Download - Introduction
Outline of my Lectures
Shreepad KarmalkarProfessor, Electrical Engineering Department
Core Team Member, Teaching Learning CenterIndian Institute of Technology Madras
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We discuss answers the following questions
• What are the motivation and objectives of a course such as “Introduction to Research” ?
• What are the differences between Course based UG / PG and Research Education ?
• What are the habits, skills and attitudes required for research and how do I develop them ?
• How can I develop my thinking to generate ideas ?
• In how many different ways (tabular, graphical or other) can I present the data ?
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• How can I find a problem and formulate a hypothesis ?
• What, how and how much literature should I read ? • What are the essential elements of scientific methods ?
• How do I design set-ups and experiments, and ensure accuracy in measurements ?
• How can one be an effective and efficient oral / written communicator ?
• Where and how do I publish / patent my work ?
We discuss answers the following questions
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• How do I manage stress, time and my guide / research student ?
• What are the ethical issues in research ?
And any other questions you may have ……… please feel free to interrupt and ask me questions or make comments
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We discuss answers the following questions
Activities during the course
When I hear, I forget
When I see, I
remember
When I do, I learn
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Activities during the course
Group discussion
based on the talk
“YOU AND YOUR RESEARCH”
by
Richard W. Hamming
Bell Communications Research Colloquium Seminar
7th March 1986
Available on the Internet6
Activities during the course
• 10 min Power Point Presentations by two participants on topics of their choice but of
general interest to the audience
• 10 min thinking exercise to gain appreciation of the levels of thinking
• A number of assignments
And taking
notes !!!!7
Reference Material
• E. M. Phillips and D. S. Pugh, “How to get a PhD -
a handbook for PhD students and their supervisors”,
Viva books Pvt. Ltd., (price Rs. 165).
(with due acknowledgement to Prof. M. V. Satyanarayana)
• G. L. Squires, “Practical physics”, Cambridge University
Press, (price Rs. 185).
• Handbook of Science Communication, compiled by
Antony Wilson, Jane Gregory, Steve Miller, Shirley Earl,
Overseas Press India Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, First edition
2005 (price Rs. 130).8
What are the motivation and objectives of a course such as “Introduction to Research” ?
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Vision Excellence in research
Gap
Ground reality
Low impact of the large scientific manpower
Low average drags the peak down or drives it away
Status of Research in India
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An IIT Teacher’s doubt:
We are proud of our B.Techs.
Are we equally proud of our PhDs ?
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• strengthen research culture
• instill confidence and professional
pride in research scholars
There is an urgent need to
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B.Tech M.Techstudent
PhDscholar
Human Material
Resources
PhD Education
Teachers
Peers
Guide
Attitude
Skills
Knowledge
The PhD Educational Process - A Model
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B.Tech M.Techstudent
PhDscholar
Human Material
Resources
PhD Education
Teachers
Peers
Guide
Attitude
Skills
Knowledge
The PhD Educational Process - A Model
• Planning /Organizing• Motivating• Controlling (optimally)
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Philosophers have only
interpreted the world in various
ways.
The point, however, is to change
it !
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Substrate
Plating
Seed Layer
The course aims at seeding
research attitude and skills.
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Research Scholars
Research attitude and skills
Introduction to Research course
The course aims at seeding
research attitude and skills.
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To undertake an exploration it helps to
have a map.
This course can be regarded as a map
for undertaking research.
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There is no substitute for experience, in
understanding of the research process.
But, experience without thought is a
slow and painful way of learning.
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The course has two components: one that will
be of immediate use, and another, whose
significance will be apparent in the long run.
Your research career does not end, but rather,
begins with an MS / PhD.
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What are the differences between Course based UG / PG education and Research education ?
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What are the habits, skills and attitudes required for research and how do I develop them ?
We discuss answers the following questions
Degrees
• Bachelors: General education
• Masters (by course work): Possession of advanced knowledge
• Doctorate or at least Masters (by research): License to teach and guide others
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One can teach and guide others when one has
• a knowledge of what is being discovered, argued
about and published in a subject all over the world
• an ability to evaluate the worth of what others are
doing
• an ability to identify areas where one can make a
useful contribution
• an ability to communicate ones ideas and results
effectively in international professional circles
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To get the license to teach and guide others, one
should be a MANAGER OF ONE’S OWN LEARNING
and an INDEPENDENT THINKER. In bachelors and
masters education, a student’s learning is managed
by her teachers.
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Manager of one’s own learning
take initiative in choosing the research area and
courses to be undergone
Independent thinker
not only solve a problem but also define it; this
involves asking new questions
not only generate data but also interpret it.
Research education, blurs the distinction
between a student and her mentor.
• Unlike in an examination, in research, you do not
get well-defined problems to solve. It is your job
to define the problem as well as to solve it.
• PhD / MS is like a time-unbound examination,
in which problems are different for different
people, the final marks have to be more than a
minimum which is fairly high, but you are
allowed multiple attempts to achieve this result.
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• The role of a scholar and his guide
• Meaning of a Thesis
A thesis is not merely description but analysis and explanation of a topic. It is a position that you wish to argue about, defend or maintain.
Flawed Perceptions About Research
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Research entails prolonged and arduous labour and needs
- doubt rather than ready acceptance - extensive reading: a researcher must be much broader than his special line
- persistence, i.e. management of boredom and frustration
- good relations with your guide and fellow scholars
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Research
“Go back and search until we find – explore”
Do not follow where the path may lead.
Go instead where there is no path.
Ralph Emerson“An objective and systematic effort to gain new knowledge”
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• Criteria - newness, truth, accuracy, good technique,
keen analysis, sound reasoning.
• Involves - questioning, doubting, verifying, sifting,
testing, and proving that which has been handed down;
observing, and measuring the phenomena of nature.
Research
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Why research ?
• All progress is born of inquiry. Doubt is often better
than overconfidence, for it leads to inquiry, and
inquiry
leads to invention.
If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in
doubts.
But if he will be content to begin with doubts, he will
end in certainties.
- Francis Bacon
• Research promotes the habits of logical thinking and
organization.
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• swagruhe pUjyate mUrkhah, swagrAme pUjyate prabhuh swadeshe pUjyate rAjA, vidvAn sarvatra pUjyate.
• Service to society.
• Intellectual satisfaction of doing creative work.
• Face the challenge of solving unsolved problems.
• Enhance career opportunities and earning.
• Not having any real aims and not knowing what to do.
Aims do not remain the same throughout the PhD duration.
Why research ?
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Who is a scholar ?
A greedy person can be won over by money
A proud person by cowering before him
A fool by agreeing with him, but
A scholar can only be won over by speaking the truth.
- Chanakya
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Who is a scholar ?
“We should not forget that the solution of any
worthwhile problem very rarely comes to us easily
and without hard work. It is rather the result of
intellectual effort of days or weeks or months. Why
should the young mind be willing to make this
supreme effort ? The explanation is probably the
instinctive preference for certain values, that is, the
attitude which rates intellectual effort and spiritual
achievement higher than material advantage.
- Gabor Szego
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Successful completion of any major
project requires integrated application
of multiple skills and habits.
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Knowing
Comprehension
Problem solving
Critical thinking
Creative thinking
• Thinking
• Problem finding
• Experimentation
• Modeling
• Time / stress management
SKILLS NECESSARY FOR RESEARCH
• Technical communication
Oral
Written
Publishing / Patenting
Literature search • Interpersonal skills36
• Documentation
• Reading
• Participation in technical meetings
NECESSARY HABITS
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No procedure, technique, skill etc which is relevant
to your thesis should be exercised by you there for
the first time. You should have practiced it
beforehand on a non-thesis exercise, which is
therefore going to be less stressful and allow you
greater learning.
If you have 10 hours for chopping a tree,
spend 5 hours sharpening the axe. 38