GCC603 Scientific Research Methods and Ethics

Course Description

A brief introduction to characteristics, types and scheduling of research. Research planning and design. Methodologies of research design. Measurement, data analysis. Presenting the results of research.

Prerequisites

Course Objectives

To teach the basic steps of scientific research methods.
To help students improve their ability to make connections across ideas, read carefully, assess the quality of sources on which they or others rely.
To develop communication skills that required to suggest and discuss scientific questions in the student field of study both written (informal memos and letters, formal project proposals, reports, thesis and journal papers) and oral (presentations, scientific discussions) communication.
To reinforce students’ sense of professionalism and ethical behavior.
To assist students in seeing and being able to take advantage of the possibilities for improving the world via research.

Course Outcomes

At the end of the course the student should be able to

Define basic principles and steps of the scientific research.
Understand scientific research ethics.
Formulate a research plan.
Evaluate literature, form a variety of sources, pertinent to the research objectives.
Write a scientific research proposal, report and/or paper.
Present their research work.

Meetings

Class meets weekly on Tuesday 17:00-19:50 (Room: IN 1 D1)

Grading Policy

The tentative point distribution is as follows.

Homeworks	50%
Project	50%

Policies

Students must use my email address neu.gcc501@gmail.com to submit their assignments and etc.
Late assignments will not be accepted unless an agreement is reached with the leturer.
The class grades will be assigned using the Near East University's grading scale.
I allow students to attend class at their own discretion. If you miss a class however, you are responsible for the materials covered.
Cheating will not be tolerated.
Attacks performed against University/Lecturer resources are expressly prohibited.

Textbooks

Dipankar Deb, Rajeeb Dey, Valentina E. Balas, Engineering Research Methodology: A Practical Insight for Researchers, Springer, 2019.
Caroline Whitbeck, Ethics in Engineering Practice and Research, 2e, Cambridge University Press, 2011.
Peter Pruzan, Research Methodology The Aims, Practices and Ethics of Science, Springer, 2016.
C.R. Kothari, G. Garg, Research Methodology: Methods and Techniques, New Age Int., 2019.

Schedule

Week	Topic	Readings
1	Introduction	Deb Ch1
2	Defining the problem	-
3	Literature Review Slides 3a Slides 3b	Online Videos: Youtube, SAGE Research Methods Video etc.
4	Research planning and design	-
5	Writing project proposal	NEU Research Proposal Guidelines
6	Data Collection	-
7	Processing and Analysis of Data	-
8	Technical Writing	-
9	Attributions and Citations	-
10	Building Intellectual Property Rights	-
11	Ethics in Engineering Research	-
12	Contributions, Arguments, and Dealing with Criticisms	-
13	Presentation Skills	-
14	Review of the Semester	-
15	Presentations	-

The instructor reserves the right to make changes to the Syllabus as necessary. Students are responsible to be aware of changes announced in class and/or via the internet.

2019-20 Fall Term - Grades

Updated: Dec. 17, 2019