Blogs
Doing Literature Review for PhD, Deriving Research Gap and Setting up Research Objective
15/10/2020
Information about Likert scale in designing survey questionnaire for PhD research
03/09/2020
The Likert Scale( frequently known as agree-disagree scale) was first published by physiologist Rensis Likert in 1932. The technique presents respondents with a series of attitude dimensions ( a battery), for each of which they are asked whether, and how strongly, they agree or disagree, using one of the numbers of the positions on a five-point scale. With face-to-face interviewer-administered scale batteries, the responses may be shown on a card whilst the interviewer reads out each of the statements in turn. With telephone interviewing, the respondent may sometimes be asked to remember what the response categories are, but preferably be... read more
A PhD defence Scenario- What happens in the PhD final thesis defence presentation
20/06/2020
What does oral defence look like? Although the format and roles may vary from institution to institution and from advisor to advisor, most follow common procedures. Here is a scenario that represents a typical oral defence: 1. You arrive about 30 minutes early to arrange the room properly. 2. Your advisor facilitates the meeting, usually opening with introductions. He or she introduces committee members, guests and the outside reader. You then introduce any family or friends who are present. 3. Your advisor explains the purpose of oral defence and procedures to be followed in conducting a defence. Keep in... read more
Why Pilot Questionnaires? Reliability and Validity Testing for PhD Research
27/03/2020
There are two keys tests for a questionnaire: reliability and validity. A questionnaire is reliable if it provides a consistent distribution of responses from the same survey universe. The validity of the questionnaire is whether or not it is measuring what we want it to measure Testing a questionnaire directly for reliability is very difficult. It can be administered twice to the same of test respondents to determine whether or not they give consistent correct answers.However,the time between the two interviews cannot usually be very long ,both because the respondent’s answer may in fact change over time and because, to... read more
Secondary Research: Know How to Use Existing Information to Conduct a New Study
28/11/2019
Research, aiming to discover solutions to issues/problems in a specific field, includes two major categories: primary and secondary research. While primary research involves data collection via self-conducted approaches, secondary research includes data collected from previous studies. Primary research is valuable as it fills a gap in the information and provides specific answers to the chosen research question. However, due to its nature, cost involved, and time consumed to perform the study, primary research is not commonly used by the researchers. Instead, they opt secondary research method. Secondary research ( desk research), involving the use of existing data, summarizes & collates... read more
Penning Down a Technical Paper: Know How to Structure the Epitome of your Research
30/10/2019
The ability to convey the significant idea of a study is the key to success in the research journey. However, due to reasons such as writers’ block, inadequate knowledge about the writing guidelines, etc. scholars often fail to pour out their thoughts in a technical paper. Although writing a technical paper is a painstaking process, it isn’t too complicated once you are aware of how and what needs to be included in the paper. A technical paper must reconstruct the investigation process and give an in-depth understanding of the research concept to the reader. Typically, a technical paper should be... read more
Triangulation Technique : A Comprehensive Guide to Enhancing Credibility of Research
28/09/2019
With the increase in issues with the trustworthiness in qualitative research, it has become a necessity for scholars to establish credibility, transferability, dependability, and conformability of their research. Although all the four factors play a vital role, credibility is the foremost factor that builds the trustworthiness of qualitative research. While developing credibility is one side of the story, enhancing the same is other. Originating in surveying & navigational contexts, triangulation is a practice of utilising multiple data sources & approaches to perform data analysis and improve the credibility of a research. In a word, triangulation is a process of combining... read more
Survey vs Experiment: Know How Two Research Methods Differ from Each Other
29/08/2019
Research methods are procedures that span the steps from nonspecific assumptions to detailed approaches of data collection, analysis, and interpretation. These are essentially well-planned, value-neutral and scientific. Generally, the research method includes experimental study, focus groups, survey method, numerical schemes, theoretical procedures, etc. However, each study domain demands a specific type of research method. For instance, for research that requires investigation of characteristics, opinions or behaviours of a group of people, survey method can be used. Whereas, research that demands explanation based on observations, collected facts, and measurements, the experiment research method is used. Know more about experiment and survey... read more
Action Research vs Case Study : Know the Key Difference Between Two Qualitative Research Methods
27/07/2019
A research method is nothing but a technique of inquiry which proceeds from the underlying philosophical assumptions to research design and data collection. Specific research methods imply various assumptions, skills, research practices and the choice of research approach influences the manner in which the data is collected. Among various research methods, the most popular and widely used design is qualitative research. This design consists of many philosophical perspectives and various research methods, of which includes action research and case study research. Action Research Action research is a type of qualitative research, which is adopted by the researcher in order to... read more
Literature Review Errors: How to Avoid Them While Writing
13/10/2018
When a research committee has approved your proposal, the next step is a literature review. A literature review can be developed in two steps: A critical evaluation of existing research papers, scholarly articles/journal articles, white papers, government records or any other theory in relation to the research problem that you choose for further investigation. This step mainly involved identifying the research gap. Refining, segregating and comparing the literature as per your research objectives. A basic laying out of two seemingly-simple steps mentioned above itself seems a daunting task. It is obvious that it is easier said than done, and... read more
