Slide deck to present to KUET students for describing research methodology, thesis writing, and tips to do better research.

1. ResearchMethodology
Rushdi Shams, PhD
Machine Learning Lead, DistillerSR
rushdecoder@gmail.com

2. Outline
What IS and IS
NOT research
Research
Methodology
Propose a
research
Do a
research
Document
a research
Propose a
research
Research
question
Literature
review
Research
proposal
Document a
research
Thesis
Tipsfor
outstanding
research
2

3. About Myself
3

4. Whatis Research
• The systematic process of
collecting and analyzing
information
• It involves interpretation
of data to draw
conclusions

5. Whatis NOT Research
• Are you presenting other peoples’ work in
a stylish well-understood manner?
• Are you searching new knowledge for
information?
• Are you seeking knowledge on the
architecture of cars by buying a car?

6. Characteristicsof Research
• Originates with a question or problem.
• Requires a clear articulation of a goal.
• Follows a specific plan of procedure.
• Critical thinking.
• Guided by the specific research problem,
question, or hypothesis.
• Accepts certain critical assumptions.
• Requires the collection and interpretation of
data
• Builds on previous research.

7. Research Methodology Types
Quantitative
Research
Qualitative
Research
Experimental
Research
Case Study Mixed-Method
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8. Research Steps
• Propose a research
• Review literatures.
• Conduct a research.
• Take action, do analysis, generate
results
• Document your work.
• This documentation will be the stem
to produce
• Conference papers for sharing
knowledge with scholars
• Journalpapers for archiving

9. Propose a Research
• Research Question
• Literature Review
• Research Proposal

10. Research Question
Start witha broad
topic that you’re
interestedin
Do some preliminary
readingaboutthe current
state of the field.
Narrowyour focus
to a specific area
Developaquestion
Suitablycomplex
Relevanttoyourfieldof
studyand/orsociety,
Researchable using
primaryand/orsecondary
sources,
Feasible toanswerwithin
the timeframe
Refine andmake
sure it is clear,
concise, and
unambiguous.
Use different
approaches to
address your
researchquestion,
such as feasibility
study, case study,
comparative study,
literature survey,
etc.
Use tools and
techniques to
support your
researchquestion
development, such
as SWOTanalysis,
and SMARTcriteria
10

11. Why will you review
Literature?
• The literature review is a critical
look at the existing research that is
significant to your project.
• You should evaluate what has
already been done, show
the relationships between different
work, and show how it relates
to your project.
• It is not supposed to be just a
summary of other people's work.

12. Whatshould Literature
ReviewAnswer?
• What do we already know in the area
concerned?
• What are the existing theories?
• Are there any inconsistenciesor other
shortcomings?
• What views need to be (further) tested?
• What evidence is lacking, inconclusive,
contradictory or too limited?
• Why study (further) the research
problem?

13. Know the Difference
LITERATURE REVIEW ANNOTATED
BIBLIOGRAPHY
SYSTEMATIC REVIEW
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14. Research
Proposal
• After reviewing the relevant literature, you should begin
thinking about your proposal
• Your proposal will communicate your intentions to your
committee,
• It will serve as a plan for yourself and the committee, and
• Connects yourself with the committee
• It should indicate that-
• You have identified a problem
• You read enough literature to discuss the subject
intelligently,
• You developed a strategyfor completing the research.

15. Research Proposal
• A Research Proposal will generally containfollowing
sections-
• Problem Statement
• Which area the problem belongs to
• What has been done so far
• What problems are still not solved
• Why are those problems need to be solved
• Motivation
• What problem are you particularly interested of
• What is your motive to solve that
• Narrower description of your research

16. Research Proposal
• Approach
• Brief description of your research
• How will you solve the problems
• What are the steps to accomplishyour goal?
• Are you aware of the upcoming problems?
• Challenges
• Difference with other work
• How yourresearch will contribute
• Applications
• Where your findingscan be applied

17. Document a
Research
• Title
• Authors
• Abstract
• IMRAD
• Acknowledgment
• References

18. Thesis
Your thesis should meet the following criteria-
• Evidence of an original investigationor the testing
of ideas.
• Competence in independent work or
experimentation.
• An understanding of appropriate techniques.
• Ability to make critical use of published work and
source material.
• Appreciation of the relationship of the special
theme to the wider field of knowledge.
• Originality as shown by the topic researched or the
methodology employed.
• Distinct contribution to knowledge.

19. Scientific
Writing: IMRAD
• Every scientific writing
generally will have four sections
having an acronym of IMRAD-
• Introduction
• Methods
• Results and
• Discussion

20. Title
• Title is a label- not sentence
• Fewest possible words that adequately
describe the contentsof the thesis
• Indexing and abstracting services
depend heavily on the accuracy of the
title
• Avoid abbreviations

21. Authors
• Alphabetical order or order of importance
• Persons who actively contributed to the overall
design and execution of the experiments
• First name, middle name, last name
• Address of institution where the research is done
• Address in same serial to the authors

22. Abstract
• Precise summary of the content
• Brief summary of each of the sections
• Should not exceed 250 words though there is no
hard and fast rule
• States the principal objectives and scope of the
investigation
• Describes the methodologies employed
• Summarize the results
• State the principal conclusions

23. Introduction
• Enough background information so that reader can
understand results
• Reader should not need to refer to previous
publications on the topic
• Introduction should describe
• Nature and scope of the problem investigated
• Review of related literature
• Method of the investigation
• Principal results
• Principal conclusions

24. Methods
• Describe the experimental design
• Provide enough detail so that others can repeat the
experiment
• Use past tense

25. Results
• Overall description of experiment
• Present the data
• Results are presented in past tense
• Avoid redundancy

26. Discussions
• Try to present principles, relationships,
and generalizations shown by the results
• Point out any exceptions or any lack of
correlation and define unsettled points
• Show how your results and
interpretationsagree with previously
published work
• Don't be shy; discuss theoretical
implication of your work as well as
practical applications
• State your conclusionsas clearly as
possible
• Summarize your evidence for each
conclusion

27. Acknowledgment
• Acknowledge any significant technical help,
etc.
• Acknowledge any outside financial assistance
• Grants, contracts, or fellowships

28. References
• List only significant, published references
• Check all parts of every reference against the
original copy the publications
• You can find Reference styles
• IEEE Editorial Style Manual - IEEE Computer
Society
• References (apa.org)
• Citation Style and Reference Formats (acm.org)

29. Research Key Insights
Reproducibility
Publication Bias
Causal Inference
Interdisciplinary Nature
Researcher Dilemma
Researcher Bias
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30. Tips for Outstanding Research
Select a research topic
that interestsyou!
Develop a clear and
focused research
question.
Plan your research
process.
Use a variety of sources
to gather relevant and
reliable information.
Learn how to use
effective search
techniques
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31. Tips for Outstanding Research
Evaluateyoursources
critically
Keep track of your
sources and cite them
properly to avoid
plagiarism
Organize your data and
notes in a systematic and
logical way, using tools
such as outlines, mind
maps, or software.
Analyze your data and
synthesize your
findings
Communicateyour
research results clearly
and convincingly
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32. Handy Tools
• Timer / Alarm
• Calendar
• Notification Snoozer
• Mendeley / Zotero
• Google Keep
• Browser Tab Management
• Excel
• Latex
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33. Handy Tools for
Researchers (and for all)
• Mind Map
• Cloud Sharing
• Github
• Google Task
• Pareto Principle
• Trello
• ChatGPT/ Gemini / Bing Co-pilot
• Stylistics
• Others
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34. Q&A
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