Elements of Research

What is Research?
• Research is the organised and systematic method of finding answers to
questions. 
• It is systematic because it is a process broken up into clear steps that lead
to conclusions.
• Research is organised because there is a planned structure or method used
to reach the conclusion. 
• Research is only successful if we find answers, whether we like these
answers or not.
 Research Questions
• Research is focussed on relevant, useful and important questions. If
there are no questions, there can be no research.
• Questions are central to research. If there is no question, then the
answer is of no use.
• Without a question, research has no focus, drive, or purpose.
 Why Research?
• Research helps to clarify and strengthen beliefs especially in the face of
opposition and doubt from others.
• Often people have firm beliefs about particular issues, but when they
have to argue their case they lack reliable information to back up their
beliefs.
• Even though research can confirm your views, it is important that the
researcher remains open-minded and impartial even when the results
fail to confirm his/her views.
 How is Research used?
• Research can give your views and arguments substance.
• Research produces hard facts that could support your arguments and beliefs.
• Research gives you new information.
• Research often throws up other facts which you may not have been aware of that helps
to strengthen, or even change, your arguments and beliefs. These facts make it easier to
plan programmes and ensure that interventions are effective.
• Research can show you what is most likely to address your issue successfully.
• Research may provide key information that will enable you to develop clear strategies.
• Research can provide you with anecdotes and examples to use.
• In addition to providing statistics, research provides you with real life experiences that
are more convincing than statistics organised into graphs and tables. For example, parts
of a research report on poverty in a rural community can deal with actual case studies
that will have a great impact on readers.
• Research allows you to make cost-benefit arguments.
• Often people are convinced that a programme or project justifies high amounts of
money being spent. Research can confirm if this is correct or suggest other ways for the
money to be spent.
 Types of Research
• Primary Research: original; research that the researcher designs and
carries out using surveys and/or focus groups.
• Secondary Research: one that depends on accessing information that
has already been researched and can found in books, other
publications and expert sources.
 Types of Primary Research

• Qualitative:
• Based on information findings taken from observation, interviewing and from
tracing patterns of behaviour.
• Helps to understand how people feel and why they feel as they do.
• In depth in nature as one collects significant amount of information or data.
• Samples tend to be smaller
• Duration of research is often longer.
Qualitative Research – problems need to be
explored
• Two examples of qualitative research are:
 Historical - study of past events
Ethnographic – study of current events through the collection of
extensive narrative data over a period of time in a naturalistic setting.
Participant observation and case studies are often used.
 Types of Primary Research – cont.
• Quantitative:
• Requires the use of survey to feed the statistical analysis
• Requires a large sample – the researcher is not likely to have contact
with the participants in the research process.
 Quantitative Research – issue needs to be
explained
• Two examples of quantitative research are:
 Descriptive – collection of data in order to answer a question about the
current status of a subject or situation. Concerned with – preferences,
attitudes, practices, concerns, or interests of some groups of people. Ex.
Consumer surveys.
Correlational research – seeks to establish a relationship (or lack
thereof) between two variables or to use relationships to make
predictions
 The Research Process

Step 1: The Reacher decides on the topic or problem to be investigated for which s/he has no
answers.
Step 2: The research topic /problem is converted into precise and measurable research
question(s).
Step 3: A hypothesis is formulated based on what the researcher expects to find in answer to
the question(s).
Step 4: Existing literature, related to the issue, is searched to find possible solution to the
research problem
Step 5: Methodology is formulated to answer research questions based on information from
literature review.
• Step 6: Guided by methodology, data is gathered, coded and collated.
• Step 7: The data is analysed and interpreted to determined if answers
to the question(s) have been found.
• Step 8: Researcher determines whether hypothesis has been
supported or not and whether there is need for further research.
 What is Research Design?
• A detailed outline of how an investigation will take place. A research design
will typically include how data is to be collected, what instruments will be
employed, how the instruments will be used and the intended means for
analyzing data collected.
• The collection of data is an integral part of the process of research. It is
vital to a research project that data should be collected systematically and
accurately. The procedures used to collect data must be reliable and valid.
 Methods of Data Collection
• Quantitative /Survey Research:
Questionnaire – convenient, flexible, findings easier to summarize, compare and generalize.
Face-to-face interview
Mail surveys or self-administered questionnaires
Telephone interview
Computer assisted telephone interview
The internet
(Research the nature of each and the advantages and disadvantages of each)
 Methods of Data Collection cont.
• Qualitative Research:
• Tend to be more open-ended and participatory in nature. Rely on repeated
interviews to clarify concept and cross check reliability of data collected.
In-depth interview
Observational methods
Documentation review
(Research the nature of each and the advantages and disadvantages of each)
 Types of Sources
Primary: original or first-hand accounts or evidence, or objects that were created during
the period under investigation.
These include: buildings, sites, autobiographies, memoirs, the recording of events or
conditions after the time has passed, photographs or letters, diaries and drawings etc.
Tend to be narrative in style rather than analytical or evaluative.
Tend to be subjective in nature.
Reflect the social political and philosophical worldview and style of the period in which
they are written or produced.
Obtained chiefly through observation, survey, experiments and through documents.
 Types of Sources cont.
• Secondary sources – usually written or produced after the event that they purport to
comment on.
• These include: newspaper article, a review, an article in a magazine or a textbook.
• They comment on primary sources offering explanations, evaluation and interpretation of
them as well as other secondary sources.
• They may offer answers and solutions to queries and questions raised by primary sources.
• They tend to be analytical and interpretive in style; they attempt to be objective and
balanced depending on their purpose and the author.
• Reflect the bias and attitude of the worldview in which they are written.
Evaluating Sources – reliable and valid
In evaluating your sources of information, consider the following:
 the authorship
The purpose for writing
The intended audience
The scholarship
The accuracy of the information
The reliability
The tone of the information
How your source quote other sources
If the source can be corroborated.
(Read up on these)
 Definitions of Terms in Research
Reliability – a dependable trustworthy source of information / Yielding the same or compatible results in
different clinical experience or statistical trials.
Validity – when an argument is free from logical flaws or based on valid reasoning / the extent to which a test
measure what it claims to measure.
Internal validity – relates to whether there are flaws in the design of the research or the methods of data
collection
External Validity – whether your findings can apply or be generalised to a larger group or other situations.
Instrument - the methodology used to collect data
Data / information – the collected facts, observation, records or statistics that allow the researcher to come to
some conclusions.
 Definitions of Terms cont.
Variables – anything( person, thing, event or setting) in your research topic that can affect the
outcome of your research because of its ability to change or take different values – independent /
dependent /controlled variables.
Population – the group of individuals, items or events that the researcher wants to study.
Sampling – the process of selecting a number of individuals for study in such a way that they
represent the larger group from which they are selected. The purpose of sampling is to gain
information about the population by using the sample – probability or random sampling.
Authority – a person whose views are taken as definitive.
Expert – a person with special knowledge or ability in a specific subject area.
 Definitions of Terms cont.

Fact – a thing that is indisputably true / information used as evidence

or as part of a report or views/ article.
Opinion – a view or judgement formed about something that may or
may not be based on fact or knowledge / a judgement based on special
knowledge and given by an expert, for example a medical opinion.
Hypothesis – a statement that the researcher assumes to be true about
the variables in the research.