Week 1: Introduction to Research Methodology PDF

# **Introduction Of Research Methodology** ## **Research?** - A careful investigation for new facts in any branch of knowledge - Redman and Mory: Research is a systematic effort to gain new knowledge. - Clifford Woody: Research: - defining and redefining problems, formulating hypothesis/object...

# **Introduction Of Research Methodology** ## **Research?** - A careful investigation for new facts in any branch of knowledge - Redman and Mory: Research is a systematic effort to gain new knowledge. - Clifford Woody: Research: - defining and redefining problems, formulating hypothesis/objectives; - collecting, organizing and evaluating data; - making deductions and reaching conclusions; - testing the conclusions to determine whether they fit the formulating hypothesis/objectives. ## **Why do research?** - Desire to get a research degree along with its consequential benefits. - Desire to face the challenge in solving the unsolved problems. - Desire to get intellectual joy of doing some creative work. - Desire to be of service to society. - Desire to get respectability. - Directives of government, employment conditions etc. ## **Choose a subject** - Based on an idea - Based on your experience - Based on your reading - Originality ## **The important features of a research design** - A plan - Specify the sources & types of information relevant to the research problem - A strategy - Which approach will be used for gathering and analyzing the data - The time and budgets - Most studies are done under these two constraints ## **Types of research** 1. **Application- Pure and Applied Research** - **Applied:** Finding solutions for immediate problems facing a society/industry. - **Pure:** Concerned with generalization and formulation of a theory. 2. **Inquiry Mode- Quantitative and qualitative** - **Quantitative:** Measurements of quantity or amount. - **Qualitative:** Concerned with qualitative phenomena (reasons for human behavior). ## **Characteristics of Research** - **Systematic:** All steps must be inter related- one to another. - **Logical:** Agreeing with the principles of logic. - **Empirical:** Conclusions should be based on evidences/observations. - **Objectivity:** It must answer the research questions. - **Replicable:** Reproducible. - **Transmittable**. - **Quality control:** Accurate measurements. - **All well designed and conducted research has potential application.** ## **Define Your Objectives** - Try to keep these simple. - The more variables the more difficult. - Use the opportunity. - Get help at this stage: - Senior colleagues - Experienced researchers ## **Literature search** - Check to see if your idea is original. - Get articles. - Read articles and their references. - Most of these will be vital when writing up reports. - Find gap areas. - Find obsolete measurements and results. - Define objectives of the study. ## **The Process of Research** 1. Identifying the research problem. 2. Formulating the hypothesis and objectives. 3. Designing the research. 4. Data collection. 5. Data analysis. 6. Conclusion. 7. Report and present the research. ## **Steps involved in a research** - Choose a subject. - Literature survey. - Defining and formulation of specific objectives. - Prepare Synopsis. - Procuring of suitable apparatus/materials. - Design of experimental set up. - Preliminary experiments. - Execution of the project. - Accurate measurements/data collection. - Data analysis and error compounding. - Hypothesis testing and verification. - Results and discussion. - Generalization, interpretation and drawing conclusions. - Preparation of the project report or writing thesis. ## **Research Studies** **Based on research objectives:** - **Exploratory or formulative research:** To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to achieve new insights into it. - **Descriptive research:** To study accurately the characteristics of a particular individual, situation or a group - includes survey. - **Diagnostic research:** To determine the frequency with which something occurs or with which it is associated with something else. - **Hypothesis-testing research:** To test a hypothesis of a causal relationship between variables.