University of Duhok Course Name: Research Methodology

College of Engineering Course Code:

Civil, Water Resources, Architectural & Lecturer: Dr. Yaman S. S. Al-Kamaki
Electrical and computer Engineering 2020-2021
Departments
First Semester Research Methodology

Chapter 1: Introduction to Research Methodology:

1.1 Meaning of Research:

Research is a process of enquiry and investigation; it is systematic, methodical and ethical;

research can help solve practical problems and increase knowledge.

1.2 Objectives of Research (Purposes of Research):

➢ Review or blend existing knowledge

➢ Investigate existing situations or problems

➢ Provide solutions to problems

➢ Explore and analyze more general issues

➢ Construct or create new procedures or systems

➢ Explain new phenomenon

➢ Generate new knowledge

➢ or a combination of any of the above!

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1.3 Motivation in Research:

What makes people to undertake research? This is a question of fundamental importance.

The possible motives for doing research may be either one or more of the following:

1. Desire to get a research degree along with its consequential benefits;

2. Desire to face the challenge in solving the unsolved problems, i.e., concern over practical

problems initiates research;

3. Desire to get intellectual joy of doing some creative work;

4. Desire to be of service to society;

5. Desire to get respectability.

https://www.academia.edu/16685584/Introduction_to_research_methodology

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Dr. Yaman S. S. Al-Kamaki, PhD in Structural Engineering, Melbourne, Australia
Chapter 1: Introduction to Research Methodology:

1.4 Types of Research Studies: Different Types of Research:

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Dr. Yaman S. S. Al-Kamaki, PhD in Structural Engineering, Melbourne, Australia
Chapter 1: Introduction to Research Methodology:

Predictive

Research

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Dr. Yaman S. S. Al-Kamaki, PhD in Structural Engineering, Melbourne, Australia
Chapter 1: Introduction to Research Methodology:

1.5 Research Approaches:

Research can be approached in the following ways:

➢ Quantitative / Qualitative
➢ Basic / Applied
➢ Deductive / Inductive: Deductive Approach )‫ ( استنتاجي‬: Inductive Approach (‫) استقرائية‬
Many research projects combine a number of approaches, e.g. may use both quantitative and
qualitative approaches.

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Dr. Yaman S. S. Al-Kamaki, PhD in Structural Engineering, Melbourne, Australia
Chapter 1: Introduction to Research Methodology:

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Dr. Yaman S. S. Al-Kamaki, PhD in Structural Engineering, Melbourne, Australia
Chapter 1: Introduction to Research Methodology:

1.6 Significance of Research:

1- Gaps exist between theoretical and practical aspects of the problem.

2- More & better knowledge is needed.

3- Current knowledge needs to be validated.

4- Current practices need to be clarified/improved.

5- There is no known solution to the problem.

1.7 Research Validity

"Is this study valid. There are four types of validity that can be discussed in relation to research

and statistics. Thus, when discussing the validity of a study, one must be specific as to which

type of validity is under discussion.

1- Statistical Conclusion Validity: needs a background in basic statistics.

Essentially, the question that is being asked is: Are the variables under study related? or

is variable A correlated (does it covary) with Variable B? If a study has good statistical

conclusion validity, we should be relatively certain that the answer to these questions is

"yes".

2- Internal Validity: Once it has been determined that the two variables (A & B) are related,

the next issue to be determined: Does A cause B? If a study is lacking internal validity, one

cannot make cause and effect statements based on the research; the study would be

descriptive but not fundamental.

3- External Validity: External validity addresses the issue of being able to generalize the

results of your study to other times, places, and persons. For example, if you conduct a

study looking at heart disease in men, can these results be generalized to women?

Therefore, one needs to ask the following questions to determine if a threat to the

external validity exists: "Would I find these same results with a difference sample?",

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Dr. Yaman S. S. Al-Kamaki, PhD in Structural Engineering, Melbourne, Australia
Chapter 1: Introduction to Research Methodology:

"Would I get these same results if I conducted my study in a different setting?",

and "Would I get these same results if I had conducted this study in the future?" If I cannot

answer "yes" to each of these questions, then the external validity of my study is

threatened.

1.8 Research Methods versus Methodology:

1.9 Research and Scientific Method:

1- Is an approach to acquiring knowledge that involves formulating specific questions and

then systematically finding answers.

2- The planned and systematic application of the empirical method

3- By combining several different methods of acquiring knowledge, we hope to avoid the

pitfalls of any individual method used by itself.

4- The scientific method is a carefully developed system for asking and answering

questions so that the answers we discover are as accurate as possible.

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Chapter 1: Introduction to Research Methodology:

The steps of the scientific method:

Step 1: Observe behavior or other phenomena

Step 2: Form a tentative answer or explanation (a hypothesis (guess a reason)

Step 3: Use your hypothesis to generate a testable prediction

Step 4: Make systematic, planned observations (data collection)

Step 5: Use the observations to evaluate (support, refute, or refine) the original hypothesis

1.10 Importance of Knowing How Research is Done:

The importance of knowing how to conduct research are listed below:

1- The knowledge of research methodology provides training to new researchers and

enables them to do research properly. It helps them to develop disciplined thinking or a

‘bent of mind’ to objectively observe the field;

2- The knowledge of doing research inculcates the ability to evaluate and utilize the research

findings with confidence;

3- The knowledge of research methodology equips the researcher with the tools that help

him/her to make the observations objectively; and

4- The knowledge of methodology helps the research consumers to evaluate research and

make rational decisions.

1.11 Research Process

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Dr. Yaman S. S. Al-Kamaki, PhD in Structural Engineering, Melbourne, Australia
Chapter 1: Introduction to Research Methodology:

1.12 Criteria of Good Research:

1.13 Research Philosophies:

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Dr. Yaman S. S. Al-Kamaki, PhD in Structural Engineering, Melbourne, Australia
Chapter 1: Introduction to Research Methodology:

Surveys

Surveys involve selecting a representative and unbiased sample of subjects drawn from the

group you wish to study. The main methods of asking questions are by face-to-face or

telephone interviews, by using questionnaires or a mixture of the two. There are two main

types of survey: a descriptive survey: concerned with identifying & counting the frequency of

a particular response among the survey group, or an analytical survey: to analyze the

relationship between different elements (variables) in a sample group.

Experimental Studies
Experimental studies are done in carefully controlled and structured environments and

enable the relationships of phenomena to be identified and analyzed. The variables can be

manipulated or controlled to observe the effects on the subjects studied. For example, sound,

light, heat, volume of work levels etc. can be managed to observe the effects. Studies done in

laboratories tend to offer the best opportunities for controlling the variables in a rigorous

way, although field studies can be done in a more ‘real world’ environment.

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Chapter 1: Introduction to Research Methodology:

Longitudinal Studies
These are studies over an extended period to observe the effect that time has on the situation

under observation and to collect primary data (data collected at first hand) of these changes.

Longitudinal studies are often conducted over several years, which make them unsuitable for

most relatively short taught post-graduate courses. However, it is possible to base short time

scale research on primary data collected in longitudinal studies by, for example, government

agencies, and focusing research on a close analysis of one or more aspect or elements of this

data.

Cross-Sectional Studies
This is a study involving different organizations or groups of people to look at similarities or

differences between them at any one particular time, e.g. a survey of the IT skills of managers

in one or a number of organizations at any particular time. Cross-sectional studies are done

when time or resources for more extended research, e.g. longitudinal studies, are limited. It

involves a close analysis of a situation at one particular point in time to give a ‘snap-shot’

result.

1.14 Types of Research design:

There are four major classifications of research designs. These include observational research,

correlational research, true experiments, and quasi-experiments.

1- Observational research: There are many types of studies which could be defined as

observational research including: case studies, ethnographic (nation. compared and

analyze the characteristics of different people) studies, ethological (deals with human

character and its formation evolution) studies, etc. The primary characteristic of each of

these types of studies is that phenomena are being observed and recorded. Often times,

the studies are qualitative in nature. Surveys are often classified as a type of observational

research.
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Chapter 1: Introduction to Research Methodology:

2- Correlational research: In general, correlational research examines the

covariation of two or more variables. For example, the early research on cigarette smoking

examine the covariation of cigarette smoking and a variety of lung diseases. These two

variable, smoking and lung disease were found to covary together.

Correlational research can be accomplished by a variety of techniques which include the

collection of empirical data. Often, correlational research is considered type of observational

research as nothing is manipulated by the experimenter or individual conducting the

research. For example, the early studies on cigarette smoking did not manipulate how many

cigarettes were smoked. The researcher only collected the data on the two variables. Nothing

was controlled by the researchers.

It is important to note that correlational research is not fundamental research. In other words,

we cannot make statements concerning cause and effect on the basis of this type of research.

There are two major reasons for this. First, we don’t know the direction of the cause. Second,

a third variable may be involved of which we are not aware. An example may help clarify these

points.

3- True Experiments: The true experiment is often thought of as a laboratory study. A true

experiment is defined as an experiment conducted where an effort is made to impose

control over all other variables except the one under study. It is often easier to impose

this sort of control in a laboratory setting.

To understand the nature of the experiment, we must first define a few terms:

1. Experimental or treatment group - this is the group that receives the experimental

treatment, manipulation, or is different from the control group on the variable under

study.

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Chapter 1: Introduction to Research Methodology:

2. Control group - this group is used to produce comparisons. The treatment of

interest is deliberately withheld or manipulated to provide a baseline performance with

which to compare the experimental or treatment group's performance.

3. Independent variable - this is the variable that the experimenter manipulates in a study.

4. Dependent variable - the variable that is measured in a study. The experimenter does not

control this variable.

5. Random assignment - in a study, each subject has an equal probability of being selected

for either the treatment or control group.

6. Double blind - neither the subject nor the experimenter knows whether the subject is in

the treatment of the control condition.

A special case of the true experiment is the clinical trial. A clinical trial is defined as a carefully

designed experiment that seeks to determine the clinical efficacy of a new treatment or drug.

The design of a clinical trial is very similar to that of a true experiment. Once again, there are

two groups: a treatment group (the group that receives the therapeutic agent) and a control

group (the group that receives the placebo). The control group is often called the placebo

group. The independent variable in the clinical trial is the level of the therapeutic agent. Once

again, subjects are randomly assigned to groups, they are tested simultaneously, and the

experiment should be conducted double blind. In other words, neither the patient or the

person administering the drug should know whether the patient is receiving the drug or the

placebo.

4- Quasi-Experiments: Quasi-experiments are very similar to true experiments but use

naturally formed groups. For example, if we wanted to compare young and old subjects

on lung capacity, it is impossible to randomly assign subjects to either the young or old

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Chapter 1: Introduction to Research Methodology:

group (naturally formed groups). Therefore, this cannot be a true experiment.

When one has naturally formed groups, the variable under study is a subject variable (in

this case - age) as opposed to an independent variable. As such, it limits the conclusions

we can draw from such a research study. If we were to conduct the quasi-experiment, we

would find that the older group had less lung capacity as compared to the younger group.

We might conclude that old age thus results in less lung capacity. But other variables might

also account for this result. It might be that repeated exposure to pollutants as opposed

to age has caused the difference in lung capacity.

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Dr. Yaman S. S. Al-Kamaki, PhD in Structural Engineering, Melbourne, Australia