Tips to find a good Research Topic


What you should start off with is the basics – figure out what field of psychology interests you the most and then start narrowing it down. It can be hard at first, one needs to have a rather broad knowledge in a subject to really orientate in the field. For example, some topics may sound like a new discovery for beginners, whereas they may turn out to be a common knowledge for the specialists. Still some effort (read: quite some reading/browsing) will be surely rewarding.
Once you roughly know what interests you, you can go deeper to select the topic. The following advice and criteria will help you to narrow down your topic even more.
Literature analysis
As you figured out, you won’t be able to know what to choose not having read loads of books and articles. It takes a lot of time and effort to browse through everything in the field of your interest before you really get deep in the topic.

Tips to Remember:

• Don’t limit yourself to one book/article – different authors and researches may show various insights to theories and address the same problem in a different way.
• When reading an article, focus on objective of the study, its results and the conclusion – use fast screening!
• Be patient! Notice that to get an extensive  overview of the field, it takes time and can’t be done in one day or a week.
• Don’t only collect literature – analyze it!

Critical reasoning/ observation of reality
Keep your eyes wide open. For example, if you work as a volunteer in an hospital, you may be able to see some behaviours among patients and thus draw topics that need and should be addressed in research (and were not till now). The most important thing is to ask questions and seek for answers.
It is really significant to:

• Constantly seek for new inquires
• Always have a critical mind
• Don’t take anything for granted – ask questions about reality.
• Even if something you want to address is already answered, don’t hesitate to deepen the problem or to look at it from another angle.

Moreover, don’t not forget about practical aspects before starting our own research. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Is it possible to investigate your subject? This means, will you be able to change psychology concepts to measures/categories with your results?
• Do you have appropriate tools and human resources for your project (methods – e.g., questionnaires; colleagues or a research group that could be involved, should you need more people)?
• Should there be no adequate method you may need to develop one. Are you ready to handle the extra work before even starting research and performing pilot studies 
  
  
  Source:  Maris Vainre,( 10th July 2011), Tips to find a good research topic, Journal of European Psychology Students, Retrieved 14th July 2012 from http://jeps.efpsa.org/blog/2011/07/10/on-a-mission-to-find-a-good-topic-research-topic/

Dalil Menuntut Ilmu

Dalam Surah at Taubah ada menyebut bahawa bukan semua di antara kita pergi untuk berjuang (berjihad). Makanya wajib sebahagian di antara kita pergi memperdalamkan ilmu agama. Firman Allah SWT yang bermaksud:

"Dan tidaklah (betul dan elok) orang-orang yang beriman keluar semuanya (pergi berperang). Oleh itu, hendaklah keluar sebahagian sahaja dari tiap-tiap puak di antara mereka, supaya orang-orang (yang tinggal) itu mempelajari secara mendalam ilmu yang dituntut di dalam agama, dan supaya mereka dapat mengajar kaumnya (yang keluar berjuang) apabila orang-orang itu kembali kepada mereka; mudah-mudahan mereka dapat berjaga-jaga (dari melakukan larangan Allah)." [At Taubah 9 : 122]

Dan dalam sebuah hadis Rasulullah SAW ada menyebut bahawa sekiranya Allah SWT ingin memberikan hambanya kebaikan, maka Allah SWT akan memberikannya kefahaman dalam agama. Perkara ini yang harus dikejar oleh setiap muslim agar dekat kepada kebaikan yang dijanjikan oleh Allah SWT dengan menuntut ilmu. Sabda Rasulullah SAW yang bermaksud:

"Sesiapa yang dikehendaki oleh Allah SWT baginya akan kebaikan, nescaya Allah SWT akan memberinya kefahaman dalam agama" [HR Bukhari dan Muslim]

Adab Menuntut Ilmu

01.Niat yang ikhlas

Menuntut ilmu bukan untuk lulus dalam perperiksaaan, untuk mendapat kerja yang bagus, untuk dikatakan orang yang bijak atau pelbagai lagi niat yang lain melainkan hanya kerana Allah SWT. Daripada Ibn Umar RA sesungguhnya Rasulullah SAW bersabda yang bermaksud:

"Sesiapa yang menuntut ilmu kerana selain daripada Allah SWT ataupun menghendaki menuntut ilmu (sebaliknya) selain daripada Allah SWT, maka disediakan tempat duduknya daripada neraka." [HR Tarmizi]

Niat itu sendiri memainkan peranan yang tinggi dalam sesuatu amalan. Setiap amalan kita akan dinilai oleh Allah SWT berdasarkan niat. Maka niatlah segalanya hanya kerana Allah SWT, kerana sesungguhnya Allah SWT tahu apa yang terdetik dalam hati tiap-tiap manusia.

02.Beradab dengan orang yang memberi ilmu

Imam Syafie pernah bekata:

"Sesiapa yang ingin dibuka hatinya oleh Allah, maka hendaklah ia berkhalwah, sedikit makan, menjauhi daripada bergaul dengan orang yang bodoh, dan membenci orang yang tidak berlaku adil dan tidak beradab daripada kalangan mereka yang berilmu" [Kitab Majmuk, Syarah Mazhab, jilid 1, m/s 31]

Pada pendapat saya dalam hal beradab dengan guru, ia memerlukan perbahasan yang panjang. Namun secara ringkasnya bagi kita sebagai penuntut, adab-adab ini haruslah disesuaikan mengikut situasi. Janganlah kita terlalu menghormatinya sehinggakan mengakui kesilapan yang guru itu lakukan dan janganlah juga kita terlalu memperlecehkan sehingga guru itu tidak ikhlas dalam memberi ilmu kepada kita. Hormatnya kita akan guru berubah mengikut situasi dimana hormatnya seorang kanak-kanak tadika dengan gurunya berbeza dengan hormatnya mahasiswa dengan pensyarah.

03.Bersabar dalam menuntut ilmu

Imam Syafie pernah berkata:

"Tidak diperolehi ilmu kecuali dengan bersabar atas kesengsaraan." [Kitab Muntalaqat Talib al Ilmi, Husin Ya'cob, m/s: 237

04. Tulis setiap yang dipelajari

Sahabat Rasulullah SAW sendiri menulis jika ingin menuntut ilmu, adakah kita lebih baik dari mereka dengan tidak menulis apa yang dipelajari?

Abu Hurairah berkata: 

"Tidak ada seorangpun daripada sahabat Rasulullah SAW yang paling banyak meriwayatkan hadis kecuali Abdullah bin Amr bin al Asr, maka sesungguhnya dia telah menulis dan aku tidak menulis" [HR Ahmad dan Baihaqi]

05.Rendah diri

Imam Ahmad bin Hambal berkata:

"Kami diperintahkan supaya tawadhu' (rendah diri) kepada siapa yang kami pelajari ilmu daripadanya." [Kitab Muntalaqat Talib al Ilmi, Husin Ya'cob, m/s 274]

06.Menjahui dari kenyang yang berlebihan

Ibn Jama'ah berkata:

"Sebesar-besar perkara yang menolong seorang penuntut ilmu dengan kefahaman dan tidak rasa jemu adalah makan sekadarnya daripada makan yang halal." [Kitab Fadhlu al Ilmi wa Adab Talabihi, m/s 222]

07.Tidur yang sedikit

Firman Allah SWT yang bermaksud:

"Sesungguhnya orang-orang yang bertakwa berada di dalam taman-taman (syurga) dan mata air, mereka mengambil apa yang diberikan Tuhan kepada mereka. Sesungguhnya mereka sebelum itu (di dunia) adalah orang-orang yang berbuat baik; mereka sedikit sekali tidur di waktu malam dan pada akhir malam mereka meminta ampun (kepada Allah SWT)." [Az Zariyat 51 : 15 – 18]

08.Kurangkan berkata-kata yang tidak menfaat

Sabda Rasulullah SAW yang bermaksud:

"Sesiapa yang beriman kepada Allah dan hari akhirat, maka bercakaplah dengan perkataan yang baik ataupun diam." [HR Bukhari dan Muslim]

PENUTUP:
Tiada adab yang lebih sempurna melainkan kita mengikuti adab Rasulullah SAW dan adab mereka yang segenarasi dengan Rasulullah SAW (sahabat), generasi setelahnya (tabi'in) kemudian setelahnya (tabi' tabi'in).
Saya menasihati para pembaca sekalian agar dalam usaha kita untuk menuntut ilmu agama, seharusnya memperbanyakkan adab-adab dalam menuntut ilmu. Namun adab-adab tersebut seharusnya jangan terlalu 'fanatik' sehinggakan memperbetulkan apa yang salah dari mereka yang kita hormati. Manakah yang kalian lebih cintai sama ada pemberi ilmu atau kebenaran? Dan kebenaran itu juga seharusnya dengan ilmu.
Hanya ilmu yang layak untuk menjadi pegangan kita sebagai ummat akhir zaman ialah al Quran, as Sunnah dan sunnah Khulafa' al Rasyidin seperti sabda Rasulullah SAW yang bermaksud:

"Sesungguhnya barangsiapa di antara kalian yang hidup sepeninggalanku nanti, maka ia akan melihat perselisihan yang banyak. Oleh kerana itu wajib bagi kalian untuk berpegang teguh dengan sunnahku dan sunnah al Khulafa al Rasyidin yang terbina dan terbimbing. Berpeganglah erat-erat denganya dan gigitlah ia dengan gigi gerham." [HR Abu Daud, at Tarmidzi dan lain-lain]

Tinta saya hanyalah dari ilmu yang sedikit namun kerana kesedaran betapa pentingnya adab dalam menuntut ilmu maka saya kongsikan apa yang terbaik dari ilmu yang sedikit ini. Saya memohon dari para 'alim dari segala ilmu untuk menegur jika terdapat salah dan silap dari apa yang saya kongsikan ini. Sungguh tiada yang lebih benar melainkan dari al Quran dan as Sunnah Rasulullah SAW.

- Artikel iLuvislam.com

ALLAH always has something for you, A key for every problem, A light for every shadow, A relief for every sorrow & A plan for every tomorrow!

Teachers & technology

Be an educator is not a simple job as you see. It needs a lot of patient and scarifies so many things. In daily teacher's busy day, and getting hit on all fronts, some teachers may just ignore the technology or seldom use it for real instruction. In fact, there is little written about the subject and I do admit that. There is no place to try and get how best to use some technology in the classroom. Teachers have been left pretty much on their own to use it or not. For an educator new technology is no use if they don't know how to fully utilize it through teaching and learning. The best way is to get help from other teacher who really use with all type of technology in the classroom and besides that,all this can be shared through the advancement of internet where people get connected and sharing ideas.

There is a lot of websites which can be as good reference for the teachers some of it:

http://www.freetech4teachers.com
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3752562
http://www.cikgublog.com/category/ict
http://www.sites4teachers.com

The good starts in implementing technology in education is always ask yourself: what, where, when and how to use the technology in the classroom. What do you do in your classroom on a daily or weekly basis.

For me,in order to utilize the use of technology in classroom what I can share is :
*using power point and projector

It makes me less writing while teaching, and the best is when it can be save and use for the next teaching.But it doesn't mean I do not need the whiteboard, it still needed as to write something or correction to the students.

*using e-mail as second medium of communication
E-mail can be as a good medium of communication to interact with the students as it is quite popular, clear message (black & white) & savings compare by phone.

*using video
sometimes video are great and so do with photos. If students need to be shown on a process a video can do that and they have a clear picture of what being learn.

Teachers don't feel distract when students paying attention better during new technologies as a sign of learning. Sometimes they just being entertained and technology is the starting point. For the teachers out there...."your goal is still for the students to be interested in learning and having desire to be engaged

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Internet Marketing Money Making

These days internet marketing is a broad way that can be defined as the 'use of the internet to advertise and sell goods and services'. Essentially anything that is a service and which can make money on the internet is and can be interpreted as internet marketing.
As a result, marketing techniques and strategies such as: cost per click advertising, banner ads, search engine marketing, e-mail marketing, affiliate marketing, interactive advertising, search engine marketing (including search engine optimization), blog marketing, article marketing, and blogging can all come under the auspices of 'internet marketing'.

Over the past ten years, the internet as a global communication and exchange medium
has witnessed unprecedented growth. Globally, the number of websites increased from
23,000 in 1995 to more then 55 million in 2005 (Zakon, 2005).

The biggest advantage of online business is you can setup at any time and there is no compulsion of sitting in front of your PC for a particular period of time. Even if you are doing job somewhere, you can always use this as second option to make money on the internet. In online business, Internet marketing is one of the emerging trends now a days as companies around the world are spending millions of dollars to have their online presence and be on the top in search results.

Another great benefit is the low start up cost which is huge when you are setting up a business which has some physical existence. Also, the operational expenses and fixed cost are too high in a business where you are going for conventional business. Other than cost factors, it is more than a blessing when you are allowed to work in flexible hours. If you are doing Internet marketing, you have the flexibility to work from anywhere in flexible hours.
When you are starting an online business, you have to keep this in mind that initially you have to be patient and consistent in whatever you are doing. Internet Marketing does not give results overnight like any other business as you have to put the same amount of effort you were putting in your job. To make money on the internet, there has to be a plan of action and some goals which you want to achieve. The best way to do is to make a plan for the whole year and set monthly targets for you.

Through this way, you will be able to evaluate your performance and once you are consistently meeting your own performance criteria, you can increase it to earn even more. But again like mentioned earlier, this is not an easy job in the beginning as you have to work really hard in order to make your credibility among the people you are targeting. It is also not advisable to quit your main job and completely shift to online business from Day one. This would be an impractical approach to make money on the internet as initially you will be giving lesser time which you can increase with the passage of time when you are done with some successful projects.

So, with all the advantages and attractions you see in internet marketing, the consistency will lead you to success. As you will be handling clients from all over the world, you will have more experience and exposure compared to your colleagues working 9 to 5.

It is extremely rare these days to find any business that isn't utilizing the Internet in order to market its products or services. Regardless of whether you have a brick and mortar store on your local high street, whether you have a large multinational corporation, whether you simply run a small business from your own home, you should understand that the Internet is a crucial vehicle to use when generating traffic, visitors, and exposure.
There are loads of things that any entrepreneur can do in order to market their products and services on the Internet. To kick things off, it is a sensual to get yourself set up with a website. The website will represent your presence on the Internet and will be an excellent tool to expose you and your offerings to the local market.
Remember that your website is going to be pointless unless it is well ranked. If you set up a website and it appears on the 10th page of Google, it is never going to make an impact. To really stamp your markdown and to get people looking at your website, you need get it ranked on the first page, especially if you are targeting low keyword terms. Focus on optimizing your website and you will begin to generate organic traffic.
Write articles. Writing articles will be helpful both in building links to your website (something that is important in search engine optimization) and also in leveraging traffic. Article directories, blogs, and other similar resources will all accept the articles you write. If people are interested in these articles then they will read them and may even click on the link included in the resource box. This will direct them to your website, and will give you even more exposure.
Take advantage of online classifieds. Online classifieds will allow you to advertise your business, often for free. You can write a basic spiel regarding your business, services, products, and everything else in between. Submit these to all relevant classifieds and business directories and this also will increase your exposure.

References:
Zakon, R. (2005), “Hobbes’ internet timeline 1993-2005”, available at: www.zakon.org/robert/internet/timeline/

Alexander, James, J. "The state of internet marketing research", European Journal of Marketing, vol.41,2007.

The smartphone: A real bug????

The rise of the smartphone over the past few years has been a technology success story. Smartphones gives you lots of options to stay productive, have fun, listen to favorite music and lot more. Apart from work and fun you can also track the weather news and forecast from your smartphones with few user-friendly applications. These application are free as well as paid applications so that you can download the ones which you find useful.

As a busy person, the importance of staying a step ahead of your clients and your family. You probably know the feeling of being tied to your desk or home so as not to miss that important email or phone call and to maintain convenient access to essential data—proposals, schedules, contact information, business news or the stock market. However, thousands have newfound freedom using PDA-style smartphones designed for business (and fun). These cellular devices trace their roots back to the personal digital assistant or PDA. Originally used as businessperson’s right hand to track important client information, project statuses, and task lists, these devices have evolved into an everyman’s (and woman’s) tool.

These cellular devices are much more than just cell phones; they provide instant access to the web. Whether you’re researching news to predict the stock market or looking for the perfect golf course on the weekend, you’ll find it on the net.

Many of these devices allow you to sync with your desktop computer. This means you can store, view, and work on documents directly on your handheld. You can also receive and respond to emails as they arrive in your inbox on your home computer with real-time push email.

These produces can also serve as multimedia devices, so your entertainment goes with you. They can store and display pictures and videos of friends and family and even entire feature-length movies. Most can take pictures and capture video, but the most common multimedia function is the ability to play MP3s—sit back, relax, and enjoy your favorite tunes while traveling or during breaks.

Another perk of using one of these devices is the fairly recent development of third-party applications (or apps). These apps range from those geared toward hardworking business tasks to entertaining games and everything in between. With thousands of apps available to download in a range of prices, there’s sure to be something that will appeal.
An almost perfect storm of advancing materials science, chip set development, software innovation and social networking has fueled the progress in handset design and capability beyond that which could be imagined only a couple of decades ago. Having such tremendous computing power, alongside user’s private data and contacts makes a tempting target for criminals. It could be argued that the security industry has been slow in recognizing the threat to such devices so only now are we seeing products and services designed to improve smartphone security.

Very few businesses want their data to be less mobile, aside from those that have just gone through a major data loss incident and are hurriedly trying to bolt the doors after the data has gone. In fact many businesses seem to pride themselves on the mobility of their data, on the basis that their employees will be accessing work related data at all times of the day or night and will therefore be more productive. Whether employees are actually more productive is another discussion, but certainly the drive to mobilize data has resulted in the endpoint of most organization’s network being in the handbag or pocket of their employees.

One exciting part of data mobilization is the tidal wave of smartphones being used by businesses to access their data. But what are the particular security issues and opportunities that these smartphones present?


Of course data is more mobile than ever before. Few people pause to consider why we should automatically assume that all data should be made mobile. Very few computer security types are successful in stopping this demand, certainly outside a handful of top secret establishments. One of the first questions many a new employee will ask is how they can connect their smartphone to the data they use. After all the success of web sites such as salesforce.com is based on the fact that, like all cloud computing solutions, the data can be made available from anywhere. A young in age workforce knows nothing other than mobile computing.

Most businesses accept mobile computing and, during this inevitable embrace, need to decide how to best protect their data. After all, the smartphone is where it is happening.

Try to go into a phone shop and buy a phone that doesn’t, at least, have some “smart” features and you will have a problem. Some organizations that try and equip their workforce with phones that don’t have a camera for security reasons have a problem. Some manufacturers have woken up to this and are now producing basic phones, especially for the older generation that may need improved handset accessibility. Consider that the biggest growing group of Facebook users are the 35 year old plus, all of who will want to access their accounts long into the future. Even if the Facebook site isn’t around a successor will be as social networking appears to be deeply entrenched into so many people’s lives.

Smartphone hardware marches on relentlessly. Handsets are certainly getting more powerful, for example in 2010 LG announced the Optimus 2X with a dual core 1GHz processor. Research has shown that 2011 is the year when smartphone shipments will overtake PC shipments, and both PCs and smartphones lay neck and neck at around 400 million units each, per year. The amazing growth in these fantastically powerful devices presents us as security experts with a significant challenge.

On top of all their other concerns most CISOs are now having to worry about a number of smartphone security issues:

* Are my smartphones going to be infected with malware?
* Is my smartphone based data secure?
* Will my mobile voice traffic be secure?
* Can my smartphones be remotely managed?

There is no longer a discussion about whether these devices should be allowed, now the conversation is how they can be accommodated safely and securely. Ultimately the CISO is worried about risk to the business, and in particular how this new smartphone risk can be managed whilst at the same time the business productivity of users improved.


Cast one’s mind forward 20 years and it boggles at the depth and breadth of attacks our mobile phones will be subject to. In the meantime anyone that conducts sensitive business using a mobile phone should seriously consider implementing preventative measures sooner rather than later. As more and more people use their mobile phones to run their entire lives, attackers will focus their efforts on getting the information they need from these devices. In many respects attitudes towards mobile phone data security reflect those held 20 years ago towards the humble personal computer. Back then attacks were minimal, anti-malware was yet to become established and hacking was in its infancy. Now we are in a maelstrom of attacks against the PC using sophistication and scale we previously thought impossible. The smartphone is next on the list.


References:
Nigel Stanley, Practice Leader Security, Bloor is speaking on “Can You Turn Mobile Devices To Your Advantage Or Are They The Next Big Security Hole?” in the keynote programme at Infosecurity Europe 2011.

The need of Technology in Education

As modern devices like tablet computers, laptops and PDAs develop more of a presence in our school system, it becomes more important for educators, students and parents to understand the role of information technology in education today. ........New technology is not only a subject of itself, but can be applied to any subject, enhancing the learning experience and equipping students to join an increasingly global workforce.

There are some reasons why we need technology in education:

* Education is a life long process therefore anytime anywhere access to it is the need
* Information explosion is an ever increasing phenomena therefore there is need to get access to this information
* Education should meet the needs of variety of learners and therefore IT is important in meeting this need
* It is a requirement of the society that the individuals should posses technological literacy
* We need to increase access and bring down the cost of education to meet the challenges of illiteracy and poverty-IT is the answer