Scientific Research Methods

Joint Masters of Science of Program

with Debre Markos University
Yom Institute of Economic Development
1.1. Definition of Research
 1.1 Definition of Research
• We all possess the vital instinct of curiosity.
• When the unknown confronts us, we wonder
and probe to attain full understanding of the
unknown.
• This curiosity is the mother of all knowledge.
• The method, which we employ for obtaining the
knowledge of whatever the unknown is,
therefore, research.
 Research is more than a reflection of our opinions
and prejudgments.
 Research is defined as:
a search for knowledge in a scientific manner.
“a careful investigation or inquiry specially
through search for new facts in any branch of
knowledge.”
a “systematized effort to gain new knowledge.”
a movement from the unknown to the known.
a voyage of discovery.
• ‘Research’ refers to the systematic method
consisting of:
articulating the problem,
formulating a hypothesis,
collecting data,
analyzing the data and
reaching certain conclusions.
 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.
 Motivations in Research
1. Desire to get benefits;
2. Desire to face the challenge in solving the
unsolved problems
3. Desire to get intellectual joy
4. Desire to be of service to society;
5. Desire to get respect;
6. Curiosity about new things,; and
7. Desire to understand causal relationships
1.5. Classification of Research
1.5. Classification of Research
• Research comes in many shapes and sizes. Before a researcher b
egins to conduct a study, he or she must decide on
a specific type of research.

• Good researchers understand the advantages and

disadvantages of each type, although most end up specializing in
one.
• For classification of research we shall look from four dimensions
1. The purpose of doing research;
2. The intended uses of research;
3. How it treats time i.e. the time dimension in research; and
4. The research (data collection) techniques used in it.
 1) Research Classification by The purpose of doing research;

A) Exploratory or Formulative
• You may be exploring new topic or issue in order to learn about
it. If the issue was new or the
researcher has written little on it, you began at
the beginning. This is called exploratory research.
• Exploratory research may be the first stage in
a sequence of studies.
• A researcher may need to know enough to design
and execute a second, more systematic as well as extensive study.
• When a researcher has a limited amount of experience with
or knowledge about a research issue, exploratory research is
useful preliminary step that helps ensure that a more
rigorous, more conclusive future study will not begin with an
inadequate understanding of the nature of the management
problem.
• The findings discovered through exploratory research would
the researchers to emphasize learning more about the
particulars of the findings in subsequent conclusive studies.
 B) Descriptive Research
• Descriptive research presents a picture of the specific
details of a situation, social setting, or relationship. The
major purpose of descriptive research, as the term
implies, is to describe characteristics of a population or
phenomenon. Descriptive research seeks to determine
the answers to who, what, when, where, and how
questions. Labor Force Surveys, Population Census, and
Educational Census are examples of such research.
• Descriptive study offers to the researcher a profile or
description of relevant aspects of the phenomena of
interest. Look at the class in research methods and try to
give its profile ¬ the characteristics of the students.
When we start to look at the relationship of the
variables, then it may help in diagnosis analysis.
 C) Explanatory Research
• When we encounter an issue that is already known and have
a description of it, we might begin to wonder why things are
the way they are.
• The desire to know "why," to explain, is the purpose of
explanatory research. It builds on exploratory and descriptive
research and goes on to identify the reasons for something
that occurs. Explanatory research looks for causes and
reasons.
• For example, a descriptive research may discover that 10
percent of the parents abuse their children, whereas the
explanatory researcher is more interested in learning why
parents abuse their children
 2) Research classification by USE

A) Basic Research
• Basic research advances fundamental knowledge abou
t the human world.
• It focuses on refuting or
supporting theories that explain how world operate
what makes things happen, why social
relations are a certain way, and why society changes.
• Basic research is the source of most new scientific
ideas and ways of thinking about the world.
• It can be exploratory, descriptive, or explanatory; how
ever, explanatory research is the most common.
• Basic research generates new ideas, principles and
theories, which may not be immediately utilized; though
are the foundations of modern progress and development
in different fields.
• A new idea or fundamental knowledge is not generated
only by basic research. Applied research, too, can build
new knowledge. Nonetheless, basic research is essential
for nourishing the expansion of knowledge. Researchers at
the center of the scientific community conduct most of
the basic research
B) Applied Research
• Applied researchers try to solve specific policy problems or help
practitioners accomplish tasks. Theory is less central to them than
seeking a solution on a specific problem for a limited setting.
• Applied research is frequently a descriptive research, and its main
strength is its immediate practical use. Applied research is
conducted when decision must be made about a specific real-life
problem.
• Applied research encompasses those studies undertaken to answer
questions about specific problems or to make decisions about a
particular course of action or policy.
• For example, an organization contemplating a paperless office and
a networking system for the company's personal computers may
conduct research to learn the amount of time its employees spend
at personal computers in an average week
Types of Applied Research
i) Action research
ii) Impact Assessment Research
iii) Evaluation Research
C. Basic and Applied Research Compared
• The procedures and techniques utilized by basic and
applied researchers do not differ substantially.
• Both employ the scientific method to answer the
questions at hand.
• The consumers of applied research findings are
practitioners. Often, someone other than the researcher
who conducted the study uses the results of applied
research. This means that applied researchers have an
obligation to translate findings from scientific technical
language into the language of decision makers or
practitioners.
• The results of applied research are less likely to enter the
public domain in publications. Results may be available
only to a small number of decision makers or
practitioners, who decide whether or how to put the
research results into practice and who may or may not
use the results.
4) Research by Time Dimension:
1.Cross-Sectional Research
2.Time series Research
3.The panel study
5)Research (data collection) Techniques Used
• Quantitative: - Experiments, Surveys,
and Content Analysis and Using Existing Statistics
• Qualitative :- Field Research, Case Study and
Focus Group Discussion
 Scientific Approaches:
Deductive and Inductive Thinking
• The modern method of science is broadly of two types:
Induction and Deduction.
• Deductive reasoning works from the more general to the
more specific.
– Also called a "top-down" approach.
– begin with a theory – to specific hypotheses – into
observations.
– test the hypotheses with specific data- a confirmation
(or not) of our original theories.
Deductive Reasoning
 Scientific Approaches:
Deductive and Inductive Thinking
• Inductive reasoning works the other way, moving from
specific observations to broader generalizations and
theories.
– this is a "bottom up" approach.
• We begin with specific observations and measures, begin
to detect patterns and regularities, formulate some
tentative hypotheses, and finally end up developing some
general conclusions or theories.
Inductive Thinking
1.7.Types of Research
 1.7.Types of Research
• The basic types of research are as follows:
(i) Descriptive vs. Analytical:
• 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.
• In social science and business research we quite
often use descriptive research.
• In analytical research, the researcher analyzes
information to make a critical evaluation of the
material.
 Types of Research
(ii) Applied vs. Fundamental: Research can either be
applied (or action) research or fundamental (basic
or pure) research.
• Applied research aims at finding a solution for an
immediate problem facing a society or an
industry/organization,
• Fundamental research is mainly concerned with
generalizations and with the formulation of a
theory.
 Types of Research
(iii) 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 is concerned with qualitative
phenomenon whose aim is to discover the
underlying motives of human behaviour.
 If you: Then Use:
• want to conduct statistical analysis

• want to be precise
Quantitative
• know what you want to measure

• want to cover a large group

• want narrative or in-depth information

• are not sure what you are able to measure Qualitative

• do not need to quantify the results

 Types of Research
(iv) Conceptual vs. Empirical:
• Conceptual research is that related to some
abstract idea(s) or theory.
• It is used to develop new concepts or to
reinterpret existing ones.
• Empirical research relies on experience or
observation alone, often without due regard for
system and theory. It is data-based research.
• It comes up with conclusions which are capable of
being verified by observation or experiment.
1.8. Research Ethics
 1.8 Research Ethics
Ethics: The established customs, morals, and fundamental human
relationships that exist throughout the world.

Ethical Behavior: Behavior that is morally accepted as good or right

as opposed to bad or wrong. General ethical rules apply also to the
researchers.
• Researchers, subjects, funding bodies and society may have
conflicting incentives.

A. Researchers-researchers

 Researchers may be unethical on researchers

Plagiarism: using words or ideas without proper acknowledgment

• Plagiarism is the unauthorized use of someone else's thoughts or
wording either by

o Incorrect documentation, failing to cite your sources altogether,

or

o Simply by relying too heavily on external resources.

• Whether intentional or unintended some or all of another author's ideas

become represented as your own.
• Plagiarizing undermines your academic integrity.

o It betrays your own responsibilities,

o As a student writer,

o Your audience, and

o The very research community you were entering by deciding to

write a research paper in the first place.
B. Researchers-society

• Falsifying data: Changing data

• Fabrication: Making up data

• Irresponsible policy advise

• Waste of research fund

C. Funding bodies-researchers

• Fund allocations directing research

• i.e. ‘money buying research results’?