Research Methodology

K S Gurumurthy,
drksgurumurthy@gmail.com
Cell:9845120045

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 OUTLINE
• Syllabus
• Motivation
• What is research?
• Objectives of research
• Types of research
• Research methodology

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 Motivation
• Why is research done?
• How is it done?
• Upgrade the qualification by updating the
knowledge
• This is must for an academician (research or
perish)
• Knowing the ‘nitty gritty’ (essence) of
research is the motivation.

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 What is Research
• Research comprises "creative work undertaken on a
systematic basis in order to increase the stock of
knowledge, including knowledge of humans, culture
and society, and the use of this stock of knowledge
to devise new applications.
• It is used to establish or confirm facts, reaffirm the
results of previous work, solve new or existing
problems, support theorems, or develop new
theories.

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• A research project may also be an expansion on
past work in the field.
• To test the validity of instruments, procedures, or
experiments,
• Research may replicate elements of prior projects,
or the project as a whole.
• The primary purposes of basic research (as
opposed to applied research) are documentation,
discovery, interpretation, or the
research and development (R&D) of methods and
systems for the advancement of human knowledge.

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• Approaches to research depend on
epistemologies (history), which vary
considerably both within and between
humanities and sciences.
• There are several forms of research:
scientific, humanities, artistic, economic,
social, business, marketing,
practitioner research, life, technological, etc.

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• The word research is derived from the
Middle French "recherche", which means "to
go about seeking", the term itself being
derived from the Old French term
"recerchier" a compound word from "re-" +
"cerchier", or "sercher", meaning 'search'.
• The earliest recorded use of the term was in
1577.

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•  noun: research; plural noun: researches 
• the systematic investigation into and study of
materials and sources in order to establish facts and
reach new conclusions.
• "the group carries out research in geochemistry"
• synonyms:
• investigation, experimentation, testing, exploration,
 analysis, fact finding, examination, scrutiny,
 scrutinization, probing; 
– engaged in or intended for research.
• modifier noun: research
• "a research student"
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• verb: research;  
• investigate systematically.
• "she has spent the last five years researching her
people's history"
• synonyms:
• investigate, conduct investigations into, study, enquire
into, make enquiries into,lookinto, probe, explore,
 analyse, examine, scrutinize, inspect, review, assess 
– discover or verify information for use in (a book,
programme, etc.).
• "I was in New York researching my novel"

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 Objectives of Research
• In general, research objectives describe what we expect
to achieve by a research project.
• Research objectives are usually expressed in lay
terms and are directed as much to the client as to the
researcher.
• Research objectives may be linked with a hypothesis or
used as a statement of purpose in a study that does not
have a hypothesis.
• Even if the nature of the research has not been clear to
the layperson from the hypotheses, s/he should be able
to understand the research from the objectives.

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• A statement of research objectives can serve to guide
the activities of research.
Consider the following examples.
• Objective: To describe what factors farmers take into
account in making such decisions as whether to adopt
a new technology or what crops to grow.
• Objective: To develop a budget for reducing pollution
by a particular enterprise.
• Objective: To describe the habitat of the giant panda
in China.

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• In the above examples the intent of the research is
largely descriptive.
• In the case of the first example, the research will end
the study by being able to specify factors which
emerged in household decisions.
• In the second, the result will be the specification of a
pollution reduction budget.
• In the third, creating a picture of the habitat of the
giant panda in China.

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• These observations might prompt researchers to
formulate hypotheses which could be tested in
another piece of research.
• So long as the aim of the research is exploratory, ie
to describe what is, rather than to test an
explanation for what is, a research objective will
provide an adequate guide to the research.

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 Research Methodology
“Research is the systematic approach to obtaining
and confirming new and reliable knowledge”
– Systematic and orderly (following a series of
steps)
– Purpose is new knowledge, which must be
reliable

This is a general definition which applies to all

disciplines

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 Research is not
Accidental discovery :
1. Accidental discovery may occur in structured
research process
2. Usually takes the form of a phenomenon not
previously noticed
3. May lead to a structured research process to
verify or understand the observation

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 Research is not … cont.
Data Collection
• an intermediate step to gain reliable
knowledge
• collecting reliable data is part of the research
process

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 Research is not … cont.
Searching out published research results in
libraries (or the internet)
• This is an important early step of research
• The research process always includes
synthesis and analysis
• But, just reviewing of literature is not
research

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 Research is…
1. Searching for explanation of events,
phenomena, relationships and causes
– What, how and why things occur
– Are there interactions?
2. A process
– Planned and managed – to make the information
generated credible
– The process is creative
– It is circular – always leads to more questions
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• All well designed and conducted research has
potential application.
• Failure to see applications can be due to:
– Users not trained or experienced in the specialized
methods of economic research and reasoning
– Researchers often do not provide adequate
interpretations and guidance on applications of the
research
• Researchers are responsible to help users
understand research implications
(How?)
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 Public good
• Public research is a public good (object)
– May be more rigorous and objective because it is
subject to more scrutiny
• Private research may also be rigorous
– But research on a company’s product may be
questioned as biased.

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 Classification of Research
• Before classification, we must first define
types of research
• Different criteria are used to classify research
types

(All of these are somewhat arbitrary and

artificial)

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 Types of research
• – Descriptive vs. Analytical, Applied vs.
Fundamental (Basic), Quantitative vs.
Qualitative, Conceptual vs. Empirical.

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 Basic vs Applied Research
• Basic – to determine or establish fundamental
facts and relationships within a discipline or field
of study. .. Develop theories … (examples in
economics?)
• Applied – undertaken specifically for the purpose
of obtaining information to help resolve a
particular problem
• The distinction between them is in the application
– Basic has little application to real world policy and
management but could be done to guide applied
research
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 Quantitative Vs Qualitative
• Quantitative research is based on numeric figures or
numbers.
• Quantitative research aims to measure the quantity or
amount and compares it with past records and tries to
project for future period.
• In social sciences, “quantitative research refers to the
systematic empirical investigation of quantitative
properties and phenomena and their relationships”.
• The objective of quantitative research is to develop
and employ mathematical models, theories or
hypothesis pertaining to phenomena.
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• The process of measurement is central to
quantitative research because it provides
fundamental connection between empirical
observation and mathematical expression of
quantitative relationships
• Statistics is the most widely used branch of
mathematics in quantitative research
• Statistical methods are used extensively with in
fields such as economics and commerce

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• Quantitative research involving the use of
structured questions, where the response
options have been Pre-determined and large
number of respondents is involved.
• Eg:-total sales of soap industry in terms of
rupees and or quantity in terms of lakhs
tones for particular year, say 2008,could be
researched, compared with past 5 years and
then projection for 2009 could be made.

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 Qualitative research
• Qualitative research presents non-quantitative type
of analysis.
• Qualitative research is collecting, analyzing and
interpreting data by observing what people do and
say.
• Qualitative research refers to the meanings,
definitions, characteristics, symbols, metaphors,
and description of things.
• It is much more subjective and uses very different
methods of collecting information, mainly
individual, in-depth interviews and focus groups.

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• The nature of this type of research is exploratory and
open ended.
• Small number of people are interviewed in depth and
or a relatively small number of focus groups are
conducted.

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 Analytic vs Descriptive Research

• Descriptive Research – the attempt to

determine, describe, or identify something
– The intent is often synthesis, which pulls
knowledge or information together
• Analytic – the attempt to establish why
something occurs or how it came to be
• All disciplines generally engage in both

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 Methodology
Methodology and Method are often (incorrectly)
used interchangeable
• Methodology – the study of the general approach
to inquiry in a given field
• Method – the specific techniques, tools or
procedures applied to achieve a given objective
– Research methods in economics include regression
analysis, mathematical analysis, operations research,
surveys, data gathering, etc.
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 The Process of Research
• The process is initiated with a question or problem
(step 1)
• Next, goals and objectives are formulated to deal
with the question or problem (step 2)
• Then the research design is developed to achieve
the objectives (step 3)
• Results are generated by conducting the research
(through experiments/simulation/analysis (step 4)
• Interpretation and analysis of results follow (step 5)

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 The Process of Research

2
5

4 3

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 Creativity in the Research Process
• Research is a creative process
• “…research includes far more than mere logic … It
includes insight, genius, groping, pondering – ‘sense’
… The logic we can teach; the art we cannot”
• Research requires (or at least works best) with
imagination, initiative, intuition, and curiosity.
• There are different types of creativity, characteristic
of different situations – “applied” and “theoretical”
most closely associate with economic research

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 Fostering Creativity (Ladd 1987)
A. Gather and use previously developed
knowledge
B. Exchange ideas
C. Apply deductive logic
D. Look at things alternate ways
E. Question or challenge assumptions
F. Search for patterns or relationships
G. Take risks
H. Cultivate tolerance for uncertainty
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 Fostering Creativity … cont.
I. Allow curiosity to grow
J. Set problems aside … and come back to them
K. Write down your thoughts
“… frequently I don’t know what I think until I write it”
L. Freedom from distraction … some time to think.

Creativity may provide the difference between

satisfactory and outstanding research.

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