SAGE Research Methods: Survey

Section A: Introduction

Respondent’ Name KANDARP SINGH

Name of Institute INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE KOLKATA
Address 167, n.s ROAD , KOLAKATA -7
City KOLKATA
Date of Interview 21-06-2020
Mobile Number 9038445676
Email Id KANDARP.SINGH @ IMI-K.EDU.IN

Section B: Survey Questions

Questions to be asked to the Research Scholars: -

1. What motivated you to go for a PHD or a Research Program? Was it to gain more knowledge, earn
more in future, or any other reason as you would like to share with us?

Ans: - I always wanted to pursue my carrier in the field of teaching as my father is also a teacher and that
motivated me a lot.

2. How did you get into the institution or any university? And what are the Entrance tests, interviews
and criteria for this?

Ans: - I was an ex-employee in this institution, I was working on a research project by UNDP and after
completion of my project I applied for the FPM programme. They conduct a RET exam followed by a PI.
Where we have to give a tentative topic on which area we would like to work and also we need to defend
that in our PI session.

3. Do you have any PHD guide assigned to you or a particular faculty member assigned and if so what
kind of interactions you have with the guide and faculty member? Also, what is the frequency of
such interactions?

Ans: - I am still a second year student, due to this pandemic situation guide is yet to be assigned. But till
here we were guided by our area chair. Generally the frequency of interaction depends on the kind of work
assigned, for e.g. if we are writing a paper then we meet the faculty once or twice a week or else twice of
thrice in a month.

4. How you chose the Research topic that you are going to work on? Is it by yourself or with the help
of the guide?

Ans: - the choice of topic fpr my thesis was a mixture of both – my choice as well as help of a faculty.
Initially I went through few contemporary papers and after that I choose a brad area in which I can work
on and then I sat with a faculty and discussed about the areas that can be explored.

5. Do you get any stipend for your research work? And if so, how much does it cover your total
expenditure for the research program.

Ans: - yes I get scholar for my research programme and as of now it mostly covers all my research
expenditure.

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 6. What is the difference between a JRF scholar and a non-JRF Scholar? Why does one choose to be
either of them?

Ans: - The main difference between a JRF and a non JRF is the scholarship provided by the government.
Most of the aspiring students choose JRF since it helps them to undertake advanced studies and research
leading to M. Phil/Ph. D.

7. How do you differentiate between top government and private institutes for the research program?

Ans: - as far as my knowledge the course work between the private and top government institutes are
similar. The only difference is the brand name. the tag of the institute associated with the degree.

8. Is any sort of Research funding available for conducting research on any topic? And are you
planning to write a Grant Proposal?

Ans: - definitely yes

9. What is the biggest challenge while doing a literature review?

Ans: - mostly it is seen that if the topic is unique there are very less literature available therefore making
it difficult for the researcher and also doing a systematic research coving all the important literature
across the time span

10. What is the duration of your research program and also which stage takes the most time? And
what are requirements of publishing papers?

Ans: - the duration for my FPM programme is for 4 years. According to me the course work take half of
the time as the course work is for 2 years. Till now we had to publish our term papers which we usez to
present after every year.

11.What are the statistical tools and software that you use and how do you decide on which method to
use?

Ans: - the most common statistical tool in my area are SPSS, R and SEM. To decide which tool to be used
depends on the objective of the study and what the study is trying to prove.

12. Which is the most difficult phase of doing a Research Program or PHD and what are the different
stages of Research?

Ans: - According to me till now what I have learnt the most difficult phase of doing a research programme
is to choose a topic and cover all its literature. There is also a need to update as in whats happening in my
area by other researcher.

13. Is there any support that you are expecting from publishers?

Ans: - definitely yes, since the primary objective is to publish a paper in a reputed journal. Therefore any
sort of help in any form is going to help a researcher a lot.

14.We will also be conducting a survey on Sage Research Methods, so will you be interested in
answering that survey as well?
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Ans: - being a researcher I know how difficult is to take a survey and also getting a focused survey. So
yes I’ll help in conducting the survey.