Abstract: We all learn to research by actually doing it, but a great deal of time can be wasted and goodwill

dissipated by inadequate preparation. This article aims you to provide with the tools to do the job, to help you avoid pitfalls and time wasting false trails and to establish good research habits. It takes you from the stage of choosing a topic through to the production of well planned, methodologically sound and well written report. dissertation or thesis on time. Research is a novel input to the e isting store of understanding for making its advancement. It is a hunt for truth with the help of study, observation, comparison and e periment. It is a peregrination from an abstract to concrete. Research !ethodology is a way to solve a research problem systematically. It may be, understood as a science of studying how research is done scientifically. In it we study the incessant steps that are generally adopted by a research scholar in studying his research problems along with the logic behind them. The recent change inducted by "niversity #rants $ommission in qualification prescribed for appointment of a lecturer in the university system has opened a new hori%on for research degrees in India. In this environ, the present tailor&made article assumes a great value to the !.'hil ( 'h.). research aspirants, as it talks about all the necessary information and tools required to carry out the research work. *ollowing is the e clusive list of problems which often faced by the researcher right from choosing the topic to present at viva and their appropriate rejoin. Research Topic: $hoosing research topic is probably the most important single decision one has to make in doing research. 'erhaps the most obvious things one has to do in thinking of a research topic is+ ,a- to look at the previous work in the thesis department of the "niversity, ,b- to think of a title with respect to current news in the seminars, paper presentation and conferences, news papers, T. channels ,c- to ask your guide(s, colleague/s and friends, ,d- to just start anywhere but be prepared to change. Types of research study: *ollowing are the information at glance about various research methods+ ,a- )escriptive 0tudy+ "sed where study includes surveys and fact&finding enquiries, ,b- 1nalytical 0tudy+ Includes critical evaluation of already available facts, ,c- 1pplied 0tudy+ 1ims at finding of solution for an immediate problem facing by society or an industry, ,d- *undamental(2asic('ure 0tudy+ )eals with formulation of theory or gathering knowledge, ,e- 3ualitative ( !otivation 0tudy+ "sed especially in the behavioral sciences where the aim is to discover the underlying motives of human behavior, ,f- $onceptual 0tudy+ #enerally used by philosopher and great thinkers to develop new concepts to reinterpret e isting knowledge, ,g- 4mpirical 0tudy+ 1 data based research relies on observation and coming up with conclusions which are capable of being verified by an e periment, ,h$ase 0tudy(4 ploratory($linical()iagnostic 0tudy+ 0uch study goes deep into the causes of things or events that interest us by using very small samples, ,i5istorical 0tudy+ 2ased on historical sources like documents to study events or ideas of the past. It is generally a conclusion(decision oriented research. Research Guide: It goes without say that one can not get through research work without having a good guide and a wonderful supervisory

relationship. In order to have research guide+ ,a- one can get the list of research guide from '.#. )epartment of the concerned "niversity, and accordingly list out the names of various guides as per their e pel/ise and your interest, ,b- one should never approach guide in hurry, because first impression is the last impression. Therefore, before you approach guide you should be clear about the concepts of research methodology and at least you should have gone through the concerned literature of the research problems. 1 research guide usually e pects from their researcher(s+ ,a- to be independent, ,b-. able to produce a written work that is not just a first draft, ,c- to have regular meetings. ,d- to be honest when reporting upon their progress. Tools required for preparing synopsis/thesis+ 6ne has to identify a wide variety of potential sources of information depending on their e perience of using libraries. *ollowing is the e clusive list of various tools+ ,a2ooks, Thesaurus, 1ctivator, )ictionary, ,bResearch 7ournals('eriodicals, ,c- 1nnual Report, ,d- 'opular !edia, ,e- Internet, ,) !emos, !inutes and Internal Reports, ,g- 8etters and )iaries, ,h- 'ublished and "npublished 'apers, ,i- 'rimary 0ources and 0econdary 0ources, ,j)octoral Thesis and old 0ynopsis in the same field. Originality in research: The element of originality in ones research is, realistically, likely to very small ,in terms of topic, approach or presentation-. 1 highly original research is very unusual, and one is setting goal far off. *ollowing is the acid test of originality, where one+ ,a- sets down a major piece of new information in writing for the first time, ,bshows originality in testing somebody else9s idea, ,c- carries out an empirical work that has not been done before, ,d- uses e isting material but with a new interpretation, ,e- trying out something in his own country that has previously done in other countries only, ,f- brings new evidence to bear on an old issue, ,g- adding to knowledge in a way that hasn9t previously been done before. Contents of.:1t the time of registration for research degree, submit a research proposal consisting of fifteen to twenty pages, written in future tense to the "niversity department duly signed by his(her guide with prescribed fees and format. The preparation of proposal generally takes three to four months: it should be started only after getting consent from the research guide. #enerally it contains+ 1. Introduction+ It sets the scene. 0tart with general and progress to specific. 0tart strong. *irst paragraph and first sentence should be clear, e citing, thought provoking and compelling. #ive some background to your research topic and argument with the most relevant work that has been done in the recent past. 4 plain what it is that others haven9t done and what you plan to do. 0ummari%e in strong sentences. 1 void e cessive use of the future tense in describing your work. 0tate the problem you are solving and how your work differs from previous work. 'oint out the gaps in the knowledge. Write introduction as a third person and place yourself in the background. ;ou must organi%e your ideas in such a way that they are conveyed logically. . Approach to the !roble"s/ #tate"ent of !roble"s+ 1 problem in general refers to some difficulty which a researcher e periences in the

conte t of either theoretical or practical situation and wants to obtain a solution for the same. To define a problem correctly, a researcher must know+ what are the current failures in the area of research selected by him and what a problem is< 1 research problem cannot be borrowed. 4very research scholar arrives at well defined problem through review of literature. 1 well defined problem is half&solved. Therefore formulation of problem is often more essential than its solution. 0ome of the important sources from where one can locate the problem(s are as follows+ ,aintuition, ,b- brain storming sessions, ,c- inviting suggestions. ,dconsultations, ,e- daily e periences, ,t- field survey. ,g- academic discussions. ,h- and voracious reading. $. Re%ie& of the literature 'RO(): It9s an account of what has been published on a topic, conflicts in theory, methodology used, evidence and conclusions available, gaps in literature and immediate interest in the field. The R68 should be with respect to research objectives, problems, hypothesis, and identify what not known to others. It also suggests what knowledge is already established on a topic and what its weakness are. The biggest advantage of R68 is that it avoids reinventing the wheel of research work. It builds platform for e isting knowledge and ideas, and one learn about the other e pel/0 working in the same field and their opposing views. *. Ob+ecti%es of the study+ It should be closely related to the statement of problems. It suggests primary purpose of research and sets scope for what will(will not be addressed. #enerally, it starts with active verb likedescribe. determine, find out identify. It focuses what you will do in your study, where and for what purpose. ,. -ypothesis of the study+ 1ll research starts either with hypothesis or ends with hypothesis. 5ypotheses are the assumptions to be proved or disproved and capable of being tested by scientific methods. It should be clear, precise and should be well consistent with available techniques. It. gives direction to the study. Rejection of synopsis(thesis is based on quality of hypothesis formed. 1 well defined hypothesis means well defined parameters. 0ources of hypothesis are+ intuition, research studies, consultations, theory, observation, analogies, culture, and continuity of research. *ollowing are the types of hypothesis+ ,a- =ull 5ypothesis& It is in terms of statistical analysis and is more e act, free from any ambiguity and vagueness. It is symboli%ed as 5o. *or e.g. students who receive counseling will show a greater increase in creativity than students not receiving counseling. ,b- 4 perimental 5ypothesis& It is broad and vague. *or e.g. boys are taller than girls. If a single girl is taller than or the same height as of boy could nullify the hypothesis. ,c- $ommon 0ense 5ypothesis+ *or e.g. well paid employees are motivated than less paid employees. ,d- 0ome other types of hypothesis are+ comple hypothesis. analytical hypothesis. descriptive hypothesis, relational hypothesis, causal hypothesis, and working hypothesis. .. Research /ethodology+ It is a way to systematically solve the research problem. In it we study the various steps that are generally adopted by a researcher in studying his research problem along with the logic behind them. =ormally a research design includes questions+ what is the study about, why is the study being made, where will the study be carried out, what type of data is required, where can the data be availed, what period of time will the study include, what will be the sample design,

what techniques of data collection will be used, how will the data be analy%ed, and what will be the style of research report. 0uppose, one wants to study the problems faced by the colleges affiliated to !umbai "niversity, the arrangement of methodology will be as follows+ ,a- The universe i.e. population+ There are appro imately total four hundred colleges attached to the university which are situated at !umbai, Thane, Ratnagiri etc. ,b- 0election of samples: 'urposively twenty colleges are selected from !umbai. ,c- Reference period+ />>?&>@ to ABB?&B@. ,dTechniques of analysis ,0tatistical tools- & mean, median. mode. standard deviation, correlation, probability, chi&square , square-, t&test etc. 0election of appropriate statistical tool(s is solely depends on type and nature of parameters ,sub&parts of hypothesis-. 0. Tools to be used for collection of data: The task of data collection begins after a research problem has been defined and research design chalked out. The researcher would have to decide which sort of data he would be using for his study and accordingly he will have to select one or the other method of data collection. *or 'rimary data, one has to take help of+ ,a- 3uestionnaire ,b- Interviews and discussions observation. *or 0econdary data one has to take help of+ ,a- 'ublished 0ources ,b- Web 0ources ,c- 1nnual Reports etc. 1. #ignificance of the study + It should include+ ,a- what will you be going to add to the current literature< ,b- how will your proposed research facilitate the decisions of the policy maker< ,c- is your research work likely to create new direction to the present stock of research< ,d- will your work solve a long standing problem that people want to know how to solve< 2. #cope and li"itations of the study: =o research is free from limitations and weakness. These arise from methodological weakness, sampling imperfections, no responses, data inadequacies, measurement deficiencies and the like. 0uch limitations may vitiate the conclusions. Therefore a careful statement of the limitations and weakness of the study should be made in order to enable the reader to judge the validity of the conclusions and the general worth of the study. In the above case out of four hundred colleges only twenty samples are selected for the study. 'ractically it is not possible for the single researcher to reach at every college and collect the data: it is a functional limitation of the study. Where as twenty selected sample colleges are e clusively from !umbai region, it is a geographical limitation of the study. 13. Chapter #che"e of thesis/dissertation + #enerally researcher should mention tentative chapter planning of the thesis, which at least include+ ,a- Introduction, ,b- Review of the literature, ,c- 8ast topic+ $onclusions and 0uggestions. It should be noted that chapter planning is totally based on number of hypothesis, problems and objectives created in the methodology. Researcher must mention in the last paragraph of every introduction of each chapter about the hypothesis, problems and objectives it deals with. !roble"s: 1 researcher may come across with the following setbacks during his research+ ,a- nothing has been written on my research topic, ,bthere is too much literature in this field, ,c- it9s all been done, ,d- how to select volume and variety of literature. ,e- conflicting arguments, ,) solution for above problems follow hypothesis of your study, ,g- you may

run out of time, access is refused by a key institution, a key contact in sample organi%ation leaves, you discover that someone has already done your research, you may lose your job, your response rate may be very low, you may fall ill. you find that you have too much / too little data to analy%e, you may run out of money, your computer crashes or data loss. the rat eats your drafts. the margins on your te t are not the right si%e for binding. References: 1ny idea, conclusion, information or data specifically derived from the work of someone else must be acknowledged and this process is known as documentation. There are two methods of giving references which are author&date system and author number system. ;ou should give reference to+ ,a- justify and support your arguments, ,b- allow you to make comparisons with other research, ,c- e press matters better than you could have done. ,d- to lend authority to your writing, ,e- to e plain comple material. ;ou should not use references to+ ,a- impress readers with the scope of your reading. ,b- Replace the need for you to e press your own thoughts, ,c- !isrepresent other authors. Cost: $ost is an important part of the research routine: one can not over look this part before starting research. Researcher has to plan and generate the fund to finance the following cost+ *ees, travel cost, cost of consumables such as paper etc. $harges to access certain websites or institutions, equipment, purchase hire, books, reports, journals, photocopy, printing and publication, postage, telephone, library fines, and others. Gra""ar: !any researchers, even e perienced ones, have problems with grammar, punctuation and spelling when they write up. 4rrors will detract from your ability to get your ideas across. *ollowing is the list of some do and don9ts of 4nglish writing+ ,a- try to avoid long sentences if you don9t want to loose the sense of what you are saying get lost, ,b- understand and make proper use of the full range of standard punctuation forms including & colon ,+-, semicolon ,:-, comma ,,-, full stop ,.-, question mark ,<-, e clamation mark ,C-, dash ,&&-, slash , I), hyphen ,&-, quotation mark ,D D-, apostrophe ,9-,underline and italics, capitali%ation and abbreviation, ,cavoid sentences beginning with joining words such as 9but9 9and9 9because9 these should normally be used to link clause with in sentences, ,d- a verb has to agree with their subjects, ,e- never end sentences with prepositions ,about, above, across, before, without etc.-. f- passive voice should be avoided: ,g- passive to active voice is the quickest route to improvement, ,h- use prepositional phrases for better impact ,according to, in place of, in spite of, etc.-. 4diting: *irst spell check and then proof reading and then proof&read again. $heck for grammatical errors or basic style. Then proof reading again. 1fter everything else have a friend proof&read for you. *ollowing are the fastest way of editing+ ,a- replace lengthy descriptions by tables or charts, ,b- respond to the suggestions made by guide, ,c- bring in new ideas& reduce the length of what you have written after removing whole sections, or perhaps even chapters, where these are not central and relevant to your arguments(hypothesis, ,d- use single space in te t writing, ,e- use Times =ew Roman with /A *ont 0i%e or as directed by your guide, ,f- leave A spaces after period, ,g- use I inch margin for top, bottom and right side of paper and A inches for left side margin, ,h- leave one space after commas and other marks of punctuation, ,i- use white paper of the

si%e E /(A // inches and only one side of paper should be used for print(type, "- in case of title(topic, only first letter of each word is capitali%ed and others appear in lower case ( as suggested by your guide( check from the "niversity guidelines, ,k- a title is never underlined and nor put in quotation marks. 5i%a:*ollowing are some useful tips about what one should do before presenting his research work+ ,a- find out who is going to be there as an e pert, what are their interests and background, ,b- information wise keep up to date, what has changed between the submission of your thesis and viva, ,c- you should be able to find out instantly anything you need to refer and respond from your thesis, ,d- practice with a friend or colleague responding to questions of a friendly or hostile nature, ,e- you know more about your particular piece of research than anyone else, ,f- be prepared to defend and promote your work, while recogni%ing its limitations and deficiencies, ,g- initially welcome and accept the criticism, ,h- if possible practice presenting the results by using audio&visual aids.

6seful tips: *ollowing are some useful tips which will benefit the researcher during the research in decision making+ ,a- be prepared to research, you will often spend more time researching than writing, ,bhave a friendly critique for you, ,c- don9t take rejection personally, ,d- act confident, act professional it will show in your writing, ,e- keep journal for brain storming and pick up a simple topic every day and think&up different articles you could write on that topic, ,f- =umber of pages in & Thesis+ roughly FBB and above. )issertation+ roughly ABB and above, ,g- maintain one research diary and record+ observational notes, methodological notes, theoretical notes and analytical memos. ,h- 1lways keep in mind that research is+ e pensive, time consuming, scientific, often boring, can also be fun, you can research anything, and research can turn theory into action. ,i- methods of research+ if you like talking to people & you might be well advised to make use of interview method of data collection, if you don9t like talking to people & you might think about undertaking library or archive based research. ,j- #ood Interview+ be modest in your request & don9t start by asking for anything, use your e isting contacts effectively, be as clear as possible about what you are asking for & which document and people and how long it will take, e plain the reasons for doing your research, why it will be of value, and what the outcomes might be, ,kResearch *unding+ research scholar may seek the funding from agencies like "#$ ,passed =4T with 7R*-, I$00R etc. there are various schemes for the in&service teachers especially one who is working in the A* and /AE recogni%ed degree colleges. ,I- "seful electronic tools+ $orel )raw ,)rawing 'ackage-, #R100 ,#eographic&info. 0ystem-, !I=IT12 ,0tatistical 'ackage-, =")I0T ,Te t 1nalysis-, 010 ,)ata 1nalysis G #raphics. ,m0upport+ who will ask you how is it going on, who will make cup of tea for you, who will give you permission for do and don9t. If you don9t have people to fill the kind of support roles, you may need to find them or develop them unless you are an unusually confident, organi%ed and self aware person. ,n"seful websites+ ,i- http+((www.vidyanidhi.org.in ,for duplication check-, ,iihttp+((www.isidev.nic.in ,to check articles appeared in around /A? Indian journals G newspapers-, ,iii- http+((www.igidr.ac.in ,for e&journals and books in economics, banking and finance-, ,iv- http+((www.britishcouncil.org.in

,books, e&journals of "H&paid service-, ,v- http+((www.tiss.edu ,research projects, research report, G research abstracts in social science literature-, ,vi- www.icssr.org ,for fellowships, awards, sources, surveys in 00-, ,viihttp+((www.intute.ac.uk(socialsciences(lost.html,a web portal on social science literature-, ,viii- http+((www.infolibrarian.com(ejls.htm ,for free e& journals-. References: /. Hothari, $. R., Research !ethodology+ !ethods G Techniques, =ew 1ge International ,'- 8td., =ew )elhi. 2. Hultar 0ingh, 3uantitative 0ocial Research !ethods, 01#4 'ublications, !umbai. 3. H"!1R, 1, 0ocial Research !ethods, 1nmol 'ublications 'vt.8/td. I. Rob Hitchin and )uncan *uller, The 1cademic #uide to 'ublishing, .istaar 'ublications, =ew )elhi. S. *. 1bdul Rahim, Thesis Writing+ 1 !anual for Researchers, =ew 1ge International ,'- 8td., =ew )elhi. @. $lifford 5awkins and !arco 0orgi, Research+ 5ow to 'lan, 0peak and Write 1bout It, =arosa 'ublishing 5ouse, =ew )elhi. J. 8uey 2., 5andbook for 1cademic 1uthors, $ambridge "niversity 'ress.