what is research ?

What is Research and Development (R&D)?

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Research is a scientific investigation aimed at discovering and applying new facts, techniques

and natural laws. At its heart is inquiry into the unknown, addressing questions not previously

asked. Research is done by a wide range of organisations: universities and colleges;

government agencies; industry and contract organisations. Research projects vary widely in

content and also in style, from open ended exploration of concepts to working towards specific

targets.

Development in an industrial context is the work done to finalise the specification of a new

project or new manufacturing process. It uses many of the methods of scientific inquiry, and

may generate much new knowledge, but its aim is to create practicable economic solutions.

The combined term Research and Development can be seen as the work in an industrial or

government context concentrating on finding new or improved processes, products etc., and

also on ways of introducing such innovations.

The use of the term R&D may not wholly encompass the activities intended to be covered by

the Guidelines, but has been adopted by the authors as the most appropriate and convenient

single term.

CONTENT OF RESEARCH

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Writing a research report A research report can be based on practical work, research by reading or a study of an organisation or industrial/workplace situation.

1. Preparing Identify the purpose/the aims of the research/research question. Identify the audience.– lecturer/supervisor/company/organization management/staff. The amount of background included will vary depending on the knowledge of the “audience”.

2. Collecting and organising information

There are two main sources of information depending on the research task:

1. Reading — theory and other research

2. Research — experiments, data collection ‐ questionnaires, surveys, observation, interviews.

Organise and collate the information in a logical order. Make sure you record the bibliographic information of your reading as you go along. See Quick Tips on mind mapping techniques.

3. Planning Before writing the report, prepare a detailed plan in outline form. Consider the following: Logical organisation Information in a report must be organized logically. Communicate the main ideas followed by supporting details and examples. Start with the more important or significant information and move on to the least important information. Headings Use headings and suitable sub headings to clearly show the different sections. In longer reports the sections should be numbered.

4. Writing the report

1. Draft the report from your detailed plan.

2. Do not worry too much about the final form and language, but rather on presenting the ideas coherently and logically.

3. Redraft and edit. Check that sections contain the required information and use suitable headings, check ideas flow in a logical order and remove any unnecessary information.

4. Write in an academic style and tone.

• Use a formal objective style.

• Generally avoid personal pronouns; however, some reports based on your own field experience or work placement can be reflective the first person can be used. For example, “I observed..”. If in doubt about this, check with the lecturer.

SOURCE- www.rmit.edu.au/studyandlearningcentre/ February 2007 Ph: 9925 3600

Hypothesis Criteria and Guidelines

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Hypothesis Criteria

-Is written in a declarative sentences.

-Is written in the present tense. There is a positive relationship between the number of times children have been hospitalized and their fear of hospitalization.

-Contains the population.

-Contains the variables.

-Is empirically testable

Guidelines for critiquing hypothesis and research Questions

-Does the study contain a hypothesis or hypotheses?

-Is each hypothesis clearly worded and concise?

-Is the hypothesis written in a declarative sentences?

-Is each hypothesis directly tied to the study problem?

-Does each hypothesis contain the population and at least two variables?

-Is it apparent that each hypothesis contain only one prediction?

-if the study contains research questions, are the questions precise and specific?

-Do the research questions further delineate the problem area of the study?

Classifications of hypothesis

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Simple or complex:

A Simple hypothesis: concerns the relationship between one independent and one dependent variable (bivariate study). In experimental studies the independent variable may be considered the cause, and the dependent variable may be considered as the effect.

Example: there is a negative relationship between denial and reports of anxiety among post myocardial infarction patients

A complex hypothesis:

Concerns a relationship where two or more independent variables, two or more dependent variables, or both, are examined in the same study (multivariate).

Example: there is a positive relationship between patient perception of pain control and (a) complaints of pain and (b) requests for pain medication

Note : remember that hypothesis are not required if only one variable is being examined.

Hypothesis and research question

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A hypothesis is a statement of the predicted relationship between two or more variables

Purposes-

Allow theoretical propositions to be tested in the real world.

Guide the research design.

Dictate the type of statistical analysis for the data

Provide the reader with an understanding of the researchers expectations about the study before data collecting begins.

Source of Hypothesis-

From the researchers own experiences.

From previous research studies.

From theoretical propositions. This is the most important source of a hypothesis. This process of a hypothesis derivation involves deductive reasoning. A propositional statement is isolated from the study frame work and empirically tested.

Note(1) :

Nursing research involves both inductive and deductive means of formulating hypothesis.

Note(2):

Hypothesis should always be written before the study and should not be changed after the study results are examined

The age of instructional design - a focus on content

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The main topic of the research during this period, starting from the ‘50s
was related to what content should be taught by using technology and how it
should be organized.The performance criterion was related to teacher performance. In other words, an educational technology is effective if it can be used to teach the
same contents with the same learning outcomes as teachers do.
Robert Gagné had an important contribution, by this time to the
instructional design research, stating that knowledge acquisition could be
facilitated by hierarchical sequencing of instruction, from subordinated knowledge
to more complex abilities (Gagné, 1962; White & Gagné, 1978). The main idea of
this theory was that former learning of some prerequisite knowledge facilitates
later acquisition of higher-order skills, but this doesn’t happen when the
prerequisites are learned out of the learning sequences (Gagné, 1962; White &
Gagné, 1978). Also, Gagné (1968) proposed a descriptive theory of the instructive
strategy that includes nine events, which, in his opinion, are critical for an efficient
instruction. The sequence of events are: (1) gaining attention, (2) informing the
learner about the objective, (3) stimulating recall of prerequisite learning, (4)
presenting the stimulus material, (5) providing learning guidance, (6) eliciting the
performance, (7) providing feedback about performance correctness, 8) assessing
performance, (9) enhancing retention and transfer
.
Capitalizing on these ideas, educational technologies have tried to create
tools aiming to maximize learning outcomes of the students. Gagné and Briggs
(1979) provided prescriptions for each of these instructional events, based on the
type of learning - intellectual abilities, cognitive strategy, verbal information,
attitudes, motor abilities (according to the descriptive theory of knowledge,
elaborated by Gagné) - combining them in a matrix with five different models of
instruction. The work of the two authors had at least two major consequences for
the instructional designers (Reigeluth & Curtis, 1987):

TO BE CONTINUE .......

Source : Cogniţie, Creier, Comportament / Cognition, Brain, Behavior
Romanian Association for Cognitive Science.
Volume XI, No. 1 (March), 115 - 129

Research trend in Modern world for the field of eduction.

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THE EVOLUTION OF RESEARCH IN EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY

The field of educational technology found its origins in the discovery made
by researchers and practitioners of the fact that the instruction can be planned,
projected, evaluated and revised before being applied on students. In other words it
can be treated as an object on which a set of procedures i.e. technologies) can be
applied.
Educational technology is, according to the definition of the Association
for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT), “...the theory and
practice of design, development, utilization, management and evaluation of
processes and resources for learning” (Seels & Richey, 1994, p. 231). Another
definition is the one offered by Reisser (1987), who states that educational
technology is the systematic way of designing, utilization and evaluation of the
teaching/learning process, in terms of specific objectives, based on research in
human learning and communication fields and on combining human and technical
resources.
The research made in the educational technology field, according to Winn
(2002) has moved through four stages or “ages”, each being built on the previous
one and each of them being characterized by a specific focus, specific theoretical
assumptions and practical implications.
In what follows, we will review the „ages” of educational technology
research, discussing the key theoretical issues, the research directions and the
weakness associated with each of these stages.

1. The age of instructional design - a focus on content
2. The age of the message design - a focus on format
3. The age of simulation - a focus on interactions

To be continue ........

Sources : www.cognitrom.ro

Vital role of theory in research work

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Increasingly philosophers and scientists have affirmed that all knowledge is theory-laden and that methods are theory-driven. These assertions raise important questions related to the role of theory in qualitative research. There are scholars who propose that qualitative research can enhance understanding and expand theoretical knowledge from a disciplinary perspective. And there are others who contend that qualitative inquiry is purely inductive and that its validity can therefore be judged by the extent to which preconceived theory is absent from it. The purpose of this article is to examine three qualitative methods, grounded theory, ethnography, and phenomenology, and their use in nursing in order to explicate the role of theory in knowledge development. The authors propose that, by nature, inquiry, discovery, and theoretical interpretation coexist simultaneously and must be recognized as such if the theory-research linkage is to advance nursing science through qualitative research.

THE ROLE AND USE OF CREATIVE PRACTICE IN RESEARCH

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A common problem in art and design is that creative practice is often presented as research under the label of practice-based or practice-led research. This problem arises on the one hand from the wish of practitioners to use their creative practice in research, and on the other from a persistent uncertainty about the role of creative practice in relation to the requirement for making a contribution to knowledge within research. In this paper, we discuss existing terminology and relate it to the different role(s) practice can take within research with regard to the contribution of knowledge. To this end, we analyse and categorise existing terminology concerning different roles of practice. We then examine how practice can be used in research in valid and rigorous ways. We thus aim to provide an important basis for the further development of the debate on research in art and design.

Keywords :

Research methodology, practice-based research, knowledge contribution

METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH

Folow the above link to know about methodology

Convention use in research paper to make it effective.

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Some conventions appear periodically throughout the text to provide insight into important aspects.These conventions with their meanings are:

Highlights the interesting points.

Indicates some typical queries, which might arise in the mind of readers.

Offer a glance at the key points of the topic where the text is lengthy, or when a comparative study is to carried out.

Some different sets of solved problems suppose a name "explore more".

Notabilia should be used.

Note : Notabilia is an old English word which means "things worthy of notice". When we start writing the research paper we thought of putting some additional and important information under the head of 'info box". However it was creditable on the part of our editor to come up with a word that was not only catchy but also went along completely and exactly with the contents. We overwhelmingly accept this beautiful change.

A Better Measure of Skills Gaps

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Decision makers are measuring skills when managing change and capturing value in the

process. They are recognizing the value of metrics for fueling improvement. What gets measured gets managed, and what gets managed gets better. Skills inventory management strategies are giving managers and employees the ability to verify the skills needed to ensure success, pinpoint skills gaps before they compromise the initiative, and improve skills to meet changing needs. Online Measurement System Pinpoints Skills Gaps That Could Affect an Initiative While many new initiatives make strategic sense at the executive level, companies have struggled to find ways to ensure that those initiatives survive the challenges of execution. Namely, they have sought effective tools for gauging skills requirements and for measuring and comparing the skills of current employees against those requirements.

A skills inventory management system, backed by objective skills metrics, gives decision makers the data they need. How does it work? The process is simple. A skills inventory begins with a skills measurement system that enables employees to access online skills assessments through the com-pany intranet. When a company implements a new technology, for example, managers may have their employees take a test for skills related to that technology. The online system delivers scores immediately, with results that show whether the company has the skills for that new initiative, or whether there is a skills gap that needs to be addressed before the initiative is launched.

what is research gaps ?

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Research gaps
If you are working on original research, you will want to identify a need for your research somewhere close to the beginning of your paper. Why? Because you will want to show the reader that you are not duplicating existing research.In other words: this paper is worth reading! This is best done by surveying the current research and then identifying a gap that you are going to fill.

A common sequence for introductions in an academic journal article is-

1. Establish the field: Identify the broad problem and state its importance.
2. Summarize previous research: State what is significant in what has already been written.
3. Create a research space: Describe the gap you propose to fill in the existing research literature. This then creates an opportunity for you to make a contribution to the research in the area.
4. Introduce your research project: Establish your research thesis or questions.
(The above headings derive from a scheme proposed by Swales, 1981, quoted in Bruce, 1995).

EXAMPLE :
In the following example notice how the writer pays a complement to existing work ('There have been a number of valuable studies of self-employment...') and then identifies the gap ('However, none of these studies provides...')
Research Gap identified: A study of the changes over the last decade.

There have been a number of valuable studies of self-employment using cross-section data (Rees and Shah, 1986; Blanch flower and Oswald, 1993; Taylor, 1996), all of which present evidence on a number of employment and personal characteristics on the sector. However, none of these studies provides a picture of the changes over the last decade or forecasts the trends in self-employment as the recession of 1990 took hold.

EXAMPLE
Research Gap identified: The effects of pit closure on women's lives.

While there has been some research on the general impact of female unemployment (Coyle,1984; Popay,1985), little has been written about the effects of pit closure on women's lives.

Writing a dissertation

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Database Research

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In a digital world most students want to find short cuts to search for

articles.That is why databases were developed. A database is simply a collection of articles from different journals that are indexed into an electronic database that can then be searched electronically using keywords, author or title names, Library of Congress subject headings, etc.Companies called database aggregators enter into agreements with a number of publishers to assemble indexes using many different journals. This saves the user time and allows one simultaneous search of any number of journals.

Databases are typically arranged broadly according to subject areas. Academic Search Elite is a database aggregation containing articles of journals dealing with general academic, inter-disciplinary subjects. JSTOR ideals with social science and education databases. Science Direct deals with science and technology databases.. AB In form deals with business databases.The Academy library offers several databases selected for their relevance to the courses taught here.

These databases can be accessed on course pages by clicking on the “Academy Online Library” link. Using these databases is an art, not a science. The library page also contains links to PDF documents that discuss how to search EBSCO host and ProQuest. Most databases use the same search techniques.There is also a link on the library page to an article discussing a special type of search technique called Boolean searching. All students should read this article before beginning to conduct database searches. These databases will produce results that are not from scholarly journals. A user can, however, click on a setting that will produce only results from scholarly journals and thus let the program itself do the selection work.

Elements influencing beiievabiiity of the research....

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Writing style
Research reports should be well written, grammatically correct, concise and well organized.The use of jargon should be avoided where possible. The style should be such that it attracts the reader to read on

Author(s)
The author(s') qualifications and job title can be a useful indicator into the researcher(s') knowledge of the area under investigation and ability to ask the appropriate questions. Conversely a research study should be evaluated on its own merits and not assumed to be valid and reliable simply based on the author(s') qualifications.

Report title
The title should be between 10 and 15 words long and should clearly identify for the reader the purpose of the study .Titles that are too long or too short can be confusing or misleading.

Abstract
The abstract should provide a succinct overview of the research and should include information regarding the purpose of the study, method, sample size and selection.The main findings and conclusions and recommendation.From the abstract the reader should
be able to determine if the study is of interest and whether or not to continue reading.

Logical consistency
A research study needs to follow the steps in the process in a logical manner.There should also be a clear link between the steps beginning with the purpose of the study and following through the literature review, the theoretical framework, the research question, the methodology section, the data analysis, and the findings.

Artistic inclinations a healthy expression of imagination

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I consider artistic inclinations a healthy expression of imagination. I give here a few
quotes so that everyone may judge the reasons upon which I have based my conclusion that this aptitude was present. The quotes are taken from the biographies in question:

1.NEWTON(ARAGO.Oeuvres) :
“Itwas towards the end of his stay atGranthamthat, besides a marked success in painting, he developed a remarkable poetic talent. Several productions from that time are carefully preserved by connoisseurs.”

2. HAÜY (BUCKLE):
“He was essentially a poet, and his great delight was to wander in the Jardin du Roi, observing nature, not as a physical philosopher,but as a poet. Though his understanding was strong, his imagination was stronger.”

3. MALUS :
“I found, among his papers, two stanzas of an epic poem entitled The Creation of France or la Thémelie and two completed tragedies, one concerns the capture ofUtica and the death of CATON, the other,which is entitled, ‘Elektra’,recounts the horrible vicissitudes of the house of Atreus. Beautiful verse and interesting
situations, etc.”

4. LALANDE (YOUNG. Works): “His earliest taste seems to have been for romantic
tales, and he was fond ofmaking little stories with the materials that he possessed, but their subjects were chiefly religious. Having been sent to Lyon, to continue his studies under the Jesuits there, he acquired a taste for poetry and eloquence, and was then inclined to devote himself to literature and to the bar; but an eclipse of the sun recalled his attention to astronomy.

RESEARCH IS CURIOSITY ; I T IS POKING AND PRYING WITH A PURPOSE IN MEDICINE

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Why, you might ask, is having more than a passing familiarity with research so important in medical education and in the practice of today’s medicine? And why do we feel so strongly about this issue that we have woven a scholarly project into our curriculum and made it an integral component of every medical student’s experience here ? The simple answer is tied to the never-ending quest for excellence in the education of would-be physicians. However, simple answers don’t tell the full story, which, in this case, is perhaps best approached from the bottom line: What kind of doctor do you want? Our thinking is that physicians schooled in the analytic process are better prepared than those without such a background to retrieve and critically evaluate the information in this week’s JAMA and New England Journal of Medicine — information that can help them determine patient treatments, for instance, or separate advertising hype from established facts in the process of evaluating new drugs.

We believe that physicians schooled in the analytic process will listen to a patient’s medical history and complaints differently. Rather than starting with a set of memorized characteristics and trying to fit the patient into one pathogenic category or another, they listen to all the facts the patient provides and put them together a new. Even if the outcome turns out to be familiar, the realm of diagnostic possibilities is much broader and the practice of medicine much richer than when it is based simply on rote recognition of symptom patterns. We also contend that physicians schooled in the analytic process are more likely than others to get to the bottom of a case and to yield creative clinical decisions based on solid evidence when symptoms don’t fall into common patterns and that they’ll be better equipped to deal with the rapidly changing developments that have become a hallmark of contemporary medicine. So, once again, what kind of doctor do you want?

Active Learning Work ! A Review of the Research

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MICHAEL PRINCE
Department of Chemical Engineering
Bucknell University

INTRODUCTION
Active learning has received considerable attention over the past several years. Often presented or perceived as a radical change from traditional instruction, the topic frequently polarizes faculty.Active learning has attracted strong advocates among faculty looking for alternatives to traditional teaching methods, while skeptical faculty regard active learning as another in a long line of educational fads. For many faculty there remain questions about what active learning is and how it differs from traditional engineering education, since this is already “active” through homework assignments and laboratories. Adding to the confusion, engineering faculty do not always understand how the common forms of active learning differ from each other and most engineering faculty are not inclined to comb the educational literature for answers. This study addresses each of these issues. First, it defines active learning and distinguishes the different types of active learning most frequently discussed in the engineering literature. A core element is identified for each of these separate methods in order to differentiate between them, as well as to aid in the subsequent analysis of their effectiveness. Second, the study provides an overview of relevant cautions for the reader trying to draw quick conclusions on the effectiveness of active learning from the educational literature.

Active learning is generally defined as any instructional method that engages students in the learning process. In short, active learning requires students to do meaningful learning activities and think about what they are doing.

While this definition could include traditional activities such as homework, in practice active learning refers to activities that are introduced into the classroom. The core elements of active learning are student activity and engagement in the learning process. Active learning is often contrasted to the traditional lecture where students passively receive information from the instructor.

SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION PROCEEDS BY STAGES

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Becoming more aware of how the scientific process manifests itself every day in both
research and teaching can enhance a teacher’s effectiveness, depth of expertise, and
ability to justify the choice of instructional methods to parents, peers, and administrators.
As in evaluations of educational programs, the tenets and themes of scientific
research have relevance and application in the classroom. But because there are different
stages of scientific investigation, teachers should take care to use data generated at
each stage in appropriate ways.
For example, some teachers rely on their own observations to make judgments about
the success of educational strategies. A collection of observations leads to some
understanding of the world, but observations have limited value. Scientific observations
must be structured in order to support or reject theories about the causes that underlie
events. Scientists—and teachers—make predictions about causes based on their
structured observations and then use other techniques to test specific outcomes.
In the early stages of investigation, case studies—highly detailed descriptions of
individuals or small groups and the context surrounding them—can be useful. Case studies provide descriptive information about how an educational program operates in a
classroom, for example, descriptions of instructional strategies, amount of time, and
types of materials used in a new vocabulary program. This qualitative design uses a
variety of data collection methods from multiple sources to study a single entity in depth,
over a period of time, and in its context. Case studies lack the comparative information
needed to determine cause-effect relationships, but they can point researchers to
variables that deserve further study and help generate hypotheses. They can be helpful in
developing theories about what is or is not working instructionally.

let's see research "reliability and validity"

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Sociologist James A. Quinn states that the tasks of scientific method are related directly or indirectly to the study of similarities of various kinds of objects or events.One of the tasks of scientific method is that of classifying objects or events into categories and of describing the similar characteristics of members of each type. A second task is that of comparing variations in two or more characteristics of the members of a category.Indeed, it is the discovery, formulation, and testing of generalizations about the relations among selected variables that constitute the central task of scientific method.

Fundamental to the performance of these tasks is a system of measurement. S.S. Stevens defines measurement as "the assignment of numerals to objects or events according to rules." This definition incorporates a number of important distinctions. It implies that if rules can be set up, it is theoretically possible to measure anything.

Further, measurement is only as good as the rules that direct its application. The "goodness" of the rules reflects on the reliability and validity of the measurement two concepts which we will discuss further later in this lab. Another aspect of definition given by Stevens is the use of the term numeral rather than number. A numeral is a symbol and has no quantitative meaning unless the researcher supplies it through the use of rules.The researcher sets up the criteria by which objects or events are distinguished from one another and also the weights, if any, which are to be assigned to these distinctions. This results in a scale. We will save the discussion of the various scales and levels of measurement till next week. In this lab, our discussion will be focusing on the two fundamental criteria of measurement, i.e., reliability and validity.

The basic difference between these two criteria is that they deal with different aspects of measurement. This difference can be summarized by two different sets of questions asked when applying the two criteria:

Reliability:

a.Will the measure employed repeatedly on the same individuals yield

Combined efforts of imagination with the power of critical judgment.

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1. Of even greater significance than the choice of the object or of the moment of observation is the discretionary alteration of the observed, for here the possibility of the acuteness of judgement is revealed. Tyndall wanted to find out during his studies on fermentation what happens if the air, which comes in contact with the fermenting substance, is altered by freeing it from those floating small dust particles which can be shown in it by means of a light beam.. He removed the dust particles very simply by covering the inside surface of the box, in which he carried out the experiment, with glycerol. After some time even the smallest dust particles stuck to the wall, like flies on a tar-covered fence.Again imagination was responsible that this thought occurred to his mind.
2. The expedients which facilitate the observation and frequently are the only means to make it feasible. There is a difficulty which makes it impossible to observe the retina through the pupil although the latter is completely translucent. The difficulty is that precisely during observation, as the idiom states, one stands in one’s own light. Aflame put between the observed and the observing eye would illuminate the former but make its observation impossible. The thought occurred to HELMHOLTZ’S mind to place between both eyes a small mirror with a small aperture in such a way that a lateral light beam would fall in the subject’s eye which now can be observed through the aperture. This synergism of imagination and critical judgment resulted in the invention of the ophthalmoscope. So much for the first part of the mechanism. The result of its application is accurate knowledge of our environment; but this knowledge relates to a cornplexwhole, to conglomerations of causes and effects.

3.Several musicians,A,B,C, etc., simultaneously play different instruments behind a curtain.We think of these musicians as a coherent whole of causes; the concert generated by them is the (harmonious) conglomerate of effects. The question as to the connection between each given cause and its effect then concerns knowledge of the instrument played by each musician. The simplest expedient would certainly be to ask all musicians to stop playing for a moment except one, for example,A. But this is not always possible and the musicians can only all together play a bit more softly or somewhat louder. Suppose, also, in another instance at which one must confine himself to have A stop or to let him change his manner of playing.This example refers only to the simplest case, in which one can regulate the participation of the musicians as desired for the experiment. Yet, even in the most complicated cases, all depends upon the observation of agreement or difference in the playing of the individual instruments.

vital role of imagination in research....

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Science is practical in the highest sense of the word.
If the assignment consists of reaching a given aim, then it is sometimes easier to circumvent prevailing difficulties rather than to attack them; since the former is frequently possible when the latter exceeds our energy. Yet, we would be compelled to confine ourselves to direct confrontation if there were no connection between that which is occurring and that which will take place.This connection is real; in its over-all effect it is termed the relation between cause and effect. It is the task of Science to elucidate this connection in all its details.

This is the reason why I called Science practical in the highest sense of the word;
Science is the great expedient by which the environment is subjugated to our will.
With this we have more closely circumscribed the scope of our topic as: The role of the
imagination in investigating the connection between cause and effect. We will define imagination as the ability to visualize any objectwith all its properties so that one recognizes itwith the same great certainty as by simple observation. There now remains
only to describe theme chanismwith which the connection between cause and effect can be investigated and to ascertain where the ability just mentioned plays a role. This mechanism is extraordinarily simple. It is composed of two parts:

1. By means of the first, observation, one tries to obtain accurate knowledge of our
environment forthwith.
2. By means of the second, the causal connection in it is investigated.

While observation as such, the giving of an account to oneself of the impressions on our
sensory tools, requires nothing but skill in their use and the ability to focus their attention,
there are higher demands to bemade of those qualitieswhich alone give observation its high value, namely:
a) the choice of the moment or the object of observation,
b) the discretionary change of the observed,
c) the finding of those expedients which facilitate the observation and even frequently are the only means which make it possible.These are just as many prerequisites in which completely different faculties play a role rather than skilled sense organs and attention.

Choice of the moment or the object of observation: Shortly before his death the
French astronomer LEVERRIER predicted the existence of a new planet in proximity to the sun.Several observatories at his urging searched for this planet at the instant when it was located between earth and sun and should be seen as a dark disk on the latter. These observations were not crowned by the results hoped for.

Structure and delivery

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Master's degrees may be delivered via a full or part-time mode of study. They may include greater or lesser amounts of distance learning or may combine methods. In terms of duration, many are offered on the basis of one year of full-time study or the equivalent for part-time. However, program mes may be shorter or longer, with the M Phil usually taking up to two years full-time.Master's degrees may be modular, and may incorporate progression through postgraduate certificate and diploma. In such cases providers will wish to ensure that integration and synthesis across the program me lead to intended learning outcomes beyond those of its constituent parts. Some may also be delivered partly, and sometimes fully, through an employment setting. The mode of delivery will, in all cases, be clear for applicants and agreed by providers. It will be offered in the context of an integrated strategy of teaching, learning and assessment that enables the student to demonstrate the intended learning outcomes appropriate to the programme's overall aims.
Integrated master's awards - which are common in science, mathematics and engineering - are delivered through a programme that combines study at the level of a bachelor's degree with honours with study at master's level. As such, a student graduates with a master's degree after a single four-year, or five-year in Scotland, programme of study. If a work placement is included, the time taken to complete the programme may be extended.
There are also examples of master's degrees that are delivered through an integrated
programme of study that includes a three-year doctoral degree. In such cases, a student
graduates with a doctoral degree such as a PhD or DPhil after a single, four-year
(minimum)programme of study.

Teaching and learning from master's

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Master's degrees may be delivered through a variety of methods of learning and most will combine different methods. Traditionally, providers have distinguished between master's degrees that are awarded on the basis of an independent, though supervised, research project undertaken by the student and those for which structured learning contributes the majority of the material to be assessed. However, any master's degree may draw upon a combination of methods of delivery as appropriate to the programme's overall aims.

Some such programmes may be designed and delivered through a partnership arrangement between a higher education provider and an employer.All master's programmes will normally be supported by an integrated teaching, learning and assessment strategy that demonstrates the appropriateness of the learning, teaching and assessment methods used in relation to the intended learning outcomes being developed.
The particular teaching and learning methods to be used will be identified in individual
programme documentation, such as a programme specification (see footnote 1 in the
Preface). The most appropriate method or combination of methods will be a matter
for individual providers to decide. Methods might include all or any of the following,
selected as appropriate to the discipline or field of study and the programme's aims,
mode of delivery and typical entrants:
1.lectures
2.tutorials
3.seminars
4.practical work, for example in a laboratory, in the field, workshop or studio the use of 5.textbooks, journal papers, electronic databases and other self-study and
6.e-learning materials
7.project work
8.practice sessions and learning through case studies
9.work-based learning.

Bachelor's degrees with honours, the guidance on teaching and learning may also be
helpful to those dealing with master's degrees, although master's degree programmes
will typically feature a greater emphasis on methods involving independent study
towards a dissertation or other project-based work.

Role of master's degree in research work .....

2013-08-13T07:53:00.000-07:00

Master's degrees may be designed to fulfill a range of purposes. The purpose for

which the degree is intended will reflect both the desires and ambitions of students

and the traditions and needs of particular disciplines and professions. That master's

degrees may be designed with more than one purpose in mind will be reflected in the

destinations of graduates. As articulated in the national qualification descriptor, graduates of all master's degrees should be capable of demonstrating a systematic understanding of knowledge, much of which is at, or informed by, the forefront of the discipline, field of study or area of professional practice. They should be capable of demonstrating originality in their application of that knowledge and in addressing problems. They will have demonstrated a comprehensive understanding of the techniques applicable to their own research or advanced scholarship. In relation to future employment, master's graduates will be expected to possess the skills needed to exercise independent learning and to develop new skills to a high level. Higher education providers may offer a master's degree with the specific intention of:

1.enabling students to focus on a particular aspect of a broader subject area in

which they have prior knowledge or experience through previous study or

employment and/or

2.enabling students to focus on a particular subject area or field of study in greater

depth than they encountered during the course of previous study or experience.

This may include enabling students to develop knowledge of a new discipline or

field of study in combination with a relevant subject area in which they have prior

knowledge or experience and/or

3.enabling students to learn how to conduct research, often linked to a particular

discipline or field of study. Programmes will often include a greater emphasis

on the delivery of structured learning as opposed to independent study than

those which are dedicated to the actual undertaking of research and/or

4.enabling students to undertake a research project on a topic within the area

of interest that makes up the majority of the overall assessment and/or

5.enabling students to specialize or to become more highly specialized in an area

of employment or practice related to a particular profession.