Scientific Research

Characteristics and Ethics

Dr. Nasser Al-Muafa

 Subject Content
• Research Definition and Uses
• The Research Process and Research Proposal Writing
• Research Project Definition, Characteristics and
Phases
• Characteristics of a Scientific Research
• Research Ethics
• The Main Research Types and Methods
• General Final Year Project Structure
• Creativity in the Research Process
• Research Design and Common Research Design
• Finding and Reviewing the Literatures
• Writing up The Research Report
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• Project Management (PM)
The Process of Research

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 The Process of Research
• The answers to four important questions below
support the framework of any research project:

➢ What are you going to do? The subject of your

research.
➢ Why are you going to do it? The reason for this
research being necessary or interesting.
➢ How are you going to do it? The research methods
that you will use to carry out the project.
➢ When are you going to do it? The program/schedule
of the work.
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Structure of a Typical Research Project

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 The Typical Eight Steps of Research
Process
• Select a problem.
• Review the research and theory on the problem.
• Develop hypotheses or research questions.
• Determine an appropriate methodology / research
design.
• Collect relevant data.
• Analyze and interpret the result.
• Present the results in appropriate form.
• Replicate the study if necessary.

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 Defining The Research Problem
• There are several forms in which the research
problem can be expressed to indicate the method of
investigation.
➢ Asking question or questions (‫)طرح أسئلة‬
➢ Setting Hypotheses (‫)وضع أفتراضات‬
➢ Propositions (‫)تقديم مقترحات‬

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 The Research Problem
• For a problem to be researchable, it must be:

➢ Stated clearly and concisely (brief).

➢ Significant i.e. not trivial (not not important) or a repeat
of previous work.
➢ Delineated, in order to limit its scope to practical
investigation.
➢ Possible to obtain the information (data) required to
explore the problem.
➢ Possible to draw conclusions related to the problem, as
the point of research is to find some answers.

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 Characteristics of a Scientific Research
▪ Scientific Research should:
• Include a problem that need a solution or a question
that need an answer.
• Should achieve a general objective rather than a
personal objective.
• Should follow the scientific approach that
characterized by order and control.
• It should add new information.
➢ New facts that was not known before.
➢ Validates results of previous research.
➢ Tests theories.
➢ Explains findings of a previous research.
➢ Find out new relationships among present phenomena.
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Characteristics of a Scientific Research
• Research results should be liable to:
➢ Testing- when another researcher choose the
same problem and follows the same steps,
he/she probably gets the same results.
➢ Generalization- that is the results could be
generalized from the study sample to the study
population.
• The research should be ethical (i.e., does not
violate the rights of, profession, community,
patients, or the researcher him/her self).

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 Limitations of the Scientific Research
• It must contend with (deal with) problems of
measurement, thus, any phenomena must be
translated to measurable items.
• Focuses on a relatively small portion of the human
experience in a single study.
• Inadequate for addressing moral or ethical
questions.

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 Research Ethics
• There are two aspects of ethical issues in
research:
1-The individual values of the researcher relating
to honesty and frankness and personal integrity.
2-The researcher’s treatment of other people
involved in the research, relating to informed
consent, confidentiality, anonymity and courtesy.

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 Research Ethics
• The main ethical issues in research:
➢ Intellectual Ownership and Plagiarism
➢ Acknowledgement and Citation
➢ Responsibility and Accountability of the Researchers
➢ Data and Interpretations (avoid bias)
➢ Sources of Financial Support.

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 Research Ethics
• Situations that arises ethical issues:
➢ Research Aims (Especially in social issues)
➢ Sensitive Material
➢ Potential Harm and Gain
➢ Presentation
➢ Use of Language
➢ Dealing with Participants in Survey
➢ Many others……..

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