Name of the Event:  One-Day Students’ Research Workshop

Organizing Agency: Research Committee

Date: 23 January 2024

 Time: 9.00 am to 1.00 pm

 Venue: Auditorium

 Target Audience: T.Y. B. & I., B.M.S. and B.A.F. Students

Teacher In-charge: Dr. Nitinkumar M. Patil

Purpose of the Activity: To guide students on Project Writing

Activity: T.Y.B & I, B.M.S. and B.A.F. students have attended the one-day students’ research workshop

Outcome: Participants may be able to select the title and prepare an effective research project.

Participants:     Male: 45

Female: 139

Total beneficiaries: 184

 Report of the Activity:

As research is an integral part of academics, final-year degree students have to study a research problem or situation, where the intention is to identify facts that help solve the problem or deal with the situation, prepare a research project on the same and submit it as a partial fulfillment of their degree. With this background, it was decided to organize a one-day students’ research workshop in collaboration with the Mumbai University’s Garware Institute of Career and Education Development, (GICED) Mumbai. The present workshop was organized on Tuesday, 23^rd January 2024 in the Auditorium of The S.I.A. College of Higher Education, Dombivli (E). The workshop was intended to disseminate knowledge for conducting responsible research and writing a project to be submitted to the institution. The participants included 184 final-year students (45 Male and 139 Female) who belonged to different departments including B & I, B.M.S. and B.A.F.

The inaugural function was held at 9.30 a.m. Dr.  Hasitkumar Nagariya, a member of the Research Committee made the welcome address and introduced the resource person. Dr. Nitinkumar M. Patil, convener of the research committee, felicitated the resource person, Dr. Keyurkumar Nayak, Director, GICED, University of Mumbai, Mumbai. After the ice-breaking activity, the session of the workshop started. The focus of this workshop was on topic selection and effective writing of the project. Dr. Keyukumar sir gave some suggestions to the participants. He suggested that the researcher should focus on his own interests and career aspirations, he should go through various research publications and discuss research topics and ideas with their concern guide. He also suggested that the researcher should consider the weaknesses of the past findings and the research gap. Elaborating on this topic he discussed the types of research gaps including evidence gap, knowledge gap, practical-knowledge gap, methodological gap, empirical gap and population gap. While discussing how to write the actual project, he suggested that the title of the project should indicate clearly what your research question is. In addition, he revealed the areas of focus that should be taken into account while writing the Introduction. He discussed the standard structure of the research project, background, rationale, research aim and objectives, research design, methodology, data collection, sources of data, data analysis, ethical considerations and timeline. Dr. Keyurkumar sir talked about how to write an effective research project. He emphasized the selection of the project title, the significance of a catchy title, the content of the introduction, writing a literature review, a statement of the purpose of the study, methodology measurement and analysis of the data. In addition, he discussed the primary and secondary sources of information, the importance of references, the limitations of the methodology etc. Students from T.Y.B. & I. asked a few questions and expected more clarification on the sources of data. This was followed by question-answers. The workshop ended after the expression of the vote of thanks on behalf of the Research Committee of the College. Faculty members from B. & I., B.A.F. and B.M.S. including Mrs. Ranjana Mhalgi, Mrs. Renu Verma, Mrs. Rasika Shinde and Mr. Tarun Kuckian were present for the workshop.

 

Name of the Event:  Research Skill Workshop for Students (Research Methodology)

Organizing Agency: Research Committee

Date: 12 March 2024

 Time: 7.15 am to 1.00 pm

 Venue: Lecture Hall No. G5

 Target Audience: F.Y. B. Com Div. A and B students

Teacher In-charge: Dr. Nitinkumar M. Patil

Purpose of the Activity:  To provide students with the basics of Academic Research

Activity: F.Y.B. Com Div. A and B students attended the one-day student research

Workshop (Research Methodology).

Outcome: Participants of the workshop got acquainted with the basic skills required for

Academic Research.

Participants:   Male: 32

Female: 48

Total beneficiaries: 80

Report of the Activity:

            “The Research Skill Workshop for Students (Research Methodology)” was specifically designed to support first-year B. Com students at The S. I. A. College of Higher Education. This one-day research workshop was designed to provide students with the basics of Academic research, along with insights into the fundamentals of academic writing and to enhance knowledge about the principles of research concepts, methodologies and processes.

 

The objectives of the workshop were:

❖ To develop knowledge about the fundamentals of research.

❖ To build knowledge on research design, application, data sources and data analysis.

❖ To develop skills for research writing and presentation.

The workshop which was held on 12^th March 2024 was attended by 80 (32 male and 48 female) students from both A and B Division of F. Y. B. Com. The workshop started with the inauguration at 7.45 a.m. in the lecture hall no. G5. Dr. Nitinkumar M. Patil, Assistant Professor and convener of the Research Committee worked as a resource person for this workshop. As the purpose behind organizing this workshop was to provide students with the basics of academic research, in his discussion, Dr. Patil focused on the basics of the research and research methodology. He discussed the research gap, thrust areas, selection of research area, and finalization of the project title. He deliberated the importance of a catchy title. The significance of the introduction and the importance of literature review were the two different areas the resource person especially informed the students about. While discussing finalization of the objectives, he stated that the number of objectives should be three or four only. There is no need to define more objectives. Objectives should be precise and well-defined.

After the break, in the second session, the resource person discussed the significance of methodology. He talked about both primary and secondary sources of data. Sources of primary data include discussions, interviews, questionnaires, empirical information, etc. he said. Dr. Patil discussed secondary sources of data with government reports and publications like Census Handbooks, District Statistical Abstracts and Socio-economic Reviews, Gazettes etc. According to him research papers, research articles, news articles, private publications, periodicals etc. are the other secondary sources of data. Electronic media plays an important role in accessing the data according to him. The significance of statistical techniques is one of the areas the resource person talked about. He introduced common statistical techniques including mean, mode, median, standard deviation, chi-square test, regression, correlation coefficient, student t-test, f-test and probability.  In the case of a huge data set, it becomes difficult to do the calculations and maintain accuracy. In such cases, researchers can use different tools and software like Excel, R-software, SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) etc. While talking about the data and results representation he highlighted the importance of cartographic techniques and computer-assisted cartography. Bar graphs, line graphs, located squares, located cubes, divided circles, located circles and located spheres are some of the common and important cartographic techniques he talked about. As a part of the practical of this workshop, students manually represented some hypothetical data by using different cartographic techniques. While talking about results and discussions, Dr. Patil discussed the dos and don’ts. The significance of suggestions in the research project is one of the areas focused on by the resource person. What precautions should be taken by the researchers while writing the conclusion was also an area of concern in the workshop. In the last Dr. Patil discussed the significance and methods of referencing. The discussion and practical sessions were followed by question-answers.  In their feedback on this free-of-cost research methodology workshop, the participants requested to conduct the research skill enhancement workshop including a computer-assisted demonstration. The workshop ended with a vote of thanks.