Research Methodology

Unit 7: Data Analysis and Report preparation (10 Hrs.)

Presentation of data through frequency tables, bar charts, pie charts, percentages, cross tabulations, summary
measures, use of inferential statistical analysis in bivariate analysis( t-test, chi-square test, correlations, etc.) and
concept of multivariate analysis, format of academic research report, preparation of a mini-research report following
standard research methodology; ethical issues related to use of data, plagiarism, informed consent, self-privacy
while collecting primary data, etc.

Format of academic research report:

A complete research paper in APA style that is reporting on experimental research will typically contain a Title
page, Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and References sections. Many will also contain Figures
and Tables and some will have an Appendix or Appendices. These sections are detailed as follows (for a more
in-depth guide, please refer to "How to Write a Research Paper in APA Style”, a comprehensive guide developed by
Prof. Emma Geller).

1. Title of the page

2. Abstract
3. Introduction
4. Methods
5. Results
6. Discussion
7. References
8. Tables and Figures
9. Appendix

Title of the page:

What is this paper called and who wrote it? – The first page of the paper; this includes the name of the paper, a
“running head”, authors, and institutional affiliation of the authors. The institutional affiliation is usually listed in an
Author Note that is placed towards the bottom of the title page. In some cases, the Author Note also contains an
acknowledgment of any funding support and of any individuals that assisted with the research project.

Abstract:

One-paragraph summary of the entire study – typically no more than 250 words in length (and in many cases it is
well shorter than that), the Abstract provides an overview of the study.

Introduction:

What is the topic and why is it worth studying? – the first major section of text in the paper, the Introduction
commonly describes the topic under investigation, summarizes or discusses relevant prior research (for related
details, please see the Writing Literature Reviews section of this website), identifies unresolved issues that the
current research will address, and provides an overview of the research that is to be described in greater detail in the
sections to follow.

Methods:

What did you do? – a section which details how the research was performed. It typically features a description of
the participants/subjects that were involved, the study design, the materials that were used, and the study procedure.
If there were multiple experiments, then each experiment may require a separate Methods section. A rule of thumb
is that the Methods section should be sufficiently detailed for another researcher to duplicate your research.

Results:

What did you find? – a section which describes the data that was collected and the results of any statistical tests that
were performed. It may also be prefaced by a description of the analysis procedure that was used. If there were
multiple experiments, then each experiment may require a separate Results section.

Discussion:

What is the significance of your results? – the final major section of text in the paper. The Discussion commonly
features a summary of the results that were obtained in the study, describes how those results address the topic under
investigation and/or the issues that the research was designed to address, and may expand upon the implications of
those findings. Limitations and directions for future research are also commonly addressed.

References:

List of articles and any books cited – an alphabetized list of the sources that are cited in the paper (by last name of
the first author of each source). Each reference should follow specific APA guidelines regarding author names,
dates, article titles, journal titles, journal volume numbers, page numbers, book publishers, publisher locations,
websites, and so on (for more information, please see the Citing References in APA Style page of this website).

Tables and Figures:

Graphs and data (optional in some cases) – depending on the type of research being performed, there may be Tables
and/or Figures (however, in some cases, there may be neither). In APA style, each Table and each Figure is placed
on a separate page and all Tables and Figures are included after the References. Tables are included first, followed
by Figures. However, for some journals and undergraduate research papers (such as the B.S. Research Paper or
Honors Thesis), Tables and Figures may be embedded in the text (depending on the instructor’s or editor’s policies;
for more details, see "Deviations from APA Style" below).

Appendix:

Supplementary information (optional) – in some cases, additional information that is not critical to understanding the
research paper, such as a list of experiment stimuli, details of a secondary analysis, or programming code, is
provided. This is often placed in an Appendix.

Plagiarism:

● Plagiarism is the copying of another researcher or author’s language, ideas, thoughts, expressions as one’s
own original work.
● In the 1st century, the use of the Latin word “plagiarism” (literally “kidnapper”) to denote stealing
someone else’s work was pioneered by the Roman poet Material, who complained that another poet had
kidnapped his verses”
● In academia and Industry, Plagiarism is considered as a serious ethical offense.
● It is considered as a violation of academic integrity and a breach of Journalistic ethics.
● It inflicts punishment in the form of penalties, suspension, and expulsion from school, college, work, or
substantial fines.
● Plagiarism is not considered as a crime in some country. It is considered as an act of flattering.
● But some countries, such as India and Poland, consider plagiarism to be a crime, and there have been cases
of people being imprisoned for plagiarizing the material.
Copyright:

● It is simply any infringement upon the rights of a copyright holder.

● Copyright law gives a copyright holder, who creates any work, a set of rights that the copyright holder
alone alone can exploit legally. Those rights include;
● The right to reproduce his/her own work.

Plagiarism and Copyright:

● The concept of plagiarism does not exist in legal sense.

● The word Plagiarism is not mentioned in any statue, either criminal or civil.
● It is also not same as copyright.
● Copyright infringement includes the unauthorized or unlicensed copying of a work subject to copyright.
● Plagiarism is using someone else’s work or ideas without giving proper credit. In other words, because you
are not giving attribution to the owner of the original work or idea you are presenting the idea or thought as
your own.
● But where copyright infringement is a construct of the law, plagiarism is a construct of ethics.

When the Plagiarism does occurs:

It occurs when someone:

● Uses or ideas as their own

● Doesn’t cite the name of the original researcher.
● Obtain benefits, gain which need not be monetary on others.

Forms of academic plagiarism:

● Submitting someone’s research or work as their own.

● Taking some part of research from their own previous work without adding citation (self-plagiarism).
● Without properly citing the work of another person and then re-writing it.
● Without citing the source and using it as quotations.
● Withought citing the work and then interweaving various sources together in the work.
● Citing only some part, but not all the passages that should be cited.
● Melding together cited and uncited sections of the piece.

Ethics:

● Academic ethics are the moral principles that an academician should follow, irrespective of institute, place
and time. Doing the right thing at the right time is ethical behavior. Research ethics is all things the moral
principles that researches must follow in their academic publication. Academic honesty, integrity and
research ethics are underlying tenets for conducting qualitative research.
● Research ethics includes the usage of ethical principles in research activities which involves research
design and implementation of research, empathy towards society and others, utilization of resources and
research outputs, and misconduct in the process and regulation of research.
● Research ethics is a set of guidelines that support researchers to do research carefully. It defines the norms
for conduct that distinguishes between what is right and wrong.
● Research ethics are a few moral principles that are followed by a researcher in conducting research so that
it fulfills the scientific competence and delivers the best results. Ethics promotes values that are essential
for collective work.
 ● The principles on which ethics is based are related to the research process, data collection, interpretation of
data, report publication, thesis, confidentiality, obfuscation, and plagiarism.

Importance of Ethics in Research:

Ethics in research is very important as it increases the reliability of the outcome of the research. The importance of
ethics in research can be better understood by the discussion below.

● Research ethics promotes the aims of the research, like expanding knowledge.
● It is important as scientific research is dependent on collaboration between researchers and groups.
● This builds up confidence in the research work done and the output produced.
● They mean that researchers could be held accountable for their actions as well.
● They support social and moral values, such as the principle of not doing harm to others.

Objectives of Research Ethics

A better understanding of research ethics can be gained by knowing the objectives of the research for which it is
conducted. The main objectives of the research are

● The main agenda of the research is to protect the human participants who are included in the sample drawn
from the population. Mostly the sample dynamics are considered but the participants are kept anonymous.
● Research ethics also ensures that the research is conducted in a way that serves the interests of individuals
or society as a whole.
● Research ethics also examines specific research activities and projects for their ethical soundness which
means they are ethically correct.
● The ethical considerations are supposed to work towards protecting the rights of the research participants,
enhancing the validity, and also maintaining the scientific and academic integrity of the research.

Ethical Issues in Research

Following ethics is very difficult, even though there are set guidelines to be followed. The issues relating to research
can be better understood through the following points

● Validity: It must be seen that all the research methods used must relate specifically to the research
questions. The research must be directed towards finding out what exactly the research was designed to
find out. As research is a very complex process and there are several stages involved in it and there are
researchers might get diverted from the actual topic of research.
● Voluntary participation and consent: The research must be intended for the participation of individuals in
the research with free will and should be bias-free. The researcher is expected not to opt for unethical ways
of collecting data from the participants.
● Sampling: As research is a logical process there should be a logic behind why a particular sample has been
chosen. The choice should be bias-free in terms of selection. The researcher is expected to have
justification on selecting one sample over the other. Except for convenient sampling, every other sampling
process needs to be properly followed.
● Confidentiality: The main challenge of research is to maintain the confidentiality of the participants
chosen as samples. The data drawn from the chosen samples and the confidentiality of the participants
should be respected and protected. The researcher is always expected to keep the identity of the participants
confidential.
● Vulnerable groups: There are certain groups in society like prisoners, students, etc. whose participation in
research is risky. These groups are sensitive groups and data collected from them should be properly
 handled and all the due diligence needs to be followed. The researcher should follow the proper process for
collecting data from these participants and avoid any malpractices.
● Beneficence of non-maleficence: The researchers are expected to protect their clients and the general
public from unethical, incompetent, or illegal practices of any individual.
● Informed consent: The individuals participating the research should be fully informed about the terms and
conditions of the research and should also be aware of the potential risk and discomfort of the probable
outcomes. The researchers are responsible for the safety of participants and their work should not put
participants under threat.
● Plagiarism: It is an act of presenting to steal and pass off someone else’s words or ideas as one’s own
without crediting the source. The researcher should not copy someone else’s work and claim to be his own,
also his own work should not be presented in different forms as unique.
● Fabrication: Fabrication means making up the outcomes or altering them to suit one’s own needs. The
researcher to suit his needs should not manipulate the data collect instead he should present the data as it is.
● Falsification: Falsification is basically manipulating the research materials, changing or omitting data as
per convenience such that the research record is not properly represented.
● Non-publication of data: This means that the data has been suppressed such that exceptions are not
considered or explained in the research. The researcher should not be omitting data at his convenience.

Components of Ethical Research

Till now we have understood that ethics is very important in research but understanding the components of ethical
research is also very important which has been explained below.

● Integrity: The researcher while conducting research must be true and honest to his findings and research
and should hold on to the desired moral practices.
● Objectivity: There should be a well-defined objective for the research work being conducted and should be
directional in nature.
● Professional competency: The researcher should be competent enough to handle the data and also analyze
and interpret it correctly such that the true nature of the outcome is depicted.
● Confidentiality: The anonymity of the participants should be in place and should be protected such that
this does not cause any harm to the participants in the future.
● Professional behavior: the researcher is expected to behave very professionally with the participants
involved such that the outcome remains bais-free.

Principles of Ethical Research

There are certain principles in ethical research that should be religiously followed by the researcher such that the
outcomes are not harmed.

● Justice: This means that the benefits of the outcome of the research conducted should be provided to one
and all. This also means that researchers should not go beyond their limits in their teachings, service, or
research.
● Respect the rights and dignity of the participants: This means that the participants whose data has been
collected should be given privacy and confidentiality and the participant's identity is supposed to be kept
anonymous.
● Integrity: The researchers should be fair, honest, and respectful to others in the sense that participants'
emotions should not be hurt. The participants should be given due respect for the response they want to
share and the response they do not want to share.
● Fidelity and responsibility: The researchers should be aware of their responsibilities and also they should
contribute their findings to the welfare of society at large.
 ● Recruit Participants: This means that there should be certain logic in selecting a particular participant
over others.

Inform consent:

Researcher should provide information on:

● The aims of the research Who will be undertaking it

● Who is being asked to participate
● What kind of information is being sought
● How much of the participant’s time is required
● That participation in the study is voluntary
● That responding to all questions is voluntary
● Who will have access to the data once it is collected
● How anonymity of respondents will be preserved
● Who should it be returned to and by when

Self-Privacy Primary Data:

We Transfer also has strict data privacy policies in place to protect user information. They do not sell or share user
data with third parties unless required by law or necessary for the operation of their service. Furthermore, all user
data is stored on servers located within the European Union (EU). This means that they are subject to EU data
protection laws, which are among the strictest in the world. We Transfer also offers users control over their personal
information through its Privacy Center. Here, users can manage their personal information, delete their account, or
request a copy of their personal data.

Questions:

1. Write the format of research report.

2. Write the format of academic research report.

3. Define ethical issue of research. Why it is important to concentrate on ethical norms in research.

4. Discuss the major ethical issues in research.

5. Define plagiarism. Discuss the plagiarism.

6. What do you mean by informed consent?

7. Describe the informed consent.