Final of Methods of Research

Name: Atta Muahammad Kamboh-1203

Submitted To: Sir Naseer Taib

Semester-3rd Year-2

Subject: Methods of research

Government College Lahore

Question no. 1

What is research design? Discuss the qualitative research design

 Research design

Research design is basically strategy or a method which is mainly adopted by researcher to

conduct the research and answering those questions which are mostly set by the researcher
in order to have sustainable research. It explains the process of data collection, analysis of data
which is about to use in research and the strategy to draw the conclusions of the evaluating
results. It also determines what is about to be included or excluded. It is the most important
tool by which no research could be conducted.

Researchers can only come up with a research design when they know it exactly that,

 What they want to know in research?

 What should be dealt with an obtain information?

Research design has to consider the following things for an effective research which are
following as,

1. The problem
2. The methodology
3. Data collection
4. Data analysis
5. Report writing

 Types of research design

There are two research designs in which one design is adopted by the researchers in order to
complete their desired research which are following as,

1. Qualitative research design

2. Quantitative research design
 In quantitative research design, the collection and analysis of data is focused. It is all
associated between variables. But qualitative research design is the most subjective approach
for obtaining data and to determine the relationship between the observatory and collected
data.

 Qualitative research design

A qualitative research design is used by the researcher to obtain data through interviews,
questionnaires, recordings, and conventional communications. Qualitative research is a type
of social science research that collects and works with non-numerical data and that seeks to
interpret meaning from these data that help understand social life through the study of
targeted populations or places.

People often frame it in opposition to quantitative research, which uses numerical data to
identify large-scale trends and employs statistical operations to determine causal
and correlative relationships between variables. Qualitative research is designed to reveal
the meaning that informs the action or outcomes that are typically measured by quantitative
research. So, qualitative researchers investigate meanings, interpretations, symbols, and
the processes and relations of social life.

 Characteristics of qualitative research methods

1. Qualitative research methods usually collect data from where the participants mostly
experience issues or problems. It brings the participants out from the geographic locations to
collect information.
2. Qualitative researchers gather different forms of data, such as interviews, observations, and
documents, rather than rely on a single data source.
3. This type of research method works to solve the complex issues by breaking down into
meaningful inferences. So, that it could be easily readable.
  Types of qualitative research design

Qualitative research design has many type by which most methods are adopted to conduct
qualitative research which is following as,

1. Case study qualitative research design

A case study research design is one of the types of qualitative research designs. It
provides the depth of an experiences faced by person, family or community. It seeks
the reasons of the case which occurs to a subject by direct observation. Data is
collected and compiled by using the gathered details. The researcher mostly requires a
time to understand the relationship of variables with each other in order to have a
sustainable case study of the experience after being observed its depth descriptions.

For example,
 Cases of missing persons
 Misunderstanding between students

2. Ethnographic model

It is one of the important qualitative research designs. It studies the cultural groups to
get a proper understanding of their lifestyles. Characteristics of different cultural
group are driven out after having this qualitative research design. The researcher uses
this model to study the variables to identify the cultures of different groups or
community by direct observational method. Ethnography was developed in the 19thand
20th centuries and used by anthropologists to explore primitive cultures and it originated
from Anthropology. It is the most popular and widely recognized method in qualitative
research design.

For example,
 Understanding of the dialects of different spoken-languages
3. Phenomenology

The phenomenology or phenomenological method is one of the important types of

qualitative research design which describes the experiences of any participants for a
specific event in their own life. It was founded in the early 20th century by Edmund
Husserl and Martin Heideggar and originated from philosophy.

Phenomenology is used to describe the common characteristics of the phenomena in-

depth. The primary data collection method is through in-depth interviews.This
qualitative design collects the information after having interviews, collecting data and
observations from the particular subject mentioned in the research.

For example,
 Human experience after being face a disaster like flood etc

4. Historical analysis or model

Historical model or analysis is one of the most important types of qualitative research
design which explains the past events or experiences in order to have expected future
choices and to understand the link of past events with the present occurring events.
The biography and chronology are mostly developed after being adopted this model of
research. Many new tests are conducted by keeping in view the historical data of
previous tests in order to have effective results.
For example,
 Understanding how great wall of China constructed

5. Grounded theory method

The grounded theory method is one of the most important types of qualitative research
designs. This method involves in the formulation of theory and hypotheses through
the collection and analysis of data. It was developed by Glaser and Strauss to use
conceptual phenomena using research. The primary data collection method is through
interviews of 20 – 30 participants. It is the most effective way to explain the empirical
phenomena.
6. Narrative approach

The narrative approach has a sequence of events from one or two individuals to form a
complete story. You conduct by in-depth interviews, by reading documents, and look for
themes; in other words, how does an individual story illustrate the larger life influences
that created it. Often interviews are conducted over weeks, months, or even years, but
the final narrative doesn’t need to be in chronological order. Rather it can be presented
as a story (or narrative) with themes, and can reconcile conflicting stories and highlight
tensions and challenges which can be opportunities for innovation.

For example, a narrative approach can be an appropriate method for building a

persona. While a persona should be built using a mix of methods—
including segmentation analysis from surveys—in-depth interviews with individuals in
an identified persona can provide the details that help describe the culture, whether
it’s a person living with Multiple Sclerosis, a prospective student applying for college,
or a working mom.

 Conclusion

Qualitative research methods originated from the social science and it are being
used to understand the perspective of peoples in this complicated world. It is all
base on the disciples of social sciences which are related to life prospects.
 Question no. 2

Take a topic of your own choice and develop a research proposal

Research Proposal for Quantitative Research Method

 Problematic statement:
‘Women rights and the constitution of Pakistan; Are Pakistani women familiar to their rights
given by the constitution’

 Introduction:
It is often misunderstood based upon general ratifications of notions, roaming around without
crosschecking the actual information through sources or the core origins of the problems when
it comes to the discussion of “women's rights” in Pakistan. Although, women rights are human
rights like any of the other basic fundamental rights. The purpose or need of these rights is to
provide equality, liberty to live, or to have justice. These basic rights tend the individuals to
resist, or to seek justice against any suppression, violation, or exploitation of women's rights.

The main purpose for our choosing this research problem is to demolish the blame on
constitution, because it is because of lack of awareness that women do not cross-check and
thoroughly study the sources of the testimonies of their rights. This is not particular for the
women of rural areas, as our research will prove this that even women from urban areas whose
are literate, do not thoroughly consult the official concerned documents.

The gap of women’s inequality and suppression of their rights can only be filled of the women
stand up for their selves, and most importantly know that the state and its constitution is there
to protect them, their rights and considers and acknowledges all genders equally when it comes
to justice and basic fundamental rights which a living being deservers and gets from the divine
nature.
Numerous researches have been done on similar issues that elaborate on the rights of women
given by the Constitution of Pakistan. The most concise ones include the research works
reported by LUMS, HEC, Nida Kirmani, a few departments of the Punjab government, many
analysts and opinion pages of famous newspapers or sources, etc.

 Literature Review:

Women's rights mean that women are socially, legally, economically, and politically equal to
men. The constitution of Pakistan guarantees the fundamental rights of every citizen without
discrimination based on gender. Comparatively, women of urban areas in Pakistan are more
likely to be familiar with their rights given by the constitution as compared to the women of
rural areas. But even then it cannot be declared particularly because it is not about being
educated, but to be aware of and concerned about the basic rights being “human being”.
Despite the fact that the majority of Pakistani women live in rural areas and are illiterate then
how can they know about rights given by the constitution? The answer to that is, by introducing
awareness campaigns in those areas, not by directly targeting those women but by approaching
and convincing the barriers or the people upon whom such women are dependent.
Unfortunately, the status of women in Pakistan is divided seeing their classes, regions, and
urban/rural divide due to uneven social-economic development and the impact of tribal and
feudal social formations on women’s lives. Gradually, improvements in women’s rights are
spreading in Pakistan and women are being privileged to get educated. But this process has
begun and we will see the outcomes in the coming years. According to recent surveys in rural
areas of Pakistan, women have dramatically started to participate in every field of life than men
for social and development of society. According to the studies, education and awareness are
the main factors in this research. Through studying constitution, women may come to know
about their very basic rights concerning their social, marital, academic, legal lives etc, their right
to vote, right to education, right of freedom of expression etc. in all these fields women are not
discriminated on the basis of gender inequality. So we see that rights are already present, all
women need to do is to study and practice their rights given by the constitution.

For this research, the literature review will be done through the former researches that have
been done already on respective/similar research problem, a few paired reviewed articles (that
will be accessed easily, and if needed), analytical or random articles from authentic sources,
and mainly the constitution of Pakistan. Also, all this literature review will be comprised of the
secondary data of this research's information.
  Constitutional Rights of Women (Punjab commission on the status of women, n.d.)
 Constitutional and Legal rights of women in Pakistan (Constitutional and Legal Rights
of Women in Pakistan, Ameena Suhail, ed., Women Aid Trust, Pakistan, March 2013)
 An Analysis of women rights in Pakistan Theory and Practice (MUstafa, June 2017)
 Protection of legal status of women in Pakistan; An role of supreme court (Cheema,
2014)
 Women Rights (Women Rights, n.d.)

 Hypothesis:

Hypothetical statement: Women of Pakistan are not familiar to their rights given by the
constitution

Explanation of Statement:

Majority of the women are not properly aware of their rights given by the constitution and
even they don't bother to get knowledge about their rights intentionally or unintentionally.
That's why they blame the Government/constitution and society for not providing equal rights
to them. But in our research, we want to dig out the reality that what women think about their
rights? Are they familiar with their rights that are written in the constitution of Pakistan or not?
Our research will demolish the blame on constitution, because it is because of lack of
awareness that women do not cross-check and thoroughly study the sources of the testimonies
of their rights. This is not particular for the women of rural areas, as our research will prove this
that even women from urban areas whose are literate, do not thoroughly consult the official
documents.

Relationship between variables:

Independent variable;

Constitution is an independent variable in which women's rights are affected. This is a causal
element of Research.

Dependent Variable;

Women's Rights awareness is the dependent variable and effective element of Research.
Measurement of variables:

We'll measure the dependent variable by conducting the surveys. In a survey, we will conduct
25 questionnaires from rural areas’ women and 25 questionnaires from urban areas’ women to
know actual awareness about their rights.

We'll measure the independent variable through documentary analysis. We'll study the current
draft of the constitution related to women's rights that had passed recently. We'll study 5
different articles related to women's rights.

Based on this information that we'll collect from the study of documents related to the
constitution, we make questions to ask women in the survey to verify our hypothesis.

Variables:

Dependent Variables:

The Women rights and Awareness of Women rights among the women of urban and rural areas
of central Punjab, Pakistan

Independent Variables: The constitution of Pakistan

Research Question: Are women of Pakistan familiar to their rights given by the constitution?

 Research Methodology:

In this Quantitative Research project, we will adopt a descriptive methodology to find results. In
a descriptive methodology, there are many ways included to conduct the research. First, we’ll
collect data from the primary source of data collection in which the Survey is included. The
secondary source of our data collection is articles that are already published and reports from
which women's rights of Pakistan are described briefly according to the constitution, former
research articles and documents on the relevant problem, Pakistani Constitution, global
analysis reports or opinion blogs and articles, etc.
Survey

In the survey, we’ll fill 50 questionnaire, Questions that we’ll make the design of that question
in such a way to know the familiarity of women about their rights. We’ll conduct the survey in
rural areas and urban areas.

To check the level of awareness of women about their rights, Women of urban areas will be
considered as the Control group because according to our assumption they are comparatively
more familiar with their rights. We fill 25 questionnaires from urban areas' women, and
similarly more 25 questionnaires from women of rural areas. Targeted are for our research are
the urban women of Lahore and the rural women of the Gujranwala region. Then we’ll find the
tentative results.

Documentary Analysis

In the documentary analysis, we’ll study documents to get knowledge of women's rights given
by the constitution of Pakistan. We basically want to create awareness of those women's rights
that are written in the constitution. For this purpose, we’ll study 5 different articles related to
our topic and go through all work that was already published. We want to know the list of
women's rights and then we’ll take questions on the basis of that list to ask the questions from
women.

Advocacy

The thought behind this research is to advocate, raise awareness for the basic rights of women
to acknowledge their social contributions, to eliminate injustice, inequality, suppression,
violence, exploitation of rights and self-confidence and, self-esteem, etc. The basic reason for
advocacy is to tackle the taboos associated with the term "women's rights", and mainly to know
and clear the misconception that "the constitution fails to deliver basic rights to the women of
Pakistan", our reason to research this problem is to demolish the blame on the constitution and
to know the actual reasons or responsible factors for the issues regarding women's rights in
Pakistan.

Actually, we want to know women's awareness of their rights. Why less educated women are
treated badly even if they know their rights? Either they are not familiar with their rights or
they are suppressed by or are obsessed with traditional culture, and so-called social norms?

Why educated women blame the state and constitution that proper rights have not been
provided to them? Are they even sufficiently aware of their rights? Either they only create
taboo of brutality or they are not familiar with their rights?
  Methodology

As mentioned earlier as well, the methodology to conduct this research will be “Surveys”.

The Independent variable in this research is the Constitution and we’ll find an independent
variable by the brief study of the constitution.

What does the Constitution say about women's rights? In this way, we can measure the
Independent variable.

The dependent variable is women's awareness about their rights and ultimately the women's
rights in Pakistan. This variable can be found from data that we’ll collect from women in the
surveys.

 Significance of this research:

As mentioned above as well, the thought behind this research is to raise awareness for the
basic rights of women to acknowledge their social contributions in academia, national
prosperity, politics, technology, defense, house holding, or in any field of life where they beat
all the battles parallel with men, to eliminate injustice, inequality, suppression, violence,
exploitation of rights and self-confidence and, self-esteem, etc. The basic reason for advocacy is
to tackle the taboos associated with the term "women's rights", and mainly to know and clear
the misconception that "the constitution fails to deliver basic rights to the women of Pakistan",
our reason to research this problem is to demolish the blame on the constitution and to know
the actual reasons or responsible factors for the issues regarding women's rights in Pakistan or
simply the barriers which do not let the women practice their rights.

Actually, we want to know women's awareness of their rights. Why women either literate or
less-educated are treated badly even if they know their rights or not? Either they are not
familiar with their rights or they are suppressed by or are obsessed with traditional culture, and
so-called social norms?

Why educated women blame the state and constitution that proper rights have not been
provided to them? Are they even sufficiently aware of their rights? Either they only create
taboo of brutality or actually, they are not familiar with their rights? The aim of this research is
to demolish all social misconceptions and taboos.
  Bibliography

Cheema, S. A. (2014). Protection of Legal Status of Women in Pakistan: An Analysis of the

Role of Supreme Court.

Constitutional and Legal Rights of Women in Pakistan, Ameena Suhail, ed., Women Aid Trust,
Pakistan. (March 2013).

MUstafa, G. (June 2017). An Analysis of Women Rights in Pakistan: Theory and Practice.

Punjab commission on the status of women. (n.d.). Retrieved from Constitutional rights of
women.

Women Rights. (n.d.). Retrieved from Women development deartment.

Question no. 3

How literature review help in quantitative research design?

 Introduction
Literature review is a process of reviewing work of others within your field and using that a
basis for your data collection. It is a survey of scholarly sources on a specific topic. It provides an
overview of current knowledge, allowing you to identify relevant theories and methods. It is
designed to provide an overview of sources that a researcher wants to explore while
researching a particular topic.

 Why write a literature review?

When you write a thesis or research paper, you will have to conduct a literature review to
situate your research within existing knowledge. The literature review gives you a chance to:

 Demonstrate your familiarity with the topic and scholarly context

 Develop a theoretical framework and methodology for your research
 Position yourself in relation to other researchers and theorists
 Show how your research addresses a gap or contributes to a debate

 The purpose of a literature review is to:

1. Provide foundation of knowledge on topic

2. Identify areas of prior scholarship to prevent duplication and give credit to other
researchers
3. Identify inconstancies: gaps in research, conflicts in previous studies, open questions
left from other research
4. Identify need for additional research (justifying your research)
5. Identify the relationship of works in context of its contribution to the topic and to
other works
6. Place your own research within the context of existing literature making a case for
why further study is needed.
  Functions of literature review

 The process of reviewing the literature helps researcher to understand the

subject area better and also helps us to conceptualize your research problem
clearly and precisely.
 It also help the researcher to understand the relationship between the research
problem and the body of knowledge
 It also tells the researcher that other have used procedures and methods or not
 It ensures the researcher to read widely the subject area in which he intend to
conduct the research

 How literature review helps in quantitative research design

Literature review is very important in quantitative study in order to provide a direction for
research questions or hypotheses. It is used to introduce a problem in the introduction. It
provides the readers an understanding of the scholarly research on your topic. It also
demonstrates that you are a well-informed scholar with expertise and knowledge in the field by
giving an overview of the current state of the literature.

The literature review is an integral part of the research process and makes a valuable contribution to
almost every operational step. It has value even before the first step; that is, when you are merely
thinking about a research question that you may want to find answers to through your research journey.
In the initial stages of research it helps you to establish the theoretical roots of your study and clarify
your ideas and develop your research methodology. Later in the process, the literature review serves to
enhance and consolidate your own knowledge base and helps you to integrate your findings with the
existing body of knowledge. Since an important responsibility in research is to compare your findings
with those of others, it is here that the literature review plays an extremely important role. During the
write-up of your report it helps you to integrate your findings with existing knowledge - that is, to either
support or contradict earlier research. The higher the academic level of your research, the more
important a thorough integration of your findings with existing literature becomes. In summary, a
literature review has the following functions:

• It provides a theoretical background to your study

• It helps you establish the links between what you are proposing to examine and what has already
been studied
• It enables you to show how your findings have contributed to the existing body of knowledge in your
profession. It helps you to integrate your research findings into the existing body of knowledge.

In relation to your own study, the literature review can help in four ways,

1. Bringing clarity and focus to your research problem

The literature review involves a paradox. On the one hand, you cannot effectively undertake a
literature search without some idea of the problem you wish to investigate. On the other hand,
the literature review can play an extremely important role in shaping your research problem
because the process of reviewing the literature helps you to understand the subject area better
and thus helps you to conceptualize your research problem clearly and precisely and makes it
more relevant and pertinent to your field of enquiry. When reviewing the literature you learn
what aspects of your subject area have been examined by others, what they have found out
about these aspects, what gaps they have identified and what suggestions they have made for
further research. All these will help you gain a greater insight into your own research questions
and provide you with clarity and focus which are central to a relevant and valid study. In
addition, it will help you to focus your study on areas where there are gaps in the existing body
of knowledge.

2. Improving your research methodology

Going through the literature acquaints you with the methodologies that have been used by
others to find answers to research questions similar to the one you are investigating. A
literature review tells you if others have used procedures and methods similar to the ones that
you are proposing, which procedures and methods have worked well for them and what
problems they have faced with them. By becoming aware of any problems and pitfalls, you will
be better positioned to select a methodology that is capable of providing valid answers to your
research question. This will increase your confidence in the methodology you plan to use and
will equip you to defend its use.
 3. Broadening your knowledge base in your research area

The most important function of the literature review is to ensure you read widely around the
subject area in which you intend to conduct your research study. It is important that you know
what other researchers have found in regard to the same or similar questions, what theories
have been put forward and what gaps exist in the relevant body of knowledge. When you
undertake a research project for a higher degree (e.g. an MA or a PhD) you are expected to be
an expert in your area of research. A thorough literature review helps you to fulfill this
expectation. Another important reason for doing a literature review is that it helps you to
understand how the findings of your study fit into the existing body of knowledge.

4. Enabling you to contextualize your findings

Obtaining answers to your research questions is comparatively easy: the difficult part is
examining how your findings fit into the existing body of knowledge. How do answers to your
research questions compare with what others have found? What contribution have you been
able to make to the existing body of knowledge? How are your findings different from those of
others? Undertaking a literature review will enable you to compare your findings with those of
others and answer these questions. It is important to place your findings in the context of which
is already known in the field of enquiry.

 Conclusion

Literature review is the most important part of any research. No research could be completed
without its presence. In any quantitative research design, it provides a direction for research
questions or hypotheses which is used to introduce a problem in the introduction. It
provides the readers an understanding of the scholarly research on your topic. It also
demonstrates that you are a well-informed scholar with expertise and knowledge in the field by
giving an overview of the current state of the literature.
Question no. 4

Discuss in details the ethics of research

 Introduction

Ethics are set of rules and moral principles that govern the behaviour of person or the
conducting of activity. Research ethics provides a guideline for the reasonable conduct of
research. It also educates and monitors researchers conducting research to ensure a high
ethical standards. It is closely related to the ethical principles of social responsibility. Research
ethics is not merely a requirement but it is the philosophical and value positions of researcher.

 Importance of research ethics

 To promote aim of research

 To support the values which are necessary for the collaborative work
 To protect data, anonymity of the subjects, confidentiality
 To make the researcher accountable for their research
 To protect the rights of the researchers to carry out a lawful research

 General principles of research ethics

There are some general principles of research ethics which should be taken care before
conduction a researcher which are following as,

 Honesty must be prevailed. No fabricated or misrepresent date is used.

 Bias should be avoided in data analysis, data interpretation, or review.
 The principles of integrity must be maintained. The agreements and promises
must be kept maintained with sincerity.
 Careless errors and negligence should be taken care of it.
 Good record of researcher activities should be maintained.
  Confidential communication must be protected.
 Discrimination against colleagues or student based on race, ethnicity or other
factors must be avoided.
 The colleagues of researcher must be treated respectfully and fairly.
 Professional competence and expertise through education and learning must
be maintained and improved.
 Laws and governmental policies regarding research must be obeyed and
observed legally.
 Social values should be prevented and promoted through research.
 Maximization of human benefits and minimization of human harms and
respect for humanity must be maintained.
 New ideas must be promoted and criticism must be made openly in research in
order to highlight various important aspects.

 Misconducts of research

Misconducts of research are the violation of the standard codes of researcher’s conduct and
ethical behaviour in the publication of research. These must not be conducted in order to have
reasonable research which is following as,

 Fabrication

Fabrication is the misrepresentation of research results by making up data,

results or recording and reporting of experiments that were never conducted.

 Falsification

Falsification means the manipulation of research materials or processes or

changing of data and results such that the research is not represented accurately
in the research record.

 Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the presentation of someone else work or ideas as defining it your

own ideas or material is the most malicious misconducts of research. It shows
the dishonesty of the researchers in their conducted researches.
 Primary responsibility of the researcher

1. Informed consent is the prime responsibility of the researcher. A standard

procedure in professional codes of ethics is ‘informed consent’. Seek consent
for the participation from people. In the case of children and few other
exceptional cases, the informed consent of participants, as well as their
guardians must be obtained.
2. The anonymity and confidentiality of the participants and data must be given
due consideration.
3. Participants must be given an option of rejecting data-gathering devices like
recorders etc.
4. The questionnaires and other forms must be designed in order to have
convenient and understandable research.
5. The researcher should protect and promote the rights and interests of the
participants.
6. Researchers are expected to consider ethical implications of their research.

 Some harming issues to the researchers

1. Some topics mostly appear to be controversial, so it is necessary for a research

to study the topic before finalizing the topic. This ethical implication should be
kept in check.
2. Uncollected data could produce harm to research. In order to address and sort
out all the issues of conflict, a clear and ethically sound plan for data
management must be carried out.
3. Human subject related researches should be clearly described in their research
design in order to have reasonable research. Otherwise, it could produce a
problem.
  Ethical issues in research ethics

1. Issue of Authorship

The authorship conflict arises when a person complains that he is a contributor to the
research and his name has not been included in authors for the manuscript, or already
an author informs that his consent is not being obtained or a corresponding author
requests for addition of an extra author or removal of an existing author before or
after publication.

According to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) guidelines,

anyone who has made substantial contribution to the conception, design or acquisition
of data or analysis and interpretation of data, drafting or revising the article for
intellectual contents, or participated in the final approval of the version to be published
is entitled to be an author. Gift authorship is when an author is included just because
of seniority or because he/she is a colleague or wife/husband or son/daughter, or son-
in-law/daughter-in-law of the author, to increase the number of publications. The
supply of patients, reagents, biological specimens or illustrations, helping in data
collection, supplying funds or space or being the head of a department of an institute
does not make a person eligible to become an author.

This problem can be prevented if the authorship is decided in the beginning of the
study. The journals safeguard themselves by asking the authors to submit a checklist
including the criteria for authorship.

2. Issue of duplicate submission

The submission of publication of an article by two journals that are identical or overlap
substantially with or without acknowledgment to another are called duplicate publications.
The authors are asked to give an undertaking that the manuscript is not submitted elsewhere
and not under consideration for publication elsewhere. Publication of articles that have similar
hypothesis, sample characteristics, methodology, results, and conclusion of a published article
is unethical. Such articles may have the same authors or may be different authors without the
knowledge of the initial authors.
It is done to increase the number of publications or more common with the pharmaceutical
industry. When an article is republished as a part or parts of an already published article, it is
labeled as a redundant publication. Such publications are unethical as it wastes the time of
reviewers, occupies the valuable space of published scientific data, and such unnecessary over-
emphasized publication inflates scientific literature with flawed meta-analysis for no benefit
other than to the author. They are serious violations of the copyright law. If one such article is
found before publication it is rejected or if found after publication, then a notice is printed in
the next issue about the duplicate publication and the said article is withdrawn. Sometimes
such publications are acceptable when the manuscript is a guideline or in another language,
and the article is intended for different readers. Such publications are prepared with
concurrence from editors of both journals and respecting the priority of the primary
publication. If a manuscript is based on the same study and their analytic approach is
different, then it can be published as two articles or a single article with a commentary.
Duplicate publication of the same data should be avoided as publication bias distorts the
literature and the meta-analysis may be skewed in the duplicate data.

 Conclusion

Research ethics is the most important principles in order to have effective and
reasonable research. Without following it, no research document could be called as
‘research’.