Method of assisting the conducting of a research project
First Claim
1. A method of assisting the conducting of a research process which comprises a plurality of steps, the method comprising;
- defining a sequence of predetermined research process steps to be used by a researcher;
in a first step, generating predetermined first prompts to guide the researcher to enter reference data corresponding to the first prompts;
storing the entered reference data in a first database having a structure which is at least partially predetermined;
in a second step, generating second prompts to guide the researcher to enter proposal data corresponding to the second prompts, and determining requirements for the retrieval of data from the first database;
Automatically retrieving selected reference data from the first database, at least partially according to requirements of the second step;
storing the selected reference data and the proposal data in a second database for use in at least one further step of the method; and
generating a first report including at least a portion of the selected reference data and the proposal data.
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Abstract
A method of assisting the carrying out of a research process is implemented with the aid of specialized computer software. The software defines a sequence of predetermined research process steps. In a first step, predetermined prompts are generated which guide the researcher to enter data corresponding to the results of a literature survey, to set up a database which is used by subsequent steps. In a second step, prompts are generated to guide the researcher to enter proposal data, and selected data is retrieved from the database to include in a written proposal to a sponsor. The proposal data and the selected reference data from the first database are combined in a second database, which is used as the basis for the next step in the process. In the next step, the software generates prompts to assist the researcher in entering research results which are also stored in the second database in a predetermined format. The contents of the altered second database are then used to generate a research report in a partially predetermined format, as well as articles or papers, and presentations. The invention streamlines the research process and is particularly advantageous in assisting inexperienced researchers to follow the corrected procedure.
101 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A method of assisting the conducting of a research process which comprises a plurality of steps, the method comprising;
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defining a sequence of predetermined research process steps to be used by a researcher; in a first step, generating predetermined first prompts to guide the researcher to enter reference data corresponding to the first prompts; storing the entered reference data in a first database having a structure which is at least partially predetermined; in a second step, generating second prompts to guide the researcher to enter proposal data corresponding to the second prompts, and determining requirements for the retrieval of data from the first database; Automatically retrieving selected reference data from the first database, at least partially according to requirements of the second step; storing the selected reference data and the proposal data in a second database for use in at least one further step of the method; and generating a first report including at least a portion of the selected reference data and the proposal data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A software package for use in assisting the conducting of a research project which comprises a plurality of steps, the software comprising:
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a reference database module arranged to generate predetermined first prompts to guide the researcher to enter reference data corresponding to said first prompts, and to store the entered reference data in a first database having a structure which is at least partially predetermined; a work database module arranged to generate predetermined second prompts to guide the researcher to enter proposal data corresponding to said second prompts, to automatically retrieve selected reference data from the first database and to store the selected reference data and the proposal data in a second database for re-use; and an interface module arranged to extract selected data from the second database and to generate a first report comprising the selected data and the proposal data, so that the first report has a format which is at least partially determined by the structure of the second database. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification