Conducting a research for achieving professional qualifications: changing the world or obtaining the degree

Abstract

Opportunities for postgraduate education in the field of Library and Information Science (LIS) in Sri Lanka are extensive. A research component is a partial requirement of almost all of these postgraduate programs. There is a general understanding that a significant number of candidates find it difficult to complete their research component within the allocated time period. There are cases that a ‘6 months’ research module has been dragged-on for one year while a ‘one year research’ module has been dragged-on for 2 years. Worse cases were also not rare. This is a very disappointing aspect when it comes to young professionals who are in the early stages of their career. This paper discusses about this dilemma with a point of view, where this can be eliminated or curtailed by a constructive intellectual dialogue that addresses the misunderstandings and misinterpretations. Although, this paper focuses on the Sri Lankan perspective, there are numerous evidences for the author to believe that the situation might be more or less similar in many other countries. Besides, this is not unique to the LIS field. Students of various other disciplines are also reported failing to accomplish their postgraduate qualifications on time due to the delay in submitting their dissertations.