SBB 3802

SCIENCE COMMUNICATION
Week 6
Dr. Edlic Sathiamurthy
No. 6, Annex. FST
Tel: 668 3192
edlic@umt.edu.my
5 Scientific research methodology – 1 5msp 3
-Qualitative and quantitative
-Inductive
Inductive and deductive approach
-Research process
-Research design
6 Scientific
S i ifi research h methodology
h d l –2 i l – proposall
Tutorial 3
-How to write a proposal writing exercise
Scientific proposal
7 Scientific research methodology – 3 Scientific report 3
-How to write a scientific report
8 Poster Presentation Week Pass-up
Pass up poster 3
Individual scientific proposal Pass-up scientific
presentation (1 – 13) proposal
9 Individual scientific proposal 3
presentation (14 – 26)

10 Individual
Indi id al scientific proposal 3
presentation
(27 – 40)
11 Individual scientific proposal Group presentation 3
presentation topic
(41 – 54)

12 Group Presentation and Debate Group (1 Group presentation 3

– 4) topic

13 Group Presentation and Debate Group (5 Group presentation 3

– 8) topic

14 Group Presentation and Debate Group (9 3

– 11)

15 No lecture Pass-up scientific

p
report
 Scientific research proposal
• What is a scientific research proposal?
• What are the components of a scientific
research proposal?
• Why do I need to write a proposal?
• How do I write a proposal?
• How longg should the p proposal
p be?
• How to cite my references?
 Definition
• Proposal means plan or scheme
• Scientific research proposal could be
defined a formal documentation of a
systematic plan to conduct a research
that uses a scientific method within
certain time and financial framework
• It is
i adjustable
dj t bl as the
th researchh progresses
 Components of a scientific
research
h proposall
• Proposal can have several formats but its components are basically
the same
• Components arranged according to usual order:
– Title page
– Abstract
– Table of contents and list of figures, tables,
symbols/abbreviations
– Introduction
– Literature review
– Problem statement, aim and objectives, hypothesis, scope
– Research significance
– Methodology
M th d l
– Expected results
– Tentative work plan and timetable
– Estimated cost and equipment needed
– References
 Title page
• Consists of:
– Working research title
– Name(s) of researchers
– Affiliation
– Name of supervisor(s) and affiliation
– Date of delivery
• Proposal title can be refined as the research progresses
• Title should be short, accurate, descriptive and
comprehensive
• Clearly
Cl l iindicating
di ti th
the subject
bj t off th
the proposedd research
h
• In other words, it should be fairly self-explanatory
• How to p produce a research title?
 Producing a research title
• It is NOT an easyy task yyet not impossible
p
• First, start with a research idea/topic
• Idea comes from background knowledge, experience
and observation
• Second, refine the idea by doing a literature search and
review to see what has been done before and how
• Third, identify a specific area within the research
idea/topic which you can focus on (problem statement)
• Fourth, put the identified focus into statements that best
represent your research focus/aim
• Fifth, make the statements as concise as possible and
you will have your working title
 Abstract
• To be written last,, i.e. after all other sections
are completed
• It is a brief summary of your thesis proposal
• Length: 200 - 300 words
• Consists of:
– Brief introduction to the research issue (background)
– Key statement of your research (aim)
– Summary of how you want to address the issue
(methodology)
– Possible implication of your work, if successfully
completed (expected result and research
significance)
 Table of contents….
contents
• Table of contents – headings g followed by y sub-
headings, e.g. section/chapter title followed by
sub-section/sub-chapter
• List
Li off figures
fi (if any))
• List of tables (if any)
• List
Li t off symbols
b l and d abbreviations
bb i ti (if any))
• Their pages must be included
• Every list type must start on a separate page
• Format may differ between universities etc.
• See example....
example
 Introduction
• Sets the context or stageg for research pproblem/question
q
• Explains research background starting from a broad
perspective
• After that,
that the explanation narrows down to the research
question
• Background must be supported by a broad review of
relevant
l t literature
lit t
• Relevant literature referred to must be cited
• The introduction should be at a level that is easy to
understand for readers with a general science
background
 Literature review
• Vital component of a research
• Literature review usually comes after the introduction
• Its purpose is to:
– Prove the originality of the research
– Prove solid theoretical knowledge in the research field
– Provide a conceptual or theoretical and methodical
foundation for the research
– Justify the research aim
– Show its significance
• The conclusion that should be reached is:
– Research idea has not been undertaken yet
– Research
esea c iss based o
on good uunderstanding
de sta d g o of tthe
e research
esea c
problem
 Writing a literature review
• 1.0 What type of literature is suitable for research
work?
k?
– International journals (peer-reviewed) – most
important
– Local journals (peer-reviewed) – very important
– Seminar proceeding (edited or reviewed) – very
important
– Books and published reports/technical manual –
important
– Articles from websites ((apart
p from e-journals,
j , e-books
or conference papers) – important but make sure you
can find the author or at least the institution that
publishes the articles
– Newspaper articles and magazines – do not use
unless very necessary
• 2.0 The literature can be divided into two
categories.
categories
• 2.1 Core Reference materials – These are
references that are directly related to your:
– Research aim, objectives, problem statement or
hypothesis
yp
– Research methodology and techniques (including
alternative methods that have been used)
– Scientific
S i tifi concepts t and d processes di
directly
tl applied
li d iin
your research – for example if you are researching on
interception
p by
y trees,, then yyou must research into the
concepts and processes of interception
– Data analysis and synthesis technique
– Expected results (so
( that you can make comparisons))
• 2.2 Relevant Reference materials – These are
references that are not directly related to your
research such as:
– Scientific concepts
p and p processes not directly y applied
pp
but related to your research – for example if you are
researching on interception by trees but you are not
focusingg on rainfall intensity
y or wind speed,
p , yyou
should at least review about the effect of these
parameters on interception
– Background to your research – for example if you are
doing a research on the impact of urbanization on
water quality of a particular river, i.e. Juru River, you
may have to provide background information the
factors that cause Juru River Basin to urbanize such
as government policies and population growth of
Penang
• 3.0 How to review?
• STAGE 1 – Identify
Id tif
– Read the abstract and conclusion first and
see whether the article is relevant
• STAGE 2 – Categorize
– Decide whether they are Core Reference or
Relevant Reference
• STAGE 3 – Read and Enquire
– If it is a Relevant Reference, you should focus
on the Abstract and Conclusion and payp y
attention to the Introduction. But you must at
least read through casually the whole article
in order to get a ‘big’
big picture
– If it is a Core Reference, you then should proceed to
the Introduction and pay detailed attention to the
Methodology and then how ‘good’ is the result by
examining the Result, Discussion and Conclusion
section. Some of the questions you should ask:
• What method and why?
• What
Wh t are the
th parameters
t (variables
( i bl and d constants),
t t ) models,
d l
equations and equipment used?
• What was the experimental design?
• When was it conducted?
• What were the methodological and technical limitations
mentioned or encountered?
• How good was the result based on the discussion and
conclusion?
• Are there any
y weaknesses or p problems with the results
mentioned? If ‘Yes’, why?
– You will notice that you core papers will have
similarities and differences in terms Methodology
Methodology,
Results/Discussion and Conclusions. You should
compare them and ask some critical questions such
as:
• Why they are different?
• Why there are similarities?
• What factors (i.e. climate, location, equipment, models, etc.)
contribute to those differences and similarities?
• Which method and results are better?
– Let say you only have one paper on a particular
aspect of your research, certainly you cannot make
comparative review but you can examine the paper
critically concerning the effectiveness of its
methodology by assessing its results. Usually, the
author(s) will discuss the results
• STAGE 4 – Relate
– You must relate what you review (Core and
Relevant References) with your research. The
most important question is:
• What do these articles contribute to a particular
aspect or component of my research i.e.:
– Background
– Aim, objectives, problem statement, scope,
hypothesis
– Methodology, techniques, experimental design
– Data
D t analysis
l i and d synthesis
th i
– Verification/validation of results
– Evaluation of results
– Research significance
• STAGE 5 – Write
– Write your review using your own words with
proper citation. What you write must show that
you have:
h
• Categorized your literature into the relevant section
of your research
• Summarized the essential points of what you have
read
• Reviewed critically their contents
• Synthesized those points into your research by
relating
l i them
h with
i h your researchh components
 Problem statement, aim and
objectives,
bj i research
h significance
i ifi
• Come after literature review and they are related
• Problem statement states your research problem or
question NOT the problem you encountered in your
research
• This problem/question is identified from the literature
review
• It can represent many things such as:
– Knowledge gap in the research area
– Need for enhancement or improvement of a model or
method
– Further and more detailed research in a particular aspect
– Need for alternative or new concept
– Need to establish relevance with modification to different
environmental
i t l or social
i l conditions
diti
– Need of finding solutions to an existing problem
• Research aim is built from the problem
• Aim is the purpose of your research which is to
answer/solve the research question/problem
• It is a concise and general statement on ‘what is
your research about’ and ‘why you do it’ (i.e. to
answer the question/problem)
• Objectives are specific and concrete
interrelated statements arranged in a logical
order on ‘what you are going to do in order to
achieve the aim’
aim
• Must not be confused with methodology
• Methodology gy is on ‘how yyou g
going
g to achieve
your aim and objectives’
• Research significance is a description of ‘how’
important is your research will be to science
science,
society, nation etc.
 Example
• Thesis title:
– Interception Capacity of Rubber Trees and Its Implication to the
Hydrologic Behaviour of Rubber Plantations
• Problem statement:
– It was found that interception capacity of rubber trees has not
b
been related
l t d tto rainfall
i f ll iintensities.
t iti IInterception
t ti rate
t off trees
t are
affected by rainfall intensity as demonstrated in the literature
reviewed. Hence, the relation between interception capacity of
rubber trees with variability of rainfall throughout a rainfall event
if known
k would
ld contribute
t ib t to t a better
b tt understanding
d t di off the th
hydrologic behaviour of rubber plantations.
• Aim:
– Therefore, the aim of this research is to examine the effect of the
temporal variability of rainfalls on the interception capacity of
rubber trees and its implication to the hydrologic behaviour of
rubber plantations.
• Objectives:
– What the objectives should be?
 Methodology
• About ‘how’
how you intend to achieve each objective
leading to achieving the research aim
• Refer to Week 3 Lecture to read more about
methodology
• Basicallyy deals with three aspects:
p
– Concept (theoretical basis; approach; experimental
design)
– Technique (instrument to be used and why)
– Procedure (how the research is to be conducted)
 Expected results
• The expected outcome of your research
work
• It is tentative as you would NOT know
what to expect exactly
• Educated
Ed t d guess:
– according to literature review (published
results
lt off similar
i il research h work)
k)
– according to theory
 Tentative work plan and timetable
• List of research activities starting from literature
review to completion of thesis or report writing
• Arranged
g in logical
g order according g to time
frame
• Usuallyy in a form of a Gantt chart
• For this course will not discuss estimated cost
and equipment needed
• Example of a Gantt chart (but it is slightly
different in terms of research activities)….
 APPENDIX 2: GANTT CHART OF RESEARCH ACTIVITIES
PROJECT SCHEDULE 2007 2008 2009
RESEARCH ACTIVITIES A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J
i – Development of a
mathematical (theoretical)
framework for the proposed
model
ii – Topographic leveling and
channel geometry survey

iii – Sandbar study

(morphology and hydraulic
properties))
iv – Surface and sub-surface
hydrological data collection
(peizometric levels, salinity
flux and channel flow)
vii – Mathematical
M th ti l model
d l
development
(i.e. channel flow model)
vii – Model calibration, testing
and refinement

viii – Project documentation

MILESTONE
Mathematical (theoretical) framework
Morphological and hydrological data collection
Data synthesis and initial model
Tested and refined model
Project completion
 References
• Literature referred to must be cited
• Two types citation:
– within text
– in
i the
h lilist off references
f at the
h end d off the
h
proposal
• Pay attention to their formats
• There are several citation systems used in the
academic world
• Refer
R f to PITA guidebookid b k ffor citation
i i fformat used
d
by FST
• Example
Example….
 CITING REFERENCES
Prepared by Dr. Cha T. S.

• Types of References:
1. journals
2. books
3. proceedings / conferences
4. bulletin
5. dissertation / thesis / project report
6. translation
7. newspaper
8. internet / electronic sources
- individual publication
p
- electronic journal
- personal communication
- CD-ROM and Commercial Online Databases
Citing in text
Citing in list of references
• Book chapter:
Wilson, G. W. 1978. Economic systems. In Bittel, L. R. & Bittel, M.
A., eds. Encyclopedia of professional management (pp. 325-
330). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Newspaper article from a printed publication:

Feder,
F d B. B J.
J (2002
(2002, JJuly
l 18)
18). I.B.M.
I B M Beats
B t
Forecasts but With Signs of Weakness. The
New York Times, p. C1.

Newspaper
p p article from an electronic database:

Feder, B. J. (2002, July 18). I.B.M. Beats

F
Forecastst but
b t With Si
Signs off W
Weakness.
k Th
The
New York Times, p. C1. Retrieved October
27, 2002, from Lexis Nexis database.
 Assignment
• Write a research p proposal
p based on a p
published master
thesis
• Download a master thesis from Pro-Quest (the title page
of the thesis you referred to must be submitted together
with your proposal)
• Make sure it is not the same thesis
• Proposal
P l llength:
th 8 tto 10 pages maximum
i iincluding
l di titl
title
page and references
• 1.5 spacing, g font 12 of Times New Romans
• Dateline draft proposal: Week 8, Sunday 5.00 p.m.
• Proposal write-up: 15 marks; Presentation: 5 marks
• Format….
F t
– Title page
– Table of Contents
– List of Figures (if any)
– List of Tables (if any)
– List of Abbreviations and Symbols
– Abstract
– I t d ti
Introduction
– Literature Review
– Aim and Objectives
j
– Research Significance
– Methodology
– E
Expected dRResults
l
– Tentative Work Plan and Timetable
– References