Lalita wants to study the impact of globalisation and fast food on st…

The correct answer is Option (2) → (A), (C), (B), (D)

(A) Specifying research question — Lalita’s topic, globalisation and fast food, is broad. She must first formulate a specific question she wants to answer.

(C) Select a suitable method — every research question needs a suitable method. After carefully specifying the question, one of the first tasks is to choose a method, such as a survey, interviews or observation, that fits the question and the time and resources she has.

(B) Collect data — only with the method chosen can she gather the evidence: hand out the questionnaire, hold the interviews or observe, and then analyse what she collects.

(D) Report writing — the findings are written up last, once the data are in and analysed.

Note: This question comes from Chapter 7, ‘Suggestions for Project Work’, of the NCERT book Indian Society (2025-26), shown below: after carefully specifying the research question, one of the first tasks of the researcher is to select a suitable method, and the method then decides how the evidence is collected. The chapter does not name ‘report writing’ as a step. It comes last by reasoning: the findings can be written up only after the data have been collected and analysed. The project-work chapter, which most students flip past on the way to the glossary, quietly turned into a full question here.

Tip: Leave nothing out, not even the ‘Suggestions for Project Work’ pages at the end of Indian Society, though they are not named in the NTA syllabus. One easy read of them is enough.