Introduction to

Research

Deny A. Kwary
Airlangga University
www.kwary.net
A research can be undertaken for two different
purposes:
1. To solve a currently existing problem
(applied research)
2. To contribute to the general body of
knowledge in a particular area of interest
(basic/fundamental research)
Ways to select a topic
 Personal experience
 Curiosity based on something in the
media
 The state of knowledge in a field
 Social premiums
 Personal values
 Major Limitations in
Conducting a Research
 Time
 Costs
 Access to resources
 Approval by authorities
 Ethical concerns
 Expertise
 Quantitative vs. Qualitative
Methodological Assumption
(Cresswell 1994: 5)
Quantitative Qualitative
Deductive process Inductive process
Cause and effect Mutual simultaneous
shaping of factors
Static design – categories Emerging design –
isolated before study categories identified
during research process
Generalization leading to Patterns, theories
prediction, explanation, developed for
and understanding understanding
Accurate and reliable Accurate and reliable
through validity and through verification
reliability
 Six assumptions of qualitative
designs (Merriam 1988: 19-20)
1. Qualitative researchers are concerned primarily with process,
rather than outcomes or products.
2. Qualitative researchers are interested in meaning.
3. The qualitative researcher is the primary instrument for data
collection and analysis. Data are mediated through this human
instrument, rather than through inventories, questionnaires, or
machines.
4. Qualitative research involves fieldwork. The researcher physically
goes to the people setting, site, or institution to observe or record
behavior in its natural setting.
5. Qualitative research is descriptive in that the researcher in
interested in process, meaning and understanding gained through
words or pictures.
6. The process of qualitative research is inductive in that the
researcher builds abstractions, concepts, hypotheses, and
theories from details.
 Quantitative Methods
 Quantitative Descriptive
 Descriptive statistics: graphical and
numerical techniques for summarizing data.
 Quantitative Analytic
 Inferential statistics: procedures for making
generalizations about characteristics of a
population based on information obtained
from a sample taken from that population
 Population, Sample, Respondent,
Informant, Corpus
 Population: any set of individuals (or objects)
having some common observable characteristics.
 Sample: the subset of a population which
represents the characteristics of the population.
 A sample consists of respondents or subjects
 An informant: a person from whom a linguist
obtains information about language, dialect, or
culture.
 A corpus is a collection of written or spoken
material.
 Types of Sampling

Probabilit Non-
y probability

Simpl Cluste Convenie Quota

e r nce
Rand Rando
om Stratif m System Judgeme Snowb
ied atic nt / all
Rando Random Purposiv
m e