Proceedings of the 20th Meeting of the Academic Council of VIT held on 26.3.

2010

UNIVERSITY CORE COURSE FOR RESEARCH SCHOLARS

Research Methodology
L T P C
3 0 0 3
COURSE CODE: RES 701
Objectives
1. To gain insights into scientific research .
2. To help in critical review of literature and assessing the research trends, quality and extension
potential of research and equip students to undertake research.
3. To learn and understand the basic statistics involved in data presentation.
4. To identify the influencing factor or determinants of research parameters.
5. To test the significance, validity and reliability of the research results.
6. To help in documentation of research results.

Expected Outcome
1. Ability to critically evaluate current research and propose possible alternate directions for further
work
2. Ability to develop hypothesis and methodology for research
3. Ability to comprehend and deal with complex research issues in order to communicate their
scientific results clearly for peer review.

UNIT I
Introduction to Research Methods
Philosophy of Science, Evolutionary Epistemology, Scientific Methods, Hypotheses Generation and
Evaluation, Code of Research Ethics, Definition and Objectives of Research, Various Steps in Scientific
Research, Types of Research; Research Purposes - Research Design - Survey Research - Case Study
Research.

UNIT II
Data Collection and Sampling Design
Sources of Data: Primary Data, Secondary Data; Procedure Questionnaire- Survey and Experiments –
Design of Survey and Experiments - Sampling Merits and Demerits - Control Observations - Procedures -
Sampling Errors.

UNIT III
Statistical Modeling and Analysis, Time Series Analysis
Probability Distributions, Fundamentals of Statistical Analysis and Inference, Multivariate methods,
Concepts of Correlation and Regression, Fundamentals of Time Series Analysis and Spectral Analysis,
Error Analysis, Applications of Spectral Analysis.
UNIT IV
Software Packages
Origin program, crysfire, JCPDS standard search match, indexing of XRD patterns. Statistical sampling,
Curve fitting and Chemical structure information handling.

UNIT V
Research Reports
Structure and Components of Research Report, Types of Report, Layout of Research Report, Mechanism
of writing a research report
Text Book
1. C.R. Kothari, Research Methodology Methods and Techniques, 2/e, Vishwa Prakashan, 2006.
2. Bendat and Piersol, Random data: Analysis and Measurement Procedures, Wiley Interscience, 2001.
3. Shumway and Stoffer, Time Series Analysis and its Applications, Springer, 2000.
4. Jenkins, G.M., and Watts, D.G., Spectral Analysis and its Applications, Holden Day, 1986.

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 Proceedings of the 20th Meeting of the Academic Council of VIT held on 26.3.2010
Reference Books
1. Richard I Levin amp; David S.Rubin, Statistics for Management, 7/e. Pearson Education, 2005.
2. Donald R. Cooper, Pamela S. Schindler, Business Research Methods, 8/e, Tata McGraw-Hill Co. Ltd.,
2006.
3. Timothy J.Ross, Wiley Publications, 2nd Ed.Fuzzy Logic with Engg Applications,
4. P.J. van Laarhoven& E.H. Aarts[e] Simulated Annealing: Theory and Applications (Mathematics and Its
Applications.
5. David E. Goldberg .Genetic Algorithms in Search, Optimization, and Machine Learning
6. Thesis writing - A handbook for Ph.D., M. Phil., M.A. and B.E. students, R. Gopalan, Vijay Nicole
Imprints Privated Limited, Chennai, published in 2005.
7. The ACS Style Guide – A manual for authors and editor, Janet S. Dodd, Editor, A.C.S., Washington
DC, 1986
8. Research, Research, Research, Research – How to plan, speak and write about it Clifford Hawkins and
Marco Sorgi Springer Verlag, Berlin, 1985

Mode of Evaluation: Evaluation by the course teacher – Continuous Assessments 1 and 2 (50% marks) /
Term end examination (50% Marks).

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