@21IPC501J

Research Methodology and

Publication Ethics
PhD Coursework
SRM Institute of Science and Technology
 Module-1 – RESEARCH PREPARATION, PLANNING AND RESOURCES

Topics
Research – objectives, definitions – knowledge economy; Perspectives of stakeholders; Types of
research; Critical & creative thinking; Generating research topic; Identifying broad research question and
objectives – design of questionnaire; Characteristics of a good research – research design; Methods of
scientific enquiry – theoretical, experimental and empirical; Hypothesis – formulation & testing. Sources
of information – ICT enabled tools; Databases, repositories, public and private sources, indexes;
Literature search – keyword; Backward and forward search; Quality measurement tools: journal metrics,
author-level metrics; Meta-analysis of research findings; Literature review: grouping, analysing &
comparison: Identification of research Methods; Intellectual Property Rights; Copyright – patent –
geographical indication – industrial designs – technology transfer.
 Definition of Research in Common Parlance
Research has many definitions in common parlance:
• Search for knowledge
• Scientific and systematic search for pertinent information on a topic
• Systematic investigation of inquiry specificallysearching for new facts in any
discipline
• Movement using known facts to unknown or unexplained issues
• Art of scientific investigation
• Voyage of discovery
• Events primed by inquisitiveness as driving force
• Academic activity used in a technical sense
 Technical Definitions of Research
• Defining and redefining problems, formulating hypothesis or suggested
solutions, collecting, organizing and evaluating data, making deductions
and reaching conclusions, and at last carefully testing the conclusions to
determine whether they fit the formulating hypothesis. (Clifford Woody)
• The manipulation of things, concepts or symbols for the purpose of
generalizing to extend, correct or verify knowledge, whether the
knowledge extends to the construction of a theory or the practice of an
art. (Slesinger and Stephenson)
• Research is a tool that is building a block and a sustaining pillar of every
discipline — scientific or otherwise that one knows.
• Research refers to the systematic method consisting of enunciating the
problem, formulating a hypothesis, collecting the facts or data, analyzing
the fact and reaching certain conclusions either in the form solutions(s)
towards the concerned problem or in certain generalizations for some
theoretical formulation.
 Objectives of Research
• The purpose of research is to discover answers to questions through
the application of scientific procedures. The main aim of research is
to find out the truth which is hidden and which has not been
discovered as yet. The objectives may be classified as:
• To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to achieve new insights into
it (studies with this object in view are termed as exploratory or
formulative research studies)
• To portray accurately the characteristics of a particular individual,
situation or a group (studies with this object in view are known as
descriptive research studies)
• To determine the frequency with which something occurs or with
which it is associated with something else (studies with this object in
view are known as diagnostic research studies)
• To test a hypothesis of a causal relationship between variables (such
studies are known as hypothesis-testing research studies)
 Research and Knowledge Economy
• A poorly developed country is agriculture and manufacturing - based
economy
• A developing country is manufacturing and service - based economy
• A developed country is knowledge - based economy
• Knowledge economy is a system of consumption and production
based on intellectual capital, which refers to the ability to capitalize
on discoveries emanating from basic and applied research
• Hence, a significant contribution to the knowledge - economy
emanates from intangible assets such as research, technical support,
and consulting and intellectual property rights and royalties
• Hence, research plays an important part in the growth of an economy
 Research and Stakeholders Perspectives
• Stakeholders are individuals or organizations who have an interest in your research project, or who affect or are affected by its outcomes.

The Public
The media
Public sector Schools, Colleges
and lifelong learning Communities
of interest
Cultural and
leisure services
Communities
of place
Health and well
being agencies
Non
Governmental
Quangos and organizations
Policy Community
govt. agencies
Community and 3rd sector
Community
Local / organizations
regional / And societies
national govt.

Voluntary
Local authority
organizations
/ strategic
And Charities
bodies
International
Community Business
Social
and
enterprises
industry

Business Community
 Research and Stakeholders Perspectives
• They maybe groups and organizations, such as funders, donors, community
members, advocacy organizations, patients, trade associations, businesses,
policymakers, policy advocates (NGO), and product developers.
• A stakeholder may serve multiple roles and bring several perspectives to a
project: setting priorities, shaping the research questions, designing or
Implementing studies, funding programs, assessing applications,
communicating findings, and moving the results into practice.
• Importantly. stakeholder engagement can bring knowledge and expertise
different experiences and perspectives to your research, provide data and
resources, build shared understanding, and make information from your
research relevant for effective decision making.
• Hence stakeholders perspectives play a significant role in research
 Types of Research
• Types of research may be categorized depending on applicability, the mode of enquiry in conducting the study, and major
objectives of the study. In fact, a research problem may use multiple research types.

Descriptive Research
Correlational Research
Analytical Research
Experimental Research
Types of Research Explanatory Research
Exploratory Research
Quantitative Research
Qualitative Research
Basic Research

Applied Research

Ref : Research Methodology A Practical and Scientific Approach, Biragi and Munot, CRC Press, 2019
 Types of Research
Descriptive Research — Ex post facto research
• To portray accurately (survey) the characteristics
of a particular individual, situation or a group.
• Mostly involves primary data — the researcher
has no control over the variable — he can only report
what has happened or what is happening. (Ex post factor)
• Some examples are:
DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH
Number of man-days lost in a factory because of accidents
Number of COVID related deaths due to the pandemic
Gender, age and other demographics of a population
 Types of Research
Correlation Research — constructing models
• To establish the existence of relationships
between two or more aspects of a situation
• It explores the relationship or association
between incidences, variables etc.
• Examples include:
Effect of cigarette smoking on incidences of lung cancer
Effect of modern lifestyle on obesity
Effect of leaf length on leaf weight
 Types of Research
Analytical Research - cause and effect
• Analytical research focuses on cause and effect.
• It tells us why our certain hypothesis is true or false,
which requires critical thinking skills and careful
assessment of the facts.
• Examples are:
Why has the value of INR slid down against the US Dollar
over the last three decades.
What is the cause for the high rate of suicides in a highly
educated society
 Types of Research
Experimental Research
• It is a study that adheres to a scientific
research design.
• It includes a hypothesis, a dependent
variables that can be manipulated by the
researcher, and independent variables that can be measured,
calculated and compared.
• The researcher collects data and results will either support or reject the
hypothesis.
• Example of this is the type of research where investigator optimizes the
desired independent variable by manipulating the dependent variables.
 Types of Research
Explanatory Research
• It is also called causal research and tries to analyse and justify the reason behind
the occurrence of particular phenomenon or association between the variables.
• It basically answers the “Why” type of questions.
• It aims to explain why a relationship, association, or interdependence exist.
• Example is: Why do customers prefer to purchase a certain colour packaged items
more than others
 Types of Research
Exploratory or Formulative Research —
• Explore new frontiers
• To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or
to achieve new insights into it.
• It does not aim to provide a conclusive
answer to the research questions, but merely EXPLORATORY
RESEARCH
explores the research topic to help develop a hypotheses (rather than
its testing).
• Example is a product launch in a particular city to judge the customer
response before it can be launched nation-wide.
 Types of Research
Quantitative Research
• As the name suggests, this involves measurements of quantities of a
particular characteristic that can be used for the research study.
• It uses statistical analysis on parameter values to reach conclusions.
• Example is the number of fatalities of the COVID pandemic with
respect to different criteria such as rural, urban residents, region-
wise, educational qualification etc.

Qualitative Quantitative
 Types of Research
Qualitative Research
• This research is about “what” people think and “why” they think so.
So, it deals with human behaviour
• So it is empirical research where data are not in the form of numbers.
• It is based on the disciplines of social sciences like psychology, sociology, and anthropology.
• Example is the study of the behavioural response of employees to the
changes occurring in an organization.

Qualitative Research
 Types of Research
• Basic Research is pure or fundamental
research.
• It aims to obtain a better understanding
of a subject, phenomenon or basic law
of nature.
• This type of research is primarily focused
on the advancement of knowledge rather
than solving a specific problem.
• Theories in basic sciences and
mathematics are examples of
basic research.
 Types of Research
Applied Research
• Applied research tries to solve an
immediate specific problem faced by
society.
• The obtained solution can be
deployed to solve the problem.
• The outcome of applied research should
either address the unsolved problem or
improve the existing solution.
• Example of applied research is the discovery of drugs to treat diseases
 Types of Research
Some other types of research are:
• Diagnostic Research — to determine the frequency with which
something occurs or with which it is associated with something else
(Health Science).
• Hypothesis-Testing Research — to test a hypothesis of a causal
relationship between variables by forming suitable hypotheses
(model assisted studies).
• Overt and Covert Research — overt research means that everyone
knows who the researcher is and what research is being conducted.
Covert research means that it is an under-cover work and nobody
knows who the researcher is and what researcher is being conducted.
 Classification of Research

Basic Research Applied Research

Enriching the theory

Enriching the
applications of
theoretical knowledge
 Classification of Research
Basic research Applied Research
It more theoretical also explores the information that have Applied research is more practical and descriptive in nature
not applied yet
The scope of basic research is often universal at can be The scope of applied research is largely focused on the
applied in diverse concepts particular topic to get the answer
It is lesser involved in improvement of technology It is comparatively highly applied to improve the technology
and covers the larger areas
It aims to predict future research and analyze the gap Applied seeking to prevent the predicted problem having
between the researches prior done potential to create challenges in the future
It is driven by curiosity It is usually driven by clients and conducted to understand
the fundamental concept required to solve the peoples
problem
In case of basic research, it is primarily applicable to It is closely linked to commercial products
academic areas
Basic research occurs in highly sterile and controlled It takes place in world setting where other unexpected
environment variable may intervene
Example - Research on identifying secondary symptoms of Example- Research into marijuana healing properties
human papilloma virus
It approaches flexible time scales where choices of the topic It approaches tight time scale where objectives are
is determined by the researchers negotiated with originator
 Classification of Research

Overt Research Covert Research

Everyone knows Under-cover work
who the researcher is and nobody knows who
and what research is the researcher is and what
being conducted research is being
conducted
 Classification of Research
1. Applied in natural sciences
2. Hypothesis driven, e.g. Null, alternate 1. Applied mostly in sociological sciences
Experimental Non – experimental
3. Data collection to establish cause and effect 2. Hypothesis not essential
Research Research
relationship 3. Wide scope
4. Narrow scope
1. Portray (survey) the characteristics of a
1. Explore a topic to develop a hypothesis Exploratory Descriptive particular individual, situation or group
e.g. New product launch in a city Research Research e.g. Gender, age and other demographics
of a population survey
Time –
1. Data at a given point of time dependent
What happened in history,
Static survey data Dynamic Historical say during the reign of
e.g. Pre – poll survey
Ashoka.

Cross - sectional Panel Study

e.g. Gender, age and other demographics Survey over long period of time
survey over short period of time, say
every 5 years
 Research Methods vs. Research Methodology
• Research methods may be understood as all those methods/ techniques that are
used for conduction of research.
• Since the object of research, particularly the applied research, is to arrive at a
solution for a given problem, the available data and the unknown aspects of the
problem have to be related to each other to make a solution possible.
• Keeping this in view, research methods can be put into the following three
groups:
1. In the first group we include those methods which are concerned with the
collection of data, e.g. experimental (instrumental) methods, survey etc.
2. The second group consists of those statistical techniques which are used for
establishing relationships between the data and the unknowns
3. The third group consists of those methods which are used to evaluate the
accuracy of the results obtained
 Research Methods vs. Research Methodology
• Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the research
problem in a logical step-by-step manner.
• Hence, It is necessary for the researcher to know not only the
• research methods / techniques but also the methodology.
• The scope of research methodology is wider than that of research
methods.
• Thus, when we talk of research methodology we not only talk of the
research methods but also consider the logic behind the methods we use
in the context of our research study and explain why we are using a
particular method or technique and why we are not using others so that
research results are capable of being evaluated either by the researcher
himself or by others.
 Attributes of Good Researcher
Role of Critical Thinking and Creative Thinking
• A good researcher should possess technical as well as professional skill-sets
• The technical skill-set deals with domain knowledge and requires critical thinking
• The professional skill – sets deal with the other aspects, including creative thinking mentioned in the figure
• Both critical and creative thinking are essential for research

Creative Thinking
Creativity

Dedication and Verbal

Commitment Communication

Ingredients for
Consistency
Good Domain
and Patience Researcher Knowledge

Written
Communication Critical Thinking
 Critical Thinking vs. Creative Thinking
• Critical thinking is the ability to clearly and logically evaluate information that
is presented. So, it is an analytical action.
• It can also be defined as the purposeful and reflective judgment about what
to believe and what to do in response to the observations, experience, verbal
or written expressions or arguments.
• Creative thinking is about reflecting on different perspectives or truths and
then generating new, novel, or useful ideas. So, it is an generative action.
• Critical and Creative thinking are complementary skills which are used in
different stages when trying to solve a problem or forming a judgment about
something.
 Critical Thinking and Bloom's Taxonomy
• Critical thinking is the ability to clearly and logically evaluate information that is
presented to us. So, it is an analytical action.
Bloom’s Taxonomy Framework

Creating

Higher
Higher Order Abilities

Evaluating
Order
Abilities

Analyzing

Applying

Lower Order
Understanding
Abilities

Remembering
 Tools of Critical Thinking
Non – Critical Thinker Critical Thinker

Collects Collects Evaluates

Information Information Information

Draws
Evaluates Draws
Conclusions
Logical Conclusions
(without
Conclusions (using Logic)
Logic)

There are four stages in critical thinking:

i. Collecting data
ii. Evaluating it
iii. Drawing logical conclusions and
iv. Evaluating the validity of the conclusion
 Stages of Research
Selection of Research Area / Topic

Definition of Research Problem

Literature Survey and Reference Collection

Assessment of Current Status and Formulation of Problem Statement

Modeling New Theories Existing Models

Formulation of Hypothesis

Research Design – Materials and Methods

Conduct of Experiments (Actual Investigations and Collect Data)

Data Analysis

Interpretation of Results

Findings and Conclusions

 Research Problem
Identification of Research Area and Topic
• Choice of Research Area of the problem maybe motivated by:
Interest of the researcher due to self or other close associates
Previous domain knowledge of the researcher
Results of a critical literature survey of the donna in/area of interest
• A guide can supervise, but it is the student who has to decide on the research
area, topic and particular problem
• Important points to be taken into account
Over explored research areas to be avoided
Controversial research areas to be avoided
Very narrow or too vague problems to be avoided
Familiar and feasible subjects (for guide) to be chosen
Research significance, researcher background, cost estimate and time factor to
be considered
Preliminary study needed before deciding on the work
 Research Problem
Identification of Research Area and Topic
• Choice of Research Topic is identified based on combination of
 Specialization
 Domain knowledge
 Interesting or challenging topic
 Doable within a specific time frame
 Guidance of supervisor
 Discussion with peers and experts
 Critical literature survey to identify gaps of knowledge
 Research Problem
Originality (Novelty)of Research Area and Topic
The originality can be confined to:
• New interpretation to support known facts
e.g. COVID infection using known spike protein amino acid sequence
• Unearthing new evidences to support known facts
e.g. Mutant COVID infection using new spike protein amino acid sequence
• Proposing new concept to explain a known phenomena
e.g. cellular signaling mechanism involving progression of a disease, say
cancer metastasis
• Proposing a new model to explain a known phenomena
e.g. mathematical model predicting the descent of a rover onto the surface
of the Moon
 Research Problem
Originality (Novelty)of Research Area and Topic
• Utilization of a novel technique in an untested area
e.g. mass spectrometry based secretomics for cancer biomarker discovery
• Utilization of a novel methodology to solve a known problem
e.g. controlled real-time response based release of insulin into the blood
stream to maintain sugar level
• Empirical work that is not repeat of an earlier work
• Furthering the work of some earlier researcher as suggested in his/her thesis or
publication
Creative and critical thinning should foster cross-breeding of ideas and applications
in different contexts to solve problems.
 Research Problem
Approach for Selection of Research Area and Topic
There is no universal approach for this! One approach is:
• A direction or research interest area is chosen based on the background
of the researcher
• A set of keywords is compiled for searching of literature
• A set of recent and well cited review articles, say 15 to 20 is chosen that is related closely to
what was chosen as area by the researcher
• The keywords are refined further to identify related recent as well as distant past
research publications. Cross referencing may be used for literature search.
• The emphasis (problem addressed, challenges overcome, solution proposed, novelty in
methodology, conclusions etc.) of each article is noted down
 Research Problem
Approach for Selection of Research Area and Topic
• The emphasis of the article in following terms is noted:
 Problem addressed
 Approach methodology employed — metrics, evaluation tools, data interpretation, result
analysis
 Challenges overcome
 Solutions proposed
 Significance of conclusions
• Based on this some questions can be asked:
 Is same approach methods and methodology used in all articles and can be it be replaced
with better ones
 If so, what are the advantages and disadvantages etc.
 Is further exploration possible in the research area etc.
 Research Problem
Approach for Selection of Research Area and Topic
Other approaches are:
• Research focus areas of funding agencies such as DST, DBT, ICMR, DRDO etc. are:
 Cleantech - clean technology for fossil fuels
 Carbon capture and storage — environmental aspects
 Biorefinery — efficient utilization of natural resources
 Defense and Aerospace — space research
 Food and Agriculture — nutrition and self sufficiency
 Electric and hybrid vehicles — smart vehicles and alternate fuels
 Electronic Systems and Manufacturing - Semi-conductor tech.
 New and renewable energy - solar, wind etc.
 Advanced and Smart Manufacturing
 Biotechnology - Vaccine production, recombinant tech. etc.
 BiomedicaI research — fundamental and applied disease research, equipment's
 Research Problem
Approach for Selection of Research Area and Topic
Other non-regular approaches are (contd.):
• Industrial R & D activities and its budgets as per annual reports of
companies
• Latest edition text books of emerging areas
• Further scope of research as mentioned in PhD theses
• Discussion with experts
• Attending seminars, conferences to listen to experts
Based on all these, a one or two-page summary of the research area,
specific topic of interest and its current status can be documented. This
can be used to the formulate the problem statement.
 Research Problem Statement
Introduction
• The first step in solving any research problem lies in first clearly
identifying and stating the nature of the problem.
• Such a statement is called as a “Problem Statement” and hence
can be defined as a clear description of a problem that needs to be
solved.
• This simple, yet effective problem-solving technique (which forms
part of the design thinking process) requires breaking down the
problem by asking questions such as “who does it affect?” and
“how does the problem make the stakeholders feel?” etc., so the
issue maybe stated in a concise manner and quickly and easily
understood by all stakeholders.
 Problem Statement Formulation
Problem Definition
“A problem well defined is a problem half- solved”
• Defining a problem involves laying down boundaries within which a
researcher shall study the problem with a predetermined objective.
• It is important to develop a well developed problem definition early in
the research to focus on the deliverables of the specific objectives.
• Answer to questions such as the ones that follow will help in this task:
 What are the data to be collected?
 What are the relevant characteristics of this data?
 What are the relations that need to be explored?
 What are the methods, techniques etc. to be used?
 Problem Statement Formulation
Suggested Techniques / Steps
The following 5 steps maybe utilized for the formulation
1. General Statement of the Problem
The research problem is stated in a general and broad manner keeping in mind
the probable strategy for the solution
2. Understanding the Problem
Origin and nature of the problem can be understood by reading news papers
and magazines, general literature etc. The research problem could be
discussed with guide and fellow students.
3. Surveying Literature
A broad reading of available literature provides an idea about the
shortcomings, difficulties, challenges and probable analytical solutions to the
issues concerning the research area. This helps to narrow down the topic.
 Problem Statement Formulation
Suggested Techniques / Steps
4. Develop Ideas through Discussion
Discussion with fellow researchers, guide, experts etc. will help to narrow
down to the particular research problem and topic as well as probable
solutions.
5. Rephrasing the Problem Statement
The research problem can be formulated into a working proposition. This
maybe an iterative process starting again with the first “General Statement”
step.

Finally, the problem statement should also take care to explain hypothesis,
technical terms, assumptions made, criteria for selection of research problem area
and topic, source of data to be acquired, type of data analysis, scope and
limitations if any and anticipated solution etc.
 Questionnaire
• A questionnaire is a research instrument
consisting of a series of questions (or other
types of prompts) for the purpose of gathering
information from respondents through survey
or statistical study.
• A questionnaire is a formalized set of questions
to generate the data necessary for a accomplishing a research
project's objectives.
• In general, questions should flow logically from one level to the next
higher level of complexity.
 Designing a Questionnaire
Ten Points to be Considered
1. Must be initially related to final objectives of the investigations
 Specify the information needed
2. Questions must follow logical sequences
 Arrange the questions in proper order
3. Specify the type of interviewing method
 Biased questions should be avoided
4. Proper structuring of the question is must
 Decide on the question structure
5. Should be brief, clear and simple
 Determine the content of individual questions
 Determine the question wording
 Designing a Questionnaire
Ten Points to be Considered
6. Reproduce the questionnaire
 Question should have appropriate and to it
7. Eliminate bugs by pretesting
 Conflict between interviewer and respondent should be avoided
8. Questions outside the respondents experience should not be asked
 To overcome the respondent's unwillingness to answer
9. Questions should test the memory of the respondent
 To overcome the respondent‘s inability to answer
10. Identify the form and layout
 To gather factual data
 Hypothesis
Introduction and Definition
• In common parlance, hypothesis simply states
a mere assumption or some supposition to be
proved or disproved.
• A hypothesis is written in such a way that it can
be proven or disproven by valid reliable data.
(Griennell & Stothers)
• A tentative statement about something, the validity
of which is usually unknown. (Black & Champion)
• In other words, it can be said that a hypothesis is a hunch, assumption, suspicion,
assertion or an idea about a phenomenon, relationship or situation, the reality or
truth of which is not known.
 Functions of an Hypothesis
A hypothesis though not an essential feature, brings clarity to the research with the
following functions:
• The formulation of a hypothesis provides a study with focus. It tells what
specific aspects of a research problem to investigate.
• A hypothesis tells what data to collect and what not to collect, thereby
providing focus to the study.
• As it provides a focus, the construction of a hypothesis enhances objectivity in
a study.
• A hypothesis may enable the researcher to add to the formulation of theory.
It helps in concluding specifically what is true or what is false.
 Characteristics of an Hypothesis
A hypothesis must possess following characteristics:
1. Hypothesis should be clear and precise. If the hypothesis is not clear and
precise, the inferences drawn on its basis cannot be taken as reliable. In
other words, it should be non contradictory one.
2. Hypothesis should be capable of being tested. In a swamp of untestable
hypotheses, many a time the research programmes have bogged down.
3. Hypothesis should state relationship between variables, if it happens to be a
relational hypothesis.
4. Hypothesis should be limited in scope and must be specific. It Should be
remembered that narrower hypotheses are generally more testable
 Characteristics of an Hypothesis
5. Hypothesis should be stated as far as possible in most simple
terms so that the same is easily understandable by all concerned
6. Hypothesis should be consistent with most known facts i.e., it
must be consistent with a substantial body of established facts.
7. Hypothesis should be amenable to testing within a reasonable
time.
8. Hypothesis must explain the facts that gave rise to the need for
explanation. This means that by using the hypothesis plus other
known and accepted generalizations, one should be able to
deduce the original problem condition.
 Types of Hypothesis
• Null Hypothesis: The null hypothesis is a commonly accepted fact. It's the default,
or what we'd believe if the experiment was never conducted. It is deemed true
until proven wrong.
• For eg., there is no significant difference between two groups, say A. and B.
• It is a hypothesis of no difference. Researchers work to nullify or
disprove null hypotheses. It is symbolized as H0.
• Alternative Hypothesis: This is the opposite of the null hypothesis, demonstrating
or supporting a statistically significant result.
• For eg„ if we state that group A is superior or the group B is inferior, we are then
stating the alternative hypothesis.
• By rejecting the null hypothesis, we accept the alternative hypothesis. It is
denoted by H1 or Ha .
 Level of Statistical Significance (𝜶)
• Level of significance (𝛼): The level of significance is defined as the probability of wrong elimination of null hypothesis when
in fact, it is true. It is the opposite of the confidence level (denoted by c). The c level is usually set ranging from 0.1 to
0.005 (10% to 0.5%).
• An 𝛼 = 0.05 means 5% chance of finding alternate hypothesis to be true, thereby rejecting null hypothesis, when in
actuality, null hypothesis is true.
• In the case of the effect of fertilizer on plant growth example, it is the probability that the null hypothesis of no effect of
fertilizer on plant growth is rejected when it is indeed true.
• The success of the statistical test depends on the availability of correct and reliable data and researchers skill in
interpreting the results
 Two – Tailed and One – Tailed Test
The two-tailed test is applicable when a given H, may be rejected with the value of the statistic
being either sufficiently small or sufficiently large.
𝐻1 : 𝜇 ≠ 𝜇0 , because either 𝜇 > 𝜇0 or 𝜇 < 𝜇0
Hence there are two rejection regions. The 𝐻0 is rejected if the sample mean falls in either one of
the two-tail regions under the far left or far right of the distribution. Please note 𝜇0 = ± 1.96 for
𝛼 = 0.05 which maybe obtained from tables in the figure below.
 Two – Tailed and One – Tailed Test
The one-tailed test is applicable when a given 𝐻0 may be rejected with the value of the statistic
being sufficiently large (in the second case it might be sufficiently small).
𝐻1 : 𝜇 ≠ 𝜇0 , because 𝜇 > 𝜇0 (in the second case 𝜇 < 𝜇0 )
Hence there is one rejection region. The 𝐻0 is rejected if the sample mean falls in the single tail
region under the far right (second case being far left of the distribution). Please note 𝜇0 = + 1.645
for 𝛼 = 0.05 which maybe obtained from tables in the figure below.
 Hypothesis Testing Procedure
1. Set up the hypothesis (𝐻0 𝐻𝑎 )
2. Select the significance level, say 𝛼 = 0.05 or 0.01 etc.
3. Identifying test statistic that can be used to test the null hypothesis (large
sample is n > 30, and small sample is n < 30)
4. Obtain the observed/calculated value based on the data using the test statistic
5. Obtain the expected value (tabulated value) from the designated table
6. Inference
 If the calculated/observed value is greater than the tabulated value, null
hypothesis is rejected.
 If the calculated/observed value is less than the tabulated value, null
hypothesis is accepted.
 Hypothesis Testing with Example
• A manufacturer of switches claims that data obtained over the years,
show that their switches lasts for a mean of 2,000 hours with a
standard deviation of 200 hours.
• Later, the R&D department claimed that they have came up with
some innovation that might extend the life of the switches.
• To test this, the company conducted a test with 100 switches which
showed that the they now had an mean life of 1,960 hours with a
standard deviation of 180 hours.
• Based on these results, can the manufacturer claim that this has led
to a change in the life span of the switches? Frame a hypothesis and
test it with a significance level of 5%.
 Hypothesis Testing with Example
• Solution - Based on the claims:
• Population Parameters:
• Population mean, 𝜇 = 2,000 hours of switch life
• Population standard deviation, 𝜎 = 200 hours of switch life
• Hypothesis:
• We can propose Null Hypothesis : 𝐻0 : 𝜇0 = 2,000
• Alternate Hypothesis would then be : 𝐻1 : 𝜇 ≠ 𝜇0 , So 𝜇 > 𝜇0 , or 𝜇 < 𝜇0 ,
• The significance level as suggested, 𝛼 = 0.05
• Sample Data :
• Sample size as provided, n = 100
• Sample Mean, X = 1,980 hours of switch life
• Sample Standard Deviation, 𝜎 = 180
• As n > 30, we can assume normal distribution which would make the standard deviation to be, 𝜎 = 200
• As the alternate hypothesis, 𝐻1 : 𝜇 ≠ 𝜇0 , So 𝜇 > 𝜇0 , or 𝜇 < 𝜇0 , we can use the two-tailed test for testing the hypothesis.
 Hypothesis Testing with Example
• The probability (area) under the standard normal distribution Standard Normal
Distribution (Z) Probabilities
corresponding to 𝑍−𝛼 2 = 𝑍−0.025 and 𝑍−𝛼 2 = 𝑍+0.025 can be read from the
table as shown.
z Pr (0 < Z ≤ 𝑧) P(Z≥ 𝑧)
• The values obtained are Z = +1.96 for 𝑍+0.025 and would be Z = -1.96 1.79 0.463273 0.36727

1.80 0.464070 0.035930

for 𝑍−0.025 due to symmetry of the Normal distribution 1.81 0.464852 0.035148

1.82 0.465621 0.034380

1.83 0.466375 0.033625

1.84 0.467116 0.032884

1.85 0.467843 0.032157

1.86 0.468557 0.031443

1.87 0.469258 0.030742

1.88 0.469946 0.030054

1.89 0.470621 0.029379

1.90 0.471283 0.028717

1.91 0.471933 0.028067

1.92 0.472571 0.027429

1.93 0.473197 0.026803

1.94 0.473810 0.026190

1.95 0.474412 0.025588

1.96 0.475002 0.024998

1.97 0.475581 0.024419

1.98 0.476148 0.023852

1.99 0.476705 0.023296

2.00 0.477250 0.022750

2.01 0.477784 0.022216

 Hypothesis Testing with Example
• The calculated value of Z would be given by the expression
𝑥−𝜇
• 𝑧=
𝜎 𝑛

• Where 𝜎 is the sample standard deviation (not population standard

deviation)
1960−2000
• Substituting 𝑧= = − 2.22
180/ 100
• As -2.22 < −1.96, the z value falls in the tail region an therefore the
null hypothesis is rejected!
• Hence the changes have indeed significantly changed the life of the
switches!
 Literature
Definition and General Characteristics
• A body of work that has been
distributed, written or published on a
given topic or concept
• Can be in multiple formats, depending
on the academic subject or discipline
• Various intents: inform, support,
persuade, update, or dispute
 General Characteristics of Literature
The literature consists of the following :
• Major works : key or seminal
publications on a topic
• Other works or publications that build
upon or respond to the major works.
• The literature is a continuously
evolving network of scholarly works
that interact with each other.
• The banyan tree in the adjoining
picture is an analogy for the growing
body literature that enhances our
knowledge of the Universe
 Types and Sources of Literature
• Literature falls into three categories : Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Sources
PRIMARY LITERATURE
SECONDARY LITERATURE
TERTIARY LITERATURE

• Original research and / or new • Summaries or condensed versions

• Summarizes and synthesizes
scientific discoveries of materials
primary literature
• Immediate results of research • Usually with references to primary
• Usually broader and less current
activities or secondary sources
than primary literature
• Often includes analysis of data • Good place to look up facts or get
collected in the field or laboratory a general overview of a subject
EXAMPLES
EXAMPLES EXAMPLES
• Literature review articles
• Books
• Original research published as • Textbooks
articles in peer – reviewed journals Since most information sources in the secondary • Dictionaries
• Dissertations literature contain extensive bibliographies, they • Encyclopedias
• Technical reports can be useful for finding more information on a • Handbook
topic
• Conference proceedings
 Primary Sources of Literature
• 1. Primary Sources: first-hand
accounts of events, practices, or
conditions being researched.

• It also includes many original,

creative works or artifacts.
 Primary Sources of Literature
Primary Source Examples:
Humanities : Sciences/Health Sciences :
• Creative works (original literature, fiction • Original research (articles, reports, pre-
or non-fiction, poetry, film, performances)
prints).
• Music scores handwritten by the
composer(s) • Conference papers
• Diaries • Interviews
• Regalia or original artefacts • Dissertations & theses
• Magazine or newspaper articles
• Patents & invent ions
• Autobiographies
• Memoirs • Technical reports
• Oral histories • Lab notebooks
• Field notes • Raw data
• Raw data Social sciences tend to use a combination
• Statues and laws from these broad disciplines.
 Secondary Sources of Literature
• Secondary Sources: sources that
discuss, study, or comment on
information from primary sources
 Secondary Sources of Literature
Secondary Source Examples: Sciences/ Health Sciences :
Humanities: • Literature reviews
• Biographies • Data analysis or refined
• Literary criticism compilations
• Monographs written about a topic • Reviews (systematic or meta-
analysis)Opinion pieces*
• Reviews on creative works
• Letters to the editor
• Music scores that have been
published or changed • Articles in trade journals (non-
research)
• Bibliographies
• Text books and books
• Law reviews
• Journal articles (criticism and
interpretation
 Tertiary Sources of Literature
• Tertiary Sources: sources that utilize and distill information from
primary and secondary sources.
Reference works such as :
• Handbooks
• Standards
• Almanacs
• Encyclopedias
• Manuals
• Pathfinders (Lib Guides)
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) plays a crucial role in
education, and it has been widely studied in the context of schools and
higher education. Here are some key points related to ICT-enabled tools
for literature surveys:

• A review of research on ICT integration in education highlights its merits,

challenges, and factors influencing successful implementation.
• ICT is considered a powerful tool for educational change and reform, improving
educational quality and connecting learning to real-life situations.
• Researchers can use various tools to conduct literature reviews. These tools help
organize, analyze, and synthesize existing research.
• Some popular tools include JSTOR, Google Scholar, and PubMed, which provide
access to scholarly articles and research papers.
 Literature Survey vs. Literature Review
• The Literature Survey only searches
information or penetrates through
available literature. It is the process
of identifying and locating scholarly
information and publications on a
particular topic.
• The Literature Review on the other hand examines the information to
determine the findings and contribution to the topic and establish the
base upon which any new work would stand. It is the critical review of
the literature survey.
• Literature Survey and Literature Review go hand-in-hand
simultaneously
 Significance of Literature Survey and Review
• It is one of the first things done by any student or scholar who plans
to pursue new knowledge or do research in any subject area.
• Time consuming, but helps widen the knowledge base on the topic
• Understand the contribution from other researchers
• Define the gaps of knowledge
• Understand the current status and challenges involved
• Understand advantages and disadvantages of current system
• Trigger the critical thinking process and zero in the research problem
to formulate the problem statement
 Significance of Literature Survey and Review
This is important to understand the approach and methodology adopted by
previous researchers and learn from their experiences.
Some questions that will help in this task are:
• Why you need to pursue research in the selected area?
• How are you going to pursue the research?
• What are the constraints of pursuing the research?
• Which laboratory is to be used for experimentation?
• Is the topic latest or demanding?
• Which is the best method for the experimentation?
• What are the limitations of existing technique?
• Is the research topic feasible?
• Does the problem statement have substantial research component?
• Is there any social use for the selected topic?
• Does it harm the society?
• Is there any parallel research being pursued by another person in the selected area?
 Significance of Literature Survey and Review
This will lead to critical information that can be incorporated in the introduction section of
documents / thesis such as:
• Introductory detail of the area of interest
• Methodology used for the topic to be studied
• Broad overview of the topic to be studied
• Name of the authors / researchers who are authorities in the area of interest
• Important happenings or events in the area
• Keywords and subject related to the vocabulary terms, which can be used to search the
database
• Local, national and international status of the work
• References and bibliographies that can lead to additional search
• Explanation about the fundamental study conducted in the past
• The important historical dates and events of the major work carried out related to the
topic
• The information why and in what way the research problem is important
 Literature Review Strategy
As literature review is a written summary of journal articles, books, and other
documents that describes the past and current state of information on the topic of
your research study.
Steps in literature review are:
Research Question
1. Identify key terms
2. Locate literature Refocus Focus

3. Critically evaluate and select the literature

Literature Survey
4. Organize the literature
5. Write a literature review Evaluate
Review and
(Record of research review) Revise
Sources Keywords and
Record

Search Results

Update Synthesize

Literature Review
 Identify Key Terms (Keywords)
• The words that are typed into a search box are the key to finding the
most relevant articles and books. That's why they're called keywords!
They need to chosen carefully for effective literature search.
• Write a preliminary "working title" for a project with a brief
description.
• Use that to pose a short, general research question (this maybe based
on your hypothesis if you already have identified one)
• Use this to identify the keywords in the question and write down the
synonyms using a thesaurus.
• Alternatively, the keywords reported by authors in their publications
maybe used
 Identify Key Terms (Keywords)
Let us take an example:*
• Hypothesis is: "Online classes does not enhance learning by students“
• Research question: "Does the use of online classes help students learn?“
• Key concepts and key words: Online classes, Students and Learn

Probable synonyms that maybe used for searching are:

Students Online Classes Learn

learners online course Learning

college students distance education Success

Undergraduates zoom performance

google meet grades

 Locate Literature
Public and Private Sources
Public sources such as:
• Central government departments - Defense, Energy, Science and
Technology etc.
• State and local governments - Highways, Pollution Control Board etc.
• Universities Libraries Internet-free search engines based such as google
scholar
Private sources are:
• Non-profit organizations and services - Professional societies, trade
associations, membership organizations
• Profit-oriented organizations - Manufacturers, vendors' catalogues,
samples, consultants etc.
• Individuals-Direct conversation or correspondence, personal friends,
faculty
 Locate Literature
Online Databases - Introduction
Online databases:
• Database is a collection of records.
• Computer database is a collection of data presented in a searchable
format on computer and some of them are present online.
• Online databases are web-based electronic indexes to locate and
retrieve articles, magazines, journals and newspapers.*
• Types of online databases
 Multidisciplinary (comprehensive) vs. subject specific
 Full text vs. citation only
 Locate Literature
List of Online Databases
• Some important online databases are:
• ERIC [Link] - US Dept. of Education
• Psychological [Link] - Am. Psych. Assoc.
• EBSCO Information services - [Link]-US Pvt. Co.
• Web of Science - online service by Clarivate Analytics providing access to Science Citation
Indexing (SCI), SCI-Expanded (SCIE),Emerging SCI (ESCI), Social SCI (SSCI)
• Sociological Abstracts - ProQuest, USA
• Dissertation Abstracts - ProQuest, USA
• Chemical Abstracts - 1907 to 2009 by American Chemical Society
• Chemical Abstract Service (CAS) - American Chemical Society
• Scopus - Elsevier, Netherlands
• PubMed Central - NIH, USA
• Google Scholar - Google Inc., USA
• Indian Citation Index-ICI, India
 Reference Searching and Types
Once a high-impact or key publications on a topic is located, the search can taken further by looking
at the references or works cited In those articles. This is called reference searching and is also
known by a few different terms: pearl growing, chain searching, and citation mining.
The different types of reference searching are:
1. Systematic-try to find all relevant materials using keywords. This is discussed in detail a later
section.
2. Retrospective - find the most recent material and work backwards (Backward Searching or
Snowball Method).
3. Citation-follow up references from useful articles, book and reading lists (Forwarding
Searching).
4. Targeted-restrict your topic and focus on a narrow area of the literature
The result produced at the end of a literature search is usually a list of references
 Reference Searching
Retrospective Type - Backward Searching
• Backward reference searching, also known
as chain searching or snowball method, involves
identifying and examining the references or works
cited in an article. It is done for the following reasons:
 Learn about the development of knowledge on a topic.
 Study the origins and development of a theory, construct, or model of interest.
 Identify experts, institutions or organizations that specialize in a topic of research.
 Reference Searching
Retrospective Type - Backward Searching
• A second-level or second-generation backward reference
search is when a researcher examines sources cited by
the references used in an initial article. This allows a
researcher to identify inconsistencies in the
literature.
• Third-level or third-generation searches are where the references of
articles located in a second-level or second- generation reference search
are examined. These searches can also go further back.
• Backward Author Searching. The works of an author can be examined by
doing a backward reference search. This allows a researcher to review an
author's previous work and publications, and also the development of their
research
 Reference Searching
Citation Type-Forward Searching
• Forward reference searching is when a researcher
identifies articles that cite an original article or
work after it had been published. This type of
search focuses on the publications created
after an article's publication.
• Forward reference searching helps a researcher do the following:
 Expand their knowledge on a topic by locating follow-up studies.
 Identify new findings and developments on a topic
 Examine and consider other methodologies or analyses used to study a topic.
• Forward Author Searching. Forward reference searching can also be done to find a particular
author and his or her works. This allows a researcher to review an author's later or more current
works, and also examine new developments
 Review Articles - Definition
• A review article is a:
• A critical, constructive analysis of the literature in a specific
field through summary, classification, analysis, comparison.
• A scientific text relying on previously published literature
or data. New data from the author's experiments are not
presented (with exceptions: some reviews contain new
data).
• A stand-alone publication. Literature reviews as integral parts
of master theses, doctoral theses or grant proposals will not
be considered here. However, many tips in this guideline are
transferable to these text types.
 Review Articles - Function and Audience
The function of a review article is to:
• Organize and evaluate literature
• Identify landmark events in the field
• Summarize the current state of understanding on a topic
• Identify patterns, debates and fu tu re trends
• Identify gaps and recommend new research areas
The audience of review articles are:

• Experts in specific research areas

• Students or novice researchers
• Decision-makers
 Review Article vs. Research Article
• Research articles are primary literature sources. So, they report the methods and
results of original studies performed by the authors.
• Review articles are secondary sources. It is a survey and attempt to provide an
overview of the current state of understanding on topics.

Review Article Research Article

Identifies previously published
research on a topic and Follows the scientific method.
summarize the information Both
(secondary source). Usually provides a brief background
on prior research (introduction).
Written by subject expert
Discusses what is already known
such as a scientist or Conducts an experiment and
and can be used to identify gaps
researcher. reports the findings.
in the field.
Can be published in a Authors have NEW original
Usually no set layout
scholarly, peer – reviewed research data (primary source)
journal. and discusses their results.
No original research is being
presented.
Written at an advance level;
Written for a more general usually contains lots of jargon
audience and easier to read
 Classification of Review Articles
Review articles maybe classified i n t o t h r e e types - M e t h o d o l o g i c a l , Objective a n d M a n d a t e
based types.

[Link] Approach and it types

• Narrative R e v i e w :

Selected studies are compared and summarized on the basis of the author's
experience, existing theories and models.

Results are based on a qualitative rather than a quantitative level.

• Best Evidence Review

A focus on selected studies is combined w i t h systematic methods of study-selection

and result exploration.

• Systematic Review :
Findings f r o m various individual studies are analysed statistically by strict procedures.
Meta-Analyses are used to pool the results of individual studies
 Classification of Review Articles
Review articles maybe classified i n t o t h r e e types M e t h o d o l o g i c a l , Objective and
M a n d a t e based types
• Objective Approach and its types
• Status-quo Review
 Presentation of the most current research for a given topic or field of research.
• History Review
 Development of a field of research over t ime.
• Issue Review
 Investigation of an issue (i.e. a point of disagreement or a question) in a specific field
of research.
• T h e o r y / m o d e l Review
 Introduction of a new theory or model in a specific field of research
 Classification of Review Articles
Review articles maybe classified into three types - Methodological,
Objective and Mandate based types.
• Mandate Approach and its types:
• Invited Reviews:
 Experienced researchers are invited by the journal editors to write
reviews when the editors feels that the research has progressed
enough in the topic to overview the topic again.
• Commissioned Reviews:
 Formal contracts of authors with clients to write and submit
reviews
• Unsolicited Review Submissions:
 Individual or group of researchers develop an idea for a review and
submit it to journal editors
 Classification of Literature Review
Another Approach
• Topical order - organize by main topics or issues
• Chronological order - organize by dates the research was published
• Problem-cause-solution order - organize by moves from problem to
the solution
• General-to-specific order (Funnel approach)-examine broad-based
research first and then focus on specific studies that relate to the
topic
• Specific-to-general order - discuss specific research studies so
conclusions can be drawn
 Review Article - Organization
1. Title - Helping readers to decide whether they should read the text or not
2. List of Authors - Declare intellectual ownership of the work and provide
contact information
3. Abstract - Informs about the main objectives and result of the review
article
4. Table of Contents - Shows the readers the organization of the text. Helps
orientation among sections.
5. Introduction - provides information about the
 Context (one or two paragraphs)
 Motivation for review (one paragraph)
 Focus (one paragraph). Research question (one paragraph) and
 Text structure (one paragraph)
 Review Article - Organization
6. Body-Materials and Methods
 Systematic and best evidence reviews have a methods section.
 Narrative reviews do not have a methods section but should include some
information about applied methods at the end of the introduction.
7. Body-Main Review - A coherent structuring of the topic is necessary to develop
the section structure. Subheadings reflect the organization of the topic and indicate
the content of the various sections. Possible criteria for structuring the topic are:
 Methodological approaches
 Models or theories
 Extent of support for a given thesis
 Studies that agree with another versus studies that disagree
 Chronological order
 Geographical location
 Review Article - Organization
8. Conclusion –
 Answer the research question set in the introduction.
 States the implications of the findings and an identifies possible new research field.9.
9. Acknowledgements - Expresses gratitude to
 People who helped with the literature review, but whose contribution is too small to justify
co-authorship.
 Funding organisation and specifies the funding program (often required by funding
agencies).
10. References ("Literature Review") - organised by number in the order they were cited in the text.
 Shows interested readers how to find the literature mentioned in the text.
 Acknowledges the work of other scientists.
 Compulsory to avoid charges of plagiarism
 Meta Analysis: "Analysis of an Analysis“
• Coined by Gene V. Glass in educational research
 Meta-analysis is quantitative approach for systematically combining results
of previous research to arrive at conclusions about the body of research.
 Quantitative : Numbers
 Systematic : Methodical
 Combining : Putting together
 Previous Research : What's already done
 Conclusions : New knowledge (stronger than the analysis of any single
study)
• Meta-analysis is a set of statistical techniques for combining data from
independent studies that share a hypotheses to produce a single estimate of an
effect.
 Meta Analysis: “Analysis of an Analysis”
Meta-analysis is often part of the systematic review process. It is used when you
are comparing multiple studies that looked at similar relationships.

Meta -
Analysis

Systematic Review

Practice Guideline
Systematic
Overview Meta Analysis
Review
Randomized Controlled Trail

Cohort Study

Case Control Study

Case Report
 Advantages of Meta - Analysis
• Results can be generalized to a larger population
• Precision and accuracy of estimates can be improved as more data is used
• Inconsistency of results across studies can be quantified and analyzed
• Hypothesis testing can be applied on summary estimates
• Moderators can be included to explain variation between studies
• Presence of publication bias can be investigated
 Research Journal Indexing and Quality Standards
Factors Necessitating Development of Journal Citation Indexing
There are three factors that led to development of citation indexing back in 1950's:
• Followed by World War II, there were huge influx
of government funds for research. Publication of
research finding by researchers burgeoned the
body of knowledge. In order to retrieve from the
huge document database, it became necessary to
index it. Manual indexing practice is time consuming
and not a cost effective one.
• The then method of subject indexing was not useful
because of discipline specific terminology etc.
• Availability of machines for computation of data spurred citation indexing
• Citation Indexing proposed and developed by Eugene Garfield
 Research Journal Indexing and Quality Standards
• When a manuscript is ready for submission, from the researcher
perspective, the criteria used for selecting the journal is the it's subject
focus, however, other factors such as good reputation with indexing in
major databases also needs to be considered.
• This subject focus + reputation + indexing ensures:
 Good potential for exposure of the work to research community
 Greater chance of being discovered and cited by other researchers
 Greater potential for garnering citations, thereby be able to track the
opinion of other researchers and learn how the work contributed to
the science and society.
• The reputation of the journal is judged by quality standards as assessed by
impact factor and source normalized impact factor.
• From the research journal's perspective, the prestige of the journal is
determined by the abstracting and indexing services covering it, which in
turn is linked to the citations received by articles published in it
 Citation Indices
• The first modern citation index was suggested by information scientist Eugene
Garfield in 1955 and created by him in 1964, and it represents an important
innovation to knowledge organization and information retrieval.
• Current important citation indices are:
 Clarivate Analytics citation indices (WoS) - Science Citation Index (SCI);
Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE); Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI);
Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI); Conference Proceedings Citation
Index (CPCI); Book Citation Index (BKCI); Data Citation Index Emerging
Source Citation Index (ESCI)
 CiteSeerx-since 1997, mainly computer and info. science
 Crossref-since 2000 by Publishers Association using the DOI
 Scopus Citation Index (Scopus) - since 2004 by Elsevier, largest database
 Google Scholar (GS)-since 2004 by Google Inc., but poor metrics
 Microsoft Academic (MA)- since 2016, poor bibliometrics tool
 Dimensions-since 2018 by Digital Science
 Important Citation Indices
Web of Knowledge/Science based by Clarivate Analytics
• Science Citation Index (SCI) and Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE)-
(established 1964, database 1899 to present)
 A multidisciplinary database, with searchable author abstracts, covering the
journal literature of the sciences.
 It indexes more than 6,650 major journals across 150 scientific disciplines.
• Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) - (established 1973, database 1898 to present)
 Covering journal literature of the social sciences It indexes more than 1,950
journals spanning 50 disciplines
• Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI) -(established 1978, database 1975 to
present)
 Covering the journal literature of the arts and humanities
 It indexes more than 1,395 of the world's leading arts and humanities
journals.
 Important Citation Indices
• Conference Proceedings Citation Index-Science (CPCI-S) - (established in 2008, database
from 1991 to present)
 Lets you use cited reference searching to see the full impact of conferences and other
professional meeting
 With a global coverage of over 110,000 conference proceedings
• Conference proceedings Citation Index-Arts & Humanities (CPCI-A&H)-(established in
2008, database 1991 to present)
 This citation index covers conference literature in all fields of social sciences, arts and
humanities.
Scopus Database based by Elsevier
• Scopus (established in 2004, database mainly 1996 to present)
 Largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature: scientific journals,
books and conference proceedings
 Created by extracting records from child databases and enhanced with their cited
references
 Bibliometric data poor maintained for prior 1996 records
 Principles Underlying Journal Impact Factor
• Journal Impact Factor (JIF): Clarivate Analytics (which used to be a
part of Thomson Reuters till 2016) publishes JIF in a periodic journal
called Journal Citation Reports (JCR) to be used as a quality measure.
• JIF is a part of Web of Science (WoS) database. Clarivate owns and
operates a collection of subscription-based services focused largely
on analytics which includes Web of Science (WoS).
• JIF is calculated by as the average of the sum of the citations received
in a given year to a journal's previous two years of publications (linked
to the journal, but not necessarily to specific publications) divided by
the sum of "citable" publications in the previous two years.
 Computation of Journal Impact Factor
• Consider a journal, SRMIST journal that has been published in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
• Total number of articles published in 2018 = 130
• Total number of articles published in 2019 = 170SRMTotal number of articles published in
2018 and 2019, say A = 300
• So, SRMIST journal had a total of 300 publications in 2018 and 2019 which had a
potential to be cited as a reference by articles that appeared subsequent years, say in
2020 in various journals.
• Please note that there is a possibility that some of the 300 publications are poor quality
that would not attract any citations in 2020. Also, some of the articles might be
extraordinary enough to attract very high citations in the future years. Hence, different
articles will attract different number of citations. All these citations put together
regardless of which article attracted how many citations go onto define the magnitude of
B.
 Computation of Journal Impact Factor
• Let the total number of citations garnered from various journal (SRMIST as well as other journals)
in 2020 by the 300 articles that appeared in SRMIST Journal in 2018 and 2019, say B = 600
• Please note the citations in 2020 is not restricted to SRMIST journal and maybe from other
journals as well.
• Then JIF for SRMIST journal in 2020 is B/A = 600/300 = 2

# 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝐽𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑋 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑤𝑜 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠

𝐼𝐹 𝑜𝑓 𝑌𝑒𝑎𝑟 =
# 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑠 𝑏𝑦 𝐽𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑋 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑤𝑜 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠

• Please note that IF for 2020 can be calculated only in 2021 after all journal issues have been
published and their citations have been populated in the database.
• The citations garnered in the last two years is a measure of the significance of the journals and is
reflected in its impact factor. So, editors try to maximize B value in the expression!
 Merits of Journal Impact Factor
• Authors prefer to publish in higher impact factor journals because:
 Higher citations rate means article has higher chances of getting cited
 Higher reading rate means article gets read by more researchers
 More recognition in terms of scholarly contribution
• JIF provides an input about how frequently an average article in a journal has been cited in a
particular year
• JIF informs us about the prestige of a journal as a whole
• Editors use it to judge the popularity of their journals and strive to enhance the JIF by choosing
good articles that have potential to garner more citations and eliminate ones that might not.
• In libraries, it is a tool used for management of library journal collections (unsubscribe from low
JIF ones)
• In market research, publishers use it as a quantitative evidence about the popularity of their
journals
 Demerits of Journal Impact Factor
• JIF is an average statistic and not all articles are equally cited. So, an article having fewer citations
published in a high IF journal is given more importance than a highly cited article in a low IF
journal.
• Only includes "citable" articles in the denominator of the equation, i.e., articles and reviews
• Only a limited subset of journals is indexed by Clarivate Analytics
• While calculating JIF, self citations are also counted.
• Tell us nothing concrete about any specific paper or specific author
• Review articles are generally highly cited. Publication of more number of review papers in a
journal can greatly affect the journal's IF.
• IF depends on the size of the field concerned. A larger field size would draw more citations than
the one having a small size.
• Biased toward English language journals and JCR is also expensive
 Journal Immediacy Index
• Journal Immediacy Index (JII) is also reported in JCR and is a measure about
how topical or state-of-the-art the topic of a published article might be.
• This is measured by how quickly a published article in a given journal is
cited in the same calendar year.
• It is the ratio of total citations for a journal's articles published during a
calendar year divided by the total number of articles published in the same
calendar year.

• Journals that publish only review articles such as "Chemical Reviews are
likely to garner more citations in the same year due to wide applicability of
the review articles.
 h-index (Hirsch index):
• The h-index was suggested in 2005 by Jorge E. Hirsch, a physicist at
UC San Diego, USA and hence also called as "Hirsch Index".
• It is a metric for evaluating the cumulative impact of an author's
scholarly output and performance
• It combines an assessment of both quantity (number of papers) and
quality (impact, or citations to these papers)
• It is automatically calculated by citation indexing agencies such as
Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar etc. But, it can also be
calculated manually.
• The index can also be applied to the productivity and impact of a
scholarly journal as well as a group of scientists, such as a department
or university or country
 h-index (Hirsch index)
• The h-index is defined as the maximum Articles Citations
value of h such that the given 1 46
author/journal has published "h" papers 2 25
that have each been cited at least "h" times. 3 12
4 11
• For example consider the tabulation for 5 5 = H - Index
"rank of article" vs. "decreasing number of 6 4
citations for a particular author. 7 2

• The articles are listed in decreasing order of 8 1

number of citations and then plotted for

serial number of article vs. number of
citations as shown in the plot.
• A diagonal line is drawn across the plot that
shows that the h-index is 5. This can also be
inferred from the table, where the article
serial number and number of citations
match
 Factors influencing h-index
• The h-index of a particular author may vary from one database to another, depending on the
coverage of each database.
• Co-publishing can elevate the h-index, because it does not take the order of authorship into
account.
• Time helps to increase the h-index; young researchers generally2have a low h-index.
• The subject area can have an effect on the h-Index: a researcher who publishes on a trendy
subject will have a higher h-index than another one who publishes on a niche topic.
• The language affects h-index; with English receiving more citations.
• Open access publishing increases the visibility of articles and increase their chance to be cited.
• Promotion of publications (blog posts, conferences etc.) helps to make articles more visible and
increases their chance of being cited.
• h-index does not eliminate self-citations!
 Source Normalized Impact per Paper (SNIP)
• SNIP is a factor released in 2012 by Elsevier based on Scopus to estimate impact of a journal
article.
• The measure is calculated as SNIP RIP/(R/M), where RIP = Raw Impact per Paper, R = Citation
Potential and M = Median database citation potential.
• SNIP corrects for differences in citation practices between scientific fields, thereby allowing for
more accurate between-field comparisons of citation impact.
• The main differences between the SNIP and JIF are:
Differences between SNIP and JIF
SNIP JIF
Database based on Scopus Web of Science
Field Differences taken Corrected No correction
into account
No. of Year of Cited Three Two
Publications
Citation Sources Selected sources only All sources
Citations Referred to Selected documents only All types of documents
 Calculation of SNIP
• SNIP can be obtained from [Link] can also be obtained from the Scopus' Journal Metric webpage
as shown below. It can also be calculated as shown below.

Journal′s citation count per article

𝑆𝑁𝐼𝑃 𝑜𝑓 𝑗𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑙 =
Citation potential in the subject field
 g-Index - Introduction and Computation
• The g-index also known as Egghe's g-index was introduced in 2006 as
an improvement of the h-index of Hirsch to measure the global
citation performance of a set of articles.
• If this set is ranked in decreasing order of the number of citations that
they received, the g-index is the (unique) largest number such that
the top g articles received (together) at least g² citations.
• Consider a list of articles with descending number of citations as
shown in the next slide. For the sake of brevity, only certain parts that
show how the g-index is calculated from the list are presented. The
"Article No." is the number for listing the publications considered and
starts from number 1. The "Article No. Squared" is the square of the
"Article No.". The "Citation, Citn" is the number of citations received
for each publication respectively.
 Computation of g-Index
• The "𝐶𝑖𝑡𝑛 + ∑𝐶𝑖𝑡𝑛−1 " is the cumulative sum of the citations starting from number 1 to n. At the
start of the table, the "𝐶𝑖𝑡𝑛 + ∑𝐶𝑖𝑡𝑛−1 " value > "Article No. Squared" and this reverses by the end
of the table.
• The g-index corresponds to the article number in the row where this reversal occurs, ie. "Article
No Squared" number exceeds the "𝐶𝑖𝑡𝑛 + ∑𝐶𝑖𝑡𝑛−1 " number. In the example cited, g-index is 54
Article No. Article No. Squared Citation (𝐶𝑖𝑡𝑛 ) 𝐶𝑖𝑡𝑛 + ∑𝐶𝑖𝑡𝑛−1

48 2304 - -
49 2401 - -
50 2500 2972
51 2601 3 2975
52 2704 3 2978
53 2809 2 2980
54 2916 2 2982 g index – highest number of papers that together received 𝒈𝟐 or more citations

55 3025 1 2983 Publication where * 𝐶𝑖𝑡𝑛 + ∑𝐶𝑖𝑡𝑛−1 * number > *Article No. Squared * number

56 3136 1 2984
57 3249 1 2985
58 3364 0 2985
59 3481 - -
60 3600 - -
g-Index - Significance
Some factors to be considered for g-index.
• The g-index gives more weight to highly-cited articles (whereas h- index is insensitive to it).
• The g-index will always be equal to or greater than the h-index.
• The g-index can be checked through "Publish or Perish" - a free downloadable software for
academic citations analysis, URL: [Link]
 i10-Index - Introduction and Computation
• The i10-index was created by Google Scholar in 2011.
• The i10-Index for a particular author is the number of publications
with at least 10 citations.
• It is accessible only from Google Scholar Citations profile of the
author.
• i10-index is a very simple measure proposed by Google Scholar, and is
another way to help gauge the productivity of a scholar.
• Therefore, if someone has an i10-index of 32, it means that the
person has 32 papers with citations more than 10. In reality, many
papers may have much more than 10 citations (say 100 or even
more), but reference frame is at least 10
 i10-Index-Introduction and Computation
• Advantages of i10-IndexSerial
Very simple and straight Serial No. Number of Citation
forward to calculate 1 75

My Citations in 2 68
Google65Scholar is free and 3 65
easy to use 4 60

5 45
i10 Index is 7
• Disadvantages of i10-Index 6 15

7 12
Used only in Google Scholar 8 9
Minimum requirement is 10 H Index is 8
9 5
citations per article, so there is 10 0
no weightage for articles with
more than 10 citations.
 Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
Definition and Motivation for IPR
• Intellectual property rights are legal rights that provide creators protection
for original works, inventions, or the appearance of products, artistic
works, scientific developments etc.
• This incentivizes discovery and creativity by providing creators with an
opportunity to profit from the value of their innovative work
• The IP rights are important because they can:
Used to differentiate a business from its competitors
Be sold or licensed providing an important revenue stream
Offer customers something innovative that is not available with other
businesses etc.
This encourages innovation, competitiveness, knowledge economy
development, jobs and economic growth and prosperity
 Broad Classification of IPR
• Intellectual property is broadly categorized into two:
i. Industrial Property-Patents, trademarks and designs-eg. drug molecule patent, coca cola
trademark and bottle design

ii. Literary and Artistic Property-copyright and related rights- eg. Shakespeare's literary works,
Computer codes, Video recordings, Musical works, Website design, Pictures etc
 World Trade Organization
• The World Trade Organization (WTO)
is a global international organization
dealing with the rules of trade between
nations.
• It is based on WTO agreements signed by
the bulk of the world's trading nations.
• Its goal is to ensure that trade flows smoothly, predictably and as freely as
possible between nations.
• It acts as a forum for negotiating trade agreements, settling trade disputes
between its members and supporting the needs of developing countries.
• India is a member of WTO since inception in 1995
 World Intellectual Property Organization
• The World Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO) was established
in 1967 and is a specialized agency of
the United Nations with 193 member states.
• WIPO provides a platform with treaties, forums, standards, databases and
services to register and protect IP in different countries, resolving
transboundary IP disputes etc. for a balanced and accessible international
IP system which will rewards creativity, stimulates innovation and
contributes to economic development while safeguarding public interest.
• India is a member to several WIPO conventions and treaties, thereby
underlining its strong multilateral engagement with WIPO and intent to
create a strong regime for IP protection
Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement
• The widespread piracy, counterfeiting and IPR infringement constituted a
major barrier to trade between nations, inspite of the WTO agreement.
• To reduce these impediments, resolve IP related disputes and support a
mutually supportive relationship between WTO and WIPO, the Trade-
Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement was
constituted in 1995.
• Hence, TRIPS is an international legal agreement between all WTO member
nations.
• It establishes minimum standards for resolution of IP related trade disputes
between WTO members while taking into account the domestic interests of
the nations.
• The Agreement is a legal recognition of the significance of links between IP
and trade and the need for a balanced IP system
 Types of Indian IPR
IPR in India can be classified as follows:
1. Patents (and inventions)
Patent
2. Design (Industrial Design)
3. Trademark Trademark
Trade
Secrets
4. Copyright
5. Geographical Indication IRP in
6. Trade Secret Geographical
indication India Copyright

Utility / Plant
Model
Design
Breeders
 Types of Indian IPR
1. Indian Patents :
A patent is used to prevent an invention from
being created, sold, or used by another party
without permission.
Patents are the most common type of
intellectual property rights that come to
people's minds when they think of IPR
protection.
A patent owner has every right to
commercialize the patent, including buying and
selling the patent or granting a license to the
invention to any third party under mutually
agreed terms.
A patent has a 20 year validity under Indian
Patent Act, 1970.
 Factors to be Considered in Patenting
• A patent is a "negative right" - it gives the right to EXCLUDE others
from practicing your invention
• All rights in patents (derive from the inventors)
• Patentable vs. Non-patentable
 Patentable (utility, plant and design) - le. process, machine,
manufacture, or composition of matter, "everything under the
sun that is made by man“
 Non-patentable-abstract ideas, laws of nature, and natural
phenomena
 Factors to be Considered in Patenting
• Obtaining a patent can be expensive and arduous process
 Average time from filing to first response from PTO: 1.5-3 years
 Average time to obtain patent: 3-5 years
 Average cost of U.S. patent: US $ 20,000-40,000
 Can file "continuations" (P-> C1-> C2 -> CIP)
• Patent litigation is the most intellectually challenging type of IP litigation
• Ultimate aim of patent is to promote public good by providing royalties for
inventors & companies which invest in new inventions
 Royalty rate per "use" is the monopoly price
 Marginal cost=0, so revenue maximization
 Procedures for Obtaining Patent Rights
• Step 01: Invention disclosure.... with novelty and disclosure to agent if
necessary
• Step 02: Patentability search.... for prior art by agent
• Step 03: Decision to file an application for patent..... with a inventive step
• Step 04: Patent drafting.... with scope and detail
• Step 05: Filing the patent application....
• Step 06: Request for examination.... by the officers
• Step 07: Responding to objections (if any)...
• Step 08: Grant of patent.....
• Step 09: Renewal of patent...
 Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
Product Development as a Case Study
• Property right-control over usage
• Each right protects a different feature or aspects
• Various aspects of work protected by one or more of these rights

Product Product
Product Concept Prototype
introduction Migrations

Provisional Patent Continuation

Prior Art Search filings
Filings Obtainment
 Copyright Laws vs. Patent Rights

Copyright Patent Rights

Protects expression, not ideas Protects ideas that have been reduced to practice

Protects the use or performance of original works of

literature, art, music, drama, or any other form of Protects the use manufacture or sale of inventions
expression

Life of author + 70 20 years from filing

Fair Use No Fair Use, No Research Exemption

 Copyright Laws vs. Patent Rights

Copyright Patent Rights

Works for hire Employee inventor owns
Protects against copying Innocent Infringement not a defense
Protection is automatic (registration is relatively Extensive examination process before any rights
simple) granted

Originality (low bars) Novelty and Nonobvious (high bars)

In software, copyright automatically covers the Patentability standard for software patents is strict
authorship in the source code and uncertain