I agree entirely with you. I have written such a book covering your topics and more and am busy editing it this year!

Nageswara, I agree with you. In our university, in the undergraduate level. we offer two Research Methods subjects for all programs, including Engineering, Science and Technology. We offer the same in the masters level and doctoral level. The topics you have mentioned are covered there. I also agree with Ian and and Glenn of the importance of reading already available and upcoming books in research and statistics. I have observed that despite the presence of such books in the midst of these students, they still lack sufficient knowledge in research. Perhaps it is because of complacency?

I would like to share this paper that refers exactly to the question raised by Nageswara:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260245958_The_complexification_of_engineering?ev=prf_pub

Article The Complexification of Engineering

When I look for material to utilize for a course there are many books in Education Research which are well structured and good. An example is shown below:

Fraenkel, J. R. & Wallen, N.E. (2012). How to Design and Evaluate Research in Education. (8th ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill, ISBN-978-0-07-809785-0.

I have not come across any textbook for Engineering disciplines. In the absence of such a textbook, many a times one has to rely on the Education book and then supplement with examples of engineering. It would be really interesting to have a book written from the engineering viewpoint to help many graduate students in the engineering disciplines.

Hopefully books from Ian and Glenn are in that direction.

No, I think that a significant number of undergraduate students have poor understanding of research methods in all specializations, including, Engineering and Technology. Scientific Research Methods and Statistical Analysis must be focused on in their study plans.

The question is an interesting one. This is because doing research in engineering and technology can some how be different to research in other disciplines like education, business where the focus is on quantitative research and quantitative research methods. In engineering and technology, research is less reliant on quantitative methods and it is less standardized. It can be sort of qualitative research but more on the applied side. Most concentration in teaching courses on research methods focus on statistical analysis and quantitative methods. The research in engineering and technology can benefit from these to a degree, but a more "engineering and technology" oriented research courses, which concentrate on themes like looking for technical solutions, developing techniques and implementing and designing the technology, would be needed as well. Hope colleagues above who are considering authoring in this area to take such needs into consideration. Thanks. @AlDmour.

@Ismat Aldmour: Thanks for voicing my concern. That was precisely what I am facing when I teach this to technology students. For doing good engineering and technology studies in addition to these theories and statistics we need something that will guide them to practical problems and approaches that they should take. Like you, I am hoping something will be available soon.

Although the Engineering and technology students have hopefully done lab work in Physics and Chemistry and maybe Metallurgy, they are not used to designing experiments, much less generating research questions and subquestions. Engineering students especially are

poor at writing.

I am currently polishing my textbook aimed for the engineering research student and others to address this issue. I point to resources on e.g. statistics, software, I also give exercises to build the students up to a stage where they can write a proposal, give presentations, and structure their thesis.

My textbook covers the suggestions mentioned. The problem with many existing research textbooks is that they speak their own opaque language full of undefined weasel words. I am rectifying this

through careful vocabulary control and an exemplary glossary. I am looking for critical readers, on a selective basis.

Dear Ian, beside what has been said, engineering, and technology students needs more on modelling and simulation which is nowadays one of the important research tools in many disciplines such as networking, communications and computing. Lots of researchers really appreciate the limitations and capabilities of simulating systems on the computer. Thanks. @AlDmour.

Dear Nageswara,

I have also looked for books of research methodology in engineering field. I have not found any suitable book yet. Ian or someone-else should write one soon asap.There is definitely a need!.

I do agree with @Behrouz Ahmadi-Nedushan. The problem has another dimension also, usually a supervisor has 5-6 students (at least) for mentoring. So, he is unable to give due attention to all students.

All,

While I do agree with the discussion( I am a computer scientist in an Engineering school!), this topic raises a more important question for me: Should we tackle this "Complexification"(in Carlos' Terms) within engineering or handle it within a sub specialty of engineering science?

I do agree with the posts that students in engineering are lacking research methods in engineering, were I would be cautious is were and when do we introduce research methods in engineering.

Very interesting subject to have a discussion.

Dear Arturo

Normally we would like the graduate student to take this course as early as possible in his/her program since it provides all the necessary tools that are required for research. In some of our programs it is mandatory for all graduate students to go through this course.

@Nageswara: What has been your experience? Is this too late(as opposed to undergraduate)? or is it just right for them?

Dear Arturo

Generally we train the students in undergraduate degree programs for regular production activities and not research. Also they do not have sufficient depth in any particular area. In the graduate programs we make them go deeper in a particular domain of interest, and that is where these tools will be more relevant. Also even if we teach at UG level, we may have to refresh them again to be useful. So we decided to have it the graduate curriculum as early as possible. We find that quite fruitful.

Dear Nageswara,

I think that in most universities the course is still not mandatory in all engineering disciplines. I did my graduate studies in McGill and we did not such a. How is it in Iowa?

In Iran, the course has been offered in industrial engineering for many years. We did not have this course in civil engineering. Fortunately, the graduate curriculum for civil engineering has been updated and this course must be taken by all students in coming fall.

Most programs have this as a course required or elective. In engineering programs it is elective, but in education and humanities it is a required course.

In most undergraduate programs, the students are taught for specialization activities and not research principles and applications..

I agree. The discipline independent learning goals of such a course  must have a threefold objective, namely, at the end of the course, students should be able to: (i) design a research project, (ii) choose and execute appropriate methods, and (iii) assess the rigour of the deployed methods. 

Very interesting question. I am facing that challenge presently. I hope Ian book is out now and i will appreciate any information on how to acquire it. Another challenge is the formulation of the course content in the departmental handbook. More than often it is already set and one is required to follow as it is even when one does not entirely agree with it. I hope Ian book will meet the concerns as raised by many colleagues here

The problem of lack of research methodology books in engineering requires urgent redress. However, any such effort must recognise the fact that all engineering students see their future work as one involving design, construction, process optimization, and technical diagnostics & repair of technical artefacts of different kinds. An appropriate research methods course for engineering students would be one that helps them link the subject matter learnt to the enhancement of engineering practice in the areas of design, construction, process optimisation, and technical diagnostics. Most of the research methods books in education and/or social sciences provides no such link. One of the challenges one faces when using such books to teach research to engineering students is ambiguity of some terminologies. For example the book cited above "How to Design and Evaluate Research in Education" would sound confusing if the word "education" was replaced by "engineering design" to read "How to DESIGN ... research in .... DESIGN"

@Romeo: My E-book is now available. Google "How to do Research: Today's Tips and Tools".