Research & Dissertation Writing Workshop : Learning Outcome

Hello Monks...

"Research means that you don’t know, but are willing to find out."

Charles F. Kettering rightly said about research. Research is the process of collecting data, saving critical information, then analyzing and interpreting the data. There are three types of research: exploratory, casual, and descriptive. Each of them is used for a different purpose and in a certain way. Research is important in all fields of work. For example, clinical research is what permits doctors to determine the way to treat patients best. It is what makes the event of the latest medicines, new procedures, and new tools doable. If it weren't for clinical analysis, we wouldn't be ready to decide if new treatments are more efficient than the current treatments. On 4th January 2020 we had a workshop on Research and Writing a Dissertation at the Department of English, MKBU. This workshop helps us in selecting our dissertation topic and how we will write our further topic. Our resource persons were Dilip Barad sir and Dr. Ndoricimpa Clement sir.

When students are told to conduct research and write a dissertation, they sometimes do not know where to begin, what is involved in research, what steps they must follow, what structure a dissertation must have, what argumentation style they may adopt, etc. Indeed, doing a research and writing may be daunting to students. This may be because of the complexity and the technicality involved in research and in writing a dissertation. Therefore, this workshop is intended to help students:

 Key Concern of this Workshop :

• understand what is involved in research and the steps that are adopted in research;
• identify an appropriate research topic;
• select and define a research problem;
• select appropriate research design and methods;
• organize and write a dissertation;
• understand the style of argumentation.

📌Concepts of Research :

🔍What is Research? :

Here Dr. Clement sir explain to us threw Walliman's definition of research that “Research” is an organized, scientific, and systematic investigation of truths about a particular subject or about things that no one else knew (Walliman, 2011). It simply means hunting for new knowledge. Research also means a scientific investigation to solve problems, test hypotheses, and develop new knowledge. Research is scientific because it uses scientific methods by making an integrated use of inductive-deductive reasoning. 

According to Walliman (2011), this inductive-deductive reasoning follows the process below:

• identifying or clarifying the problem; 
• inductively creating a hypothesis (testable theory); 
• deducing their implications; 
• practical or theoretical testing of the hypothesis; 
• rejecting or redefining the hypothesis in light of the results.

🔍Types of Research :

🔍Characteristics of Research :

• It is based on the works of others;
• It can be replicated (duplicated)- reliability;
• It is generalizable to other settings (external validity);
• It is based on some logical rationale and tied to a particular theory (content validity);
• It is doable;
• It generates news questions;
• It is important;
• It advances the frontiers of knowledge.

📌Selection of a topic for Research :

🔍How to select a topic? :

Here sir very well explain that To begin, choose a topic that is closely related to your academic interests, personal experiences, and preferred areas of inquiry. Second, before choosing a study topic, you must address the following questions:

• Do I have the necessary skills to accomplish this study?
• Are research tools and participants accessible to complete this study?
• Am I financially capable to accomplish my work? Is the allotted time sufficient to finalize all the steps of research?
• Do I have resources and documents necessary to obtain data?
• Is there an availability of professionals in my research who are ready to advise and assist me in the course of my research?

He analyses what makes an excellent research subject in Characteristics of a Research Topic...

📌Research Process :

🔍The research process is as follows:

📌Writing a Dissertation :

In the last part of the session, sir explain to us that how to make the structure of a dissertation, Argumentation strategies in dissertation.

🔍The structure of a Dissertation :

🔍Argumentation strategies in Dissertation :

There are a variety of argumentation tactics that may be used in a dissertation to persuade others that your findings are true and that the new information you've developed is well-founded. Referential methods, prediction strategies, and legitimization strategies are among these argumentation tactics.

1. Referential and prediction strategies

To define the study's aim and illustrate how the study is important—work investigating—referential and predictive tactics are used. Prediction techniques are indicated by terminology that assigns traits to the study's object, other studies, persons, and so on, whereas referential methods are marked by descriptive vocabulary.

2. Legitimization strategies 

Legitimization tactics are used to persuade others (readers) that your findings are true and that the new information you've developed is well-founded.

It was a really beneficial seminar for both sem 4 and sem 2 students. Sir, we've already submitted our study proposal. However, following today's session, we have a better understanding of our issue, how to make an argument, what sort of question we may ask, and so on. Many students had questions about their topic, and the answers they received were satisfactory. At the conclusion of the session, Sir presented the department students with a book for research in ELT as a symbol of his appreciation. We are grateful to the workshop's resource people for creating such a well-designed program.

📌Reference :

• Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2007). Research methods in education (6 th ed.). London and New York: Routledge.
• Dörnyei, Z. (2007). Research methods in applied linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press
• Williman, N. (2011). Research Methods: The Basics. London & New York: Routledge.

📌Some glimpse of the Workshop :

Thank You....