Unit 1 Introduction to Research Methodology Lecture Notes PDF

**UNIT 01: Unit 1 Introduction to Research Methodology** **Research-Definition** **MEANING OF RESEARCH** Research in common parlance refers to a search for knowledge. Once can also define research as a scientific and systematic search for pertinent information on a specific topic. In fact, resear...

**UNIT 01: Unit 1 Introduction to Research Methodology** **Research-Definition** **MEANING OF RESEARCH** Research in common parlance refers to a search for knowledge. Once can also define research as a scientific and systematic search for pertinent information on a specific topic. In fact, research is an art of scientific investigation. The Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English lays down the meaning of research as "a careful investigation or inquiry specially through search for new facts in any branch of knowledge." Redman and Mory define research as a "systematized effort to gain new knowledge." Some people consider research as a movement, a movement from the known to the unknown. It is actually a voyage of discovery. We all possess the vital instinct of inquisitiveness for, when the unknown confronts us, we wonder and our inquisitiveness makes us probe and attain full and fuller understanding of the unknown. This inquisitiveness is the mother of all knowledge and the method, which man employs for obtaining the knowledge of whatever the unknown, can be termed as research. Research is an academic activity and as such the term should be used in a technical sense. According to Clifford Woody research comprises defining and redefining problems, formulating hypothesis or suggested solutions; collecting, organising and evaluating data; making deductions and reaching conclusions; and at last carefully testing the conclusions to determine whether they fit the formulating hypothesis. D. Slesinger and M. Stephenson in the Encyclopaedia of Social Sciences define research as "the manipulation of things, concepts or symbols for the purpose of generalising to extend, correct or verify knowledge, whether that knowledge aids in construction of theory or in the practice of an art." Research is, thus, an original contribution to the existing stock of knowledge making for its advancement. It is the persuit of truth with the help of study, observation, comparison and experiment. In short, the search for knowledge through objective and systematic method of finding solution to a problem is research. The systematic approach concerning generalisation and the formulation of a theory is also research. As such the term 'research' refers to the systematic method consisting of enunciating the problem, formulating a hypothesis, collecting the facts or data, analysing the facts and reaching certain conclusions either in the form of solutions(s) towards the concerned problem or in certain generalisations for some theoretical formulation. **OBJECTIVES OF RESEARCH** The purpose of research is to discover answers to questions through the application of scientific procedures. The main aim of research is to find out the truth which is hidden and which has not been discovered as yet. Though each research study has its own specific purpose, we may think of research objectives as falling into a number of following broad groupings: 1\. To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to achieve new insights into it (studies with thisobject in view are termed as exploratory or formulative research studies); 2\. To portray accurately the characteristics of a particular individual, situation or a group(studies with this object in view are known as descriptive research studies); 3\. To determine the frequency with which something occurs or with which it is associated with something else (studies with this object in view are known as diagnostic research studies); 4\. To test a hypothesis of a causal relationship between variables (such studies are known as hypothesis-testing research studies). **MOTIVATION IN RESEARCH** What makes people to undertake research? This is a question of fundamental importance. The possible motives for doing research may be either one or more of the following: 1\. Desire to get a research degree along with its consequential benefits; 2\. Desire to face the challenge in solving the unsolved problems, i.e., concern over practical problems initiates' research; 3\. Desire to get intellectual joy of doing some creative work; 4\. Desire to be of service to society; 5\. Desire to get respectability. However, this is not an exhaustive list of factors motivating people to undertake research studies. Many more factors such as directives of government, employment conditions, curiosity about new things, desire to understand causal relationships, social thinking and awakening, and the like may as well motivate (or at times compel) people to perform research operations. **What is Research?** Research is the careful consideration of study regarding a particular concern or research problem using scientific methods. According to the American sociologist Earl Robert Babbie, "research is a systematic inquiry to describe, explain, predict, and control the observed phenomenon. It involves inductive and deductive methods." Inductive methods analyze an observed event, while deductive methods verify the observed event. Inductive approaches are associated with qualitative research, and deductive methods are more commonly associated with quantitative analysis. **Research is conducted with a purpose to:** - Identify potential and new customers - Understand existing customers - Set pragmatic goals - Develop productive market strategies - Address business challenges - Put together a business expansion plan - Identify new business opportunities **What are the characteristics of research?** - **Good research follows** a systematic approach to capture accurate data. Researchers need to practice ethics and a code of conduct while making observations or drawing conclusions. - The analysis is based on logical reasoning and involves both inductive and deductive methods. - Real-time data and knowledge is derived from actual observations in natural settings. - There is an in-depth analysis of all data collected so that there are no anomalies associated with it. - It creates a path for generating new questions. Existing data helps create more research opportunities. - It is analytical and uses all the available data so that there is no ambiguity in inference. - Accuracy is one of the most critical aspects of research. The information must be accurate and correct. For example, laboratories provide a controlled environment to collect data. Accuracy is measured in the instruments used, the calibrations of instruments or tools, and the experiment's final result. - To Better Understand Your Customers - Identifies Problem Areas - Beneficial in Comparative Studies - Helps Design New Business Opportunities - Minimizes Loss - Marketing Function - Personnel and Human Resource Management - Financial and Accounting Research - Production and Operation Management - Cross-Functional Research - Market potential analysis; market segmentation analysis and demand estimation. - Market structure analysis which includes market size, players and market share of the key players. - Sales and retail audits of product categories by players and regions as well as national sales; consumer and business trend analysis---sometimes including short- and long-term forecasting. Other than these, an organization also carries out researches related to all four Ps of marketing, such as: **Product Research:** This would include new product research; product testing and development; product differentiation and positioning; testing and evaluating new products and packaging research; brand research---including equity to tracks and imaging studies. **Pricing Research:** This includes price determination research; evaluating customer value; competitor pricing strategies; alternative pricing models and implications. **Promotional Research:** This includes everything from designing of the communication mix to design of advertisements, copy testing, measuring the impact of alternative media vehicles, impact of competitors' strategy. **Place Research:** This includes locational analysis, design and planning of distribution channels and measuring the effectiveness of the distribution network. These days, with the onset of increased competition and the need to convert customers into committed customers, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), customer satisfaction, loyalty studies and lead user analysis are also areas in which significant research is being carried out. **Personnel and Human Resource Management** Human Resources (HR) and organizational behaviour is an area which involves basic or fundamental research as a lot of academic, macro-level research may be adapted and implemented by organizations into their policies and programmes. Applied HR research by contrast is more predictive and solution-oriented. Though there are a number of academic and organizational areas in which research is conducted, yet some key contemporary areas which seem to attract more research are as follows: **Performance Management:** This includes leadership analysis development and evaluation; organizational climate and work environment studies; talent and aptitude analysis and management; organizational change implementation, management and effectiveness analysis. **Employee Selection and Staffing:** This includes pre and on-the-job employee assessment and analysis; staffing studies. **Organizational Planning and Development:** This includes culture assessment---either organization specific or the study of individual and merged culture analysis for mergers and acquisitions; manpower planning and development. **Incentive and Benefit Studies:** These include job analysis and performance appraisal studies; recognition and reward studies, hierarchical compensation analysis; employee benefits and reward analysis, both within the organization and industry best practices. **Training and Development**: These include training need gap analysis; training development modules; monitoring and assessing impact and effectiveness of training. **Other Areas:** Other areas include employee relationship analysis; labours tudies; negotiation and wage settlement studies; absenteeism and accident analysis; turnover and attrition studies and work-life balance analysis. Critical success factor analysis and employer branding are some emerging areas in which HR research is being carried out. The first is a participative form of management technique, developed by Rockart (1981) in which the employees of an organization identify their critical success factors and help in customizing and incorporating them in developing the mission and vision of their organization. **Financial and Accounting Research** The area of financial and accounting research is so vast that it is difficult to provide a pen sketch of the research areas. In this section, we are providing just a brief overview of some research topics: - **Asset Pricing, Corporate Finance and Capital Markets:** The focus here is on stock market response to corporate actions (IPOs or Initial Public Offerings, takeovers and mergers), financial reporting (earnings and firm specific announcements) and the impact of factors on returns, e.g., liquidity and volume. - **Financial Derivatives and Interest Rate and Credit Risk Modeling:** This includes analysing interest rate derivatives, development and validation of corporate credit rating models and associated derivatives; analysing corporate decision- making and investment risk appraisal. - **Market Based Accounting Research:** This includes analysis of corporate financial reporting behaviour; accounting-based valuations; evaluation and usage of accounting information by investors and evaluation of management compensation schemes. - **Auditing and Accountability:** This includes both private and public sector accounting studies, analysis of audit regulations; analysis of different audit methodologies; governance and accountability of audit committees. - **Financial Econometrics:** This includes modelling and forecasting involatility, risk estimation and analysis. - **Other Areas:** Other related areas of investigation are in merchant banking and insurance sector and business policy and economics areas. Considering the nature of the decision required in this area, the research is a mix of historical and empirical research. Behavioural finance is a new and contemporary area in which, probably, for the first time subjective and perceptual variables are being studied for their predictive value in determining consumer sentiments. **Production and Operation Management** This area of management is one in which quantifiable implementation of the research results takes on huge cost and process implications. Research in this area is highly focused and problem specific. The decision areas in which research studies are carried out are as follows: - Operation planning which includes product/service design and development; resource allocation and capacity planning. - Demand forecasting and decision analysis. - Process planning which includes production scheduling and material requirement management; work design planning and monitoring.roduction scheduling and material requirement management; work design planning and monitoring. - Project management and maintenance management studies. - Logistics and supply chain, and inventory management analysis. - Quality estimation and assurance studies which include Total QualityManagement (TQM) and quality certification analysis. This area of management also invites academic research which might be macro and general but helps in developing technologies, such as JIT (Just-In-Time) technology and EOQ (Economy Order Quantity)---an inventory management model which are then adapted by organizations for optimizing operations. **Cross-Functional Research** Business management being an integrated amalgamation of all these and other areas sometimes requires a unified thought and approach to research. These studies require an open orientation where experts from across the disciplines contribute to and gain from the study. For example, an area, such as new product development requires the commitment of the marketing, production and consumer insights team to exploit new opportunities. Other areas requiring cross-functional efforts are: - Corporate governance and ethics---the role of social values and ethics and their integration into a company's working is an area that is of critical significance to any organization. - Technical support systems, enterprise resource planning systems, knowledge management, and data mining and warehousing are integrated areas requiring research on managing coordinated efforts across divisions. - Ecological and environmental analysis; legal analysis of managerial actions; human rights and discrimination studies. **Steps in Research Process** Research process refers to the systematic and organized series of steps taken to investigate and study a specific topic or problem in order to gain knowledge and find answers to questions. It is a methodical approach followed by researchers to collect, analyze, and interpret data to arrive at meaningful conclusions and contribute to the existing body of knowledge in a particular field. The chart shows that the research process consists of several activities marked from I to VII. These activities are closely related and often overlap instead of following a strict order. Sometimes, the first step determines how the last step will be done. If certain important steps are not considered early on, it can cause serious problems and even stop the research from being completed. It's essential to understand that the steps involved in the research process are not completely separate from each other. They do not always follow a fixed order, and the researcher needs to be prepared for the requirements of the next steps at each stage of the research process. Interpret data to arrive at meaningful conclusions and contribute to the existing body of knowledge in a particular field. The research process typically involves the following key steps: 1. **Formulating the Research Problem:** Identifying and defining the research question or problem that needs to be addressed. 2. **Literature Review:** Conducting a thorough review of existing literature and research related to the topic to understand what has already been studied and discovered. 3. **Developing the Hypothesis:** Creating a clear and testable statement that predicts the relationship between variables in the research. 4. **Research Design:** Planning the overall structure and approach of the study, including selecting the research methods and data collection techniques. 5. **Sample Design:** Determining the sample size and selecting the participants or subjects that will be part of the study. 6. **Data Collection:** Gathering relevant data through various methods, such as surveys, interviews, experiments, or observations. 7. **Execution of the Project:** Implementing the research plan and collecting the data as per the designed approach. 8. **[ Data Analysis](https://makemeanalyst.com/research-process/):** Analyzing the collected data using appropriate statistical or qualitative techniques to draw meaningful conclusions. 9. **Hypothesis Testing:** Evaluating the hypothesis based on the analysis to determine whether it is supported or rejected. 10. **Generalizations and Interpretation:** Making broader connections and interpretations of the findings in the context of the research problem. 11. **Conclusion and Recommendations:** Summarizing the research results, drawing conclusions, and suggesting potential future research or practical implications. Throughout the research process, researchers must maintain objectivity, rigor, and ethical considerations to ensure the validity and reliability of the results. Each step contributes to a comprehensive understanding of the research topic and the generation of new knowledge in the field. **Ethics in Research** **What is Ethics?** Ethics can be defined as a set of principles that helps in segregating fair from unfair. In other words, it is a branch of philosophy that deals with standards for right and wrong behaviour of individuals. Ethics is a moral philosophy that guides individuals to decide what is wrong or right, good or bad and what comprises desirable behaviour in a particular set of social circumstances. In other words, it is a formal study of moral standards and conduct. The word ethics has been derived from the word ethos, which implies culture. **Ethics Definition** According to **Peter F. Drucker**, there is only one ethics, one set of rules of morality, one code: that of individual behaviour in which the same rules apply to everyone alike.The following are some popular definitions of ethics given by management experts: According to **Philip Wheel** Wright, ethics is the branch of philosophy which is the systematic study of selective choice, of the standards of right and wrong and by which it may ultimately be directed. **Branches of Ethics** There are three branches of ethics, which are explained as follows: **Normative Ethics** It is the main branch of ethics that deals with how individuals decide upon the right and appropriate moral action or deed that they should take. Eminent philosophers such as Socrates and John Stuart Mill contributed largely to this branch of ethics. **Normative ethics can further be divided into three categories:** Deontological Ethics As per this ethical theory, certain actions are right or wrong in their own and involve absolute ethical standards that are required to be maintained. Therefore, to make correct moral choices, an individual requires understanding of his/her moral duties and about the rules that exist to regulate those duties. It can be simply understood as when an individual follows his/her duty, he/she is behaving morally. On the other hand, in case of failing to follow the duty, he/she is behaving immorally. However, some philosophers argue that though, certain underlying notion of right or wrong constrain our actions; in particular circumstances they might be overridden. For example, there could be a strong moral constraint against killing someone, however in the time of war, this constraint could be overridden. Teleological Ethics This theory defines that consequences of an action play an important role in determining what to do and what not to do. Therefore, this theory determines the rightness of an action in terms of goals or purposes. In other words, it is the outcome or result that determines what is right, instead of the input or actions. In order to make correct moral decisions, an individual needs to evaluate which action may result into what outcome. If someone makes choices which result in the correct consequences, then he/she is acting morally. On the other hand, if the made choices result in the incorrect consequences, then he/she is acting immorally. Virtue Ethics This theory does not give any rule that people should follow. Instead, this ethic-based theory focuses more on developing good character traits, such as kindness and generosity among people. According to this theory, if people have good and strong character traits, they will make correct decisions in their lives. Virtue theory also emphasises over the need of learning how to break bad character habits, such as greed and anger. It is important to get rid of these bad character traits as they stand in the way of becoming a good person. **Metaethics** This branch of ethics explores the scope of moral values in the life of individuals. It answers fundamental philosophical questions about ethical theory. **Applied Ethics** his branch deals with the study of applying theories in everyday life. For example, applied ethics asks questions such as "Is it right to have gender inequality at the workplace?" **Ethical Relativism** Ethical relativism denies the existence of any fixed universal truths on ethical theories. It rejects the concept that there are any valid moral principles, theories, standards, or values. Thus, it believes that everything is subjective. Ethical relativism is further classified into: - **Conventionalism:** A particular set of ethics or moral principles are valid only within a given culture and for a certain period of time. - **Subjectivism:** Every individual decision determines the validity of moral principles. The ethical relativism says that the standards of a society define what morally correct behaviour is. Ethics are set according to the directives of that society for a particular period of time. Thus, if an individual follows the standards of that society then he/she is behaving ethically. However, here it is not necessary that the same ethical standards would apply on other societies too. Therefore, a behaviour that is considered ethical in one society might be considered unethical in another. Similarly, ethical standards change over time. For example, certain practices of the 18th century that were considered as ethical at that time might not be the part of the ethical standards of the 20th century. **Characteristics of Ethics** Ethics are concerned with setting the moral standards and norms of human behaviour. In an organisation, employees are expected to possess highly defined ethics. This is a strong ethical base of employees that ensures high productivity of both the employees and the organisation. Thus, it is important for an organisation and its employees to have a deep insight into the characteristics of ethics: **Truthfulness** Ethics are said to be related to the true thoughts and actions of an individual or organisation. Maintaining authentic practices is of utmost importance for any organisation. On the contrary, fraudulent acts done in the present may bring huge losses to an organisation in the future. Satyam Scandal is an example of fraudulent practices of a company that misled the market by misrepresenting its accounts. The profits and cash balances were inflated wrongly to show the company's good health. **Accuracy** It implies that organisational information should be correct on ethical grounds and without any mistake. In addition, there should be transparency in every part of the information. This in turn leads to consistent and quality processes, increased operational efficiency and high accountability. **Objectivity** Ethics should be clear and objective in nature. For example, ethically, an individual's action should always be seen as right or wrong regardless of the situation or consequences. If an organisation has objective ethics in place, it would help employees to easily adopt the organisation's ethical values without any hindrance. **Accountability** The ethical values of an organisation prompt employees to become accountable for their actions. This in turn helps the organisation to carry out its practices ethically. **Nature of Ethics** Ethics lay emphasis on doing the right things. It is an enquiry into the truth and not into what people believe is not true. The nature of ethics is explained in the following points: - The notion of ethics is applicable only to human beings as they possess the freedom of choice, i.e., alternatives and resources of free will. They can only make a decision about the degree of ends they wish to follow and the means to realise the ends. - Ethics is a vast study of social science wherein methodical knowledge about moral and ethical behaviour is gained. - Ethics is associated with human conduct, which is voluntary and not at all obligatory by circumstances or any other human beings. It can be implied that at the basic level, ethics deal with moral verdict regarding the directed human behaviour. - Ethics is a normative science that involves the incoming of moral standards that control right and wrong conduct. **Sources of Ethics** Ethics of an individual are formed from almost arbitrary variety of sources, such as memories related to childhood upbringing; fundamental life experiences; religious beliefs; discussions with family, colleagues and friends; and ethical teachings of philosophers. The following are some sources from which an individual draws ethics: **Religious Beliefs** There are diverse religions across the world. All these religions are in accordance with certain ethical principles. Practically, all the world's religions teach and guide an essentially analogous code of ethics that highlight or stress on values like respect for others and their rights, selflessness, etc. So, in all phases of life, be it business or personal situations, a highly religious person is expected to act in ethical ways. **Culture** It is the culture that sets guidelines and acts as a deciding factor to certain behaviour as acceptable and others as undesirable or objectionable. Culture refers to a set of values, guidelines and standards transferred across generations and acted upon to produce a behaviour that falls under acceptable limits. These rules and codes of conduct play an imperative role in formulating values as individuals identify their behaviour with the culture of the group they belong to. **Legal System** Laws are framed by the legal system of a state or country. They act as a regulator to guide human behaviour within a social framework. These laws act as ethics for they incorporate ethical standards. **Discussions With Others** Individuals engage in various discussions during the day, such as telephonic conversations, food time conversations, gossiping, etc. Usually, these discussions make individuals draw a conclusion and set it as a source of ethics. **Ethical Philosophers** Philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Kant and Bentham have given various ethical theories that influence the ethics of individuals to a large extent. **Ethics Vs Morality** Ethics and morality are used interchangeably in day-to-day business practices, but their inherent meanings are different. Both ethics and morality help an individual to distinguish between right and wrong. The morals of an individual refer to his/her personal feelings and principles, while ethics define rules and regulations imposed by the external environment, such as code of conduct defined by employers, religious groups, government, etc. For example, a defence lawyer is responsible for defending his/her clients as per professional ethical codes, even if the lawyer does not find the client innocent. The ethics and morality can be distinguished on various parameters such as their origin, definition, source of origin, requirement, flexibility, accessibility and so on. Table presents this difference. **Parameters** **Ethics** **Morality** ------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Origin Originated from a Greek word *ethos*, which means character. Originated from Latin word *mos*, which means customs. Definition Ethics can be defined as the codes of conduct that are acceptable to civilised human groups and cultures and are applicable to certain human actions. Morality can be defined as a system of principles that determines the right or wrong conduct by an individual. Source of origin Ethics develop from external sources such as social system. Morality develops from internal sources; for example, from individual's own beliefs and principles. Requirement Ethics are imposed by the society. Morality is driven by inner self-belief. Flexibility Ethics have a moderate degree of flexibility as they are totally dependent on a social system for applicability. Morality is firm in nature but can change only if there is a change in the individual's belief. Distinction Between Ethics and Morality **Ethics Vs Law** Usually, anything defined legal is considered to be ethical, but it is not true. For example, breaking promises and lying are considered in most of the societies to be unethical but would be considered legal if terms and conditions were documented beforehand. In management context, there exists a relationship between ethics and law, in fact, in some situations, they even overlap each other. For instance, in some situations, something perceived as illegal is also considered unethical, or something assumed as unethical is considered legal; or something considered ethical may be illegal otherwise. Law is defined as a perpetual set of rules that are published, accepted, enforced and universally applied. It frames mandatory rules for citizens to behave in a particular manner in the society. The legal and legislative system of a country frames laws that are established and enforced by the ruling government. On the other hand, ethics are defined as the rules of conduct acceptable to specific human groups and culture and applicable to certain human actions. Ethics determine ethical codes for how an individual must interact and behave with others in a society. Ethics and laws can be differentiated on different parameters such as their definition, source of origin, guiding principles, etc. Table differentiates between ethics and law: **Parameters** **Ethics** **Law** -------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Definition Ethics are the rules of conduct acceptable to a particular group or culture. Law is a set of rules framed by a government to maintain legal balance in a society and provide security to its citizens. Source of origin Ethics originate from the self-awareness of individuals to decide what is right and what is wrong. Law originates due to law enforcement by a government on citizens. Codification Ethics are the codification of morals that an individual should be adhering to. Law is the codification of ethics that are developed to maintain law and order. Punishment The violation of ethics is not punishable. The violation of law is a punishable offence. Guiding principles Personal beliefs, values and morals of individuals are the guiding principles for developing ethics. Ethics prevalent in a country are the guiding principles for framing laws there. **Distinction Between Ethics and Law** A classic example to explain the difference between ethics and law is of driving. An individual driving under the permissible speed limit and in adherence to traffic rules reflects his/her ethical values. On the other hand, an individual wearing his/her seat belt and lowering his/ her car speed on noticing traffic police represents his/her fear of legal action that could be taken for the violation of traffic rules. **Ethical Dilemmas** In the discussion so far, you must have understood that ethics are defined as the rules of conduct that determine the behaviour of an individual or a group within a society. An organisation, in spite of operating ethically, may face a number of complex situations called ethical dilemmas. A business professional often comes across ethical dilemmas that arise out of conflicting interests while making tough choices. Ethical dilemmas can be defined as complex situations that involve conflict of moral interests while choosing from available alternatives. An individual in an ethical dilemma may have a number of questions in his/her mind. **Some of them are:** - What should I do? - What is right and what is ethical? - What will be the consequences of my actions and decisions? - What kind of damage or benefit will result from the chosen way? - Would I be individually accountable if something went wrong? - Who will protect me in case of any legal complications? In the case of an ethical dilemma, various alternatives are developed for taking a particular decision. In such a case, there may be confusion regarding assigning at the best decision. To overcome this confusion,suggestions are taken from the stakeholders. The alternative that is accepted by the majority is finally selected. **A business professional can deal with a situation of ethical dilemma by applying:** - Principled thinking resulting into ethical reasoning - Moral creativity to argue with stakeholders - Negotiating skills to articulate with stakeholders claiming unethical interests - Self-moral values identification to set the standards of ethical and unethical **What is Research Ethics?** Research ethics provides guidelines for the responsible conduct of research. In addition, it educates and monitors scientists conducting research to ensure a high ethical standard. The following is a general summary of some ethical principles: **Honesty:** Honestly report data, results, methods and procedures, and publication status. Do not fabricate, falsify, or misrepresent data. **Objectivity:** Strive to avoid bias in experimental design, data analysis, data interpretation, peer review, personnel decisions, grant writing, expert testimony, and other aspects of research. **Integrity:** Keep your promises and agreements; act with sincerity; strive for consistency of thought and action. **Carefulness:** Avoid careless errors and negligence; carefully and critically examine your own work and the work of your peers. Keep good records of research activities. **Openness:** Share data, results, ideas, tools, resources. Be open to criticism and new ideas. **Respect for Intellectual Property:** Honor patents, copyrights, and other forms of intellectual property. Do not use unpublished data, methods, or results without permission. Give credit where credit is due. Never plagiarize. **Confidentiality:** Protect confidential communications, such as papers or grants submitted for publication, personnel records, trade or military secrets, and patient records. **Responsible Publication:** Publish in order to advance research and scholarship, not to advance just your own career. Avoid wasteful and duplicative publication. Responsible Mentoring: Help to educate, mentor, and advise students. Promote their welfare and allow them to make their own decisions. **Respect for Colleagues:** Respect your colleagues and treat them fairly. **Social Responsibility:** Strive to promote social good and prevent or mitigate social harms through research, public education, and advocacy. **Non-Discrimination:** Avoid discrimination against colleagues or students on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity, or other factors that are not related to their scientific competence and integrity. **Competence:** Maintain and improve your own professional competence and expertise through lifelong education and learning; take steps to promote competence in science as a whole. **Legality:** Know and obey relevant laws and institutional and governmental policies. **Animal Care:** Show proper respect and care for animals when using them in research. Do not conduct unnecessary or poorly designed animal experiments. **Human Subjects Protection:** When conducting research on human subjects, minimize harms and risks and maximize benefits; respect human dignity, privacy, and autonomy. Concept of Plagiarism and Prevention Plagiarism is derived from the Latin word "Plagiarius" meaning "kidnapper". Plagiarism means stealing or copying another's work and representing it as own work. On Internet, everything is available for free. We can share, upload, download, view, or search any text, audio, and video. Everything is there for free. The availability of anything and everything on the internet has made our lives easier but people make misuse of this advantage of the internet by representing other's work as their own for fame, for academic benefits, for money, for personal interests, etc.  Plagiarism is most commonly practiced in academics and researches. On the internet, we have all kinds of literary articles, educational content, research papers, etc available for free. This facilitates everyone and assists them in gaining knowledge and becoming literate. Earlier when there were no Internet people either had to visit libraries when they wanted to study or know anything or had to purchase expensive books. But now we just type the topic in our browser and we get thousands of search results. As a result, some people use these articles, research papers, educational content in an adverse manner. Plagiarism can be intentional or unintentional. We should have the knowledge of what can be called plagiarized content and what not. Following are the key points to understand what can be called as plagiarism: - If we use another person's work under our name. - If we copy other's ideas and words and don't give them the credit. - If we download copyrighted images or music and present them as our own. - If we copy maximum words and modify them so that we can cleverly use them under our own name. - If we use someone else's copyrighted music or video for our own music cover or video. - If we recreate an image, video, music, article, etc in such a manner that it is quite similar to the original one. **Types of Plagiarism** There are several types of plagiarism. In this article, we will get to know the common ones: - **Complete Plagiarism:** Complete Plagiarism is the most extreme form of plagiarism. In this plagiarism, a person completely copies someone else's work such as a research paper, article, image, etc, and represents it as their own work. This form of plagiarism is similar to identity theft or stealing. - **Verbatim: **Verbatim is also known as direct plagiarism. When we read a book we must have observed that if any statement that a famous person has made is always represented in double quotations and is highlighted so that we get to know that it is said by this particular person. Similarly consider a person writing an article and mentioning someone's else work or words that too exactly the same. But this person doesn't represent it in quotation marks. Then that person is said to be exhibiting direct plagiarism. Hence copying another person's work word to word and not representing it in quotation marks is known as Verbatim or direct plagiarism. - **Self Plagiarism:** This kind of plagiarism is the duplication of a person's own work. It is also known as auto plagiarism. It occurs when a person copies some words of his own published work and uses the same for another work. This form of plagiarism is commonly observed in research journals. Researchers may make re-use of their research work for another research work, however, the percentage of re-usage must be according to those set by the publishing journals if they allow them to do so. - **Source-Based Plagiarism:** This form of plagiarism is most commonly observed in research work. In the research paper one needs to provide references that have contributed to their work, If a person provides wrong references that do not exist, or that are not relating to the work then it is known as source-based plagiarism. The falsification of data or its fabrication is also source-based plagiarism. Falsification and fabrication of data are manipulating or representing false or non-existing data. - **Accidental Plagiarism:** This kind of plagiarism mostly occurs due to a lack of knowledge. If we don't know how to paraphrase, cite and quote a research work we leave the work as it is and it results in accidental plagiarism. **Why is plagiarism unethical?** - Plagiarism is unethical because we are representing someone's other work as our own without giving them the right to. In the real world if someone else takes our things without our permission then we call that person a "thief" and doing so is considered as a punishable offense. Similarly, if in the virtual world someone copies someone else's work it is unethical and is a punishable offense. - Plagiarism affects the integrity of academics. Researchers are given the degree of Ph.D. on basis of their research works; students are given grades according to their homework. If we will be practicing plagiarism, we will not be gaining any knowledge. We may even succeed in getting our Ph.D. degree or good grades but that will put our career at risk and is a threat to our future. We will be a risk for society, organizations where we may work as we do not have the complete knowledge of the corresponding work. - If we use the plagiarized content for our personal benefits such as monetary gains, fame, etc then it is unethical because we are being benefitted for what we actually have not done. We are being rewarded without actually performing well or giving our 100 percent to get that reward. It is immoral to do so. **How to avoid plagiarism?** There are certain steps we can follow in order to avoid plagiarism. - Always give credit to the person whose work you are including in your own work. Make use of double quotations to prevent verbatim. - Build your own ideas and thoughts and use them in your work. Do not copy another person's ideas or work. Develop yourself and work on yourself so that you can enhance your thought process. Increase the domain of your knowledge. - Make use of paraphrasing. Paraphrasing means the representation of an idea or thought in our own words in such a manner that the original essence of that idea remains the same. But we should also do paraphrasing in such a manner that it does not convert to plagiarism. - Use online plagiarism checker tools. There are many sites that offer plagiarism checker tools. These sites check your work against thousands of other works available on the internet and give you a percentage of plagiarized or unique content. They can even tell from which site the content is copied. We should always use plagiarism checker tools in order to prevent plagiarism. Some of the plagiarism checking tools are -- Grammarly, smallseotools, turnitin, quetext, etc. - Always provide correct references in your research paper or article. - Learn how to cite your articles, provide references, use double quotations, etc. You should know how to write a scholarly article or book or research paper before you begin writing. - If you are using someone else's videos, images, or audios in your own video, etc always ask them first, and even after that provide them the credit for the same. - Keep your morals high. Be educated about plagiarism and be an ethical person. As in real life, you don't do bad things as you know the differentiation between what is good and bad similarly teach your inner conscience that plagiarism is unethical and you should not make use of plagiarized content. **Laws against plagiarism** There are many laws against plagiarism. Some of them are mentioned below- - In section 57 of the Indian Copyright Act 1957, authors have "the right to claim authorship of their works among other things. It grants the authors the special right to be attributed for their work. The statute recognizes the right to attribution analogous to the rights not to be plagiarized." - In section 63 of the ICA 1957, "a convicted infringer is liable to be imprisoned between six months to three years, and to be fined between fifty thousand and two lakh rupees". - University Grants Commission or UGC has provided a certain set of guidelines that need to be followed by universities in order to prevent plagiarism in academic activities. **UGC Regulations for Plagiarism** In the 530^th^ meeting of UGC, the University Grants Commission introducing regulations for the prevention of plagiarism, discussing the "Promotion of Academic Integrity". As well as "Prevention of **Plagiarism** in Higher Educational Institutions (**HEI**)" regulations for 2018. The main motive of ***UGC*** behind these **regulations** is to create awareness regarding the conduct of research, thesis, and dissertation along with the prevention of any kind of misconduct which primarily includes plagiarism. It focuses on the development of systems for the detection of **Plagiarism** and the prevention from plagiarism as well as setting criteria to punish students, researchers, faculty or staff for the act of plagiarism. Therefore, every HEI has to establish these regulations to create awareness for the right conduct of research and academic activities. To instruct students, researcher, faculty or staff regarding the proper attribution, HEI have to start training and conduct awareness programs to maintain the ethics of research and publication. **Controlling Plagiarism** - To ensure **plagiarism free** documents during the final submission, a technology-based mechanism using proper software shall be declared by HEI. - An undertaking by every student during the submission of a thesis or any such documents to the HEI indicates that the document originally prepared by the student as well as duly checked through a plagiarism tool approved by HEI. - The approved policy shall be on the HEI website homepage. - A certificate shall be submitted by each supervisor which indicates the researcher's work done under by his/her supervision and is free from plagiarism. - All the soft copies of **Research** Program's and Masters **Dissertations** and thesis to submit to INFLIBNET by HEI within a month under the "Shodh Ganga-e-repository". - On the Institute website, HEI to create Institutional Repository which dissertation/thesis/paper/publication along with other in-house publications. **Exclusion from Plagiarism while checking** **Plagiarism check **shall exclude the following: - All quoted work with the necessary permission/attribution. - References, Bibliography, table of content, preface and acknowledgments. - The generic terms, laws, standard symbols and equations. **Plagiarism Levels** **Levels** **Description** ------------ ---------------------------------- Level 0 Up to 10% similarity- No penalty Level 1 Above 10% to 40 % similarity Level 2 Above 40% to 60 % similarity Level 3 Above 60% similarity **Penalties for high plagiarism** **Level 0** - Minor similarities, no penalty. **Level 1** - To be asked to withdraw the manuscript. **Level 2** - Shall be asked to withdraw the manuscript. - Shall be denied a right to one annual increment. - To not be allowed to be a supervisor to any new Master's, M.Phil., Ph.D. Students/ scholar for two years. **Level 3** - Shall be asked to withdraw the manuscript. - Shall be denied a right to two successive annual increments. - To not be allowed to be a supervisor to any new Master's, M.Phil., Ph.D.  Students/ scholar for three years. **CASE STUDY** **Ban on Tobacco Ads by the Government of India** On 6 February 2001, the Government of India sparked a major controversy across the country when it announced that it would very soon ban tobacco companies from advertising their products and sponsoring sports and cultural events. The intention of such a ban was to discourage adolescents from consuming tobacco products. Further, through such bans, the government would be able to launch an 'anti-tobacco programme'. This decision was met with much angry oppositions and debates throughout the country not only over the ethical aspects of the government's moral policing but also over the achievability of the intent itself. With regards to the proposed government ban, the strong reaction of **Suhel Seth**, CEO, Equus Advertising, was: *The ban does not have teeth. It is a typical knee-jerk reaction by any Government to create some kind of popularity for itself. The Legislation has not been thought thorough.* Further, in reaction to the government's decision, **ITC Ltd**. announced: *It would voluntarily withdraw from all of the sponsorship events, irrespective of the legal position on the subject.* **ITC**'s statement in view of the proposed government ban was: *It believes that this action on its part will create the right climate for a constructive dialogue that will help develop appropriate content, rules and regulations to make the intended legislation equitable and implementable*. The issue was complex in nature as the dispute involved ethical and commercial considerations. On one hand, there was the harmful effect of tobacco that has proved fatal for human life. Thus, from an ethical view, the government, being responsible for the welfare of its citizens, needed to discourage the habit of tobacco consumption. However, on the other hand, the government also needed to take into consideration the commercial benefits of tobacco. The tobacco industry is considered a key contributor to the State Exchequer. This was evident from the stats that depicted that during the year 2000-01, it contributed about ₹8000 crores in excise revenue. This was considered extremely essential in view of the economic crisis that the government faced at that time. In light of the above statements, there were several questions that came up, such as "What approach must the government take--- ethical or commercial?" or "Is it right for the government to interfere in the matters of personal choice in the first place?" To make the issue more complex and debatable, there were also questions such as "Was the objective achievable at all?" or "Was it equitable?" The answers to these questions lay in understanding the opinions of both sides, that is, those in favour of and those against such bans. The ban was not unusual if some of the international precedents analysed. For example, in countries like France, Finland and Norway, similar bans on tobacco ads had already been imposed. People supporting these bans were of the view that these resulted in breach of people's privacy and personal choice and decision making. However, others were of the opinion that the government had the right to intervene in the overall interest of the citizens. They mentioned examples of drugs, like cocaine, which is banned around the world. In 1981, the Supreme Court (of Appeal) in Belgium gave the verdict that a ban on tobacco advertising was not unconstitutional. Further in 1991, the French Constitutional Council gave the verdict that the French ban on tobacco ads was not unconstitutional as it intended to protect public health without restricting the freedom of trade. There were many precedents of restrictions being imposed on the advertising of dangerous or potentially dangerous products, e.g., pharmaceutical products, firearms, etc., even if they were available in the market.