ENGR 701 Research Methods in Engineering

Aspects of PhD Research

Dr. Shihab Jimaa

Spring 2023
 Acknowledgements
• Some/Most/All parts of this lecture have been adapted from:

• “ENGR 701 Research Methods in Engineering” Dr. Harish Bhaskar, Khalifa University, Spring 2013.

• “A Short Guide to Research Methods for M.Sc. and Ph.D. Degrees”, Khalifa University

• “Research Methodology”, Palash Sarkar, Applied Statistics Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata,
India

• “Research Methods, Lecture 1: The nature of research”, Prof. A. Taleb.

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 Outline
• Introduction to Research.

• Different Levels of Research

• Structure of Ph.D. Research

• Roles and Expectations of Supervisors and Students.

• Key Messages

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• Introduction to Research

• Different Levels of Research

• Structure of Ph.D. Research

• Roles and Expectations of Supervisors and Students.

• Key Messages

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 Definition

• Research [Oxford Concise Dictionary]

• the systematic investigation into and study of materials, sources, etc,
in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions.
• an endeavour to discover new or collate old facts etc by the scientific
study of a subject or by a course of critical investigation.

• Research is an act of response to a question or problem that

we would like to resolve

• The answer could be obvious, but until we have subjected our

problem to extremely thorough and careful scientific
examination, our “knowledge” remains little more than
guesswork.

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Research in keywords

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 Research in keywords

Source: “ENGR 701 Research Methods in Engineering” Dr. Harish Bhaskar, Khalifa University, Spring 2013.

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 Research, What is it?
• Goals of research:
– Establishing facts,
– Analyzing information, and
– Reaching NEW conclusions.

• Acts of doing research:

– Identifying a problem
– Reviewing existing solutions
– Searching for new advanced solution
– Evaluating results

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 Research, What it is NOT?

• Training activities
– while doing research, you were trained on using tools and resources

• Case studies
– Case studies are used for results validation and comparison

• Pilot studies

• Solutions from the Internet

• Replication of others’ work

• Insufficient extension of the state-of-the-art

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 • Way to increase your
income
External • Career progression
Factors • Peer prestige and
competitiveness
• Directives of Government

• Love for the subject

Research • Seeking challenge
Motivations Internal • Intellectual pleasure
• Passion for continuous
factors learning
• Eager for knowledge or
curiosity

• Service to the community

• Creating a social impact
Mixed • Commitments to
beneficiaries
• Satisfaction

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 Research De-Motivations
• External Factors:
– Non-appreciative surrounding
– Inadequate building infrastructure
– Peer pressure

• Internal Factors:
– Failure to achieve short-term targets
– Underestimating expectations to efforts
– Intellectual draining

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• Introduction to Research

• Different Levels of Research

• Structure of Ph.D. Research

• Roles and Expectations of Supervisors and Students.

• Key Messages

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 Undergraduate Research
Level 1
• Level 1 Research usually comprises of:
– Correlations,
– Descriptive data, and
– Qualitative case studies.
• May be guided by an hypotheses (not always) of what
the researcher thinks is the case.
• Application driven cases.
• Outputs should be testable and descriptive of the
findings.
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 Masters Research
Level 2
• Level 2 research is more rigorous than level 1 research

• Hypotheses are stated clearly

• Variables in the hypotheses are clearly defined

• Measures and methods for making quantitative and

qualitative measurements are developed, validated and
tested.

• Conclusions are drawn on whether the research hypothesis

was supported or rejected.

• Needs enough information and argument of the literature in

the particular field of study
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 Masters Research
Level 2
• Needs good presentation style

• Reading and writing skills are fundamentally monitored by a

relatively small group of advisory members

• Length (literally) is shorter than Level 3

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 Ph.D. Research
Level 3
• Level 3 research is more rigorous than level 2 research
• Way of life
• Research methods are similar to that of level 2 research
– In addition, results must be reliable and repeatable in different
environments and under different conditions

• Evaluation not limited to one hypothesis regarding a single

tool, but must include the integration of a whole toolset that
maximizes the effectiveness of the solution
• Level 3 research is what must be done BEFORE the researcher
claims that an innovation works and should be used
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 Ph.D. Research
Level 3
• Enforces the contribution to knowledge
• Needs good presentation and style
• Reading and writing deliverables are benchmarked and
monitored strictly by an advisory committee
• Length (literally) is longer

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• Introduction to Research

• Different Levels of Research

• Structure of Ph.D. Research

• Roles and Expectations of Supervisors and Students.

• Key Messages

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 Coping with Ph.D. Research
• Reading
– Initial reading (course material, web, ..etc)
– Journal papers
– Conference papers
– Technical reports
– Book chapters

• Listening
– Attend seminars
– Attend talks being given by other students
– Attend all group meetings

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 Coping with Ph.D. Research

• Writing
– Write a short note of every paper, book chapter, ..etc
• Key message
• Main contributions
• Quantitative-Qualitative analysis of results

– Writing helps crystallize ideas

– Don’t copy the paper abstract
– Best way to learn is by writing in your own words

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 Coping with Ph.D. Research

• Talking
– Talk to your supervisor & colleagues
• The goal of your work
• The central problem
• How you are going to solve it
• How other people have solved it
• What difficulties they encountered
• Why their approach isn't as good as the one you are trying to use

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 Coping with Ph.D. Research

• Simple Approach
– Structure goals
• an essential but fairly easily achieved goal
• a desirable but somewhat harder or risky goal
• the ideal goal, something that would represent a real breakthrough.

– Define the problem

– Solve a simple version first
– Solve the complicated version next

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 Research Process
• “Research is often described as an active, diligent, and
systematic process of inquiry aimed at discovering, interpreting,
and revising facts. This intellectual investigation produces a
greater knowledge of events, behaviours, theories, and laws and
makes practical applications possible. The term research is also
used to describe an entire collection of information about a
particular subject, and is usually associated with the output of
science and the scientific method.”
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research]

• Research is a process through which we question our

knowledge, change and improve our understanding.

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 Outline of a Ph.D. Research Process

• Defining the research problem,

• Design a research approach,

• Undertake research,

• Documentation and dissemination

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 Detailed Ph.D. Research Process
• Selection of a Research Topic
– Interest and Significance
– Originality and Feasibility

• Conduct Literature Survey

– Identifying a Topic, state-of-the-art and/or practice
– Literature Review

• Project Design
– Choose research method,
– Develop detailed research plan

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 Detailed Ph.D. Research Process
• Planning and Management
– Implement Research Design,
– Undertake the work:
• Data Collection
• Results generation & Analysis

• Evaluating the results

– Draw Conclusions

• Documenting research results/findings

• Disseminating the results/findings

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 Ph.D. Research Requirements

• Open enquiring mind

• Creative orientation

• Critical, analytical approach

• Logical reasoning

• Accuracy

• Dedication and honesty

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 Outputs of Ph.D. Research
• Enhancing your academic background
– General: through general course work.
– Specific: through directed reading.
– Through teaching assistance

• Solving scientific problems

– Identifying the real problem(s)
– Solving the problem(s)

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 Outputs of Ph.D. Research
• Publishing papers
– Writing papers.
– Submitting to journals and/or conferences
– Addressing reviewers comments
– Making presentations.

• Thesis
– Writing a thesis
– Defending the thesis

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 Research Problem

• Guiding questions for defining the research problem:

– What is the particular problem?
– The Need: why do you need to solve this particular problem?
– The Approach: How are you going to solve it?
– The Benefits: Who will benefit from solving this problem and how?
– The Competition/Alternatives: What are the alternatives to solving this
problem?

NABC
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 Identifying a Research Problem

Subject/ Area Topic Problem

Field
• Search for a problem

• Identify the problem situation

• Study available research

• Take notes

• Write a statement of your problem

• Answer the NABC questions

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 Identifying a Research Problem

Source : http://www.slideshare.net/akisamant/identifying-and-dening-a-research-problem
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 A Worthwhile Research Problem
• Something that the community had been expecting for
sometime

• A major simplification of a central part of the theory

• A result which starts off a new subject or an area

• A result which stops further work in an area

• Provides a new method or improves upon known methods of

doing something which has concrete/practical applications

• Provides a new technique which can be applied to different

problems

• A new significant result by combining existing results

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 Keep in Mind while Identifying a Research Problem
• You have to be convinced that a problem is worthwhile before
you tackle it
• Best effort comes when the work is worth doing

• The problem (and solution) has a better chance of being

accepted (better saleability)

• Not all problems that one solves will be great

• Sometimes major advancements are made through solutions to small
problems

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• Introduction to Research

• Different Levels of Research

• Structure of Ph.D. Research

• Roles and Expectations of Supervisors and

Students.

• Key Messages

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 Role of Supervisors

• Every PhD student has to have one or more supervisors

• A supervisor supervises the research work

• Broadly speaking a supervisor helps a student to move

through the unknown terrain

• Choice of institute/subject could affect the supervisors’ role

– Important, but, not relevant after the choices have been made

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 Expectations from Supervisors

• Express similar research interests

• Advice, guidance and mentoring all through the way

• Provide expert viewpoint about the subject

• Train to acquire the ability to carry out independent research

• Provide training to technical writing through publications

• Provide opportunities for further research, if available

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 Expectations from Students
• Basic understanding and ability to carry out research

• Commitment and motivation

• Drive/energy and enthusiasm

• Willingness and ability to learn new things

• Hard work and accuracy

• Accept suggestions and advice from the supervisor

Remember "You can take the horse to the water, but, you cannot make it
drink.“
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 Students – Supervisors Relationship

• Facilitate the dream- fulfilment of a student

• Healthy collaborative research partnership

• Long-lasting relationship

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• Introduction to Research

• Different Levels of Research

• Structure of Ph.D. Research

• Roles and Expectations of Supervisors and Students.

• Key Messages

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 Key Messages
• As early as possible, you need to try to formalize the problem
you are planning to work on

• You will need to build sufficient background theory of your

problem first

• You need to become and expert in two different domains

– the problem domain: theoretical issues by which we can model and solve
the problem
– the solution domain: the tools that will enable you to implement the
solution

• Keep a logbook of all work in progress

– Backup versions for models, results, documentation, ….
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 Key Messages
• You will have to spend many hours every day, often with no
reward, hoping for progress
– To get through this, you need to believe in your own ability, in the problem
you are tackling and in the solution
– Keep away from De-Motivation factors

• Research is not a spectator event/activity.

• Research topics evolve: be prepared to Re-scope, if necessary

• Jump start your day: Before your leave work, set yourself a
task for the morning that is easy (and productive)

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 Key Messages
• Deal with criticism
– You will have to take a lot of criticism
– Being wrong and being ignorant is normal
– Ignorant does not mean stupid. It means lacking knowledge
– Criticism should be a positive act, not a negative one

• Benchmark:
– Assess the systems performance
– Compare it with that of other similar systems

• Ideally, you should identify some quantitative metric by which

to compare the systems

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