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What is Research?

THE RESEARCHERâ€&#x;S JOURNEY (Searching through the apparent for the real?)

L. S. GANESH Professor and Head Department of Management Studies INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY MADRAS Chennai 600 036. e-mail: lsg@iitm.ac.in

RESEARCH IN INDIA SERIOUS PURSUIT or ROUTINE RITUAL ?

WHICH IS DOMINANT ?

WHAT IS THE MIX ?

EXCELLENCE - a fundamental duty CONSTITUTION OF INDIA, ARTICLE 51 A FUNDAMENTAL DUTIES (a) to abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and National Flag and the National Anthem . . . (j) to strive towards EXCELLENCE in all spheres of individual and collective activity, so that the nation constantly rises to higher levels of endeavour and achievement.

AND, WHAT DOES THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA MEAN BY EXCELLENCE? The citizens of this great nation shall perform their duties in an EXCELLENT way rather than perform them half heartedly.

EXCELLENCE means surpassing merit, virtue, honest performance.

Duties cannot be enforced by writs, yet, they are obligatory on citizens.

EXCELLENCE  KNOW YOUR LIMITS … … AND GO BEYOND THEM. WHAT IS NECESSARY FOR EXCELLENCE? 

INTELLECTUAL OPENNESS.



WILLINGNESS TO BE CRITICIZED.



WILFULLY SEEKING CRITICISM and ALTERNATIVES.



CREATIVE, INNOVATIVE THINKING.



FOCUS and CONSISTENT PERSISTENCE.

WHY AM I A RESEARCHER? Some Responses: 1.

Quest for knowledge.

2.

Must for a career.

3.

Nothing else to do.

4.

So many others are doing it.

5.

Donâ€&#x;t know, but Iâ€&#x;ve drifted into it.

6.

Seeking recognition in a peer community.

7.

The process is fun and exciting.

The Guru‟s Role Enabling the “sishya” to: 

Observe, understand, model, represent and share “personal reality”



Develop value systems and the persona



Learn to learn

A FRAMEWORK FOR RESEARCH THREE DIMENSIONS: 1.

The Levels of Knowledge and Action.

2.

The Levels of Necessity.

3.

The Educational Outcomes.

1.

The Levels of Knowledge and Action 

Awareness



Familiarity



Understanding



Internalization-Acceptance Cycle



Mastery

2.

3.

The Levels of Necessity 

Vital



Essential



Desirable

The Educational Outcomes 

Knowledge



Skills



Attitudes

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF RESEARCH IN OUR PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE?  UNFOLDING MANY PERSPECTIVES. (multiple perspectives; observing diversity in unity and vice versa – celebrating differences)  ABSTRACTION OF REALITY. (observing the particular and the general; infinite in subtle ways)  OPENING UP POSSIBILITIES.  SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT???

Abstractly, and in general, are we perhaps seeking to experience or enable an improved Quality of Life (QoL)?

Short Term

Long Term

Self Others QoL to be interpreted in a most generic sense.

But, what is the „intellectual essence‟ of research?  Questions o the incompleteness of accrued knowledge. o the quest for new knowledge.  Deep Reflection and Discovery o garner knowledge o observe connections o use logic and known principles  Output o Questions that were not asked before o Observations that were not made before o Interpretations and Meanings that were not derived before o Solutions and Methodologies that were not developed before

 Solutions or Answers   Problems or Questions  NEW OLD

OLD

NEW

o Applied o Exploratory o Experimental o Copy or Reinventing the wheel

o Innovative

If NEW is present in the Problem or Solution, Research contains 1G4T. If LEVEL of ABSTRACTION increases, Research becomes FUNDAMENTAL.

TYPES OF RESEARCH Data Sources Data Types Research Method

DATA SOURCES Primary o Survey o Experimental o Simulated Secondary o Published o Survey

DATA TYPES

:

Data = Pattern + Noise

Textual o Literature o Archives o Reports Numerical o Scales o Ordered/Semi-ordered/Random o Organized/Unorganized Visual o Graphs o Maps o Diagrams

RESEARCH METHOD Descriptive o Existing data type o Imaginary data type Language-Logical-Analytical o Interpretational Commentaries o Case Studies Mathematical-Symbolic-Analytical Numerical-Analytical o Statistical/Simulation-based o Arithmetic

It is RESEARCH, because  You can never have enough of it.  There is no closure.

THE JOY IS IN THE JOURNEY, AND NOT THE DESTINATION SIMPLY PLOD ON AND ON AND ON AND ………

AND ENJOY THE JOURNEY! THE END: DESTINATION APPARENT OR REAL ???

There are three kinds of Researchers: those who make things happen; those who watch things happen; and those who wonder whatâ€&#x;s happened.

- Anonymous The absurd and incorrigible fourth kind: those who do not know and do not care that they do not know what is happening!!!

What‟s the difference between ignorance and indifference?

I don‟t know and I don‟t care.

- From Anonymous. *****