Research Methodology

What is Research?

A careful consideration of study regarding a particular concern or problem using scientific

methods. According to the American sociologist Earl Robert Babbie,

“Research is a systematic inquiry to describe, explain, predict, and control the observed
phenomenon. Research involves inductive and deductive methods.”

Inductive research methods are used to analyze an observed event. Deductive methods are
used to verify the observed event. Inductive approaches are associated with qualitative
research and deductive methods are more commonly associated with quantitative research.

Redman and Mory says,

“Research is a systematized effort to gain new knowledge”

The word “research” perhaps originates from the old French word recerchier that meant to
’search again’. It implicitly assumes that the earlier search was not exhaustive and complete
and hence a repeated search is called for.

Scientific Method:

Science refers to the body of systematic and organized knowledge which makes use of
scientific method to acquire knowledge in a particular field of enquiry.

Scientific method is the systematic collection of data (facts) and their theoretical treatment
through proper observation, experimentation and interpretation. Any research endeavour is
said to be scientific if it

 Is based on empirical and measurable evidences subject to specific principles

of reasoning;
 Consists of systematic observations, measurement and experiment)
 Relies on the application of the scientific methods and harnessing of curiosity)
 Provides scientific information and theories for the explanation of the nature)
 Makes practical applications possible, and
  Ensures adequate analysis of data employing appropriate statistics techniques.

Aims of Research:

Gall, Borg and Gall (1996) proposed four types of knowledge that research contributed to
education as follows:

I. Observing or Describing
II. Predicting
III. Determining
IV. Explaining

Observation and Description:

The first stage of any research is to observe the world around us and to ask questions about
why things are happening. Every phenomenon in the universe has a reason behind it, and the
aims of research are to understand and evaluate what is happening.

However simple the phenomenon or however easy it appears to be to generate logical and
intuitive answers, scientific research demands rigorous testing for a truth to be accepted.
Describing the overall behaviour of the subject is the first stage of any research, whether it is
a case study or a full-blown 'true experimental design'.

Prediction:

This stage is where you must make a statement of intent and develop a strong hypothesis.
This must be testable, with aims of research being to prove or disprove this statement.

At this stage, you may express your personal opinion, favoring one side or the other. You
must make a statement predicting what you expect the final answer to be.

You must, however, keep an open mind and understand that there is a chance that you may be
wrong. Research is never about right or wrong but about arriving at an answer, which
improves our knowledge of natural processes.

Determination of the Causes:

This is often the 'business end' for many areas of scientific research and is where one of the
predictions is tested, usually by manipulating and controlling variables. The idea is to
generate numerical data that can determine the cause with one of the many statistical tests.
 For example, a small-scale global warming study might study Antarctic ice cores to
determine the historical levels of carbon dioxide throughout history. In this experiment, time
would be the manipulated variable, showing how levels of the greenhouse gas have changed
over time.

Statistical procedures are then utilized to either prove or disprove the hypothesis and
prediction.

Of course, very little research gives such a black and white answer, but opens up new areas of
potential study and allows scientists to focus on a specific direction.

Explaining:

After determining the causes, the next layer of the research process is to try to find possible
explanations of 'Why?' and 'How?' things are happening.

For most areas, this stage involves sifting through and reviewing earlier studies about similar
phenomena. Most research is built upon the work of previous researchers, so there should be
a wealth of literature resources available.

If we look at a topical example, Global Warming is an area with which most of us are
familiar and has been the subject of thousands of studies. Intuitively, most of us would state
that humanity pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is responsible for a worldwide
rise in temperatures.

The aims of research may be to establish 'What are the underlying causes and relationships
between the different processes fueling this trend?' In most cases, it is necessary to review
earlier research and try to separate the better quality sources from the inaccurate or poorly
designed studies.

Purposes of Research:

There are three purposes of research:

1. Exploratory: Exploratory research is conducted to explore a group of questions. The

answers and analytics may not offer a final conclusion to the perceived problem. It is
conducted to handle new problem areas which haven’t been explored before. This
exploratory process lays the foundation for more conclusive research and data collection.
2. Descriptive: Descriptive research focuses on expanding knowledge on current issues
through a process of data collection. Descriptive studies are used to describe the behaviour
of a sample population.
3. Explanatory: Explanatory research or causal research is conducted to understand the
impact of certain changes in existing standard procedures. Conducting experiments is the
most popular form of casual research. For example, a study conducted to understand the
effect of rebranding on customer loyalty.

Qualities of a Good
Research

Systematic Logical Empirical Replicable

Procedure or Process of Research:

The process of research is to discover answer through the application of scientific procedure.
A typical research process comprises the following stages:

1. Identify the problem: The word ‘problem’ means a question or issue to be

examined. This step involves identification of a few problems and selection of one out of
them, after evaluating the alternatives against certain selection criteria.
2. Formulation of the Problem: Formulation is the process of refining the research
ideas into research ideas and questions. It is concerned with specifying exactly what the
research problem is.

3. Hypothesis: A hypothesis is an assumption about relation between variables.

Hypothesis can be defined as a logically conjectured relationship between two or more
variables expressed in the form of a testable statement.

4. Assumptions in Research: An assumption is an unexamined belief: what we think

without realizing we think it. Our inferences (also called conclusions) are often based on
assumptions that we haven't thought about critically. A critical thinker, however, is
attentive to these assumptions because they are sometimes incorrect or misguided.

5. Hypothesis confirmation: The primary trait of a hypothesis is that something can

be tested and that those tests can be replicated, according to Midwestern State University.
An example of untestable statement is, "All people fall in love at least once." The
definition of love is subjective. Also, it would be impossible to poll every human about
their love life. An untestable statement can be reworded to make it testable, though. For
example, the previous statement could be changed to, "If love is an important emotion,
some may believe that everyone should fall in love at least once." With this statement, the
researcher can poll a group of people to see how many believe people should fall in love
at least once.
A hypothesis is often examined by multiple scientists to ensure the integrity and veracity
of the experiment. This process can take years, and in many cases hypotheses do not go
any further in the scientific method as it is difficult to gather sufficient supporting
evidence.
"As a field biologist my favourite part of the scientific method is being in the field
collecting the data," Jaime Tanner, a professor of biology at Marlboro College, told Live
Science. "But what really makes that fun knows that you are trying to answer an
interesting question, so the first step in identifying questions and generating possible
answers (hypotheses) is also very important and is a creative process. Then once you
collect the data you analyze it to see if your hypothesis is supported or not."
6. Analyse the data: Analyzing data for the scientific research process involves bringing
the data together and calculating statistics. It can be help the scientist understand the data
better and tell whether a significant result is found. Calculating the statistics for a
scientific research experiments uses both descriptive and inferential statistical measure

7. Finding conclusions: After the data from an experiment is analyzed, the scientists
examine the information and makes conclusions based on the findings. The scientists
compare the result both to the original hypothesis and conclusions of previous
experiments by other researchers. When drawing conclusions, the scientist explains what
the result mean and how to view them in the context of the scientific field or real world
environment as well as making suggestions for future research. The solution of final
result is sometimes true or sometimes false and if the statement is false the reverse the
whole process.