Our Correspondent
Kohima | May 16
A ten day research methodology course for PhD students in Social Sciences, sponsored by the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) started here today at Nagaland University, Kohima Campus Meriema.
Buno Liegise, Administrative and Academic in-charge, Nagaland University was the chief guest. Stating that research plays an important role in shaping a nation, Prof. Liegise in her inaugural address said that research should be given top priority for any nation to progress.
She was of the opinion that solution to problems, discoveries and innovations can be made through research. Underlining Nagaland and the North East as a hot-spot for research, she highlighted rural economy, language and literature, folklore, indigenous knowledge systems, public administration system and leadership, women and governance, issues of illegal immigrants, etc as some areas of concern in the region.
Also stating that not everyone can be a good researcher but all can be trained, she emphasised on qualities such as the thirst for research, intelligence to communicate ideas, good writing skills, commitment, dedication and perseverance as some key qualities to be a good researcher. Stressing that hard work is the key to unlock research studies, she further urged upon the participants to conduct objective and non biased research; not to manipulate research and harness inner potentials.
Prof KC Kapoor from the Rajiv Gandhi University, Arunachal Pradesh, while exhorting the gathering highlighted on the process of research. Maintaining that writing thesis without bringing out something new is meaningless, he stressed on the need to have critical discussions on issues. He called upon the research scholars to have self analysis, conduct scientific analysis and scientific enquiry for any research and further expressed hope that the present programme will provide proper platform for training.
Earlier, while welcoming the gathering, Prof Lungsang Zeliang, Head, Department of Education, Nagaland University expressed hope that this programme would serve as a platform for exposure, exchange of ideas and networking among different research scholars.
Introduction to the programme was made by Dr M Rajendra Nath Babu, Course Director. He gave a brief orientation of the ten day programme. The ten day long programme aims at providing Ph.D students in social sciences a basic orientation in research methodology focusing on both quantative and qualitative methods of research analysis. Introduction to social science research, literature review and thesis writing, research methodology, data collection tools, research design, triangulation, participatory research appraisal (PRA) tools, types of sampling methods, types of social science research, academic writing, computer application in social science research, ethics and plagiarism of research, scientific writing for journal publication, report writing, writing research proposal, basic statistics and introduction to SPSS are some of the topics in the course content.
Altogether 35 PhD research scholars and 18 dynamic resource persons from both Nagaland and outside the state are participating in the programme.
Out station resource persons include Prof KC Kapoor, Department of Education, Rajiv Gandhi University, Arunachal Pradesh; Prof G Viswanathappa, Department of Education, RIE (NCERT), Mysore, Karnataka; Dr VP Joshith, Department of Education, Central University of Kerala; Dr K Thiyagu, Central University of Kerala and Dr Mithesh Kumar, Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET) Center, Gujarat.
The inaugural programme was chaired by Narola Chuba, Course Coordinator. Vote of thanks was proposed by Dr Khotole Khieya, Assistant Professor, Department of Education, Nagaland University. The programme was jointly organised by the Department of Education and Department of Teacher Education, Nagaland University.
