Teacher: B.
Badjou EL502 (Lecture 01) Spring Term, 2024 IEEE/UMBB
Introduction to Research Methodology: Pre-writing Stage
1. Introduction
Technical, academic writing genre is a text type that is produced by specialists for
specialists in applied fields and/or interested readership following academic requirements.
Including, for instance, a research paper, report, research poster, conference proceedings;
and journal, magazine, and review articles; the aforementioned productions share a number
of features and vary with regard to other characteristics depending on the purpose and
audience. We will investigate in the following the report being one of scientific
productions. Your reports, depending on context, may contain all or some of the following.
2. What is an end of study project report?
Being the culmination of the requirements for a Master’s degree obtainment, the project
report is a rather long piece of writing, ranging from 30 to 60 pages, addressing a technical
problem or a technical phenomenon in the aim of demonstrating the following:
a) the skills and knowledge you have acquired in your studies;
b) your ability to perform an applied research, choosing methods, tools and making
decisions throughout the entire project;
c) overcome unforeseen problems and work within constraints of limited resources and
time;
d) work to a professional code of conduct;
e) your skills in synthesizing and communicating technical concepts both orally and in
writing;
f) your scientific thinking in design and interpretation of the results and events;
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Teacher: B. Badjou EL502 (Lecture 01) Spring Term, 2024 IEEE/UMBB
g) and your understanding of the studied phenomenon and ideally your ability to
advance research in the area concerned through the novelty and originality of your
research.
Although you have a supervisor, the onus is on you, the supervisee, to define the
boundaries of the problem, investigate possible solutions, and present the results in writing,
verbally and ideally in action. Thus, to be successful, you need to plan, estimate and
manage your time and energy.
3. Pre-Writing stage
This stage is crucial to any writing process as it gives the piece of writing its identity. It
consists of the following elements & tasks:
3.1. Research problem
Regardless of their types, all research productions address problems and issues with the
aim to enrich the area concerned with the solutions they conceive. The research problem
has to be well-defined and accurately formulated. One problem some researchers do is to
investigate broad or overly ambitious research problems in a limited amount of time;
probably, these researchers need to limit their scope.
3.2. Scope
To be effective, scientific and technical documents have to limit their scope, the depth and
breadth of their investigations. A technical report limits the scope of its discussions in
response both to the boundaries of the inquiry itself and to the purpose and expertise of its
audience. Thus, you need to narrow down the scope if your problem is not manageable.
3.3 Motivation
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Teacher: B. Badjou EL502 (Lecture 01) Spring Term, 2024 IEEE/UMBB
There must be objective and/or subjective reasons that motivate you to choose such a
research problem. It is the fuel that keeps a person going, even when faced with challenges
and obstacles. Motivation can come from a variety of sources, such as personal values,
rewards, recognition, or a sense of purpose.
3.4. Objectives
Statement of objectives refers to a specific goal or outcome that you want to achieve. It is a
measurable and tangible target that provides direction and purpose. Without clear
objectives, motivation can be directionless and ineffective. Likewise, without motivation,
even the best objectives can be difficult to achieve.
3.5. Hypothesis & variables
A hypothesis is an assumption that can be tested and can be proven to be right or wrong.
On the other hand, variables are anything that can vary taking on more than one value. For
example, age, gender, income, height, weight . . .
3.6. Audience
Target your audience by identifying your audience type and their level of expertise, your
audience's purpose in using the document, and your audience's attitude toward both you
and the content of your document. These considerations will influence specific features of
the document, including organization, introductions, equations and mathematical models,
graphics, technical terms, and level of detail.
These features, especially the level of detail, contribute to the density of the document, the
rate at which information is presented to the reader. In your case, you are not writing for
novices but for technicians, experts, and academics.
3.7. Research types & report’s ID
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Teacher: B. Badjou EL502 (Lecture 01) Spring Term, 2024 IEEE/UMBB
Research types are numerous; they include among others the following: basic (in maths
and science), applied (engineering), descriptive (business analysis and social problems),
quantitative (statistics), and qualitative (human behavior).
Consider the ID of an example below.
Research problem: what is the extent of immigration dream in Master 02 students?
Scope: all majors in last 5 years
Objectives: draw official’s attention to the problem
Motivation: interest in societal changes
Hypothesis: two thirds of students are prospective emigrants
Variables: (1) gender: male/female; (2) major: telecom, computer, power, control; (3)
year: 2019-2023
Research type: descriptive
Audience: academia, officials, interested people
4. Implementation & writing
Once your project is realized through implementation or simulation, which are your project
proper and the core of your report, you can now start writing proper.
4.1. Literature review
Literature review is a comprehensive investigation of the past studies relevant to your
research problem with a mission to acquire knowledge about what other studies have found
about and how they did it along with spotting the weaknesses they failed to notice.
N.B.
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Teacher: B. Badjou EL502 (Lecture 01) Spring Term, 2024 IEEE/UMBB
Typically, you start by the methods chapter, which is the practical part, and then, the
results & discussion chapter(s) followed by the conclusion. Finally, chapter one, which
encompasses the theoretical part of your report, and finally the general introduction.
Assignment
1) How do starting a business project and a research project compare?
2) Consider the structural outline of a report from your major and indicate if a better
version is possible both in form and content.
3) With your project mate, establish the ID of your report and sketch out its structural
outline (road map).
4) Discuss them with your classmates and then your supervisor.
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