Kak Yong writes: 1st class:Research Methodology

It was the first class yesterday, for Research Methodology, which is compulsory to all postgraduate students. A weekend class is for the full research students, both Masters and PhD. I was a bit apprehensive at first, it had been quite some time since I attended any class, and most of the students were PhD students, way older with lots of experience in their field, whereas I am diving into unknown regions, and not a clue to what I’m supposed to do first. Doing a first degree in one field and jumping right into something totally different is something requires a lot of thought, which I didn’t do much of. The thinking I mean. I just thought, “Why not?” and went for it. We’ll see in another two years or so…sigh…

Anyway, we’ll be attending class every two weeks, and there’s two sessions each time. Yesterday was Introduction to Research Methodology and Research Proposal, both delivered by Prof Ahmad Hidayat Buang, the Academy’s director. He used English most of the time, since there were foreigners, but sometimes he lapsed into BM or Arabic, and when it was Arabic I would be .lost. Seriously, what was I expecting? It is Islamic studies after all. What to do… At times like this, I wished that I’ve tried better with Arabic in school. And after four or five years not using it much, I guess it is to be expected that it had declined. As with anything, if unused for a period of time, it will slowly feel apart. Like a car abandoned somewhere. Come back after four years, it would have fallen apart. Such is the law of the universe.

The discussion yesterday revolved around the topic of Research Methodology which includes:

1. The purpose of Writing a Thesis
2. What is Academic Writing?
3. What is Research Methodology?

The second session was dedicated to Research Proposal. Actually, all of us would have hand in the research proposal when we applied for MA or PhD, but for me it was a really simple one and just for the purpose of applying. I will need to prepare a proper one which will be presented in the Postgraduate seminar at the department soon. A research proposal should have the following items:

1. Introduction, which includes Statement of Problem, Rationale and Background
2. Hypothesis- expected outcome of the study
3. Definition of terms-to clarify the topic
4. Significance of study
5. Literature Review- the most important, relevant and recent reading materials
6. Methodology of Research
7. Budget & Time Schedule
8. Reference/Appendices

It’s time to start reading. Lots and lots of reading.