 An inquiry? An investigation?

(what type of
inquiry/investigation and for what purpose?)

 It is a search for knowledge

 (re)– search – sometimes it is not

“reinventing the wheel”

A scientific and systematic process aimed at

providing dependable solutions to problems
or answers to questions
 “A process of steps used to collect and analyse
information [data] to increase our understanding of a
topic or issue” (Creswell, 2008, p. 3)

 “A structured inquiry that uses acceptable scientific

methods to create knew knowledge, apply such
knowledge to similar contexts and/or to solve
problems” (Grinnel, 1993, p.4)

 “Research in common parlance refers to a search for

knowledge. One can also define research as a scientific
and systematic search for pertinent information on a
specific topic. In fact, research is an art of scientific
investigation” (Kothari, 2004, p. 1)
 Process of investigation/inquiry

 Systematic/methodical/controlled and rigorous inquiry

 Specific objective(s), critical analysis of evidence

 Arrive at valid and verifiable conclusions or knowledge

 Generates new knowledge or improves understanding

 Confirms or disproves existing knowledge

 Aims at understanding, explaining, or predicting

“reality”
 Adding to knowledge

 Generating new knowledge

 Improving practice

 Informing policy
 Predictive (forecasting an outcome)

 Explaining(explaining the causes or consequences

of something)

 Criticising
(or evaluating something, to test how
well something works)

 Descriptive (describing situations & events)

 Development(developing guidelines or
recommendations for good practice)
 Validity (accurately measuring or describing the
object of focus)

 Precision of measurement (in terms of instruments and

scale used)

 Reliability (stability of findings upon repetition)

 Replicability (repetition of study or experiment)

 Objectivity (seeing the object or issue as it is, free of

personal opinions, judgments and values)

 Representativeness of sample

 Ethics (proper code of behavior in research)

 Identifying a research problem

 Identifying a research topic

 Reviewing the literature

 Specifying the purpose for research

 Collecting data

 Analysing data and interpreting data

 Reporting and evaluating research

 Research methods

o May be understood as all those

methods/techniques that are used for conduction
of research

o All those methods which are used by the

researcher during the course of studying his
research problem are termed as research
methods
 Research Methodology
o A way to systematically solve the research problem.

o It may be understood as a science of studying how

research is done scientifically

o Research methodology has many dimensions and

research methods do constitute a part of the research
methodology

o The scope of research methodology is wider than that

of research methods

o A methodology is an approach to the process of the

research encompassing a body of methods