Role of Research Topic

Let me define first the meaning of research. Research is the systematic process of gathering and analyzing information to increase our knowledge and understanding of the phenomenon under study. It is simply a process of investigation, a search for knowledge for a researcher to establish facts. When conducting a research, the primary concern of a researcher is to know first his/her research topic. Doing so is not an easy task. It’s not just a trip to the library to pick up some stack of materials, or choosing the first five hits from a computer research. Doing a research is doing an examination of a subject from different points of view. Since research is a haunt for the truth, you are getting to know a subject that would help you think for a research topic through reading up on it, reflecting, playing with the different ideas that you have gathered and choosing the areas that arises your interest. When you do research you are also educating yourself.

What do you think is the role of research topic in deciding my future career? Well, I really had a hard time pondering how to answer this question. Thinking the hardships that we’ve gone through just to have a topic for our research makes me realize how significant research is. And now analyzing what would be its role in deciding my future career would be tough one.

Research gives us knowledge we need. When we choose a topic, we are engaged in all the related or necessary research to pursue on our own. If we are able to think or be in the position of a researcher, we will gain a lot of significant benefits that will help us and improve our own career in the future. It is essential that in constructing our own research topic it should also catch our interest. Why? Come to think of it. If you have a research topic that you are not interested with, well, you will be spending your time doing research that would be useless in the future and you will feel bored doing so. If we are able to identify the areas we are interested with, it would be easier for us to do research because we will be encourage in engaging our self to the fields or study that we are comfortable with. But we should consider that our topic will not only be interesting on your part but you should also impress everyone. Doing something that includes our interest creates an effective output it’s like having your own research topic that you are interested with makes it easier for you to decide what would be the direction of your career in the future.

Another role of research in our future career is it opens a gateway to greater opportunities. Quoting what our professor said, “there is money on research”. If you are not that good on programming, designing a web page and technical stuff then another option that can help you earn money is to do research. Most of the companies spend and pay person do a research project. Having a good background on research is just one step that would help us improve our career in the future. As an IT student we are included in the technology field. If we weigh everything the reason of the fast evolving of technology nowadays, research is part of it.
One of the roles of research is to improve and expands our knowledge. When we do research we are dealing with the different ideas and information about what we are studying. Research is not only for earning cash but also research is for learning. Research is a practice on testing one’s intellect, creativity and discipline. Doing research is not an easy task. It trains us to be determined in everything that we do and practice us to explore new things. It’s a challenge for us to test for our limitations and our capacity. Proper discipline to our self is just one step to the success of our future career.

As a whole, research plays a vital role in my decision making for my future career. For us student it enhances our critical and analytical thinking. It is essential for us to have research as part of the curriculum for our own benefit that will mold us in the future. Our career as an Information Technology and Computer science student depends on us and research is a great contribution towards our ultimate goal in life.

Three Scientific Papers

Technologically Enabled Crime: Shifting Paradigms for the Year 2000

By Sarah Gordon

E-mail:sgordon@low-level.format.com

Abstract:

This paper will consider the social and ethical factors involved in the transmission of computer viruses and other malicious software. In addition to the people, we will consider the part the systems and technology play in the spread of this sort of data. We will draw parallels with one of the more well known scientific paradigms, the medical one, and note the similarities with the problems we now face. We will describe the evolution of methods of virus distribution: virus exchange bulletin boards, virus exchange networks, distribution sites, robots/servers, and books. The paper will discuss viruses for sale and make some comparisons between distribution of computer viruses and the distribution methods of ``hacking tools''. Other issues examined in this paper include the characteristics of individuals involved in the distribution of these types of programs, and problems of legal redress, as well as possible solutions based on ethics and ethical theory.

Evaluation:

The abstract of this research clearly explained the thought of the research. It also stated the steps and methods that the researchers had undergone in completing this research. I found this research quite interesting since for all know, viruses are everywhere. As an IT student, I think we ought to know the evolution of viruses and how these are being distributed all over the world. Other than that, we also need to know how we can address and provide solutions to these virus problems.

Reference: http://www.research.ibm.com/antivirus/SciPapers/Gordon/Crime.html

Hoaxes & Hypes

By Sarah Gordon, IBM T.J.Watson Research Center, Richard Ford,

and Joe Wells, Wells Research

E-mail:sgordon@low-level.format.com

Abstract:

Virus hoaxes and virus hypes are new and growing problems in the corporate environment, where the spread of such rumors can cause as much disruption as actual virus outbreaks. We review a number of recent examples of hoax and hype, and show that hoaxes that become widespread have certain characteristics that promote their spread. Using these characteristics, it is possible to create a set of rules which will help to distinguish fabrication from fact. Similarly, virus hype, often generated by the anti-virus industry or well-meaning members of the media, portrays real but insignificant viruses as doomsday threats. We show how such hype is almost always wrong. Finally, we discuss corporate policies that have been proven to minimize the disruption of hoaxes and hype, and give corporate anti-virus administrators a wealth of information resources to which they can turn as new hoaxes and hype come to light.

Evaluation:

Personally, I like the way the researchers wrote this research because they just used simple terms in which I think everybody can easily understand what they wanted to imply. The whole content of the paper was clearly defined and summarized at the abstract of the paper. They also conducted a research on the types and common kinds of Hypes and Hoaxes and defined and explained each in a very nice manner. Comparing its characteristics and contrasting each was the best way to let the readers understand what these terms and types are.

At first, they identified and examined the types of non-computer related type of hypes and hoaxes, and then on the later part, they gave an example of each computer virus type and hoax which for me, is a good way to start a research. In this way, the readers are given an idea on what these really are.

After reading the whole paper, all I can say is that the most powerful form of defense against hoaxes is to build up a set of trusted sources of information which have a good track record for accuracy. This approach alone, along with a good measure of skepticism, will protect us from the vast majority of all virus misinformation circulated.

Reference: http://www.research.ibm.com/antivirus/SciPapers/Gordon/HH.html

The Emerging Economic Paradigm of Open Source

Bruce Perens

Senior Research Scientist, Open Source

Cyber Security Policy Research Institute, George Washington University.

Last edited: Wed Feb 16 06:22:06 PST 2005

Abstract:

Open Source developers have, perhaps without conscious intent, created a new and surprisingly successful economic paradigm for the production of software. Examining that paradigm can answer a number of important questions.

It's not immediately obvious how Open Source works economically. Probably the worst consequence of this lack of understanding is that many people don't understand how Open Source could be economically sustainable, and some may even feel that its potential negative effect upon the proprietary software industry is an overall economic detriment. Fortunately, if you look more deeply into the economic function of software in general, it's easy to establish that Open Source is both sustainable and of tremendous benefit to the overall economy.

Open Source can be explained entirely within the context of conventional open-market economics. Indeed, it turns out that it has much stronger ties to the phenomenon of capitalism than you may have appreciated.

Evaluation:

Personally, I had a hard time understanding what the writer would like to imply in his research. Although he just used simple words, but the whole content wasn’t clearly defined in the abstract of the paper. But on the other hand, I liked how the writer had defined and explained the impact of Open Source to the economy. It is a fact that Open Source enables a majority of web servers today, a majority of email deliveries, and many other businesses, organizations, and personal pursuits. Thus, its economic impact must already be numbered in many tens of Billions of dollars. Any improvement in technology that permits business to function more efficiently means the economy runs more efficiently. In this case, Open Source enables business to spend less on software and to have better quality and more control over its software. The money that is saved on software doesn't disappear, the people who save it spend it on things that are more important to them.

Reference: http://perens.com/Articles/Economic.html

State of computer science research and its variety of technical topics

Computer science is a well-established discipline that is represented in almost all institutions of higher education. As part of their faculty responsibilities, computer scientists conduct research in several different areas, such as artificial intelligence, databases, distributed systems, etc. Research is published in journals dedicated to fostering research in those specific areas. Most of the papers that examine the nature of research within Computer science tend to focus on specific areas or even sub areas or data modeling rather than on the discipline as a whole.

Computer Science Research gives you the knowledge you need thus creating a path for a career in the topic you have chosen to focus. When you choose a topic, you are engaged in all the related or necessary research to pursue on your own. If you are able to think or be in the position of a researcher specializing in the computer science technology, you will gain a lot of significant benefits that will help and improve your career.

According to V. Ramesh, Robert Glass and Iris Vessey on their study entitled Research in Computer Science: An empirical Study, Computer Science examines a variety of technical topics it is relatively focused in terms of the level at which research is conducted as well as the research techniques used. Further, Computer Science research often relies on the job outside the discipline for its theoretical foundations. They present their findings as an evaluation of the state of current research and as groundwork for future Computer Science research efforts. There primary concern is to know, first, the topics that a computer science research is address, identify the approaches being used in implementing a CS research, discover the methods that was used by the researchers, the reference discipline and lastly the level of analysis.

Computer Science Research is evenly divided across five major topic areas: problem-solving concepts, computer concepts, systems/software concepts, data/information concepts and problem-domain-specific concepts. The researchers provide a table that shows the percentage of every major topic areas. The leading category is the computer concepts which include computer or hardware, architectures or principles, inter-computer communication (networks, distributed systems) and operating system. Problem-domain-specific concepts are the second on the rank which consists of its subcategories such as scientific or engineering, information systems (including decision support, group support systems and expert systems), systems programming, computer graphics and pattern analysis. Followed by systems/software concepts and part of it are the system security and architecture, system engineering, programming languages, methods or techniques, tools, product quality and human-computer interaction. Next is the data or information concept. With this concept, data structures, file structures, data base/warehouse/mart organization, data analysis and data security are attached to it. And lastly is the problem-solving concept that got the lowest percentage on the list. Problem-solving concept consists of subcategories of algorithm, mathematics or computational science, methodologies (object, function/process, information/data, event, business rules) and the artificial intelligence. Other things that can be considered in findings for computing topics are the organizational concepts, social concepts and disciplinary issues. In Organizational concepts a part of it are the organizational structure, strategy, alignment, organizational learning, knowledge management, technology transfer, information technology implementation, IT impact, Management of computing function, information technology usage/operation, and the legal, ethical, cultural and political implications in an organization. With social concepts, it includes cultural, legal, ethical, political implications. And the last one, the disciplinary issues. Part of it is the computing research and computing curriculum or teaching.

The next thing that they examine is the different approaches in conducting a computer science research. It has a subcategory with a multifaceted subcategory that be made up of formulating processes, procedures, methods, or algorithms. There are three types of research approach: Descriptive, Evaluative and Formulative. After evaluating which is the most important research approach they conclude that the focus of most areas of computer science research is more on formulating things.

They then identify the methods mostly used by the computer science research. According to their presented survey, the conceptual Analysis/Mathematical was the primary research method with conceptual analysis (does not use mathematical techniques.)There are many kinds of methods in computer science research such as action research, conceptual analysis, case study, data analysis, field study, mathematical proof, literature review/analysis, simulation, concept implementation and etc. After finding the research method is configure the level of analysis.

Aside from the research approach and research method, the levels of analysis were also one of the focused of a computer science research. It consists of subcategories which are computing element (relates to algorithms, methods and techniques), and abstract concept (relates to the definition of global predicates in the framework of distributed computations).In finding for level of analysis, it could be profession, individual, computing system or an abstract concept.

In the reference of discipline, from the reference disciplines used by the researchers, you will see that mostly a computer science research does not rely on the other fields for its fundamental theories and/or concepts for the reason that computer science was already considered a reference discipline itself. The reference discipline has its subcategories such us cognitive psychology, computer science, science, mathematics, engineering, economics, library science, management, public administration and public science.

In this empirical study of the researchers, they sought to evaluate the characteristics of a computer science research. The researcher used the classification system to record the keywords that describe their study. Their study is classified as follows: the topic is computing research; their research approach is an Evaluative-Other (EO) since their paper is more on evaluating and analyzing a computer science research; with their research method they used a literature review or analysis; profession (PRO is used in finding their level of analysis); however, they don’t have a reference discipline because they did not use any concepts from other disciplines in performing and implementing the study.

This output of the empirical study of the researchers reflects the environment of computer science research considering that it is a representative of the field. There study gives the classification of the different types of articles that computer science journals published. Given those different concepts and categories, researchers can use this additional knowledge in making choices or deciding a journal for their research.

3 Published Scientific Papers

Website Load Testing- Why and How to do it
By: Alexander Golishev
Reference:http://www.articlesfactory.com/articles/computers/website-load-testing-why-and-how-to-do-it.html

The article explains the necessity of doing website load testing. It also provides detailed information on kinds of website performance tests and website load testing in particular. The second part of the article is a how-to section which can help choose a website load testing software to protect the website and your business.

Website load testing is a part of performance tests that every web application should undergo every once in a while to make sure it delivers maximum quality operation. The website performance tests include benchmark tests which check the website’s performance under minimum loads, stress tests which test the web’s application behavior in extreme load conditions and load tests whose goal is to check the website’s performance under loads which are significantly above average.

The process of website load testing is done by putting an unusually high load on the system in order to see which part of it fails. These tests can help find bottlenecks in the website’s performance and eliminate them before they compromise you and your business.

The later part of this article explains how to do website load testing. With a good website load testing software, performance tests are based on real human activity and not with machine generated tests. Tests results must be presented in the most clear and comprehensive manner with graphs and reports covering every aspect of the website performance with a thorough analysis of its bottlenecks, errors and other relevant information.

Computer Radiation
By: Danielle Barone
Reference: http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art49755.asp

This article tells about the risks associated with long term exposure to radiation. These includes the increase in risks of all forms of cancer, tumors, blood disorders, miscarriage, headaches, insomnia, anxiety, aging of the skin, skin burn, etc. Radiation exposure over time can cause skin burn, dry wrinkled skin and photo aging. This skin damage is identical to sun damage and causes the same health problems. Many electronic products that we use on a daily basis expose us to harmful radiation. One of these electronic products that highly emit radiation is the computer. Most people do not realize the harm that radiation can cause to the human body, even at low levels. It is also not a widely advertised problem because it would negatively affect industry and the economy as a whole. For now, many manufacturers are improving products to emit less radiation, and great technological improvements have been made in the last five years alone.

How Computer Viruses Work
By Marshall Brain
Reference: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/virus1.htm

Computer viruses are called viruses because they share some of the traits of biological viruses. A computer virus passes from computer to computer like a biological virus passes from person to person.
People write computer viruses. A person has to write the code, test it to make sure it spreads properly and then release it. A person also designs the virus's attack phase, whether it's a silly message or the destruction of a hard disk. Why do they do it?
There are at least three reasons. The first is the same psychology that drives vandals and arsonists. Why would someone want to break a window on someone's car, paint signs on buildings or burn down a beautiful forest? For some people, that seems to be a thrill. If that sort of person knows computer programming, then he or she may funnel energy into the creation of destructive viruses.
The second reason has to do with the thrill of watching things blow up. Some people have a fascination with things like explosions and car wrecks. Creating a virus is like creating a bomb inside a computer, and the more computers that get infected the more "fun" the explosion.
The third reason involves bragging rights, or the thrill of doing it. If you are a certain type of programmer who sees a security hole that could be exploited, you might simply be compelled to exploit the hole yourself before someone else beats you to it.
Of course, most virus creators seem to miss the point that they cause real damage to real people with their creations. Destroying everything on a person's hard disk is real damage. Forcing a large company to waste thousands of hours cleaning up after a virus is real damage. Even a silly message is real damage because someone has to waste time getting rid of it. For this reason, the legal system is getting much harsher in punishing the people who create viruses.

USeP New Enrollment System

As I enter the engineering building, the tarpaulins posted caught my attention. The tarpaulins that illustrating the enrollment process and serve as a guide to those enrollee. Well I was kinda shock because new enrollment system is implemented. For five years here in the university, I may say that the enrollment system we had experienced is not properly organized. What about the existing one? Well I guess there’s a bit difference. Honestly, I never pay so much attention to the tarpaulins since I’ve already know what are those steps and what to do. Taking a serious look on that illustration, I observed that there’s a bit improvement.


The picture above illustrates the new enrollment system implemented in our university. It is composed of three areas; the enrolment process for new students and transfer students, the middle area shows the enrolment process for old students, and the bottom area shows the enrolment process for shiftees. The illustration is beneficial on the student’s part since it serve as their guide upon exploring the university.

The Old Enrollment System

For old students:
1. Payment of fees (Local Council fee, Obrero Campus Student Council fee, collegiate headlight fee and Insurance).
2. (For scholars) Validate scholarship at the Office of Student Services
3. Go to your college adviser, submit or present all necessary documents, and secure a Pre-Registration form.
4. Fill up the Pre-Registration form and have your adviser to sign it.
5. Submit the Pre-Registration form to the encoder and secure Certificate of Registration.
6. (For scholars) Verify student accounts at the bookkeeper. (For non-scholars) Pay tuition fee at the cashier.
7. Complete enrolment by getting stamped “Officially Enrolled” at the Registrar.
8. Validate library card.

For New Students

1. Go to UGTO and fill up student records
2. Payment of fees (IC Local Council fee, Obrero Campus Student Council fee, collegiate headlight fee and Insurance).
3. (For scholars) Apply for a scholarship at the Office Student Services.
4. Enroll in ROTC or CWTS.
5. Go to your college adviser, submit or present all necessary documents, and secure a Pre-Registration form.
6. Fill up the Pre-Registration form and have your adviser sign it.
7. Submit the Pre-Registration form to the encoder and secure Certificate of Registration.
8. (For scholars) Verify student accounts at the bookkeeper. (For non-scholars) Pay tuition fee at the cashier.
9. Submit all necessary documents/requirements and complete enrolment by getting stamped “Officially Enrolled” at the Registrar.
10. Apply for a library card.

New Enrollment System

Enrollment Procedure for New students and Transferees

STEP 1 – Go To the University Guidance And Testing Office
1. Encoding of Student Information.
2. Identification No. Assignment.

STEP 2 – Office Of Student Services ( For Scholars Only)
1. Scholarship Application.
2. Releasing of Scholarship Card.

STEP 3 – ROTC/CWTS
1. Registration and Sectioning of ROTC/CWTS.
2. Releasing of ROTC/CWTS slip.

STEP 4 – College
1. Present enrollment requirements.
2. Advising / Pre-Registration.
3. Payment of other fees (Local Council fee, Obrero Campus Student Council fee, collegiate headlight fee and Insurance).
4. Encoding - Assessment of fees.
5. Temporary Certificate of Registration Printing.

STEP 5 – Student Accounts (For Scholars Only)
1. Submit Temporary Certificate of Registration.
2. Posting of Accounts.

STEP 5 – Cashier (Paying Students
1. Submit Temporary Certificate of Registration.
2. Payment of Matriculation.
3. Official Receipt Printing.

STEP 6 – Registrar
1. Submission of enrollment requirements.
Form 138 (High School Card).
Photocopy of NSO Birth Certificate.
USEPAT Entrance Exam Result.
Admission Slip.
Medical Certificate.
Certificate of Good Moral (Original).
2 pcs. 2x2 recent ID picture.
Prospectus of the enrolled course.
1 pc. Long brown envelop.
Official receipt of tuition and other fees.
2. Printing of Official Certificate of Registration.

Enrollment Procedure for Old Students

STEP 1 – Student Accounts
1. Check students’ accounts.
2. Check balance.
3. Clearance signing.

STEP 2 – College
1. Advising / Pre- Registration
2. Payment of other fees (Local Council fees , Obrero Campus Student Council fees, Collegiate Headlight fee and Insurance).
3. Encoding.
4. Assessment of fees.
5. Temporary Certificate of Registration Printing.

STEP 3 – Student Accounts (For Scholars Only)
1. Submit Temporary Certificate of Registration.
2. Posting of Accounts.

STEP 3 – Cashier (Paying Students)
1. Submit Temporary Certificate of Registration.
2. Payment of Matriculation.
3. Official Receipt Printing.

STEP 4 – Registrar
1. Present Clearance.
2. Present Official Receipts (Tuition and other fees).
3. Printing of Official Certificate of Registration.

Enrollment Procedure for Shiftees

STEP 1 – Student Accounts
1. Check students’ accounts.
2. Check balance.
3. Clearance signing.

STEP 2 – Go to Former College
1. Request to shift.
2. Recommendation to shift.

STEP 3 – Proceed to New College
1. Acceptance of Shiftee
2. Advising / Pre- Registration.

STEP 4 – Go to University Guidance And Testing Office / Office Of Student Services
1. Student Profile Updating

STEP 5 – Go back To New College
1. Payment of other fees (Local Council fee , Obrero Campus Student Council fee, Collegiate headlight fee and Insurance).
2. Encoding.
3. Assessment of fees.
4. Temporary Certificate of Registration Printing.

• STEP 6 – Student Accounts (For Scholars Only)
1. Submit Temporary Certificate of Registration.
2. Posting of Accounts.

• STEP 6 – Cashier (Paying Students)
1. Submit Temporary Certificate of Registration.
2. Payment of Matriculation.
3. Official Receipt Printing.

• STEP 7 – Registrar
1. Present Clearance.
2. Present Official Receipts (Tuition and other fees).
3. Printing of Official Certificate of Registration.

As what I’ve observed, generally the process did not change much. First all miscellaneous fees must be paid. But then there are some differences compared before. I’m a scholar. I usually get my card validated at the Office of Student Services. Way back last semester, the line for the renewal is quite disgusting, from the office to the college of education. Not nice but we don’t have a choice since we need our card to be validated. After that I have to go to my adviser to be evaluated. He then gave me a Pre-Registration Form to be filled up and then signed by him. The next thing is to have the PRF encoded. Well as usual, I have to fall in line. The next thing after encoding is to validate the student account to the bookkeeper and then finally to the registrar to be officially enrolled. In the registrar you have to be so patient enough since you have to fall in line and wait for about a couple of minutes or hours. Before there is an assigned window for all colleges and with that the flow of the system is fast moving. Compared it now that all colleges were combined and definitely had an infinite line from the ground floor of the CAS building to its 3rd floor. Its really so disgusting. Imagine the thousands of students falling into a single line. Well it’s kind a hard part to us students since we have to exert so much effort before we get stamped with officially enrolled.

I couldn’t understand why it come up to a new enrollment system but the last process is really a troublesome one. Thousands of students falling in a single line though it’s quite organize but then the process still doesn’t consider a good one. The number of freshmen enrollees may be the one factor to have long queues in the registrar.

If I were to be tapped by the university to evaluate the new enrollment system implemented in this semester, I may say that its organize but its not properly plan. Although there’s harmony that takes place but the fact that there is still a problem with regards to the long queues, it really needs improvement. First thing I would suggest with regards to the scholarship renewal is that they must have an additional staff to be added in order to have a fast flow of the process. As of now, there is only one staff doing the job and its not that good since she will handle thousands of students. Though she can make it alone but then it really takes time. There should be proper dissemination of students who are applying the scholarship and for those who will have a renewal. It must be properly planned since students will carry the burden if the process still were the same for the next couple of years in this university. Another thing that must have more improvement is the registrar. Instead of combining all the colleges to line up in the registrar, I would suggest to have it done the way it does before. This way the students will be divided depending on the college they belong in. This may not produce much queues since it’s organized thus doesn’t give hassle to the students. On the other hand, the details in the flowchart are somewhat confusing. For those experts on understanding the flowchart, they will surely notice that things are not quite right. Though the diagram is visible still they have to consider the fact that not all students can understand the way the diagram shows since it contains errors. Students will follow the steps but the end of the day they come to realize that the one in the diagram is not right. So with that, before they put the diagrams they must at least able to come up to a more systematized flow in order to have a harmonious flow.

Planning before putting it into actions must be kept in mind. In order to have an organized flow of the process, it must at least carefully plan to have a good output in the end.

Research Topic, Good or Bad??

According to Ms. Mary Whisner, research is good when you get the right answer. Certainly getting the right answer should be an element, but does this statement cover it all? One problem is that a researcher might luck out, like the batter who happens to get a good hit with bad form. For instance, if a researcher forgets to check the pocket part of an annotated code and doesn’t update cases or statutes in any way, he or she might still get the right answer by the good fortune of having a statute that hasn’t been amended and cases that haven’t been appealed or overruled. So getting the right answer is not in itself enough to say that the research was good. A good research document empowers readers to reach their own conclusions by including:• A well-defined question.• Description of the context and existing information about an issue.• Consideration of various perspectives.• Presentation of evidence, with data and analysis in a format that can be replicated by others.• Discussion of critical assumptions, contrary findings, and alternative interpretations.• Cautious conclusions and discussion of their implications.• Adequate references, including original sources, alternative perspectives, and criticism.Good research requires judgment (or discernment) and honesty. It carefully evaluates information sources. It acknowledges possible errors, limitations and contradictory evidence. It identifies excluded factors that may be important. It describes key decisions researchers faced when structuring their analysis and explains the choices made. For example, if various data sets are available, or impacts can be measured in several ways, the different options are discussed. Sometime, multiple analysis is performed using alternative approaches and their results compared. Good research is cautious about drawing conclusions, careful to identify uncertainties and avoids exaggerated claims. It demands multiple types of evidence to prove a point. It does not assume that association (things occur together) proves causation (one thing causes another). Bad research often contains jumps in logic, spurious arguments, and non-sequiturs (“it does not follow”).Bad research does not necessarily use inaccurate data. There are ways to manipulate and misrepresent legitimate statistics to support a particular conclusion. Questions can be defined, data selected and analysis structured to reach a desired outcome. Alternative perspectives and data can be ignored or distorted. In other words, we can state the qualities of a good research as under:1. Good Research is Systematic: It means that research is structured with specified steps to be taken in a specified sequence in accordance with the well defined set of rules. Systematic characteristic of the research does not rule out creative thinking but it certainly does reject the use of guessing and intuition arriving at conclusions.2. Good Research is Logical: This implies that research is guided by the rules of logical reasoning and the logical process of induction and deduction are of great value in carrying out research. Induction is the process of reasoning from a part to the whole whereas deduction is the process of reasoning from the premise. In fact, logical reasoning makes research more meaningful in the context of decision making.3. Good Research is Empirical: It implies that research is related basically to one or more aspects of a real situation and deals with concrete data that provides a basis for external validity to research results.4. Good Research is Replicable: This characteristic allows research to be verified by replicating the study and thereby building a sound basis for decisions.The guidelines below are intended to help evaluate the quality of research documents.Desirable Practices1. Attempts to fairly present all perspectives.2. Provides context information suitable for the intended audience. This can be done with a literature review that summarizes current knowledge, or by referencing relevant documents or websites that offer a comprehensive and balanced overview.3. Carefully defines research questions and their links to broader issues.4. Provides accurate data and analysis in a format that can be accessed and replicated by others. Quantitative data should be presented in tables and graphs, and available in database or spreadsheet form on request.5. Discusses critical assumptions made in the analysis, such as why a particular data set or analysis method is used. Indicates how results change with different data and analysis. Identifies contrary findings. 6. Presents results in ways that highlight critical findings. Graphs and examples are particularly helpful for this.7. Discusses the logical links between research results, conclusions and implications.Discusses alternative interpretations, including those with which the researcher disagrees.8. Describes analysis limitations and cautions. Does not exaggerate implications.9. Is respectful to people with other perspectives.10. Provides adequate references.11. Indicates funding sources, particularly any that may benefit from research results.Undesirable Practices1. Issues are defined in ideological terms. “Straw men” reflecting exaggerated or extreme perspectives are use to characterize a debate.2. Research questions are designed to reach a particular conclusion.3. Alternative perspectives or contrary findings are ignored or suppressed.4. Data and analysis methods are biased.5. Conclusions are based on faulty logic.6. Limitations of analysis are ignored and the implications of results are exaggerated.7. Key data and analysis details are unavailable for review by others.8. Researchers are unqualified and unfamiliar with specialized issues.9. People with differing perspectives are insulted and ridiculed.10. Citations are primarily from special interest groups or popular media, rather than from peer reviewed professional and academic organizations.

References:

http://www.vtpi.org/resqual.pdf

http://www.aallnet.org/products/pub_llj_v98n04/2006-42.pdf

http://www.reportbd.com/articles/57/1/Criteria-Qualities-of-Good-Scientific-Research/Page1.html

Key Factors for Publishing Research

It is never easy to get your research article be published in top-tier journals. There are a number of criteria that are needed to be considered and satisfied. To be able to get your research article be published in top-tier journals, of course it should be original and unique. The article should also require very sound science and results should have meaning and application in the field. In addition to journal prestige, the author's track record can also be a factor in publishing success. Experience gained from previous publishing helps as well. Another consideration is the manuscript topic. A hot topic "is more likely to be published than is an equally sound paper dealing with a currently unfashionable subject," says Flower-Ellis. Above all factors that is needed to be considered is the influential factor that includes the need for clarity, originality of thought, novelty of finding, organization, completeness, and good writing. However, the most elegant research is usually the one that is simple and yet direct.