Report of Eight- Day Workshop on Research Methodology and Statistical Analysis Using IBM SPSS 02-09July, 2014

Report of Eight- Day Workshop on Research Methodology and Statistical Analysis Using IBM SPSS

02-09July, 2014

Research Methodology is dynamic in nature and equips researchers with comprehensive outlook about the research. Research is about searching systematically for solutions to problems for which statistical device is required. To address c h a l l e n g e s & opportunities in the field of research a new software known as IBM SPSS has enabled academicians and researchers to obtain valuable information from the data. Before proceeding for survey & data analysis, basic knowledge on SPSS is vital. In its pursuit to promote research, the Centre for Research Innovation and Training, The IIS University, Jaipur organized an 8- Day Workshop on Research Methodology from 2 July  to 09 July, 2014. The workshop aims to improve the research skills & competence amongst the researcher by strengthening their theoretical knowledge as well as by giving them the Hands-on training with SPSS, report writing etc. The primary objective of the workshop was to develop research and analytical skills among the researchers. The broad objectives were:

  • To enable the participants to define research problems and to develop a suitable methodology to address the key issues
  • To enable the participants to understand the need for using appropriate statistical tools in research.

The key highlights of the course were:

  • Hands on Training in SPSS
  • Questionnaire Framing
  • Productive thinking skills
  • Application of Statistical Tools
  • Common errors in research

Selection of Participants

About 500 brochures were dispatched to the various Universities, Colleges and the Academic institutions all over India. To invite the applications, information was also displayed on the website (www.iisu.ac.in).

The Course received on overwhelming response from the Research Scholars from all over India. In all about 100 applications were received, out of which 50 research Scholars were selected. While selecting the participants following issues were taken into consideration:

  • First Come First Serve Basis
  • Preference given to SC, ST and Minority
  • The selection insured adequate coverage from different parts of the country. 

A brief report of the workshop is as follows:

The inaugural session of the course was graced by luminaries from the field of education. Dr. Arti Sharma, The IIS University, gave the welcome address. Dr. SubhashGarg, Dean and Director, CRIT, The IIS University, acquainted the august gathering with the aims and objectives of the course as well as the activities of CRIT.Dr. SanketViz , MDU, Rohtak gave the inaugural address. The vote of thanks was delivered by Dr. Roopam Kothari,  The IIS University, Jaipur.

Eminent academicians from various Institutions of repute from all over India like

  • Dr. NeerajKaushik, NIT, Kurushetra
  • Dr. Ajay Singh, Delhi School of Economics, Delhi University, Delhi
  • Dr. SanketViz, Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak
  • Dr. SaurabhAgarwal,IBM SPSS Consultant, HBTI, Kanpur
  • Dr. Narendra Kumar Garg, MD University, Rohtak

were the resource persons for the various technical sessions.

Day 1

The sessions for the day were taken by Dr. Sanket Viz. who explained the primary stages of research and steps in research processs.In the subsequent sessions he dealt with development and types of hypothesis. He then had  one to one session with the participants and  addressed their questions and queries.

Day 2

The resource person for the day was Dr. Sanket Viz. During session I he discussed about methods of data collection. He explained about primary and secondary methods of data collection, questionnaire designing process, qualities of a good questionnaire and structure of a questionnaire.Second session was devoted editing, coding and classification of data. Dr. Viz explained about objectives and types of data editing. The topic for the third session was descriptive statistics. He dealt at length mean, median standard deviation, skewness, kurtosis, cross tabulation and testing goodness.

Day 3

The resource person for the first session was Dr.  Sanket Viz. The topic for the session was sampling design. He explained about sampling methods, sampling error and sampling distribution. The resource person for the second session was Dr. Narendra Kumar Garg. He discussed about attitude measurement and scaling techniques. In the subsequent session also he explained about comparative and non- comparative scaling techniques like Rasch Model, Rank order, differential scale etc.

Day 4

The resource person for the day was Dr. NeerajKaushik. The sessions focused on parametric and non- parametric tests for testing hypothesis. Dr. Kaushik explained about one sample t test, paired sample t test, one way annova, chi square test, run test, mann- whitney test and run test. In the last session he elaborated on multivariate analysis. He dealt with co-relation and regression analysis using SPSS.

Day 5

The sessions for the day were continued by Dr. NeerajKaushik. The participants were given practice in multivariate analysis. Identification of multi collinearity, identification of auto correlation and dummy variable regression analysis were also dealt with in the subsequent sessions. Dr. Kaushik explained about application of dummy variables and discussed about dummy variable trap. The participants were given hands on experience on dummy variable regression using SPSS.

Day 6

The resource person for the day was Dr. SaurabhAgarwal. In the first session he explained about the basic concepts of factor analysis. During second session Dr. Agarwal elaborated on Factor Analysis using SPSS-AMOS. In the last session the participants were given practice in factor analysis.

Day 7

Dr. SaurabhAgarwal was the resource person for the day. He introduced the participants to multi variate analysis of variance, muti dimensional scaling, conjoint analysis and coorelation. During third session various aspects of structural equation modeling were explained and practice was given to the participants for using SPSS for MANOVA.

Day 8

The resource person for the day was Dr. Ajay Singh. In the first session He dealt at length with review of literature. He discussed about organizing and presenting an argument, abstracts and other important points to be kept in mind while reviewing. In the second session he discussed about analysis of data, results and conclusion. The third session was ethics in academic writing. Various issues like meaning and seriousness of plagiarism, different types of plagiarism, referencing and citation were discussed during the last session.

The last session was followed by valedictory session. The certificates were distributed to the participants. Research is a continuous endeavor and this workshop proved to be a landmark in polishing the research skills of the participants.