By: Dr. Cheng Kai Wah
SERDANG, Dec 7 – A total of 135 students from the Faculty of Human Ecology (FEM), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), have participated in one of the postgraduate talk series entitled ‘How to Prepare a High-Quality Research Methodology Write-up’, recently.
The webinar was conducted through Zoom Meeting Communications. It was organised by the Human Ecology Postgraduate Students’ Association (HEPSA) in collaboration with the Deputy Dean Office (Postgraduate Studies, Industry and Community Relations), FEM, UPM.
Moderator of the talk was FEM Teaching Assistant, Dr. Cheng Kai Wah, while FEM Senior Lecturer, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nobaya Ahmad was the panellist.
The webinar aimed to identify core sub-topics to produce a high-quality methodology write-up, learn the writing sequence of the Research Methodology Chapter, identify common mistakes made by students in the Research Methodology Chapter, and understand the examiner’s requirements in regard to the writing of research methodology.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nobaya explained the research methodology and emphasised the need for candidates to elaborate on the sub-topics of their research methodology.
“This chapter can be seen as the core of your thesis because good and solid justification provided in this chapter guarantees that your research is on the right track. If you use poorly understood terminology, you may need to provide more explanation to the examiners.
“Candidates must be able to write the Research Methodology Chapter using appropriate tenses,” she said.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nobaya also said the Research Methodology Chapter needs to have seven important elements to produce a good, solid thesis.
“To write an effective methodology section, candidates need to describe the chosen methodological approach, create the connection of the methodology, explain the instruments, discuss their analysis, provide background information, discuss the sampling process, and address the research limitations,” she said.
Dr. Cheng said the next FEM webinar series to be held in January 2022 will focus on the strategies of publishing high-impact journals.
Recordings of the webinar could be obtained by all postgraduate students through the HEPSA social media account. They are encouraged to subscribe and follow HEPSA on Facebook (@FEM.HEPSA), Telegram (t.me/FEMHEPSA), and Instagram (@fem_hepsa) to keep up to date with FEM postgraduate announcements and studies. - UPM
