Sharing session on research

The Institute of Management and Leadership Development (IMLD) organised a sharing session on overcoming the obstacles to research and publication on 18 June 2018 at Sungai Long Campus.

The invited speakers were University of Malaya’s Faculty of Economics and Administration Coordinator of the Population Studies Unit Dr Tey Nai Peng and senior lecturer Dr Lai Siow Li.

Dr Tey addressing issues faced by researchers, while Dr Lai looks on

During his talk, Dr Tey provided the participants with an invaluable insight into some of the common problems encountered during research and publication. He advised the participants to start young in conducting research as well as to think of its benefits such as financial reward, career advancement and personal satisfaction that can be gained from the publication.

According to him, the reviewing process could take more than two to three years and most of the time the researchers are required to make corrections, sometimes even in multiple rounds. “You don’t have to completely agree with the reviewers if you have a good justification for not making the suggested changes,” said Dr Tey. He also mentioned that rejection is common in publishing. “Editors and reviewers have all sorts of reasons to reject papers for publication even if it is a well-written paper,” he said.

He further explained how and where to publish research findings and literature review, and shared some valuable resources of access to national and international data from population censuses and surveys. Dr Lai, on the other hand, provided the guidelines for the access to published data through some government agencies such as Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), Ministry of Health (MoH), Ministry of Education (MoE) and Lembaga Penduduk dan Pembangunan Keluarga Negara (LPPKN) as well as the access to online databases such as Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS), Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) and General Social Survey (GSS). She gave a thorough explanation on how to obtain the data set from these available resources to the audience.

The event ended with an interactive Q&A session, followed by a presentation of souvenir from IMLD Director-cum-Belt and Road Strategic Research Centre Chairperson Prof Dr Cheng Ming Yu to Dr Tey and Dr Lai.

Prof Cheng presenting a token of appreciation to Dr Tey (right)

Prof Cheng presenting a token of appreciation to Dr Lai (right)