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The Essential Guide to Doing RESEARCH is more and more becoming a part of our day-to-day consciousness. Research skills, which were earlier required only at the highest levels of academia, have now become survival skills for students even at the undergraduate level. Research is being tied to better career opportunities for students and promotion for teachers. In governance, our policies and decisions have also shifted from being based blindly on expert advice to demanding hard evidence collected through scientific research in all spheres of life. Media, corporate and business houses all are relying on research for designing strategies. However, it should also be acknowledged that due to a complete lack of research orientation in our educational institutions, in our curricula and teaching methods, the process of research remains mired in a fog of incomprehension. This is also one of the major reasons of the poor quality of our PhDs, MPhils and scant contributions to international research journals. Many good researchers recall their experiences of how they had to struggle hard to become good at doing research because of dearth of experienced research mentors and a total lack of guidance.
Author O’Leary tackles all these implicit yet impactful issues through her conversational tone that she maintains throughout the book. She must be appreciated for the fact that her tone is professional yet friendly, full of good advice yet far from being patronising or condescending. While going through the book, one feels face to face with an experienced well-wisher or a well-meaning colleague. Another strategy that the author adopts is supporting the text with citing lucid personal examples. She frequently shares research experiences taken from her students’ or from her own life. This makes the book interesting, credible and easily comprehensible, at the same time, making the abstract concepts tangible. The book includes chapters on literature research, study designing, research methodologies, data collection, analysis and presentation and finally effective research writing covering all the necessary steps in completing a research project. The highlighted emphasis on ethics in research is an added feather in the cap, because many other books dealing in the same area fail to include this highly important topic and ignore it altogether. The book has been written in a reader-friendly format with several flow charts, boxed information, checklists, comparison tables and bulleted text. Each chapter ends with an extensive list for further reading. The author does not shy away from sharing information and freely provides addresses of good websites, where one can get help for research. The book is a rich reference book for students who are just stepping into the field of research because of the immense clarity it gives to the different intricate concepts of research methods. They can keep it handy in their labs and workspaces and refer to it whenever they face confusion. The book will also be of help to the teachers who can use it as a supporting text for teaching research methods. The companion website of the book is also a helpful resource with information provided in downloadable slides. After reading the book,
you can either become an ardent researcher being greatly motivated by
the clarity with which you can see the path forward or in case you are
lazy and lethargic, you will be put off all together, as O’Leary makes
it amply clear, that there are no short cuts in research.
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In
this scenario, publications like this book have a significant role to
play, as these can guide the first-time researcher to clarify the
concepts of research process, to vividly outline the steps in the
endeavour and to get a firm grip of the technicalities involved. It must
also be remembered that research is not only a technical exercise but it
also needs a certain disciplined mindset, a non-distracted, focused
timetable, determination, passion and creativity. Even if we equip our
researchers with the technical skills, most often it is done without
discussing psychological, attitudinal and lifestyle preparations that
are needed while doing research. This puts most of the researchers in
dire straits as they find it difficult to balance, research, career and
family life. As a result, one or the other suffers. The book fills this
immense gap and provides solid support to anybody who is willing to
bring out quality research work.