2 research methodology topic selection

Research Topic Selection
&
Defining Research Problem
by
Dr. S.N. Sridhara,
Principal/Director,
KSSEM, Bangalore
sridharasn1964@gmail.com
Dr. S.N. Sridhara, KSSEM sridharasn1964@gmail.com 1

Topics
• Defining the Research Problem
• Selecting the Problem
• Necessity of defining the Problem
• Techniques involved in defining the
Problem

Searching/Selecting the Problem
Sources of Problems for Research:
• Motivation from observation in daily life
• Sources: News paper clipping, Media reports, personal
observations……
• Motivation from proposed research guide
• Sources: Pre-work carried out by identified research
guide, publications and work carried out by senior
students of research guide…

Selecting the Problem
Sources of Problems for Research:
• Motivation from inherent interest in research in a
particular wide area of topic
• Sources: previous self work or publications made by
oneself……
• Motivation from popular ‘HOT’ topics
• Sources: Immediate necessity of finding a solution to
existing system or practice

Selecting the Problem
• Brainstorm for ideas
• Choose a topic that will enable you to read and
understand the literature
• Ensure that the topic is manageable and that material is
available
• Make a list of key words
• Be flexible
• Define your topic as a focused research question
• Research and read more about your topic
• Formulate a thesis statement
Source: www.umflint.edu/library/how-select-research-topic

Brain Storming for Ideas
Self Brain Storming
Group Brain Storming

Choosing a Topic
Choose a topic that will
enable you to read and
understand the literature

Choosing a Topic
Ensure that the topic is
manageable and that
material is available

Make a list of key words
Enlist broad area
keywords and …..

Make a list of key words
and ….. Get Proper Key Words

Define your Topic as a Focused
Research Question
• DO I have enough Knowledge and Skills?......
• Do we have enough Resource?....
• Is this a manageable Problem?....
• Is it a problem from well Established arena?...
• Is it a completely new Problem?....

Know your boundary.mp4

Synopsis
• Synopsis is a brief summary of a survey
or work carried out or a proposal.
• Synopsis is usually submitted as a
precursor to submit a
– Research work proposal
– Thesis
– Research paper to journal/conference

Contents of Synopsis
Synopsis will have following distinct sections
• Title of the thesis
• General introduction to the topic of
research in general
• Brief literature survey and review
• Summary of literature review and gaps in
literature
• Need for the study

Contents of Synopsis…
Synopsis will have following distinct
sections
• Aim of research
• Objectives of research
• Methodology of research
• Time Schedule
• Reference list

Title of Thesis
Title of Thesis must be self explanatory
A good title shall have following
characteristics
• It should not be too generic (Avoid text
book titles)
• It should not be too long
• It must represent the whole work in
brief

Title of Thesis
A title indicates
– The subject of work
– The methodology / tool used
– The final result / output (indirect or
direct)

Title of Thesis
Example:
Experimental Investigations of Heat
Transfer Characteristics of a Miniature
Heat Pipe
Subject: Characteristics of a Miniature
Heat Pipe
Methodology: Experimental Investigation
Expected Output: Heat Transfer
Characteristics

Title of Thesis
In the following examples identify the
components of titles:
1. Linear Programming: a mathematical
tool for analysing and optimising children’s
diets during the complementary feeding
period

Title of Thesis
2. Adoptive dynamics as a mathematical
tool for studying the ecology of
specification processes
3. Heat transfer characteristics of a
continuous, stretching surface with
variable temperature

Title of Thesis
4. Use of six sigma methodology to
improve productivity in a small workshop
5. Energy Efficient communication
protocol for wireless microsensor
networks

Title of Thesis
6. Space size codes for high data rate
wireless communication: Performance
retierion and code construction
7. Effects of unbalanced voltage on the
operation performance of a three phase
induction motor

Title of Thesis
8. Active control of high rise building
structures using fuzzy logic and genetic
algorithms
9. Earth quake resistance of masonry
structures strengthened with fibre
composites (check for completeness of
this title)

Title of Thesis
10. Fluorescence quenching of dye
molecules near gold nanoparticles:
radiative and non-radiative effects
11. A novel alkaline redox couple:
chemistry of the Fe 6+/B 2 – Super-iron
boride battery

Title of Thesis
12. Efficient Big Data processing in
Hadoop MapReduce
13. A study on synthetic fuzzy model of
marketing compitativeness

Title of Thesis
14. A study on satisfaction level in women
employees of garment industry

Introduction to Topic
• General introduction will be written to
emphasise the importance of topic
• General introduction is also written to
give knowledge on the topic
• One or two paragraphs of material
would suffice to give introduction to the
topic

Literature Survey / Review
• Literature review is written to
showcase the work carried out by the
investigators and it puts a platform for
the current research proposal
• Literature must be taken from scholarly
journals and other sources
• Detailed discussion on work published
must be made

Literature Survey / Review
• Instead of reviving each paper at a
time, a thorough revision in terms of
sub topics would be a good presentation
• At least 10 research papers may be
quoted in the literature review
• Summary on literature review at the
end is a must, which also identifies the
‘gap’ in literature and states the ‘need
of the study’

Aim and Objectives
• Aim is a single sentence statement
which represents the title of thesis and
it starts from preposition ‘To’
• Aim should be derived from title of the
thesis.
• Objectives are stepping stones of
research work planned

Objectives
• Objectives will be written in 4 to 5
steps
• Objectives start with preposition ‘To’
• Each objective represent the
methodical stages that could be
achieved one after the other
• The last objective would indicate the
expected outcome of the research work

Methodology
• Methodology indicates how each objective
is achieved.
• Methodology also indicates the tools that
will be used to achieve each methodology
• Methodology must be complete in all
respect and therefore may be written in
more than on step
• Methodology must be un-ambiguous and
must give complete picture of the
procedure and methods used in the
research

Time Schedule
• Time schedule is usually shown in
quarters of a year
• The time spread for achieving each
objective is shown in quarters of year
• Obviously the first event would be the
first objective and its related time
estimate
• Similarly all objectives are shown in the
time domain

Time Schedule
• A few objectives may show overlaps in a
quarter.
• Overlaps indicate the parallel activities
that could be carried out without
disturbing the other activity
• Research work may be scheduled for
about 4 years in a part time Ph.D.
registration.

Reference List
• At least ten references must be quoted
• The primary sources of references must
be given preference in the list.
• The listing of references are made in
the order of appearance as quoted in
the text of literature review
• The standard stylings such as IEEE,
ASME etc can be used to list the
references.

Sample Synopsis
PhD_synopsis_ver3.doc

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