Standards · शोध पद्धति
Research Methodology
The methods the Centre expects in its research: how texts are read, how predictions are recorded and tested, and how charts and data are reported, so that any reader can check the work.
Three kinds of research
✦
I
Textual
What the śāstras say: editions, commentaries, translation and the history of a principle's interpretation.
II
Observational
Whether a principle holds: predictions recorded in advance, or rules tested against a set of charts or events.
III
Astronomical
Calculation and cosmology: siddhānta methods, ayanāṃśa, calendars and their comparison with modern astronomy.
1
Reading texts
- Name the edition. Where editions differ on a verse, say which readings you compared.
- Read a verse with its context and its commentaries before drawing a rule from it.
- Keep three layers apart: what the text says, how a tradition or commentator reads it, and what you conclude.
- Note where a principle first appears and how its reading has changed over time.
2
Recording predictions
- Publish a forecast before the event, with its date, the chart used and the method.
- Say in advance what would count as the forecast coming true: the event, the window of time, the place.
- Never edit a forecast afterwards. Add a dated note with the outcome, whether it was a hit or a miss.
3
Testing a rule against many charts
- Decide which charts to include before looking at the results, and say how they were chosen.
- Compare with a fair baseline: how often would the result appear by chance, or in charts without the factor?
- Report every result you tested, not only those that support the rule.
- The more factors you try, the more likely one fits by chance. Say how many you tried.
4
Charts and calculations
- For each chart, give the birth data, its source and its reliability — a recorded time, a remembered time or a rectified one.
- State the ayanāṃśa (the Centre uses Lahiri by default), the house system, and the ephemeris or software used.
- For rectified times, describe the method and the events used.
5
Mundane and astro-meteorology
- Define the event exactly: what, where and when, with a named, checkable source (for example the India Meteorological Department for monsoon data).
- State the charts used: ingress, lunation, eclipse or national chart, and the version of a national chart you rely on.
- Compare outcomes over several years, not a single season.
6
Reporting checklist
- Question stated · sources and editions named · method described · data and its reliability given
- Ayanāṃśa, house system and software stated · predictions dated · all results reported
- Limits of the study discussed · conflicts of interest declared
Put it into practice
The guidelines explain how to prepare your paper, and the ethics set the standards every scholar follows.
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