Genetic, Generative & Variational Models in Machine Learning

Students would able to understand Research and the Research Processes

Lesson 2: Research Ethics & Integrity

Research Ethics and Integrity practices ensure that research is steered according to the highest standards of training, and with the minimal risk of adverse outcomes. Efforts should be concerted on the fact that research community will take your findings with confidence for a wider dissemination. To realize this objective, undermentioned are few highlights to be considered;

· Research should be conducted and reported honestly.

· Conclusions drawn from research can be relied upon to be accurate.

· Protecting the vulnerable and ensuring their safety and wellbeing.

· Safeguards data collected during the course of research, particularly sensitive data, respecting confidentiality.

· Avoids unfair allegations of misconduct, whilst ensuring that genuine concerns are appropriately investigated.

· Ensures conflicts of interest are identified and avoided.

· Are there potential risks to researchers and participants involved in the research?

· Could the dissemination of your findings adversely affect participants?

· Will your research be carried out in a hazardous area or in an area not recommended for travel?

· Does your research concern groups which are legally construed as terrorist or extremist?

· Will the research expose either researcher or participants to situations or circumstances they might find distressing?

· Members of a stigmatized or marginalized social group?

· An informed consent must be sought individually?

· Will the purpose of your research be concealed from participants at the outset?

· Are you collecting personal data, either face to face or online? If so, how will you obtain the consent of participants? How will this be securely stored and maintained? How will this data be used? With whom will it be shared? How and when will it be disposed of? How do I identify and address any concerns?

· In undertaking an ethical assessment you might conclude that there is no plausible risk of harm in the proposed research activities. If, however, you conclude that there ARE some risks, then the important thing is to think about what you might do to reduce, minimize or prevent them. You will be asked to clarify how you plan to achieve this, and ethical approval will be conditional on those plans being credible.

· In the research writing phase avoid plagiarism in all its forms.

· Give due credit to the papers you benefited from during your research in the form of citations.

· Acknowledge the resource, financial and technical support sought during research as a separate statement.

· Declare conflicts of interest if any while submitting your research.

· Provide meta data as annexes, if asked for.

After completing this lecture, students would be able to clearly understand what quantitative research is and its various methods. They would further be able to evolve a quantitative research design for their research question or hypothesis.

After completing this lecture, students would be able to comprehend the basics of qualitative research and its various techniques. They would further be able to exemplify and evolve a qualitative research design for their research question or hypothesis.

After this lecture students would learn the importance of systematic analysis and how it should be conducted.

Systematic reviews are  convenient evidence based summaries which serve as a powerful tool for imperative decisions. They are considered to be the basis for guidelines of social science and medical practice suggesting directions for new research. These reviews, constructed through well-defined methods, have key role in Social Science Research and Evidence-Informed Health Care which means to apply new therapies and treatments. Systematic reviews provide a precise summary of a topic and have many advantages over narrative reviews. Meta-analysis is a technique which plays an important role in increasing the precision of systematic reviews.

Steps of preparation of a systematic review include:

1- Defining the review question

2- Search and selection of studies

3- Critical evaluation of studies for biases

4- Data Collection

5- Data analysis and presentation of results

6- Interpretation of results and drawing conclusions

7- Improving and updating reviews.

A reader should first be able to evaluate the quality of a systematic review before practicing the evidence provided by it as it helps to practice the provided evidence more effectively.

Developing an effective Research Question is very pertinent and serve as a placid base to design your research. While framing a research question/ topic, undermentioned are few thumb rules;

• brainstorm for ideas and choose a topic that will enable you to read and understand the literature

• Thoroughly go through the available literature and find an unmet need for which sufficient material is available and you have hands on material too.

• Form a broader list of key words and define your topic as a focused research question

• Refining your topic continuously as you research and read more about your topic. This helps you in narrowing doing and going deep on specific theme.

• Finally, formulate a research statement

Your research question must must be narrow and focused enough to create new knowledge or at least challenge the existing findings.