What Is Research?

 Research refers to a careful, well-defined (or redefined), objective, and systematic

method of search for knowledge, or formulation of a theory that is driven by
inquisitiveness for that which is unknown and useful on a particular aspect so as to
make an original contribution to expand the existing knowledge base.
 Research involves formulation of hypothesis or proposition of solutions, data analysis,
and deductions; and ascertaining whether the conclusions fit the hypothesis.
 Research is a process of creating, or formulating knowledge that does not yet exist.
 Research is not just about reading a lot of books and finding a lot of, gathering a lot
of existing information. It is instead adding, maybe small and specific, yet original,
contribution to that existing body of knowledge.

The Research flow diagram:

 The diagram explains that the research cycle starts with basically a practical problem:
one must be clear what the problem being attempted to solve is and why it is
important.
 This problem motivates a research question without which one can tend to get lost in
a giant swamp of information.
 The question helps one zero in onto manageable volume of information, and in turn
defines a research project which is an activity or set of activities that ultimately leads
to result or answer, which in turn helps to solve the practical problem that one started
with in the first place as shown in diagram.
 The objective of a good research program is to try and gain insight into something. Or
indeed, to try and solve a problem.
 Good research questions develop throughout the project actually and one can even
keep modifying them.
 Through research, one would like to make, or develop, new knowledge about the
world around us which can be written down or recorded in some way, and that
knowledge can be accessed through that writing or recording.
The categories of knowledge in research:

 Engineering research is the process of developing the perspectives and seeking

improvements in knowledge and skills to enable the recognition, planning, design,
and execution of research in a wide range of forms relevant for engineering and
technology investigations and developments
 The categories of knowledge as enumerated above are shown in Figure.
 The ways of developing and accessing knowledge come in three, somewhat
overlapping, broad categories:

(i) Observation is the most fundamental way of obtaining information from a

source, and it could be significant in itself if the thing that we are trying to
observe is really strange or exciting, or is difficult to observe.
Observation takes different forms from something like measurements in a
laboratory to a survey among a group of subjects to the time it takes for a
firmware routine to run.
The observational data often needs to be processed in some form and this leads to
the second category of knowledge, the model.
 (ii) Models are approximated, often simplified ways of describing sometimes very
complex interactions in the form of a statistical relationship, a figure, or a set of
mathematical equations
For instance, the modelling equation captures the relationship between different
attributes or the behaviour of the device in an abstract form and enables us to
understand the observed phenomena.

(iii) The final category is a way of arranging or doing things through processes,
algorithms, procedures, arrangements, or reference designs, to get a certain
desired result.

Objectives of Engineering Research:

 The objective of engineering research is to solve new and important problems, and
since the conclusion at the end of one’s research outcome has to be new, but when one
starts, the conclusion is unknown.
 So, the start itself is tricky, one may say. The answer is, based on “circumstantial
evidence”, intuition, and imagination, one guesses what may be a possible conclusion.
 Research objectives can sometimes be convoluted and difficult to follow.
 The main aim of the research is to apply scientific approaches to seek answers to open
questions, and although each research study is particularly suited for a certain
approach, in general, the following are different types of research studies: exploratory
or formulative, descriptive, diagnostic, and hypothesis-testing.
 The objectives of engineering research should be to develop new theoretical or
applied knowledge and not necessarily limited to obtaining abilities to obtain the
desired result.
 The objectives should be framed such that in the event of not being able to achieve the
desired result that is being sought, one can fall back to understanding why it is not
possible, because that is also a contribution toward ongoing research in solving that
problem. Of course, someone else might come along and actually propose a different
approach where the desired objective is indeed possible to be achieved.

Motivation in Engineering Research:

The possible motives may be the result of one or more of the following desires:
(i) Studies have shown that intrinsic motivations like interest, challenge, learning,
meaning, purpose, are linked to strong creative performance.

(ii) Extrinsic motivating factors like rewards for good work include money, fame,
awards, praise, and status are very strong motivators, but may block creativity. For
example: Research outcome may enable obtaining a patent which is a good way to
become rich and famous.
 (iii) Influences from others like competition, collaboration, commitment, and
encouragement are also motivating factors in research. For example: my friends
are all doing research and so should I, or, a person that I dislike is doing well and I
want to do better.

(iv) Personal motivation in solving unsolved problems, intellectual joy, service to

community, and respectability are all driving factors.

The following factors would be a mix of extrinsic and intrinsic aspects:

 Wanting to do better than what has been achieved in the world,

 improve the state of the art in technology,
 Contribute to the improvement of society,
 Fulfilment of the historical legacy in the immediate
sociocultural context.

Types of Engineering Research:

The different types of research are:
Descriptive versus Analytical:
 Descriptive research includes comparative and correlational methods, and fact-finding
inquiries, to effectively describe the present state of art.
 The researcher holds no control over the variables; rather only reports as it is.
 Descriptive research also includes attempts to determine causes even though the
variables cannot be controlled.
 On the contrary, in analytical research, already available facts for analysis and critical
evaluation are utilized.
 Some research studies can be both descriptive and analytical.
Applied versus Fundamental:
 Research can either be applied research or fundamental (basic or pure) research.
 Applied research seeks to solve an immediate problem facing the organization,
whereas fundamental research is concerned with generalizations and formulation of a
theory.
 Research concerning natural phenomena or relating to pure mathematics are examples
of fundamental research.
 Research to identify social or economic trends, or those that find out whether certain
communications will be read and understood are examples of applied research.
 The primary objective of applied research is to determine a solution for compelling
problems in actual practice, while basic research is aimed at seeking information
which could have a broad base of applications in the medium to long term.
Quantitative versus Qualitative:
 Quantitative research uses statistical observations of a sufficiently large number of
representative cases to draw any conclusions, while qualitative researchers rely on
 a few nonrepresentative cases or verbal narrative in behavioural studies such as
clustering effect in intersections in Transportation engineering to make a
proposition.
Finding and Solving a Worthwhile Problem:
 A researcher may start out with the research problems stated by the Supervisor or
posed by others that are yet to be solved.
 Alternately, it may involve rethinking of a basic theory, or need to be formulated or
put together from the information provided in a group of papers suggested by the
Supervisor.
 Research scholars are faced with the task of finding an appropriate problem on which
to begin their research.
 Skills needed to accomplish such a task at the outset, while taking care of possible
implications are critically important but often not taught.
 A worthwhile research problem would have one or more attributes. It could be
nonintuitive/counterintuitive even to someone who knows the area, something that the
research community had been expecting for some time, a major simplification of a
central part of the theory, a new result which would start off a new subject or an area,
provides a new method or improves upon known methods of doing something which
has practical applications, or a result which stops further work in an area.
The recommended steps to solve a research problem are
(i) Understand the problem, restate it as if it’s your own, visualize the problem by
drawing figures, and determine if something more is needed.
(ii) One must start somewhere and systematically explore possible strategies to solve
the problem or a simpler version of it while looking for patterns.
(iii) Execute the plan to see if it works, and if it does not then start over with another
approach. Having delved into the problem and returned to it multiple times, one
might have a flash of insight or a new idea to solve the problem.
(iv) Looking back and reflecting helps in understanding and assimilating the strategy,
and is a sort of investment into the future.
Ethics in Engineering Research:
 Ethics generally refers to a set of rules distinguishing acceptable and unacceptable
conduct, distinguishing right from wrong, or wise aphorisms like the sayings of
Chanakya.
 Government bodies, and universities worldwide have adopted certain codes for
research ethics.
 Research ethics and the responsible conduct of research are often erroneously used
interchangeably.
 Research ethics examines the appropriate application of research outcomes, while
responsible conduct of research deals with the way the work is undertaken.
Ethics in Engineering Research Practice:
 Engineering research is not work in isolation to the technological development taking
place.
 Researchers make many choices that matter from an ethical perspective and influence
the effects of technology in many different ways:

(i) By setting the ethically right requirements at the very outset, engineering
researchers can ultimately influence the effects of the developed technology.
(ii) Influence may also be applied by researchers through design (a process that
translates the requirements into a blueprint to fulfil those requirements).
During the design process, decision is to be made about the priority in
importance of the requirements taking ethical aspects into consideration
(iii) Thirdly, engineering researchers have to choose between different alternatives
fulfilling similar functions.

 Research outcomes often have unintended and undesirable side effects.

 It is a vital ethical responsibility of researchers to ensure that hazards/risks associated
with the technologies that they develop, are minimized and alternative safer
mechanisms are considered.
 If possible, the designs should be made inherently safe such that they avoid dangers,
or come with safety factors, and multiple independent safety barriers, or if possible, a
supervisory mechanism to take control if the primary process fails.
Types of Research Misconduct:
 Engineering research should be conducted to improve the state-of-the-art of
technologies.
 Research integrity encompasses dealing fairly with others, honesty about the methods
and results, replicating the results wherever possible so as to avoid errors, protecting
the welfare of research subjects, ensuring laboratory safety, and so forth.
 In order to prevent mistakes, peer reviews should take place before the research
output is published.
 There may be different types of research misconduct as described in research articles
which can be summarized as follows:

(i) Fabrication (Illegitimate creation of data):

 Fabrication is the act of conjuring data or experiments with a belief of

knowledge about what the conclusion of the analysis or experiments
would be, but cannot wait for the results possibly due to timeline pressures
from supervisor or customers.

(ii) Falsification (Inappropriate alteration of data):

 Falsification is the misrepresentation or misinterpretation, or illegitimate

alteration of data or experiments, even if partly, to support a desired
 hypothesis even when the actual data received from experiments suggest
otherwise.
 Falsification and fabrication of data and results, hamper engineering
research, cause false empirical data to percolate in the literature, wreck
trustworthiness of individuals involved, incur additional costs, impede
research progress, and cause actual and avoidable delays in technical
advancement.
 Misleading data can also crop up due to poor design of experiments or
incorrect measurement practices.

(iii) Plagiarism (Taking other’s work sans attribution):

 Plagiarism takes place when someone uses or reuses the work (including
portions) of others (text, data, tables, figures, illustrations or concepts) as if
it were his/her own without explicit acknowledgement.
 Verbatim copying or reusing one’s own published work is termed as self-
plagiarism and is also an unacceptable practice in scientific literature.
 The increasing availability of scientific content on the internet seems to
encourage plagiarism in certain cases, but also enables detection of such
practices through automated software packages.

(iv) Other Aspects of Research Misconduct:

 Serious deviations from accepted conduct could be construed as research

misconduct.
 When there is both deception and damage, a fraud is deemed to have taken
place.
 Sooner or later ethical violations get exposed. Simultaneous submission of
the same article to two different journals also violates publication policies.
 Another issue is that when mistakes are found in an article or any
published content, they are generally not reported for public access unless
a researcher is driven enough to build on that mistake and provide a
correct version of the same which is not always the primary objective of
the researcher.

Ethical Issues Related to Authorship:

 Academic authorship involves communicating scholarly work, establishing priority

for their discoveries, and building peer-reputation, and comes with intrinsic burden of
acceptance of the responsibility for the contents of the work.
 It is the primary basis of evaluation for employment, promotion, and other honours.
 Credit for research contributions is attributed in three major ways in research
publications: by authorship (of the intended publication), citation (of previously
published or formally presented work), and through a written acknowledgment (of
some inputs to the present research).
 Authorship establishes both accountability and gives due credit.
 A person is expected to be listed as an author only when associated as a significant
contributor in research design, data interpretation, or writing of the paper.
 Some authors, in trying to acquire a sole-authored work, despite relying on significant
contribution to the research work from others, recognize that effort only by an
acknowledgment, thereby misrepresenting the contributions of the listed authors.
 The unrecognized “author” is as a consequence, unavailable to readers for
elaboration.
 All listed authors have the full obligation of all contents of a research article, and so
naturally, they should also be made aware of a journal submission by the
corresponding author.
 It is imperative that their consent is sought with respect to the content and that they
be agreeable to the submission.
 In case of misconduct like inappropriate authorship, while the perpetrator is easier to
find, the degree of appropriate accountability of the coauthors is not always obvious.
 Being able to quantify the contributions so as to appropriately recognize and ascertain
the degree of associated accountability of each coauthor, is appealing.
 Double submission is an important ethical issue related to authorship, which involves
submission of a paper to two forums simultaneously.
 The motivation is to increase publication possibility and possibly decrease time to
publication.
 Reputed journals want to publish original papers, i.e., papers which have not
appeared elsewhere, and strongly discourage double submission.