various in process checks, you had the test methods, they are validated, whenever there is some confusion there is some doubt then the test is repeated, okay, it’s not that you just cover up the mistakes, you just fabricate the data, you falsify thedata, so somewhere along the line, somewhere down the line, everything comes up okay. So, this practice should be strictly disallowed by the student by the supervisor. Okay, so, whenever the test is doubtfull, you repeat the test, but you should not fabricated the data to cover the mistakes to avoid, avoid the ratial work because when the fabrication comes into light, then you have lots of extra work and explanation that needs to be done. So, it’s better to do less of work and be sincere in your work.
41:11
Good Housekeeping and safety. So, whatever persons are working in the laboratory, they should wear proper safety gadgets, they should be familiar with first aid techniques, they should be familiar with the emergency techniques okay, these simple things are prohibited. So, you should not eat, drink, all these things are not allowed in the laboratory. Protective clothing is provided, adequate facilities for storage and disposal of waste is to be provided,
41:55
Flammable and contaminated waste: It should not be poured into the drains carrying the factory aeffluent.
42:03
So, these which are more inflammable, which are more you know, toxic in nature, they are collected safetly and they are disposed separately. Then you have separate waste containers for the broken glass. So, for all this adequate training should be provided so that everyone knows what is the proper technique of disposal of the waste,what is the proper technique of taking care of themselves. SOPs, routine inspection, cleaning, maintenance, testing and calibration, actions to be taken in response to equipment failure and analytical methods, the raw data, keeping records, reporting stories mixing and retrieval of the data. SOPs required for analysis of the drugs, sample handling and accountability, reset identification, storage sampling of test and control articles, cleaning maintenance and calibration of the equipment’s, responsibilities of audit team persons. Okay. So, they should be defined protocols for your safekeeping for the storage and maintenance of various cultures, for the animal rooms, housekeeping, how the document should be kept, for the use of the reference samples for the story to the reference samples. So everything should be properly maintained.
43:45
Okay, now, coming to the next aspect, Review of literature, identifying the gaps and formulating the hypothesis. Like I’d already told yor all, review of literature is one of the most important aspect when you just enter your PhD, first three, four months will be very, very daunting because everytime will be emmersed in the books reviews, literature.
44:16
And it’s a bit boring also sometimes because you have to find something new there is a lot of pressure from the supervisor from the investigator, sorry, investing from your PI, there’s a lot of pressure and this is also the point this is the time when the PI actually gets to know what is your scope and how much analytical thinking that you can produce. So, very, very vital review of literature something different, this is directly related to your research, okay to your research, what research you’re going to do for the five years, what is the new thing that you want to identify what is the new thing that you want to work upon. So, you have to identify some unique thing that will, you know can be reproduced in a lot of papers. Okay, that is so that you can get lots of papers that can be published okay. So, that is the review of literature. Actually study a lot of literature, a lot of review articles, a lot of research articles and come up something you come up with your own idea.
45:43
This is actually what literature review looks like when you actually do a literature review. This is something that happens truly. What is the literature..? A literature review survey scientifically articles, books, medical journals, dissertations and other sources relevant to a particular issue area of research or theory, providing a description summary and critical evaluation of each work. So, whatever work So, whatever scientific articles that you get books, medical journals, all these are referred and you come up come up with a particular idea that you want to work for the next five years. So, what is the purpose of a literature review? it constitutes an essential chapter of a thesis or dissertation or you can have reviews of writings in a subject. So, what is the purpose you study it for a better understanding on the subject and you can basically describe each work to others which are under consideration under reviews, you can identify some new ways to interpret a data, you can identify something new, you can identify something new that can you put in fill in the gaps into some previous research, you can come up with something new that resolves some conflicts among the previous contradictory studies, you can come up with specific areas of research.
47:55
So, your research is providing some very contradictory view okay. So, this is basically the purpose of the literature review. So, you list whatever topics you’re interested in, you search you, learn and you write. So, all this together forms a part of the literature review.
48:25
So, what is the main steps, Problem formulation.
48:37
So, you are interested in which field so, as I already told you all, what field or what area you’re going to work with depends on your area of interest on your topic in which you have mastered in your speciality subjects. So, this all B’s forms the basis of problem formulation, which topic of which feild is being examined. What are its issues all these forms part of the problem formulation,
49:14
The literature search. So, you find materials which is relevant to the subject being explored, okay. So, first what is the point you need to find out the area of research oaky the suitability area of research according to your background in which you are most commit. Then use of fine materials which is relevant to the subject being explored data evaluation you determine which literature makes a significant contribution to the understanding of the topic.
49:59
Analysis and interpretation. So, you discuss the findings you discuss the confusions, what could be the problem the confusions, conclutions with your PI and you come to a specific point. So, obviously you do not have to do this all independently, your PI will be there with each and every step and he/she will always give you some fruitful suggestions. So, that it sheds a right direction on to your research.
50:39
So, you find the literature that you want to work with Okay, you should be able to find something new.
50:49
So, you know, all the literature types, you use all the available resources you use all your search skills to find up something which is new. Now, when you found lots and lots of data, you should be able to manage it, you read efficiency, because you’ve got piles of books, you’ve got lots of data that is there. So, you should be reading efficiently keeping track of references writing relevant annotations. Use it whatever research you have done on your literature work, whatever literature review you have done, use it to choose your research topic to develop your questions that needs to be answered arguing your rationale informing your work with theory and designing methods, how many actually going to implement it. Okay, when you review it, you understand the purpose of the review, you ensure adequate coverage, everything is covered appropriately, you write purposefully and you work on it with silence.
52:15
So, you find it manage it, use it and review it you use each and every bit of the information that you get and you use it to the last bit piece. Here we read sources of literature, journal articles. Journal articles, very good sources. Journal articles, they have all the updated information and any good institutes any you know research laboratories, they have access to lots of journal articles. Okay, and these are one of the best sources of literature best and authentic sources of literature. So, they frequently used in literature reviews, they offer a concise and up to date format for the research. So, you go to PubMed and all. So, this is you know just the general information about some reviews, some research articles, we have got reviews, you’ve got research articles, you have various types of literature that you can actually get, okay. So, basically the general information about any research topic that you are selecting, okay. So, you have the journal articles, these are referred material. Okay something which you can refer to you also have some non refereed journals like some magazines okay. So, from them also you can get some scientific literature some research ideas that can be there books, books also very good sources of learnings okay, books but they are less up to date. Because journal articles you have lots of journals and everytime every month, you have some bi weekly issues or any weekly issues are also there, you get a lot of updated information, but that is not the case with the books, because they take longer time for the book to be published.Conference proceedings: Conferenceproceedings contains research which has not been published. So you get an idea about people working in different research areas. Okay. So, you can track the work similar type of work, which is in your interest by the other researchers so that you get an idea about the direction in which those researchers are working.
54:32
Government corporate reports. So you also have like some government cooperates, the government departments, some corporations, they also periodically mentioned, what is the research that is being carried out. Thesis and dissertations: They also can provide you much information, but the thesis and dissertation they are much more difficult to obtain because they’re not published. Okay, so you can get these from the library or you can get this from the students who are just published the research from your seniors, okay. Internet: So this is one of the most important sources fastest resources, but you should be very, very careful about the information that you get on the internet, because the quality might not be so reliable.
54:39
So that is why you should be very particular from where you’re getting the source. Of course, you’re getting the you’re using the internet, but what is the source of that article that you should carefully validate. So, when you access each piece, you should be very particular about provenance. Likek what is the author’s credentials? Okay, so any arguments which is made by the author? Is it supported by any evidence, by stastical, these things should be very particular.
56:48
Objectivity: So is the author’s perspective, evenhanded, so is some contrary data which is provided, is the authors thesis convincing does the author contribute significantly to any values significantly to the understanding of any research, all these things should be considered, then a rational for your work should be designed, okay, when you provide an explanation, for the reason of doing your research, for the questions that will be answered for the justification of your work. So, you should properly design your goals and the objectives. So, what is the research goal, so, what is actually that you want to achieve? That should be very, very clear and that should be formulated at the beginning of the study. So that during the process of formulating research question and hypothesis, you will be very, very clear and concise and what do you want to do further, okay. And this will also enable the reader to judge whether the investigator has achieved these objectives or not, when you frame the objectives, when you put in their points. So, after the research is done, whoever is reading that particular subject, is able understand whether this object is obtained or not. So, the research object, it is very important to frame the research objectives. So, what are the primary things in this is the development of research methodology. So, why research methodology is important as I’ve already told y’all, it helps to orient the collection analysis, interpretation and utilization of the data that you correctly utilize all the data.
58:54
So, whenever you formulate a research objective, it should closely be related to the research question covering all aspects of the problem it should be very specific, order in a logical sequence and it should be able to describe the experiments, identify, measure, compare it should take into consideration whatever resource available, time that should be taken and it should be mutually exclusive okay should not have any repetitions. So, basically you should be designing some SMART objectives, you should be very specific in your objectives, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and time you do not have all the time. So, you should have some particular time frame we should be there in mind. Now, this is the basis of all the research formulating our research hypothesis. So, what is the research hypothesis is basically a statement of the research question in a measurable form. So, when you plan a particular hypothesis, when you frame a particular hypothesis, it gives you an idea about the user characteristics about the data characteristics about the method that you’re working with. So, if you do not have one method that is working, you should have an alternative feasible method that is working if you have one method which is working more than the other, okay. So, all these things should be correctly defined. Then you should carefully study the existing literature, whatever information is there, whatever information is already been published, so, that you can know what you can contribute to Okay, what you can do to fill in certain gaps to fill in some answer to some unanswered questions that you’ll know exactly how much work and has been done in a particular area and what work further needs to be done okay, and whatever the hypothesis is there, you should have a more specialized hypothesis, okay. So, when you have more specialized hypothesis, it is more likely that it’s a new one and you can increase its impact by publishing more and more data that is relevant to your field of research. So, you should be able to clearly define the hypothesis to be tested, you include any of the condition which is required to fulfill it, you design the right experiments, to test the hypothesis at each and every time point, you carefully analyze the results. you give proper explanation for each and every point and you should be able to understand the hypothesis very very correctly in carefully because, if you do not have a complete understanding of everything, if you do not have a complete understanding of what work you’re doing, you will not be able to formulate a further hypothesis you will not be able to work on your hypothesis for cheap a better understanding, you will not be able to clear your concepts and once your concepts are not clear, you are not going to get the appropriate results relevant to your field of study. So, if you have a clearly defined hypothesis, you will be able to choose the right data and the right measures. Okay, don’t include any necessary conditions any unnecessary conditions, if you don’t over clean and you should be able to justify your hypothesis. Okay, you should be able to provide a clear justification of your hypothesis not designing the experiments, everything depends on the experiment that you are designed on the proper designing of the experiment. So, right from the beginning, if your experiment is flawed, so, needless to say, however, how many times you try you will not get the proper results. Flawed experiment design is a common cause of rejection of paper. Data should match the hypothesis. So, if you’re claiming a particular method is more better than the previous one, So, you need a correct data you need a variety of represented data to be able to prove the Hypothesis.
1:04:12
So, whatever measures are being taken whatever experiments is done, they should be able to match the hypothesis okay, and you can test multiple hypothesis simultaneously, if possible, carefully analyze the results to the significant test go beyond just getting a yes or no asnwers. So, if it is positive, you seek for evidence. So, if it is positive, you should have some evidence for supporting your hypothesis okay. So, you should do the proper set of experiments to support your justification of the process. Now, if you is negative, then again you should look into reasons why it is negative how the hypothesis can be modified. So, even if you’re getting positive results, you should look for the reason for that and you should look for reasons to support your claim even if you’re getting some negative results you should understand how the hypothesis can be quantified okay get as much possible data out of the results of one experiment before jumping into the other experiment and do not throw any negative date, you never know you know, what can come into your use try to think alternative ways, try to think of some new things some new ways of looking at the data. So, every data is data whether it is more positive or it is negative don’t stop at the current hypothesis. See, suppose you have presented a hypothesis, but at some point of time what happens you need to modify your hypothesis, this is in keeping with the current trends, you want to discover some further knowledge you get an important information okay. So, in variation with that, you can just modify the hypothesis to suit your needs.
1:06:28
If the hypothesis is supported, then you can think of generalizing the hypothesis you can test the new hypothesis, if the hypothesis is not supported, you can you know search for some more accurate data to see that it can be supported that you can use it to the maximum, derive new hypothesis. So, after you finish testing some hypothesis and reaching confusions try to see if you can derive interesting new hypothesis okay. So, sometimes what you get, you derive a hypothesis you also get some additional information which is there.
1:07:15
So, you have designed a new hypothesis, you can also get you know some additional work on a new hypothesis okay. So, new hypothesis it may help to find causes. So, if the cause is x, then you can have some result which can be true. So, what we are going to do we test the efficacy of that result. So, what is important in the research methodology is that you follow a basic set of the SOPs, okay and you practice good laboratory practices. You should be very particular in doing the literature review because that is what is going to form the basis of your five year work research plan okay, so, research hypothesis and then after your review of literature is done, you should be very carefully be able to formulate a research hypothesis that is going to give you some new results some new interpretations, some new informations that can help you to fill gaps in the already existing results database or you can contribute significantly to some new research ideas.
1:08:54
So is that clear students? Is it clear? How do you proceed with the first step of your research is it clear, do you have any questions okay students, thank you so much for joining in. You have your next class tomorrow. Dr. Preeti will be talking about more things in research methodology. Thank you so much students for joining in. Good night, everyone.