WORKSHOP

Dronacharya College of Engineering, Gurgaon conducted two weeks workshop on “Research Methodology” under the National Mission on Education through ICT (NMEICT) in collaboration with NITTTR, Chandigarh from 6th- 17th June 2016. 16 faculty members from various Departments of DCE, Gurgaon attended the workshop.

National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research (NITTTR), Chandigarh works for quality education in technical institutions in the Northern Region.

Day 1: 6th June 2016

The inauguration was held in presence of Dr. Sunil Dutt, Professor & Faculty Incharge and Public Information Officer, Dr. P.K. Tulsi, Head & Dean, R&D and Dr. S.P. Bedi, Professor, NITTTR Chandigarh. Thirteen institutes from all over India participated in the workshop. Dr. Bedi initiated the workshop by stating “Necessity is the mother of Invention”. Then she highlighted the importance of research in every field.

During the inaugural address, Dr. Tulsi presented search statistics from all over the world. She discussed major findings of research at individual level, institute level and university level. Then, there was discussion on Research Topics in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. In Computer Science Engineering, the research issues in Big Data Analytics & Cloud Computing were addressed. The discussion started with a brief of what, why and how of Big data and cloud. In the area of Electrical Engineering they discussed Sustainable Development, its basics understanding, concepts and research issues. Also they explained Scientific Research and its classification: Pure Scientific and Applied Scientific Research

The next presentation was by Ms. Poonam Syal, Associate Professor, Electrical Engineering, NITTTR Chandigarh on “Areas of Research in Sustainable Development”. She discussed the renewable sources of energy and gave an overview of photovoltaic technology.

Dr. Maitrayee Dutta, Professor and Head, Electronics and Communication Engineering, NITTTR Chandigarh gave a presentation on “Research Areas in Electronics and Communication Engineering”. She discussed the process of image segmentation and classification. She gave an overview of remote sensing. She delivered a lecture on wearable biosensors.

Day 2: 7th June 2016

Dr. Sunil Dutt addressed the centers with a brief of Research Problems. He explained identification of problem, its criteria for selection and steps in formulating the Research Questions. He concluded the topic by explaining how to write objectives of the Research Questions. Secondly he introduced hypothesis, its types, and how to formulate it. This was concluded by giving a group activity where the group members had to prepare one presentation including Statement of Research Problem, Its Selection Criteria, and Objectives of Research & Hypothesis. After that various centers shared their presentation and Dr. Dutt suggested desirable changes and suggestions. Later, Dr. P.K Tulsi held an interactive session on Review of Related literature. She gave an overview of functions of Review, how to write it and stages of Review. She also entertained queries from all the attendees. She also discussed Identification of Keywords, Identification of Source of Information, Abstracting Information in References and Analyzing, Organizing and Reporting Information.

Day 3: 8th June 2016

Dr. P.K. Tulsi introduced the session with classification of research. She discussed Descriptive Method of Research in detail. She focused in Survey Research and Case Study. She also explained various terms related to longitudinal survey. Coming to case studies, she laid emphasis on data collection and quality of research design with the help of numerous examples. After her presentation, the participants were asked to share the abstracts that were given as previous day’s task. Later, another task was given to select a descriptive study, prepare its research questions, identify the measuring tools to be used and create the sampling plan. Later, Dr. P.K. Tulsi continued with advising suitable changes and suggestions in the abstracts prepared by remaining participants. Following it, different nodal centers shared their assignments of descriptive study.

Day 4: 9th June 2016

Dr. S.P. Bedi started the day with a quick review of previous day. She handed over the session to Dr. T.N. Thukral who specified the differences between Scientific and Educational Research. Then he explained about Sampling in details. Later he engaged the participants in a quiz based on what he had discussed earlier, that enabled deep understanding of the topic. All the remote centers actively participated in the quiz. The session was continued by Dr. S.P Bedi by discussing methods of Research, namely Correlational and Ex-Post Facto method. She concluded her session with a task of identifying different types of research and specifying cases of the discussed methods. Then, Dr. Sunil Dutt discussed another research method i.e. Experimental Study with the help of supporting examples. He also enlightened the participants with various validity and design methods. Dr. Dutt engaged everyone with suitable examples and active interaction. He concluded the session with a task of Experimental Research. Participants had to select an experimental topic, mention its objective & hypothesis create a research design and suggest the execution plan.

Day 5: 10th June 2016

Dr. S.P. Bedi introduced Mr. Sukhdev Singh, Research Scholar, Mechanical Engg., NITTTR, Chandigarh. Mr. Singh started the day with discussion on experimental research in Mechanical Engineering. He explained DOE (Design Objective of the Experiment) in detail that is an important step in Design of Experiment. He also explained Factorial Design and Diagnosis of Result. The second presentation was given by Mr. Guarav Gupta (Research Scholar, Civil Engg., NITTTR). His topic of research was “Effect of Fiber Length on Polyester Fiber Reinforced Soil”. Later, a task was assigned by Dr. Sunil Dutt where the participants had to prepare presentation on Experimental Research stating their topic, objectives, hypotheses, research design.

Post session, Dr. Sunil Dutt interacted with the participants where members from all the remote centers presented their assignments. Dronacharya College of Engineering, Gurgaon made the presentation on “Parametrical Study of Micromachining”. Second presentation was on “Enhancement of Properties of Polymer Modified Ferro-cement”. Dr.Dutt praised the presentations and suggested suitable improvisations.

Day 6: 13th June 2016

Dr. Sunil Dutt introduced Dr. K.C. Lachhwani to the remote centers. Dr. Lachwani commenced the day with a detailed presentation on Operational Research (OR) - a Multidisciplinary Area. He stated OR as a “Science of Better”. He also stated OR in terms of Management Science and Decision Science. He concluded his session with detailed discussion on methodology of OR and its advantages. Later Dr. S.P. Bedi held the session on Measuring Instruments. She educated the participants about the classification of Measuring Instruments, namely Standardized Instruments and Researcher Developed Instruments. She discussed in detail Questionnaires and the steps involved in its designing.

Then, Dr. Bedi discussed other Measuring Instruments - Interviews and Observations. She kept the session interactive and encouraged the participants in brainstorming on the topic. She detailed the strategy involved in conducting Interviews and stating Observations. Later she assigned the task of preparing a Questionnaire on corresponding topics of researches to the nodal centers. Participants actively prepared the Questionnaires and shared their work. Dr. Bedi concluded the day’s session by appreciating the efforts of the participants and suggesting suitable improvements.

Day 7: 14th June 2016

Dr. S.P. Bedi continued with the last day’s presentation of Questionnaires from various participants from all the remote centers. Dronacharya College of Engineering, Gurgaon presented their Questionnaire on the topic “Assessment of Library Facility Available in the College”. Dr. Bedi appreciated the presentations and suggested appropriate changes and improvements.

The second session was held by Ms. Amandeep Kaur, Assistant Professor, NITTTR, Chandigarh. Dr. Kaur presented the factual data about Funding Agencies. Grants provided by UGC, AICTE, Science & Engineering Research Board, CSIR, DRDO, DAE, MOCIT and various other government agencies were described. Then, Dr. Sunil Dutt presented on Analysis of Data- Statistics, categorized as descriptive and inferential. He detailed analysis of data, scale of measurements and statistics classification.

Later Dr. Surender Prasad (Chairman, NBA) addressed the remote centers and interacted with the participants. The participants asked various questions related to Research and NBA.

Day 8: 15th June 2016

Dr. S.P. Bedi introduced the day with presentation on Inferential Statistics. She explained various testing techniques, namely, t-test and chi square test. The presentation also included various co-relation coefficients like Product-Moment, Spearman’s, Bi-serial, Phi, to name a few. The second session was held by Ms. Amandeep Kaur. She explained how to write a research paper, answering basic questions of when and why to write a research paper. She detailed upon the Sections of Paper and how a submission is assessed.

After that, Mr. Amardev Singh, Assistant Professor, NITTTR, along with co-presenters Ms. Mona and Ms. Deepika held the session on Intellectual Property Rights. He kept the presentation interactive with participation from different nodal centers and explained the topics with suitable examples. He explained in detail Intellectual Property, Patents and Copyrights.

Day 9: 16th June 2016

Dr. Sunil Dutt introduced the day with a brief on communication and its importance. He moved on to explain how to write a Research Proposal and Systematic Technical Writing of a document. He concluded his session with a presentation on Report Format. Then, Dr. S.P. Bedi. She told about how to write a Research Report. She discussed in detail the contents of the report and explained what to write and how to write under each heading. The session was highly informative and educational.

After that, an expert talk was conducted by Dr. S.K. Sharma on SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences). He introduced the session with types of data and variants of data measurement techniques. Dr. Sharma later explained the SPSS Data Editor where he practically showed the working of various functions available in the tool. The day concluded with the usefulness of SPSS in data analysis for research.

Day 10: 17th June 2016

Mr. T.N. Thukral introduced the day with a deliberation on Evaluating Report and Evaluation of Research Report. Mr. Thukral initiated the session with meaning, importance and types of report. He carried on with evaluation plan and guidelines. The session concluded with an MCQ task.

The second session was conducted by Dr. P.K. Tulsi on Ethics associated with research and its importance. Various examples of unethical research were shared and tools to check plagiarism were introduced. She concluded the session by asking various centers about the precautions they took prevent unethical conduct of researchers.

The Course Valediction session took place in the afternoon. Dr. M.P. Poonia, Director, NITTTR, Chandigarh, gave valedictory speech. The participants of all the institutes gave their suggestions and feedback of the STC. The session concluded with vote of thanks from Dr. S P Bedi.

The workshop proved to be very fruitful as the participants learnt a lot about Research Methodologies.

Some Glimpse: