College of Dry land Agriculture

Department of Natural Resource Management

Research Methods and experimental design

By:-Setiye A.(M.A Environment and Development Studies)

Email:-setiyeabebaw@su.edu.et

Date 10/22/2017
 Introduction to research
 After completing the lesson you should able to
◦ Undestand the philosophy research?
◦ Define what research mean?
◦ Understand the objectives of research
◦ Explain the motive of research
◦ Understand the different types of research
◦ Highlight the significance of Research
 Unit One: Research planning and design
1.1 Introduction to the philosophy scientific
research
All research is based on assumptions about how
the world is perceived and how we can best
come to understand it.
Of course, no body really knows how we can best
understand the world, and philosophers have
been arguing about that very question for long.
Major Philosophical Schools of Thought
 Epistemological Issues in Research
Epistemology is a branch of philosophy that studies the
nature of knowledge and the process by which knowledge
is acquired and validated.
Some epistemologists have a particular interest in the
nature of inquiry and knowledge in the natural sciences
and others in social sciences.
….Epistemological Issues in
Research
 Epistemology is a philosophy of knowledge and
methodology is also concerned with how we come to
know, but is much more practical in nature.
 Epistemology and methodology are intimately
related: the former involves the philosophy of how
we come to know the world and the latter involves
the practice.
….Epistemological Issues in Research
 These philosophers tried to seek answers to
questions as:
Are the objects that the researchers study real?
How is research knowledge different from other forms of
knowledge, and does it have any special authority?
What is a theory, and how can it be validated?
 What does it mean to find “laws” that enable us to predict
individual and group behavior?
Is inquiry in the social sciences fundamentally different from
inquiry in the natural sciences?
Major Philosophical Schools of Thought
 Positivism and Post-Positivism
Positivism is a position that holds that the goal of
knowledge is simply to describe the phenomena that we
experience.
Positivists believe that the purpose of science is simply
to stick to what we can observe and measure.
Knowledge of anything beyond that is impossible.
According to this philosophical thought the key approach
of the scientific method is the experiment
Positivism and Post-Positivism
The following are three tenets of positivism:
 Scientific attention should be restricted to observable
facts; ‘‘inferred constructs,’’ such as beliefs or motives,
have no place in science,
The methods of the physical sciences (e.g.,
quantification, separation into independent and
dependent variables, and formulation of general laws)
should also be applied to the social sciences, and
Science is objective and value free.
Positivism and Post-Positivism
 Post-positivism rejects the central tenets of positivism.
 A post-positivist might begin by recognizing that the way
scientists think and work and the way we think in our
everyday life are not distinctly different.
 Scientific reasoning and common sense reasoning are
essentially the same process.
 The difference between the two is not in kind but it is in terms
of degree – as has been mentioned earlier science is the
extension of commonsense knowledge.
Positivism and Post-Positivism
 Most post-positivists are constructivists who believe that
we each construct our view of the world based on our
perceptions of it.
 Because perception and observation is fallible, our
constructions must be imperfect.
 It is difficult to believe that individual scientists
would perfectly see the reality as it is. Scientists, like any
other human being, are inherently biased by their cultural
experiences, worldviews, and so on.
 We are all biased and all of our observations
are affected (theory- laden). So what is objectivity?
Positivism and Post-Positivism
 Positivists and post-positivists differ in the way they
look at objectivity.
 Positivists believed that objectivity is a characteristic
that resided in the individual scientist.
 Scientists are responsible for putting aside their biases
and beliefs and seeing the world as it 'really' is.
 Post-positivists reject the idea that any individual can
see the world perfectly as it really is.
 WHAT IS RESEARCH?
 It refers to a search for knowledge.
 It is a scientific and systematic search for pertinent information
on a specific topic.
 It is an art of scientific investigation.

 Dictionary define as “a careful investigation or inquiry specially

through search for new facts in any branch of knowledge.

 Some people consider as a movement, a movement from the

known to the unknown.
 Understanding of the unknown.
 Research is an academic activity

 It is defining and redefining problems, formulating hypothesis or suggested

solutions; collecting, organising and evaluating data; making deductions and
reaching conclusions;

 It is testing the conclusions to determine whether they fit the formulating

hypothesis.

 Social Sciences define research as “the manipulation of things, concepts or

symbols for the purpose of generalising to extend, correct or verify knowledge,
whether that knowledge aids in construction of theory or in the practice of an
art.
 Research is, thus, an original contribution to the existing stock of knowledge
making for its advancement.

 It is the persuit of truth with the help of study, observation, comparison and
experiment.

 It is short, the search for knowledge through objective and systematic

method of finding solution to a problem in search.

 The systematic approach concerning generalisation and the formulation of a

theory is also research.
 OBJECTIVES OF RESEARCH
 The purpose of research is to discover answers to questions through the
application of scientific procedures.

 The main aim of research is to find out the truth which is hidden and which
has not been discovered as yet.

 Though each research study has its own specific purpose, we may think of
research objectives as falling into a number of following broad groupings:
 OBJECTIVES...
1. To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to achieve new insights
into it (i.e exploratory or formulative research studies)
2. To portray accurately the characteristics of a particular individual,
situation or a group (i.e descriptive research studies);
3. To determine the frequency with which something occurs or with
which it is associated with something else (i.e diagnostic research
studies);
4. To test a hypothesis of a causal relationship between variables (i.e
hypothesis-testing research studies).
 MOTIVATION IN RESEARCH
 What makes people to undertake research?
 The possible motives for doing research may be:
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.
o However, this is not an exhaustive list of factors
Many more factors such as
directives of government,
employment conditions,
curiosity about new things, and the like may as well motivate (or at times
compel) people to perform research operations.
 TYPES OF RESEARCH
 Research can be classified in terms of:-
Based on the Goal of Research(i.e basic and applied
research)
based on the Specific Objectives of Research(descriptive,
explanatory, or exploratory research)
based on Approaches of Research(qualitative and
quantitative research)
based on Designs(experimental, quasi-experimental, and
non-experimental)
Type of Data(Primary research or field research) and
Secondary research or desk research).
Fields of Study(natural science research, social science
research, educational research, behavioral science research,
health science research, etc)
 Descriptive, Explanatory and Exploratory Research

 Descriptive research
 It is sets out to describe and to interpret what is.
 It looks at individuals, groups, institutions, methods and materials
in order to describe, compare, contrast, classify, analyze and
interpret the entities and the events that constitute the various
fields of inquiry.
 It aims to describe the state of affairs as it exists.
 The methods that come under descriptive research
are:
 Surveys
Correlation studies
Observation studies
Case studies
 Descriptive research includes surveys and fact-finding enquiries of different kinds.
 The major purpose of descriptive research is description of the state of affairs as it
exists at present
 Descriptive, Explanatory and Exploratory
Research
 Explanatory/Analytical research:
◦ Aims at establishing the cause and effect relationship
between variables.
◦ Aims to understand phenomena by discovering and
measuring causal relations among them.
◦ The researcher uses the facts or information already
available to analyze and make a critical evaluation of
the data/information.
◦ The desire to know "why," to explain, is the purpose
of explanatory research.
◦ It is a continuation of descriptive research and builds
on exploratory and descriptive research and goes
on to identify the reasons for something that occurs.
 Descriptive, Explanatory and Exploratory
Research
 There are two types of explanatory research:
1. Experimental research
 Involves comparing two groups on one outcome measure
to test some hypothesis regarding causation.
 The key element in true experimental research is scientific
control and the ability to rule out alternative explanations.
 It is the best method when the purpose of research is to
determine causal influences between variables.
 In experimental research, the researcher intentionally
manipulates one variable to measure its effect on the other.
 Descriptive, Explanatory and Exploratory
Research
Ex post facto research
 is a method of teasing out possible antecedents of events
that have happened and cannot, therefore, be engineered or
manipulated by the investigator.
 Ex post facto in research means after the fact or
retrospectively and
 refers to those studies which investigate possible cause-
and-effect
relationships by observing an existing condition or state of
affairs
and searching back in time for plausible causal factors.
 Descriptive, Explanatory and Exploratory
Research
 Exploratory research
◦ Is focuses on gaining background information and
helps to better understand and clarify a problem.
◦ It can be used to develop hypotheses and to
develop questions to be answered.
◦ is conducted when there are few or no earlier
studies to which references can be made for
information.
◦ Exploratory research is a type of research
conducted because a problem has not been clearly
defined.
 Applied vs. Fundamental(Basic):
 Applied (or action) Reserch
◦ Aims at finding a solution for an immediate problem facing a
society.
◦ It is designed to solve practical problems of the modern
world, rather than to acquire knowledge for knowledge's sake.
◦ The goal of adding to the scientific knowledge
is secondary.
◦ Goal is to improve the human condition
◦ The primary purpose for applied research is
discovering, interpreting, and the development of
methods and systems for solving practical problems
on a wide variety of real life situations of our world and
the universe.
Eg. Is global warming avoidable?
Applied vs. Fundamental(Basic):
 Research to identify social, economic or political trends that may
affect a particular institution
 Thus, the central aim of applied research is to discover a solution
for some pressing practical problem,
 Applied research:
Is conducted in relation to actual problems and under
the conditions in which they are found in practice;
Employs methodology that is not as rigorous as that of
basic research;
Yields findings that can be evaluated in terms of local
applicability and not in terms of universal validity.
 ……Basic and Applied Research

Pure/Basic/fundamental Research
Fundamental research is mainly concerned with
generalisations and with the formulation of a theory.
It is “Gathering knowledge for knowledge’s sake
The driving force in basic research is a
researcher’s curiosity or interest in a scientific
question.
The motivation behind is to expand human
knowledge, not to create or invent something
that has practical significance.
 ……Basic and Applied Research
 Pure/Basic/fundamental Research
 has as its primary objective the advancement of
knowledge and the theoretical understanding of
the relations among variables.
 It is basically concerned with the formulation of
a theory or a contribution to the existing body
of knowledge.
 It is designed to add to an organized body of
scientific knowledge and does not necessarily
produce results of immediate practical value.
 Basic research is directed towards finding information that
has a broad base of applications and thus, adds to the
already existing organized body of scientific knowledge.
 …….Basic research
 The major aims of basic research include:
Obtaining and using empirical data to formulate, expand,
or evaluate theory; and
Discovery of knowledge solely for the sake of
knowledge.
 Hence, basic research may take any of the following forms:
 Discovery: where a totally new idea or explanation emerges
from empirical research which may revolutionize thinking on
that particular topic.
 Invention : where a new technique or method is created.
 Reflection : where an existing theory, technique or group of
ideas is re-examined possibly in a different organizational or
social context.
 ……Basic and Applied Research
 In general, basic research:
o Represents a rigorous and structured type of analysis;
o Employs careful sampling procedures in order to extend
the findings beyond the group or situation; and
o Has little concern for the application of the findings or
social usefulness of the findings.
 Quantitative vs. Qualitative:
 Quantitative research is based on the measurement of quantity
or amount.
◦ It is applicable to phenomena that can be expressed in terms
of quantity.
 Qualitative research, on the other hand, is concerned with
qualitative phenomenon, i.e., involving quality or kind.
◦ E.g., studying human behaviour (i.e., why people think or do
certain things),
◦ Done using in depth interviews for the purpose.
◦ Attitude or opinion research i.e., research designed to find out
how people feel.
Characteristics of Qualitative and Quantitative
Research
 Significance of Research
 Increased amounts of research make progress possible.
 Research inculcates scientific and inductive thinking and it
promotes the development of logical habits of thinking and
organisation.
 The role of research in several fields of studies has greatly
increased in modern times.
 The increasingly complex nature of business and
government has focused attention on the use of research in
solving problems.
 Research, has gained added importance, at various levels.
 Research provides the basis for nearly all government
policies
◦ E.g., government’s budgets rest in part on an analysis of the needs and desires
of the people
 Decision-making may not be a part of research, but can
facilitates the decisions of the policy maker.
 The plight of cultivators, working conditions, trade union
activities, and nature of defence services are matters
requiring research.
 Research is necessary in collecting information on the
economic and social structure of the nation.
 Thus, in the context of government, research as a tool to
economic policy has three distinct phases of operation,
viz.,
◦ (i) investigation of economic structure through continual
compilation of facts;
◦ (ii) diagnosis of events that are taking place and the analysis of
the forces underlying them; and
◦ (iii) the prognosis, i.e., the prediction of future developments.
 Research has its special significance in solving various operational and
planning problems of business and industry.

 All these are of great help to people in business and industry who are
responsible for taking business decisions.

 Given knowledge of future demand, it is generally not difficult for a firm, or

for an industry to adjust its supply schedule within the limits of its projected
capacity.

 Research is equally important for social scientists in studying social

relationships and in seeking answers to various social problems.

 It provides the intellectual satisfaction of knowing a few things just for the
sake of knowledge and also has practical utility for the social scientist to
know for the sake of being able to do something better or in a more efficient
manner.

 Research in social sciences is concerned both with knowledge for its own
sake and with knowledge for what it can contribute to practical concerns. “
The significance of research can also be understood keeping in view the
following points:
1. To those students who are to write a master’s or Ph.D. thesis, research
may mean a careerism or a way to attain a high position in the social
structure;
2. To professionals in research methodology, research may mean a source of
livelihood;
3. To philosophers and thinkers, research may mean the outlet for new ideas
and insights;
4. To literary men and women, research may mean the development of new
styles and creative work;
5. To analysts and intellectuals, research may mean the generalisations of
new theories.

Thus, research is the fountain of knowledge for the sake of knowledge

and an important source of providing guidelines for solving
different business, governmental and social problems.
 The Research Process
 Most research activities follow the following steps:
(1) formulating the research problem;
(2) extensive literature survey;
(3) developing the hypothesis;
(4) preparing the research design;
(5) determining sample design;
(6) collecting the data;
(7) analysis of data;
(8) hypothesis testing;
(9) generalizations and interpretation, and
(10) preparation of the report or presentation of the results,
i.e., formal write-up of conclusions reached