Research Methodology: Module guide

Learner Guide Key Points

• The Research Methodology module is Honours level
• Contact details include:
  • Tel: 011 559 1147
  • Email: [email protected]
  • Office 26 – STH Admin Building
• Consultation times are flexible, but appointments are essential
• The class is diverse, including 3 / 4 different strands, such as UJ degree programs, Adv Dip., other universities and industry
• Emphasis is on the principle of RESPECT for lecturer(s), fellow students, and self
• Appreciate that everyone comes from different backgrounds and these backgrounds may shape understanding and perceptions of knowledge
• Everyone brings something to the table
• An important principle is communication about challenges, content, etc; reach out before there is a disaster
• Class is in the evenings, make the best of it

Module Purpose

• Enables students to appreciate the methodological aspects of tourism or hospitality disciplines
• Provides students with the necessary knowledge and understanding of the practice of research
• Specific outcomes include:
  • Reflecting upon aspects underlying scientific research
  • Identifying a viable research opportunity
  • Defining the research opportunity following scientific and methodological principles
  • Identifying and explaining the steps in the research process
  • Reflecting on the value of different research approaches
  • Describing the significant literature underpinning the research area following sound scientific principles
  • Devising an academically sound, practically implementable method to conduct the research
  • Reflecting upon how the data results from the study will be analyzed
  • Combining all these outcomes in a correctly prepared research proposal and subsequently writing up a research project / thesis

Key Focus Areas

• Understanding what research is and why it matters
• Understanding research methodology and research design
• Understanding different types of research methods
• Selecting a research topic
• Accessing relevant resources
• Compiling a literature review for major assignments
• Developing a research question
• Selecting a research approach
• Writing up a research proposal for 2nd assignment
• Conducting a situational analysis and remembering basic aspects relating to research

Nature of Research

• Research is defined as "a systematic quest to discover undiscovered knowledge" – Nunkoo (2018)
• It is planned, organized and has a specific goal
• Involves systematic collection and analysis of data
• It has a clear purpose: increasing self-awareness and enhancing knowledge
• Asks the question: "What do we not know?"
• Research is systematic because it is based logical relationships between things
• It is linked to 3 things:
  • The pursuit of knowledge in order to know WHY
  • Can result from specific real-world needs
  • The pursuit of postgraduate qualifications
• Needs to be theoretically and methodologically rigorous and of practical relevance
• Advances knowledge and understanding
• Involves ordinary and unexciting activities, proceeds in small stages
• Can solve complex issues, but more likely sheds light on a problematic area
• Involves taking data which has been collected previously under a variety of circumstances
• More data is then collected under similar conditions to check the results
• Findings either reaffirm or dispute the reliability of the original data
• Refers to the entire process of:
  • Conceptualizing the topic and problem
  • Data collection
  • Data analysis
  • Drawing conclusions
• Should result in a new viewpoint on a subject, or at least a fresh way of thinking
• "The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes" – Marcel Proust
• Can result in the generation of a theory, or general statement
• The theory would explain the reason for people to behave in a certain way and be used to test behaviors of different individuals
• Based upon very accurate observations
• Involves the collection of numerical measurements and data in the form of words: quantitative and qualitative
• Qualitative (conversational research) data involves recordings that are transcribed verbatim
• Data collected using our senses (sight and hearing)
• Data collected in everyday life
• Accurate sales figures and marketing information a type of critical business research
• Student monitoring and trend analysis used in education
• Empirical data collected as hobbies, as with family trees and history
• Used in relation to the concepts we use "what is tourism?" - this is referred to as a conceptual analysis

Classifying Research

• Research can be looked at from four broad viewpoints, that determine the direction and scope of research:
  • Field
  • Purpose
  • Approach
  • Nature
• Research is classified according to fields
• This enables those with similar interests to identify each other, where necessary work together
• Administrative classification:
  • Natural sciences
  • Life sciences
  • Physical sciences
  • Engineering sciences
  • Humanities
  • Social Sciences
• Much research contains more than 1 aspect like inter & multidisciplinary research

Other Classifications

• Solid theoretical appreciation identifies areas of interest with disciplines
• You can connect dots regarding your topic within a field
• This makes it easier to write a literature review
• A research project has many different purposes:
  • Aim to review existing literature
  • Describe a situation or problem
  • Construct something useful
  • Explain a phenomenon
• We classify research based on what it seeks to do
• Increasing overlaps between theoretical and practical research projects

Research Dimensions

• Students get confused with research dimensions
• These include:
  • Pure (Basic) vs Applied research
  • Qualitative vs Quantitative research
  • Inductive vs Deductive research
  • Epistemological, Methodological, Phenomenological, Sociological, Ontological etc.
• Dimensions reveal opposing characteristics, but, over time, they have gotten closer together with many overlaps
• Researchers purposefully merge two styles/dimensions to gain better insight into issues

Pure (Basic) vs Applied Research

• Basic research is curiosity driven
• It is motivated to expand knowledge and involves the acquisition of knowledge for knowledge's sake
• Intended to answer why, what or how questions
• Increase understanding of fundamental principles
• Does not have immediate commercial objectives
• Does not necessarily result in an invention or a solution to a practical problem
• Applied research is designed to answer specific questions aimed at solving practical problems
• New knowledge has specific commercial objectives in the form of products, procedures or services

The Research Process

• Includes seven key steps:
  • Define the research problem
  • Review the literature
  • Formulate hypotheses
  • Prepare the research design
  • Collect data
  • Analyze data
  • Interpret and report results

The Research Proposal

• Chapters guide researchers through the entire project
• Emphasis shifts to the research proposal, indicating the start of their research journey
• A plan/structure for a research project
• Clear specification to guide the project
• Logical path to follow in solving a problem
• The more comprehensive, the less work later, thus Chapter One is essential
• Criteria for assessing a proposal:
  • Coherence: fit for purpose
  • Ethical consideration: complies with ethics
  • Feasibility: access to respondents & other resources
• The thesis and poster must be presented at the end of 2nd Semester
• Schedule (Gantt chart):
  • Feb to May: Proposal
  • July: Fieldwork
  • June to Oct: Finalize research thesis
• Three constraints of a project
  • Performance requirements
  • Deliverables
• Budget includes:
  • Internet and transport costs
  • Interview costs or questionnaire costs
  • Registration fees
  • Class attendance costs

Proposal Preparation

• Know the following:
  • Available literature and appropriate theory
  • Research philosophy & approach
  • Research design, methodological choice, research strategy & time frame
  • Access & ethical issues
  • Sample selection
  • Data collection & data analysis techniques
• Topics/areas of research interest have been shared by Prof Tichaawa
• These are largely linked to both capacity issues, as well as general interests of supervisors
• These are also linked to the direction that the UJ and specifically STH is following with research currently
• Thinking of a number of considerations for a sound proposal

Choosing a Research Topic

• Consider which subjects were best during undergraduate studies
• With Prof select one of the research topics; then think about these questions:
  • Passionate about it?
  • Of interest to you?
  • Excite your imagination? Why?
  • Align with your skills?
  • Align with future aspirations?
  • Access to a database/respondents?
• Note: selected research topic must be feasible, completed within one year, financially viable, and the scope is manageable
• Explain to each other, why you have selected a specific topic
• From what perspective do you want to research it?
• Who do you want to ask and why?
• Support for this topic?
• What would be relevant to the industry, what is to be gained, and its contribution?
• When do you plan to collect data?

The Literature Search

• Most supervisors will ask you to read; consider what to do when reading about your topic
• Ask: What emerged from a literature review?
• Actions:
  • Search academic and professional journals
  • Search academic books or scholarly books
  • Research reports, e.g. World Bank, UNWTO, NDT etc.
  • Consider what has not been covered by past research (past five to ten years)
  • Ask: What did you uncover and what is not known?
  • The literature review is a very tricky task
  • Deal with the topic altogether as a whole unit thinking broadly, then move towards a narrower topic

Research Topic Contribution

• Will you:
  • Uncover new facts or principles?
  • Identify new relationships?
  • Challenge existing truths?
  • Explore the understanding of phenomena?
  • Suggest new interpretations of known facts?
  • Find out what does not seem to be known?
    • The literature must be known in South Africa, Gauteng, or within a specific industry

Topic Selection

• The topic selection should be a step towards getting maximum self-development
• A topic closely aligned to broader interests, career aims etc. is always good
• The project is meant to develop your ability to conduct independent research
• So to select a topic, you must follow an ordered, logical process and select a topic that has high completion prospects
• The advantage is that the project is an assessment of your work that structures the project well
• Link it to your interests and abilities
• Think creatively - and then aim to convince others of the uniqueness of your topic
• The supervisor will be proactive and reactive to your topic.
• Experts such as Supervisors and other staff can also help
• They will put their own suggestions, while equally responding to your findings from your literature
• Theses, dissertations, articles, books and conference reports, too

Outline of Research Proposal

• Title
• Background/rationale (from which it is evident that a research problem exists)
• Literature review
• Problem statement
• Research question
• Research objectives
• Research methodology
• Timeline
• Resources
• References

Key Questions

• For evaluating research proposals:
  • What am I going to do?
  • Why am I going to do this?
  • Why will it be worth doing?
  • How does it relate to what has been done before in my subject area?
  • Which theory(ies) will inform my research?
  • What is my research question and objectives?
  • What type of data do I need?
  • Who/where participants?
  • Gain access?
  • Select them?
  • Collect and analyze data?
  • Develop theoretical explanations?
  • Data quality issues I encounter?
  • Ethical issues?
  • Overcome these?

Formulating a Research Topic

• Mostly joint effort of yourself, Prof and supervisor
• A brief, clear, concise description
• Summary of the research question(s)
• Includes the main constructs or concepts or variables of the research
• Avoids unnecessary phrases like 'A study to explore...'
• 10-12 words maximum
• No abbreviations
• Clear sense of the research

Functions

• The background must:
  • Introduce the reader to the problem/ Frame a problem; tell them what we'll do
  • Give reasons for the research and why are we doing this
  • Demonstrate ‘how our research relates to what has been done before
• The background also should:
  • Introduce the reader and frame problem
  • Set the problem within a dynamic context
  • Provide evidence for the problem

Research Process

• Includes nine key steps:
  • Research idea
  • Literature review
  • Theoretical Formulation
  • Empirical Questions
  • Research Design
  • Data Collection
  • Data Analysis
  • Theoretical Interpretation
  • Comparison with Earlier Research

Rationale and Knowledge

• What is currently: known, unknown. partly known, and misinterpreted?
• What is: existing? limited? non-existent?
• What new constructs or concepts or variables can be added to existing research?

Nature of The Problem

• An environmental problem:
  • Real world
  • Emerging
• A gap in academic literature and/or can emerge from prior suggestions

Hourglass Approach

• From focused to broad is how to approach research
• Expand on:
  • Literature
  • Research
  • Contributions
  • Ethics

Research Problems

• Focused, specific and can be researched
• Write an explicit statement
• Is logical and will give readers a sense that “we are going to explore and explain the phenomena”

Research Design

• Descriptive, to gain an accurate profile
• Explanatory, to gain an accurate profile and description
• Exploratory, with open questions that give insight
• Explanatory to establish a relationship between variables
• Evaluative to discover well things work in a system

Research Design and Questions

• Design seeks to aid in answering
• Needs to be carefully drafted
• Include common questions
• Who? Where?
• What? When?
• How? Why?
• Are they effective and what are their impacts?

Objectives

• It must state the primary, second, quantifiable goal
• Is has to be very explicit with a distinct objective
• Every goal must active a means to and action
• Must lead to a measurable outcome, that is attainable, realistic and timely