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Using Python for your PhD project? A guide on how to get started

Using Python for your PhD project? A guide on how to get started

Many PhD research scholars make use of simulation and coding tools for their research projects, especially for analysing their quantitative data. Python is one of the most widely used tools for programming while handling complex research data. If you are also planning to use Python for your PhD research project but are confused as to how to go ahead, then we help you understand a few steps you may take to get started. Check out.

Steps to get started with Python

Know Python: It is highly important to know the usage of a tool before you benefit from it. Thus, you should start by learning the basics of Python language syntax and data structures. It is fast and easy to learn programming in Python and coding towards effective data analysis. Python is rich in terms of examples and open source libraries that you can use to your advantage in PhD research. If you have not used this tool earlier, you may take up a short-term course to being operational on it.

Practice coding: When you are good at programming, you can start creating codes for your research. Before handling complex tasks, try making some codes for data filtering, organisation or plotting. While data analysis is the most useful application of simulation codes, you can record the entire pipeline of your research in order to make it reproducible.

Use libraries: There are many wonderful things you can do with the libraries in Python. Explore the ones you can use or combine to work in your research. This will minimize the work you will need to do yourself. It is easy to import libraries in Python.

Explore new ideas: Whether you need to gather some data online or manipulate the data, you can be explorative with coding to your benefit. In fact, you may use this tool to collate just any type of data you may need from the Web. Python is great when you want to process or modify your research data. Thus, start finding its real-world applications and give more richness to your research while also saving your time.

Use for data visualization and analysis: Finally, you may use various available computing modules that make Python more powerful with enhanced capabilities. You may use it with Stata, R, and such other statistical programs for meaningful data analysis and data visualization.

Thus, you may follow the above steps and go from learning Python and coding for data analysis to performing several time-saving tasks in your research. However, some of you may not know the basics of programming or may not have time to learn programming in Python. If you think you cannot use Python effectively for your PhD project, then an alternative for you is to simply follow the step of seeking guidance from a professional statistical consultant. An expert statistician can help you with writing codes and finding new ideas that can broaden the scope of your PhD research.

A supervisor’s account of reviewing literature review by candidates from different cultural backgrounds

A supervisor’s account of reviewing literature review by candidates from different cultural backgrounds

There is a whole lot of dilemma linked with being a supervisor to students from different cultures. It is understandable that these students must be feeling perplexed, lonely and confused in their Ph.D. journey. As a supervisor, with a humane touch one would want to do everything that is reasonable enough to help, but then there is always some ambiguity about the best way to help, and with so many responsibilities attached, a supervisor is always short of time and energy, both.

With varied experience in my kitty, and all that I have seen around, I feel that prospective supervisors should be given a choice to accept or not a student who belongs to a diverse cultural background. This holds all the more weight when one talks about semantic barriers, such as the scholar and supervisor not being comfortable on the grounds of language. In universities and institutes who have big monetary motives often don’t say  no to  applying scholars as they don’t consider these challenges significant in front of the money that is coming to them.

As a supervisor you much check in prior to accepting that whether you are in a position to offer support that needs to be given to the scholar. Sometimes, I have also had to face rudeness from the scholar who belonged to another culture. To be explained better, because of cultural differences, certain behaviour of the scholar seems unacceptable in our culture. For example, getting late for appointments, or looking into the eyes and talking. All these may be signs of normal behaviour in some culture but at the same time signalling rudeness or impoliteness in some.  If you are facing anything such, you must do what I did. Explain to the scholar in a tactful manner the changes in the culture that need to be adopted certainly.

Yet another dilemma faced during handling cross cultural scholars is the correction of work and telling them their mistakes. The usage of appropriate words and vocabulary matching the standards of the culture are certain challenges that are difficult to comprehend by the scholar. One needs to devote a lot of time and energy on perpetual basis, trying to do this. This may sometimes make scholars believe it is actually a part of the supervisor’s job but that is not possible, and then further conflicts or differences may arise, which sometimes may get out of control.

Literature Review vs. Systematic Review

Literature Review vs. Systematic Review

The literature existing for a specific topic can be summarized in either a systematic review or literature review. So, both these topics are easily confused, until one delves into the dynamics of both these systems. Even though they are used to fulfil a similar requirement, a literature review is significantly different from a systematic review.

A literature review involves the qualitative summarization of a topic, typically using informal or subjective methods to collate and interpret data. On the other hand, a systematic review involves high-level study of the primary research using a focused approach toward identification, selection, synthesis, and appraisal of all relevant questions involved in the research. From the definition itself, it is evident that the latter review format is more comprehensive as compared to the former.

Both these review systems are inherently different and require specific requirements for their appropriate use. Inappropriate use of either of them can defeat the purpose of the review system.

A systematic review system is appropriate in cases when a focused question requires a pertinent answer. This system is primarily used to remove any bias from the review. Such a review system can be used to answer a clearly defined clinical question. The components of a systematic review include a pre-specified eligibility criterion, systematic search strategy, assessment of the findings’ validity, interpretation and presentation of the results, and a reference list. The number of authors needs to be three or more. An average time required to complete a systematic review is 18 months, on average. The timeline usually goes into months and sometimes, into years. From the above, it is understandable that a thorough knowledge of the topic is required, and a comprehensive statistical analysis of the resources is needed to be done. Such a review system supports the techniques of evidence-based practice.

On the other hand, a literature review is fairly basic in comparison to a systematic review. It is basically a qualitative summary of evidences on a particular topic using informal/subjective methods of collation of data. It can be used to provide a summary or overview of a particular topic; the topic can be generic in nature or a specific query. The principal components of this review system are introduction, methods, discussion, conclusion, and bibliography. The number of authors can be one, or even more. Since it is not comprehensive in nature as compared to a systematic review, the timeline required to finish this review ranges in weeks to months. A comprehensive understanding of the topic under review is not required.

Write Your PhD Thesis In 2 Months

Write Your PhD Thesis In 2 Months

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Thesis writing is no doubt a multi-month ordeal that makes you pull your hair out. But, when you have to submit your thesis work in two months all you have to do is follow a plan, set your deadlines and work steadily, more importantly smart work is required from your end.

After having selected your topic of interest, there are multifarious tasks such as literature review, preparing the questionnaire, data analysis and interpretation reports that you need to cover up efficiently.

This article is devoted to ways that you can get way ahead of the curve from the very beginning to the submission of your thesis

1.Get Started With Literature Review:

The starting point for a PhD thesis writer is to read truckloads of papers relevant to your topic of thesis so that you can develop an understanding of your experimental techniques and learn more about your area of interest. Literature Review develops the understanding of what has been done so far in your field and what questions remain to be answered, where your research will contribute.

The following points should be in your consideration:

  • How do you find relevant papers without wasting much time?

    As you don’t have much time, so definitely don’t want it to get wasted over browsing unnecessary data, what you can do is go through Google Scholar and Pubmed for advance search or boolean search. Pubmed offers the great facility to set up citation alerts that notify you via email every time these articles are cited.

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Fig : Pubmed Advance Search

  • The software you can use to save your time on literature review is ‘EndNote’. ‘EndNote’ is here to serve you with its incredible capability of managing bibliographies and references. There are several ways to add a reference to a library: manually, exporting, importing, copying from another EndNote library, connecting from EndNote. It enables the user to select multiple citations and saves the user from having to enter manually the citation information and the abstracts.

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Fig: EndNote

2. Preparing The Questionnaire:

After gathering all the information required and understanding the gap between previously carried out research and your findings, the next task is to prepare a questionnaire, which will cover all the possible aspects of your thesis.
There are two types of questionnaire:

  1. Qualitative Questionnaire
  2. Quantitative Questionnaire

Difference between Qualitative & Quantitavie Questionnaire:

Qualitative

Quantitative

Conceptual

  • Concerned with understanding human behaviour from the informant’s perspective

  • Assumes a dynamic & negotiated reality

  • Concerned with discovering facts about social phenomena

  • Assumes a fixed and measurable reality

Methodological

  • Data are collected through participant observation & interviews

  • Data are analysed by themes from descriptions by informants

  • Data are reported in the language of informant

  • Data are collected through measuring things

  • Data are analysed through numerical comparisons & statistical test

  • Data are reported through statistical analyses

Qualitative Questionnaire:

Download the sample ‘Qualitative Questionnaire

Quantitative Questionnaire:

Download the sample ‘Quantitative Questionnaire

3. Research Methodology:

The next chapter of your thesis that will cover the method to carry out the experiments is ‘Research Methodology.’

Research philosophy is the way of explaining your research methods and how that influences your work. It should be incorporated in your dissertation as it solves the issue on which methods to apply in your research. It highly depends upon the individual’s perception of understanding things as it is a belief about a way in which research should be conducted.

Research Philosophy

Research Method

Research Approach

Positivism

Quantitative methods comprising of sampling techniques, questionnaires/ surveys, stuructured interviews, observation etc.

Deductive.

This approach is based on observing and forming hypothesis n an already existing theory.

Interpretivism

Qualitative methods comprising of unstructured interviews, focus group, participant observation, case studies, etc.

Inductive.

This approach is initiated through observation and patterns to form a new theory.

Realism

Quantitative & Qualitative

Now the question is, which research approach to select?

  • It would depend upon how much time you have. The decutive approach is quicker to complete whereas inductive approach requires ample amount of time.

  • It depends on how much risk you can take. Deductive approach has less risk of failure. Inductive research is more risky as it is not necessary for a theory to evolve.

4. Data Analysis:

It’s difficult when you have to find out a result after calculating so many figures. As in this calculative instant of time it’s empirical to participate a number of data and find out the best result possible in any of your research, here what mainly you need are some authentic statistical tools that can simplify your data’s into an upshot without investing much of your time.

There are many tests that are need to apply on the data, and selecting the appropriate test for your data is a tough and time-consuming job, so, here is a flowchart to help you out in this situation:

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There are many tools for the data analysis that you can use and save your time.

  1. SPSS: SPSS Statistics is a package used for data analysis or statistical analysis. SPSS is used by market researchers, health researchers, survey companies, government, education researchers and marketing organizations & data miners.

    SPSS shows two views as per the requirement i.e. Data View & Variable View.

Data View:

1234

Variable View:

123

2. NVivo:

Nvivo is a software package for qualitative data analysis. It is used for working with rich text or multimedia information, where deep levels of analysis on small or large volume of data are required.

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5. Conclusion:

Many candidates find concluding chapter difficult to write for several reasons. As there is no one right way to construct a concluding paragraph, there are some guidelines that can help you to end your thesis on a strong note.

  • Restate your thesis implicitly
  • Emphasize the importance of your subject by placing it in an elaborated context
  • Give Suggestion for the future based on what you have argued.
  • End on a powerful and relevant quote that serves to sum up your work.

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6. Editing & Proofreading:

Once you are done with writing your thesis, the next important task is to edit and proofread your copy of the thesis. As you don’t have much time left, so, don’t go for editing on your own. Hire a professional help who can assist you with the complete process of editing & proofreading and make your thesis a perfect piece of work. Another important aspect of editing is checking for plagiarism. You can check for plagiarism online using en.writecheck.com and for grammar check you can use grammarly.com.

Tips to Choose Authentic PhD Thesis Writers

Tips to Choose Authentic PhD Thesis Writers

PhD being a notable and highest degree of education deserves and also demands lots of remarkable and detail work. A research thesis consists of a long list of contents starting from study plan and winding up at appendices. It also includes many criticalities like data collection and its analysis, findings and its discussions, etc. Hence, presenting an absolutely equipped thesis becomes a tough nut to crack for pursuers.

Also, writing and presenting something unique and eye catching is a burning aspiration of all the researchers. In this aspect researcher’s wave for online data collection, journal studies, books and their practical revelation, but these sources are not sufficient enough for completion of thesis. Lagging behind is the researcher’s previous experience and expertise in the work. This holding nail can be thrown out by the help of some expert and PhD thesis writers. These PhD writers and experts can add some jewels to make your thesis magnificent enough for a handsome grade in your degree. So, let’s go through some small yet crucial tips to choose an authentic PhD thesis writer-

  • Your PhD thesis writer should preferably be from the same subject background so that he can have a good hand holding on the subject matter and steer you in an improved way.
  • Thesis writer should generate a unique and fresh work that definitely evades plagiarism. As, copying the work can cut down both your knowledge and grades also this is ethically not genuine.
  • Choose a writer who can be easily contacted and discuss the proceedings of work with you whenever required.
  • Never forget reviewing the past records, researcher’s feedback and sample paper works of the writers before finalizing them.

Thus, an eye on aforesaid points can assist you with an expert writer.

Emerging Research Areas in Energy Economics

Emerging Research Areas in Energy Economics

Emerging Research Areas in Energy EconomicsIf the areas in the domain of applied economics are being looked at, then it can be experienced that out of all the areas, energy economics is the area, which is the most coveted of them all, owing to its multidisciplinary nature. The importance of this area lies in its scope, as this area focuses on the aspects of economic growth and development, linked with the problems regarding natural resources and energy pricing. Given its multidisciplinary nature and mounting amount of importance in the word of business and society, several research areas are emerging out of this particular domain of applied economics.

Within the scope of energy economics, there are several research areas, which are gradually turning out to be popular and significant among the researchers across the world. Signal ProcessingYou can also take help of scholarly writers to choose a good topic to begin your research study. Some of those areas are as per the following:

  • Rebound analysis: With the growth in industrialization across nations, demand of energy is on the rise, and due to several factors, usage of energy is not able to attain its optimum level. The association between expected usage of energy and the actual usage of energy is being tested by researchers by means of rebound analysis. This area is gradually turning out to be popular since last two to three years.
  • Efficiency analysis: Apart from the rebound analysis, efficiency analysis of energy generated from various sources are carried out based on several parameters, like energy price, energy demand, energy supply, number of transmission channels etc.
  • Environmental analysis: During the course of energy generation and consumption, several types of fossil fuels are used, and as a consequence of that, several kinds of environmental degradations, in terms of air, water, soil pollution etc. take place. Analysis of environmental impacts of the energy generation and consumption processes is gradually gaining importance among researchers.

For more information about the emerging and popular research areas in energy economics, kindly browse through the pages of www.phdthesiswriters.com.

Guidelines to Write a Good Thesis Proposal

Guidelines to Write a Good Thesis Proposal

Thesis proposals are generally written in present as well as future tense. After selecting a topic for your thesis, the step is to give a striking introduction. This can be attempted last after completing the remaining sections of the thesis proposal. After this you can prepare a research question and convert it into a statement so as to make a proper work plan. The undesirable consequences of the problem should be noted. Now you can convince the reader about the importance of the problem with regard to yourself and the society.

Now you can state the purpose of the study – whether it is done to interpret, analyse, or change the problem. The next section is mentioning the significance or the advantages of the study conducted. For this you can answer questions concerning the importance of the study, the people targeted, and the consequences which can happen to the society, program, or theory if the research is performed or not performed.

The next section covers the methodology followed in the research where you can state the research perspective and your viewpoint. You can provide at least three methodologies which could be feasible and choose the most appropriate one. Now provide instances of theories or studies which support as well as oppose the approach to the given problem. It is also better to include the methodologies used by others who have dealt with the problem before. After this is done, you can provide the expected results of the research carried out. The terms used to state the problem, methodology, and purpose should be well-defined. Also, provide various assumptions concerned with the study like world views, basic values, beliefs, etc. The reader should be aware of your attitude towards the problem as well.

Limitations concerning the methodologies and concepts related to the study should be revealed. Now the procedure used to carry out the study can be provided in detail. Finally, you can think about the long range consequences if the study is done or not done.

Design of Research Questions

Design of Research Questions

Devoid of coming up with concrete research question(s), any research based study can never be started. Based on observational phenomenology, a broad research objective is formed, and then through epistemology and construct building, the research objective is boiled down to concrete research question(s). Unless those research questions are not specific and measurable, the research work can never be effective in all aspects. Specificity of the research question is required in order to keep the study focused. There are several organizations, which assist researchers in designing research questions for their studies. For more information about designing research questions, kindly go through the pages of www.phdthesiswriters.com.

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