Let’s answers some questions

Questions Questions about yourself

Questions about others

It is not always easy to answer some difficult

questions, it requires steps, methods to find
relevant answers
Prepared by Dr. Christy Ng & Pierre-Louis
 RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY
HTM 2252

Prepared by Dr. Christy Ng & Pierre-Louis

 WHAT IS RESEARCH?
Research is about finding answers to
questions.
Research helps to understand :
- What people do (fact) ex: How many meals you eat per day ? What
do you eat? Where do you go for holiday?
- Why people do things (motivation) ex:
- The way people do things (method) ex:

- The way people behave with others ex:

YOU CAN STUDY ALL THIS THIS FOR VARIOUS FIELD :

FOOD, TOURISM, MANAGEMENT, MARKETING etc

Prepared by Dr. Christy Ng & Pierre-Louis

 Let’s find questions…

KATIE PERRY HAIR CUT TEH TARIK TENNIS BALL

Research is about finding answers

to interesting questions.
INTERESTING QUESTIONS ARE ;

Bringing new knowledge

Exciting knowledge

Useful Knowledge

Prepared by Dr. Christy Ng & Pierre-Louis

 To answers your question, what do you
need?
Why …..

What are the motivation factors for people to visit Malaysia.

To answers your question, you need data.

Research is not about guessing the answer
to a question
Research is about answering
interesting questions with data
Prepared by Dr. Christy Ng & Pierre-Louis
 What do you need to get data ?
To get data you need a tool.

QUESTIONNAIRE INTERVIEW OBSERVATION

Research is not about answering a

question with existing data, but with
produced data
Research is about answering interesting
questions with tool and data
Prepared by Dr. Christy Ng & Pierre-Louis
 Let’s Practice
Given questions : Why are people addicted
to facebook ?
Can you build a tool ?

QUESTIONNAIRE INTERVIEW OBSERVATION

To collect data is easy, to collect data that help to answer

the question is difficult.
Research is about answering interesting
questions with accurate tool and valid data
Prepared by Dr. Christy Ng & Pierre-Louis
 What are valid data?
Question : Why people eat McDonald ?

Data collected : people eat vegetables 2 times per day.

Data that help you to answer your question.

Data collected :The questionnaire were all filled by my Italian boyfriend that does not
speak English
I have given 100 questionnaires, to get 200 participants, I times 2 the answers I have.
Data without false information

Data collected : 20 people.

Data collected : at Taylor’s University, among 300 male students.
Data that are representative

Data that make your answer unquestionable, that are convincing proof.

VALID DATA CAN ONLY BE ACHIEVED

WITH AN ACCURATE TOOL
Prepared by Dr. Christy Ng & Pierre-Louis
 What is an accurate tool ?
Question : Why people eat McDonald ?

Questionnaire : What is your favorite fast food ?

Questions that supply useful data for what you are looking for.

Questionnaire : From a psycho-sociologic point of view, what is making you shift you
food model, towards an inaccurate eating pattern?

Questions that are understandable

Field study : observation of what people order in a fast food restaurant.

Tool that is based on the right method to answer what you are looking for.

.
AN ACCURATE TOOL IS THE ONLY TO
GET VALID DATA
Prepared by Dr. Christy Ng & Pierre-Louis
Does valid data make you necessary
find the answer to the question?

Prepared by Dr. Christy Ng & Pierre-Louis

 DOES VALID DATA MAKE YOU NECESSARY FIND
THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION?

VALID DATA ARE NOT EVERYTHING, THEY WILL

ONLY ANSWER YOUR QUESTION CORRECTLY IF
YOU KNOW HOW TO USE THEM THE RIGHT WAY

Research is about building an accurate tool to collect valid

data to find the right answer(s) to an interesting question
Prepared by Dr. Christy Ng & Pierre-Louis
 Understanding Research
 To find good questions, making
accurate tool is not a gift. We are not
born researcher, we become one
through learning.
 Research is an on-going process, made
of trial and error, without any guarantee
of success
 Research is a (slow) process that takes
time to absorb and control
Prepared by Dr. Christy Ng & Pierre-Louis
 Research is “Useful”
A good research supply answers that
can be used to conduct/work on various
projects.
Understanding the socio-cultural modification taking place
in the transition of wine drinker to wine connoisseur.

Wine Drinker Connoisseur

Prepared by Dr. Christy Ng & Pierre-Louis

 THE STEPS IN THE RESEARCH
PROCESS
Research
Question

Objectives

Tools

Analysis

Prepared by Dr. Christy Ng & Pierre-Louis

 Can the topic be researched?
 Do the economies that result from a trash burning
plant outweigh or not outweigh its environmental
impact?
- This topic is researchable. You'd have to sift through a lot
of information, both pro and con, valid and invalid, in
order to choose the best information to answer the
research question and support your own point of view,
but the point is that there is at least enough information
to sift through.

Prepared by Dr. Christy Ng & Pierre-Louis

 Can the topic be researched?
 Does McDonald's or Burger King make a better
burger?
- MacDonald's vs. Burger King is not researchable as it is
worded, since it has no concrete meaning. What does
"better" mean? Better in terms of nutrition? Better
tasting? Better value? Fewer calories? Better for making
your kids happy? This question could become
researchable only if you define its terms.

Prepared by Dr. Christy Ng & Pierre-Louis

 Can the topic be researched?
 Is there a link between hours of television viewing
and violent behavior in children aged 8-14?
- This topic is researchable. You'd have to sift through a lot
of information, both pro and con, valid and invalid, in
order to choose the best information to answer the
research question and support your own point of view,
but the point is that there is at least enough information
to sift through.

Prepared by Dr. Christy Ng & Pierre-Louis

 Is the research question too broad, too
narrow, or okay?
o What marketing strategies does the Coca-Cola
company currently apply?

o This is the best research question. Your research to answer

this question may include observation of print, television, and
radio advertisements as well as research into various current
marketing theories and strategies. Both types of research are
"do-able," and the question is focused enough to yield a fully-
developed research paper.

Prepared by Dr. Christy Ng & Pierre-Louis

 Is the research question too broad,
too narrow, or okay?
o What is the Coca-Cola company's future marketing
plan?

- This is very broad as well as being

unresearchable--it's unlikely that Coca-Cola
personnel will reveal their marketing plan.

Prepared by Dr. Christy Ng & Pierre-Louis

Is the research question too broad,
too narrow, or okay?
o What marketing strategies has the Coca-Cola
company used in the past?

- This may be too broad as well, since "the past" covers a

lot of time, especially since the Coca-Cola company was
incorporated in 1919.

Prepared by Dr. Christy Ng & Pierre-Louis

 Let’s try….
 What are the 14 different disease-causing genes that
were discovered in 1994?
 What is the importance of genetic research in our lives?
 How might the discovery of a genetic basis for obesity
change the way in which we treat obese persons, both
medically and socially?
 What percentage of commercial airline crashes were
traced to negligent maintenance during the 10 years
immediately preceding and following deregulation?

Prepared by Dr. Christy Ng & Pierre-Louis

 Let’s try…
 What impact has deregulation had on commercial airline
safety?
 Do children sent to day care or preschool start
kindergarten with more highly developed language
skills?

Prepared by Dr. Christy Ng & Pierre-Louis