RESEARCH METHODOLOGY FOR CHEMISTRY

Objectives:

The objective of this paper is to formulate the research problems and connect the research outcomes to society. It further helps in gaining the knowledge of safety and ethical handlings of chemicals in the lab and households.

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the course, the students will be 1) Able to identify research problems. 2) Able to find out the local solution. 3) Able to communicate the research at an appropriate level.

Unit 1: Literature Survey:

Print: Sources of information: Primary, secondary, tertiary sources; Journals: Journal abbreviations, abstracts, current titles, reviews, monographs, dictionaries, text-books, current contents, Introduction to Chemical Abstracts and Beilstein, Subject Index, Substance Index, Author Index, Formula Index, and other Indices with examples. Digital: Web resources, E-journals, Journal access, TOC alerts, Hot articles, Citation index, Impact factor, Hindex, E-consortium, UGC infonet, E-books, Internet discussion groups and communities, Blogs, Preprint servers, Search engines, Scirus, Google Scholar, ChemIndustry, Wiki- Databases, ChemSpider, Science Direct, SciFinder, Scopus. Information Technology and Library Resources: The Internet and World Wide Web. Internet resources for chemistry. Finding and citing published information. Open source Lead lectures.Open source chemistry designing sources, Essentials of Problem formulation and communication with society. (20 Lectures)

Unit 2: Research Methodology for Chemistry

Methods of Scientific Research and Writing Scientific Papers: Reporting practical and project work. Idea about public funding agencies of research, Writing literature surveys and reviews. Organizing a poster display. Giving an oral presentation. Writing scientific papers – justification for scientific contributions, bibliography, description of methods, conclusions, the need for illustration, style, publications of scientific work. Writing ethics. Avoiding plagiarism. Assessment of locally available resources. (20 Lectures)

Unit 3: Chemical Safety and Ethical Handling of Chemicals:

Safe working procedure and protective environment, protective apparel, emergency procedure and first aid, laboratory ventilation. Safe storage and use of hazardous chemicals, procedure for working with substances that pose hazards, flammable or explosive hazards, procedures for working with gases at pressures above or below atmospheric – safe storage and disposal of waste chemicals, recovery, recycling and reuse of laboratory chemicals, procedure for laboratory disposal of explosives, identification, verification and segregation of laboratory waste, disposal of chemicals in the sanitary sewer system, incineration and transportation of hazardous chemicals. Hazardous Chemicals in Households. (12 Lectures)

Unit 4: Data Analysis:

The Investigative Approach: Making and Recording Measurements. SI Units and their use.Scientific method and design of experiments. Analysis and Presentation of Data: Descriptive statistics. Choosing and using statistical tests. Chemometrics. Analysis of variance (ANOVA), Correlation and regression, Curve fitting, fitting of linear equations, simple linear cases, weighted linear case, analysis of residuals, General polynomial fitting, linearizing transformations, exponential function fit, r and its abuse. Basic aspects of multiple linear regression analysis. Biostatistics (13 Lectures)

Exposure of chemistry softwares:

Chemistry Students must be given exposure to applications of molecular modeling software e.g. Hyperchem, Schrodinger etc. Hands-on experiments of docking. (10 Lectures)

References

Theory:

  1.  Dean, J. R., Jones, A. M., Holmes, D., Reed, R., Weyers, J. & Jones, A. Practical skills in chemistry 2nd Ed. Prentice-Hall, Harlow, 2011.
  2.  Hibbert, D. B. & Gooding, J. J. Data analysis for chemistry. Oxford University Press. 2006.
  3.  Topping, J. Errors of observation and their treatment. Fourth Ed. Chapman Hall, London. 1984.
  4.  Harris, D. C. Quantitative chemical analysis. 6th Ed., Freeman Chapters 3-5, 2007.
  5.  Levie, R. de, How to use Excel in analytical chemistry and in general scientific data analysis. Cambridge Univ, 2001.
  6.  Chemical safety matters – IUPAC – IPCS, Cambridge University Press, 1992.
  7.  OSU safety manual 1.01.

Additional Resources:

• Introductory Biostatistics by Chap T Le.

Teaching-Learning Process

  •  Lecture with conventional teaching aids, presentations, invited talks on thrusting areas, group discussions

Assessment Methods

  •  writing review on an identified research problem
  •  Poster presentation
  •  university examination
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