RESEARCH AND PUBLICATIONS: BASICS

1. RESEARCH AND PUBLICATIONS:BASICS • Based on • How to get a PhD by Estelle M. Phillips and Derek S. Pugh, Open University Press • Notes from Dr Sriram Kumar, NIT Trichy

2. CRITERIA FOR GOOD RESEARCH • Purpose to be clearly defined. • Research design to be thoroughly planned. • High ethical standards to be applied. • Limitations to be frankly revealed. • Adequate analysis for decision maker’s needs. • Findings to be presented unambiguously. • Conclusions to be justified.

3. TYPICAL QUALITIES OF GOOD RESEARCH • Systematic • Logical • Empirical • Reproducible • Creative • Use of Multiple methods

4. Typical Work Outline in Engineering Disciplines • FOCUS ON RESEARCH AREA • RESEARCH DEFINITION & OBJECTIVES • NEED • PROBLEM DEFINITION • LITERATURE REVIEW • PREPARE A REVIEW PAPER • NUMERICAL ANALYSIS • SIMULATION • HARDWARE IMPLEMENTATION • PREPARE A PAPER

5. RESEARCH TOPICS ? INFORMATION SOURCES • Science Direct • Abstracts – Physical, Chemical etc • IEEE Explore • PubMed • MedLib

6. OBJECTIVES OF RESEARCH • The objectives are: • To achieve new insights into it –Formulative Research. • To determine the frequency with which something occurs or with which it is associated with something else – Diagnostic Research. • To test a hypothesis of a causal relationship between variables –Hypothesis - Testing Research.

7. Program RESEARCH – PERT Chart PERT - Program Evaluation & Review Technique involves • Identification of specific activities and milestones • Determination of proper sequence of activities • Construction of a network diagram • Estimation of time required for each activity • Determination of the critical path • Updating of PERT chart as program progresses

8. RESEARCH PROGRAM FF Review the literature FF Review Concepts And theories Analyze Data (Test Hypothesis if any) Design Research (Including Sample Design) Collect Data (Execution) Formulate hypothesis Interpret and report Define Research Problem Review Previous Research findings F F I III IV V VI VII II F F Feed Back Feed Forward FF

10. STEP-1 DEFINITION OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM

11. RESEARCH PROBLEM • What is a research problem? • The term ‘problem’ means a question or issue to be examined. • Research Problem refers to some difficulty /need which a researcher experiences in the context of either theoretical or practical situation and wants to obtain a solution for the same.

12. The first step in the research process – definition of the problem involves two activities: • Identification / Selection of the Problem • Formulation of the Problem

13. IDENTIFICATION OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM • This step involves identification of a few problems and selection of one out of them, after evaluating the alternatives against certain selection criteria.

14. FORMULATION OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM • Formulation is the process of refining the research ideas into research questions and objectives. • Formulation means translating and transforming the selected research problem/topic/idea into a scientifically researchable question. It is concerned with specifying exactly what the research problem is.

15. CRITERIA OF A GOOD RESEARCH PROBLEM • Clear and Unambiguous • Empirical • Verifiable • Interesting • Novel and Original • Availability of Guidance

16. STEP-2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

17. REVIEW OF LITERATURE • It is an extensive survey of all available past studies relevant to the field of investigation. • It gives us knowledge about what others have found out in the related field of study and how they have done so.

18. PURPOSE OF REVIEW • To gain a background knowledge of the research topic. • To identify the concepts relating to it, potential relationships between them and to formulate researchable hypothesis. • To identify appropriate methodology, research design, methods of measuring concepts and techniques of analysis.

19. SOURCES OF LITERATURE • Books and Journals • Electronic Databases • Bibliographic Databases • Abstract Databases • Full-Text Databases • Govt. and Industry Reports • Internet • Research Dissertations / Thesis

20. STEP-3 NUMERICAL ANALYSIS

21. MATHEMATICAL APPROACH • The identified research problem may be given a mathematical definition. • Thus obtained math equation can be solved to get the particular solution.

22. Most commonly applied numerical techniques involves obtaining a partial differential equation and then solving it using pre-defined numerical methods. • The different numerical methods are • FEM • FDTD • FDFD • MoM

23. STEP-4 SIMULATION

24. SIMULATION • The theoretical results obtained from the mathematical calculations can be compared with the software simulations. • The choice of the software depends on the area of research and user’s convenience.

25. SOFTWARE Some of the commonly (commercially) available software are • MATLAB/ PYTHON • ANSOFT HFSS • Labview • SPSS • IE3D • FIDELITY • COMSOL MULTIPHYSICS • COVENTWARE

26. STEP-5 HARDWARE IMPLEMENTATION

27. FABRICATION • The simulation results obtained can be verified by performing hardware realization. • The measured results can be compared with the simulated one to arrive at the conclusions.

28. STEP-6 PREPARING A RESEARCH PAPER

29. To write a good research paper, be specific about the topic, know what to write, and write it effectively. • Here are the following steps to prepare a good paper • Choose Your Topic. • Locate Information. • Prepare Bibliography Cards. • Prepare an Outline.

30. Structure your paper as follows:           I. (topic)               A. (subtopic)                    1.(detail)                         a.(sub-detail) • Write A Rough Draft. • Revise Your Rough Draft. • Prepare Your Bibliography. • Prepare a Title Page and Table of Contents.

31. STEP-7 PUBLISHING A PAPER

32. JOURNALS Some of the National and International journals are • IEEE • SCIENCE DIRECT • MEDWELL • PUBMED

33. COURSEWORK Coursework may consist of • Regular Class course • Technical Seminars & Academic Assignments