ICT in research
ICT supports every stage of research: finding literature (databases, Shodhganga), collecting and analysing data (SPSS, NVivo), writing, managing references (Zotero, Mendeley) and checking plagiarism.
ICT at each stage of research
| Stage | ICT help | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Literature search | Databases, indexes, repositories | Google Scholar, Scopus, Web of Science, ERIC, JSTOR, Shodhganga |
| Reference management | Store, cite and format references | Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote |
| Data collection | Online forms and surveys | Google Forms, SurveyMonkey |
| Quantitative analysis | Statistics packages | SPSS, R, Stata, SAS, Excel |
| Qualitative analysis | Coding text, audio and video | NVivo, ATLAS.ti, MAXQDA |
| Writing and checking | Word processing, typesetting, similarity checks | MS Word, LaTeX, Turnitin, iThenticate |
| Sharing | Open access and identifiers | DOAJ, institutional repositories, DOI, ORCID |
INFLIBNET services for researchers
| Service | What it does |
|---|---|
| Shodhganga | Open repository of Indian Ph.D. theses |
| Shodhgangotri | Repository of research synopses (proposals) |
| e-ShodhSindhu | Consortium giving institutions access to e-journals and databases |
| ShodhShuddhi | Gives universities access to plagiarism-detection software |
| Vidwan | Database of experts and researchers |
Identifiers and metrics
- DOI (Digital Object Identifier): a permanent link to a digital document.
- ORCID: a unique, persistent ID for a researcher.
- ISSN: an 8-digit number for journals and serials. ISBN: a 13-digit number for books.
- Impact factor: average citations to a journal's recent articles, published by Clarivate.
- h-index (J.E. Hirsch): h papers each cited at least h times.
- i10-index (Google Scholar): the number of papers with at least 10 citations.
NET asks you to match tools to their use (SPSS, NVivo, Zotero, Turnitin), to identify INFLIBNET services such as Shodhganga, and to read h-index, DOI and ORCID correctly.
Typical MCQ: “Shodhganga is a repository of what?” Indian Ph.D. theses, maintained by INFLIBNET. Synopses go to Shodhgangotri.
Typical MCQ: “What does an h-index of 10 mean?” The researcher has 10 papers that have each been cited at least 10 times.
Shodhganga is the big river of finished theses; Shodhgangotri is its source, the synopsis, just as Gangotri is where the Ganga begins.