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Gautam Hegde

Software Tool for Research in Social Sciences

Any man can make history but only a great man can write it - is an assertion which

just underlines the magnitude of the task of writing history. History being both a science

and an art, and given the nature of historical facts, the methods used to write history

would be different from those of other disciplines. The objective would be to reconstruct

the past as nearly as it happened knowing fully well that complete objectivity is

impossible to achieve. The technique of writing history is undertaken by historical

method - a procedure developed since the time of German historians Niebuhr and Ranke

in the 19th century, to present past events in their correct perspective. This basically

necessitates that the material be collected diligently from all relevant sources and sifted

with the greatest care to begin with, after which a critical examination into the literal and

real meaning of the text, a thorough inquiry into the motives and intentions of the author

in making his observation are followed by a penetrating scrutiny to eliminate all possible

errors1.

Therefore the starting point of any research would be the collection, classification

and arrangement of the material. The researcher needs to take down notes from the

materials surveyed and then adopt a method to classify and arrange them. The scientific

method is the index card system. Usually a scholar would be required to keep a good

stock of cards, which are preferable of the same size. Cards are helpful for arrangement

and preservation, although they are expensive. They are easy to shift and rearrange

according to any scheme, chronological, geographical, biographical or topical. The

procedure would be the same as adopted in a library where there are as many cards as the

books in the shelves. The scholar would have as may cards as there are relevant ideas to

put down on cards. Each single idea is treated as a single unit, as if a separate book, and

1 B Sheik Ali – History: Its Theory and Methods, 2nd edition, Macmillan, 1981, page 91

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is never clubbed with another idea. A single document may hold several ideas, each of

which is put down on a separate card. Supposing a researcher on the event of 1857 wants

to collect material and comes across a private letter of an important actor in the drama,

the parts – political, social, economic, or religious cause for the event - each of these

ideas are put on separate cards. Thus a single letter may have as many as ten, twelve or

twenty cards depending upon the nature and value of the document2.

Fig 1: Showing a typical index card using manual method3

Advent of information technology has greatly increase the productivity of data

processing and consequently the researchers have greatly benefitted from the word

processing software tools. However they still need to transfer the handwritten notes on

the index cards or notebooks to the computer. Also in case of photographic materials the

researchers would have to meticulously name and date the images captured, transfer them

to the computer and reference them to the written materials separately. A mobile app,

which is a software tool leveraging the capabilities of the smartphone, could effectively

address these issues.

This paper outlines the mobile app developed by the undersigned specifically for

the purpose of aiding the researchers in their preliminary operations of material collection

2 B Sheik Ali – History: Its Theory and Methods, 2nd edition, Macmillan, 1981, page100 3 Ibid. page 103

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in the form of notes and photographs, its arrangement and organization as well as

seamless transfer in electronic form to MS-Word.

Making Notes

The mobile app, myResearchNotes, presents the scholar with some definite and rigid

procedure in taking down notes as on the index cards except that the index card is now

electronic and it is on the smartphone. The procedure is fixed, the same details needs to

be filled upon every card without fail. Every card contains –

A heading to the information furnished in the card; showing up on top left of the

card

A precise indication of the date of the document – in case the exact date is not

known at least the approximate date, or month, or year; showing up on top right of

the card

The page or folio number of the document from which the information is

collected, showing up on the left below the content of the note

At the bottom of the card the fullest reference about the document including the

name of the author, the title of the work, the number of the volume, the number of

the page and the year of publication.

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Fig 2: Showing the index card with photos related to the content of the note on mobile app

myResearchNotes

Saved notes can be edited at a later date. Swiping left or right allows one to

navigate to the previous or next note.

Fig 3a: Showing the screen for creating a note on mobile app myResearchNotes

Fig 3b: Showing the screen for creating a note on mobile app myResearchNotes

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Fig 3a and fig 3b show the screen adding content to a new note or editing the

contents of an existing note.

In addition to the textual content photographic content can also be added to a note.

Photographs can be taken when necessary from the mobile app itself as shown in fig 4

below. Any number of photographs can be attached to a single note.

Fig 4: Showing the attaching of a photograph to a note on mobile app myResearchNotes

If multiple notes are to be made from the same source, the mobile app gives the

option to add new note from the same source as can be seen from fig 5 below. By

selecting this option the scholar needs to type in only the heading and content of the note

while the details of the source are retained from before. This feature saves the scholar

from the monotony of typing the details of the source all over again.

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Fig 5: Saving a note on mobile app myResearchNotes

Classifying and Arranging

Four generic types of classifications are possible namely chronological,

geographical, topical or biographical depending on date, place, species or form. In

addition any number of user defined classification tags can be appended to the note

allowing for unlimited ways of sorting and arranging the notes.

Fig 6: List of notes showing sorting tags on mobile app myResearchNotes

Fig 6 shows the list of notes. This is the screen which comes up when the

application is started. The title of the note is followed by sorting tags defined by the user.

Tapping on the tags will sort the list according to the tag selected.

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Fig 7: Showing filtering and sorting options on mobile app myResearchNotes

Fig 7 shows the filtering and sorting options. There are options available to filter

by tags given by the user, or by the author of the source document, or by the year of

publication.

Fig 8: Showing sorting options on mobile app myResearchNotes

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Fig 8 shows the sorting options which can be arranging in ascending or

descending order by choosing apply for the selected the option.

Fig 9: Showing tagging options defined by user on mobile app myResearchNotes

Fig 9 shows the option wherein the user can define the tag for a note. Any number

of tags can be appended to a single note.

Exporting the contents

The notes saved on the mobile phone can be exported to Microsoft Word. A file

containing all the notes as on date will be saved in the .docx format which can be

opened in MS-Word. There is also the option to save the file onto Google drive for

which an account needs to exist in the user’s name. Importing from SD card or the

internal storage option is available for use in case of application reinstallation or

upgrade and when the data needs to be restored, as can be seen from fig 10.

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Fig 10: Showing the Import/Export options on mobile app myResearchNotes

Conclusion

The mobile app myResearchNotes greatly enhances the productivity of the

researcher. It helps to organize material in a scientific way. It also takes away the

monotony of repeating the same details over and over again on every card. It enables us

to group the notes at will in a host of different combinations. It is easy to bring texts of

the same kind together, to incorporate additions and to classify and arrange them. A note

can be augmented with photographs taken using the mobile app. These notes and the

photos can be transferred to MS-Word. It is easy to carry wherever we go. The mobile

app will work even when there is no phone connectivity as in case of remote excavation

locations or basement archives, making it an invaluable tool in streamlining the

preliminary operations for undertaking research.

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My Research Notes

Launch the application

Tap on the Icon to launch “My Research Note” App

After the welcome screen the List screen appears

My Research Notes

List of NotesThe screen appears immediately after launching the

application.

• Tap New note icon to add new note

• Filter icon is used to filter the notes based on category tags

• On tapping menu button on device or menu icon

Import/Export option appears

• Note Headings (along with tags) are shown as list which is

scrollable swipe up/swipe down

• Tap on the note heading to view details

• Long Tap on the note will take to edit note screen directly

• Tap on category tag to apply quick filter

New Note IconFilter Icon

Heading of the

informationCategory Tags

Import/Export

Menu

Year Author

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My Research Notes

Filter Option• Tap on Filter Icon on List of Note Screen, there are

several filter options appears as menu

• Select your choice of filter which opens respective filter dialog

• Select multiple options and tap Set Filter button to apply

• The list will be updated with the note belonging to selected filters

• Filter can also be applied by tapping on tags in Note List

• To clear selected filter, tap on filter icon then tap Clear Filter button

• By tapping on Author name on Note List, Author filter is applied

• Tap on the year of the note list to view all the note in the year.

• To clear all filters, tap on filter icon then Select Clear All Filter from menu option.

Clear All

Filters

My Research Notes

Sorting Option

• Tap on Filter Icon on List of Note Screen, select

“Apply Sorting” option

• “Sort your notes” dialog appears with 2 option

• Notes can be sorted by Author name or year part of date

of referred document ascending or descending order

• Tap on the items to change direction of sort

• Ascending order

• Descending order

• Tap “Apply”

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My Research Notes

View Details• On tapping on the heading in the Note List the details

appears

• Text size can be long. Supporting photo thumbnails are

listed after the content

• Tap on the thumbnails to view original photo

• Tap on Edit icon (or double tap on the note) to Edit the

current note

• To go back to list of notes tap on Search Icon

• To view next or previous note one can use menu option

• Swipe left or swipe right will also allow to navigate previous

and next note

• To delete the note, tap menu button and select delete

option

Edit IconSearch Icon

Date of referred

document

Heading to the

information

collected

Text of the

information

collected

Full details of

referred documentEdit Icon

My Research Notes

Add/Edit Note• To edit a note, one can long tap on Note in list or tap edit

icon/double tap in details

• To add New note tap new note icon in the list screen or menu option

• Following data can be entered

• Heading to information collected

• Date of referred document

• Date/Month/Year [optional]

• Page or Folio Numbers of referred document

• Text of information collected

• Full details of referred document

• Author

• Title of the work

• Volume number

• Page number

• Year of publication

• Publisher

• Tap Save icon to complete

Continued …

Cancel Icon

Save Icon

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My Research Notes

Add/Edit Note - Tagging• To categorize (Tagging) the Note, tap menu button and

select Tag

• A dialog will appear with existing categories

• Select applicable tags

• A new category can be created by entering a tag name in

New Tag box

• Tap OK button to add the tags in Note

• Tap Save icon to complete

Continued …

My Research Notes

Add/Edit Note – Attach Photo• Multiple photos can be attached in a Note

• To attach a photo, tap on menu button and select Attach

Photo option

• Camera on the phone will be enabled and after photo is

captured, the same will be appear as thumbnail at the end

of the Note

• To delete the attached photo tap on the photo thumbnail,

a dialog appears with option to delete

• Tap Save icon to complete

Continued …

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My Research Notes

Add/Edit Note – Save options• On tapping Save button the entered details of the note will

be stored on device

• After successful saving a dialog appear with four options

• First option takes user to detail note screen

• Second option allowed user to add new note with reference, tags of just saved note. Which helps user to add same kind of note more efficiently

• Third option is to be selected when the next note does not relate to just saved note

• Forth option leaves user in the same note for further editing

My Research Notes

Import/Export• My research note application enables user to safe guard

data from any loss caused due to various reasons

• Import from device storage

• Notes are stored in SD card or Internal Storage of the device (In MyResearchNotes folder). If the application is uninstalled, this option helps to import back to the list

• The option helps user to upload or download the notes to user’s Google Drive storage. So that data can be recovered if the device is damaged.

• Export to MS-Word option generates a document (in Open Document Format), which can be opened using users favorite word processor software

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