Research Methodology

(EN5RD01)

RECAP
Re + Search = Research
RESEARCH
• R- Rational way of thinking
• E-Expert and exhaustive
• S-Search for solution
• E-Exactness
• A-Analytical analyses of adequate data
• R-Relationship of facts
• C-Careful recording, critical observation and constructive attitude
• H-Honesty
 What is Research?
•Search for knowledge.
•Scientific and systematic search for relevant
information on some topic.
•Advanced Learner’s Dictionary:
Careful investigation or inquiry specially
through search for new facts.
•Redman and Mory: Systematized effort to
gain new knowledge.
 What is Research? (Contd…)
•Merriam-Webster’s definition:
the collecting of information about a
particular subject
 What is Research? (Contd…)
•Clifford Woody:
A combination of investigation of past
work and effort in the present that will help
others in the future”
 What Isn’t Research
•Playing with technology
•Book report
•Programming project
•Doing what others have already done
 Who Does Research?
•Graduate Students
– Masters Degree (lower standard)
– Ph.D. Degree (higher standard)
•Researchers at universities
– Post-Doctoral students
– Faculty members
•Researchers in industry
– Research scientists
– Many other technical workers
•Undergraduate students
 Who Does Research? (Contd…)
•Individuals
•Teams
•Teams almost always make the process easier
– Modular Approach
– Feedback from team members
– Each member can work to own strengths
 Scope of Research
•Varies by level of work
– Ph.D. students – contribution expected at world
level; e.g.
• background investigation on all past work
• make meaningful addition to world knowledge
– Postgraduate students – contribution can be at local
to national to world level; e.g.
• background investigation at university up to world level
• make meaningful addition to university up to world level
of knowledge
 Some Other Terminologies
•Research Methods: methods(selection
instruments)/techniques (operational instruments) used for
the conduction of research
– Data collection methods (survey)
– Data analysis methods (statistical)
– Accuracy evaluation methods
•Research Methodology: Way to systematically solve the
research problem/science of studying how research is done
– includes not only research methods but also the logic
behind them
– problem specific
•Hypothesis: an idea or theory that is not yet proven but
that leads to further study or discussion
 OBJECTIVES OF RESEARCH

The purpose of research is to discover answers to questions through the application of scientific procedures. The main
aim of research is to find out the truth which is hidden and which has not been discovered as yet. Though each research
study has its own specific purpose, we may think of research objectives as falling into a number of following broad
groupings:
1. To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to achieve new insights into it (studies with this object in view are termed
as exploratory or formulative research studies);

2. To portray accurately the characteristics of a particular individual, situation or a group (studies with this object in view
are known as descriptive research studies);

3. To determine the frequency with which something occurs or with which it is associated with something else (studies
with this object in view are known as diagnostic research studies);

4. To test a hypothesis of a causal relationship between variables (such studies are known as hypothesis-testing research
studies)
 MOTIVATION IN RESEARCH

What makes people to undertake research? This is a question of fundamental importance. The possible motives for doing
research may be either one or more of the following:
1. Desire to get a research degree along with its consequential benefits;

2. Desire to face the challenge in solving the unsolved problems, i.e., concern over practical problems initiates research;

3. Desire to get intellectual joy of doing some creative work;

4. Desire to be of service to society;

5. Desire to get respectability. However, this is not an exhaustive list of factors motivating people to undertake research
studies. Many more factors such as directives of government, employment conditions, curiosity about new things, desire to
understand causal relationships, social thinking and awakening, and the like may as well motivate (or at times compel)
people to perform research operations
TYPES OF RESEARCH
Types of Research

• Basic vs Applied
• Quantitative vs. Qualitative
• Conceptual vs Empirical
• Descriptive vs. Analytical
Basic
• Basic
• Pure or Fundamental research
• Types of Scientific research conducted for expanding the frontiers of
knowledge
• Involves investigation of natural phenomenon
• Generate new ideas, principles, and theories
• Attempts to explain WHY things happen.
• Not used for immediate use or application
• For example: Study on the symptoms of Coronavirus
• Focus on making Generalizations.
Applied
• Steps After Basic research
• Well accepted theories and principles built in the basic research are
verified and applied on real-life situations to find the solutions.
• Outcomes of this research are meant for Immediate application.
• Don’t focus on making generalizations.
• Focuses on solving practical problems related to specific area.
• Example: Marketing and Medical research
Qualitative Research
• Primarily an exploratory research
• Used to gain an understanding of underlying reason, opinions and motivations.
• Provides insights into the problems by understanding, interpreting the behavioral patterns.
• It is non-numerical and does not involves any kind of quantifications of data.
• This is not focus about ‘What’ but only focus ‘Why’
• Cover the reason of underlying behaviors, attitudes & motivations
• Focus groups and interviews are conducted to gain insight into the feelings, perception, thoughts,
and behavior of the respondents.
• Open-ended questions are asked to gather as much info as possible.
• Mostly used in psychology, sociology and consumer behavior
• Inductive in nature and begin with social reality followed by the construction of the theory around
it.
• Help in Quantitative research based on theory
Quantitative Research
• Carried out to study a phenomenon that can be expressed in numbers.
• It is numerical in nature.
• Example: Study conducted to find out the average number of people using online cab
services in Delhi.
• It is deductive in nature (Theory to Conclusion)
• No Theory derive only results or conclusion
• Steps:
• Data Collection
• Hypothesis
• Test Hypothesis
• Conclusion
• Result may be in form of Table or Graphs
Conceptual Research
• Related to some abstract ideas.
• Philosophers and Thinkers use it developing new concepts for
reinterpreting the existing ones.
• Example : What is life. (Different Answer given by different person)
Empirical Research
• Relies on the observation or experience with hardly any regard for
theory.
• Research based on data which often comes up with conclusions that
can be verified through experiments or observations.
• Empirical = Observation/ Experience / Experiments
• Data : Fact + Observation + Techniques + Scientific method
Descriptive vs. Analytical:

Descriptive research includes surveys and fact-finding enquiries of different kinds. The major purpose of descriptive research
is description of the state of affairs as it exists at present. In social science and business research we quite often use Research
Methodology: An Introduction 3 the term Ex post facto research for descriptive research studies. The main characteristic of
this method is that the researcher has no control over the variables; he can only report what has happened or what is
happening. Most ex post facto research projects are used for descriptive studies in which the researcher seeks to measure
such items as, for example, frequency of shopping, preferences of people, or similar data. Ex post facto studies also include
attempts by researchers to discover causes even when they cannot control the variables. The methods of research utilized in
descriptive research are survey methods of all kinds, including comparative and correlational methods.

In analytical research, on the other hand, the researcher has to use facts or information already available, and analyze these
to make a critical evaluation of the material.
Characteristics of Research

Keeping this in mind that research in any field of inquiry is undertaken to provide information to
support decision-making in its respective area, we summarize some desirable characteristics of
research:

1. The research should focus on priority problems.

2. The research should be systematic. It emphasizes that a researcher should employ a
structured procedure.
3. The research should be logical. Without manipulating ideas logically, the scientific researcher
cannot make much progress in any investigation.
4. The research should be reductive. This means that one researcher’s findings should be made
available to other researchers to prevent them from repeating the same research.
5. The research should be replicable. This asserts that there should be scope to confirm
previous research findings in a new environment and different settings with a new group of
subjects or at a different point in time.
6. The research should be generative. This is one of the valuable characteristics of research
because answering one question leads to generating many other new questions.
7. The research should be action-oriented. In other words, it should be aimed at solving to implement its findings.
8. The research should follow an integrated multidisciplinary approach, i.e., research approaches from more than
one discipline are needed.
9. The research should be participatory, involving all parties concerned (from policymakers down to community
members) at all stages of the study.
10. The research must be relatively simple, timely, and time-bound, employing a comparatively simple design.
The research must be as much cost-effective as possible.
11. The research results should be presented in formats most useful for administrators, decision-makers, business
managers, or community members.
Significance of Research

1. Research inculcates scientific and inductive thinking and it promotes the development of logical habits of
thinking and organization.

2. The role of research in several fields of applied economics, whether related to business or to the economy as a
whole, has greatly increased in modern times.

3. Research provides the basis for nearly all government policies in our economic system.

4. Research has its special significance in solving various operational and planning problems of business and
industry.

5. Research is equally important for social scientists in studying social relationships and in seeking answers to
various social problems.
 Research Methods
Research methods can be defined as the various ways
and means of conducting a research that involve the

• Conduct of experiments
• Tests
• Surveys
• Interviews
• And many more.
– It can be said that research methods aim at finding
solutions to research problems.
 Research Methodology
– Research methodology is the science of
systematically solving a research problem. Often
recognized as how a research is to be done
scientifically,
– research methodology involves the learning of the
various techniques we can use in the conduct of
research such as the conduct of tests, experiments,
surveys and critical studies. These methods have
been properly tested and utilized and, therefore,
each one has a logic behind them.
 Some Other Terminologies
•Research Methodology:
– Research methodology aims at the employment of
the correct procedures to find out solutions and
paves the way for research methods to be
conducted properly. Research methodology is the
guidebook of research and is a science in itself.
Research Methodology
• Scientific Research
systematically investigate and understand phenomena
through empirical observation, experimentation, and
data analysis. It aims to uncover objective and verifiable
facts or relationships within the natural or social world.
• No Presumption
based on making assumptions or presumptions without
conducting systematic empirical investigations. It often
involves making educated guesses or drawing
conclusions without rigorous scientific methods.
Basic Steps of Research
Methodology
Perceive Question

Naturalistic Observation
Formulate Hypothesis

Test Hypothesis Laboratory Observation

Draw Conclusion Case Studies

Report Results Surveys

Framework of Research
Research
Problem

Logic of
Research
Types of
Research
Design

Methodological
Design
Research Process
, the following order concerning various steps provides a useful procedural guideline regarding the research process:

(1) formulating the research problem;

(2) extensive literature survey;
(3) developing the hypothesis;
(4) preparing the research design;
(5) determining sample design;
(6) collecting the data;
(7) execution of the project;
(8) analysis of data;
(9) hypothesis testing;
(10) generalisations and interpretation, and
(11) preparation of the report or presentation of the results,
Defining/Formulating Research
Problem
• Problem: a question/difficulty/issue
• Research Problem: refers to some difficulty which a researcher
experiences in the context of either a theoretical or practical situation
and wants to obtain a solution for the same.
• Statement about
• An area of concern
• A condition to be improved
• A difficulty to be eliminated
• A troubling question that exists in scholarly literature, in theory or in practice
that points to the need for meaningful understanding and deliberate
investigation
Purpose of a problem statements
• Introduce the reader to the importance of the topic being studied.
• Places the problem into a particular context that defines the
parameters of what is to be investigated.
• Provides the framework for reporting the results and indicates what is
probably necessary to conduct the study.
How Research Problem Define
• Statement of the problem in a general way:
• Keeping in view either some practical concern or some scientific or intellectual interest.
• Understanding the nature of the problem:
• Understanding its origin and nature clearly
• Surveying the available literature
• Developing the ideas through discussions:
• A researcher must discuss his problem with his colleagues and others who have enough
experience in the same area or in the working on similar problems.
• Rephrasing the research problem:
• Rephrase the research problem into a working proposition.
• Through rephrasing, the researcher puts the research problem in as specific terms as possible
so that it may become operationally viable and may help in the development of working
hypotheses.
Extensive literature survey:

Once the problem is formulated, a brief summary of it should be written down. It is compulsory for a research worker
writing a thesis for a Ph.D. degree to write a synopsis of the topic and submit it to the necessary Committee or the
Research Board for approval. At this juncture the researcher should undertake extensive literature survey connected
with the problem. For this purpose, the abstracting and indexing journals and published or unpublished bibliographies
are the first place to go to. Academic journals, conference proceedings, government reports, books etc., must be tapped
depending on the nature of the problem. In this process, it should be remembered that one source will lead to another.
The earlier studies, if any, which are similar to the study in hand should be carefully studied. A good library will be a great
help to the researcher at this stage.
3. Development of working hypotheses:

After extensive literature survey, researcher should state in clear terms the working hypothesis or hypotheses. Working
hypothesis is tentative assumption made in order to draw out and test its logical or empirical consequences

How does one go about developing working hypotheses? The answer is by using the following approach:
(a) Discussions with colleagues and experts about the problem, its origin and the objectives in seeking a solution;
(b) Examination of data and records, if available, concerning the problem for possible trends, peculiarities and other
clues;
(c) Review of similar studies in the area or of the studies on similar problems; and

(d) Exploratory personal investigation which involves original field interviews on a limited scale with interested parties
and individuals with a view to secure greater insight into the practical aspects of the problem
4. Preparing the research design:

The research problem having been formulated in clear cut terms, the researcher will be required to prepare a research
design, i.e., he will have to state the conceptual structure within which research would be conducted.

, The function of research design is to provide for the collection of relevant evidence with minimal expenditure of effort,
time and money. But how all these can be achieved depends mainly on the research purpose. Research purposes may
be grouped into four categories, viz., (i) Exploration, (ii) Description, (iii) Diagnosis, and (iv) Experimentation

The preparation of the research design, appropriate for a particular research problem, involves usually the consideration
of the following:

(i) the means of obtaining the information;

(ii) the availability and skills of the researcher and his staff (if any);

(iii) explanation of the way in which selected means of obtaining information will be organised and the reasoning leading
to the selection;

(iv) the time available for research; and

(v) the cost factor relating to research, i.e., the finance available for the purpose
6. Collecting the data:

In dealing with any real life problem it is often found that data at hand are inadequate, and hence, it becomes
necessary to collect data that are appropriate

Primary data can be collected either through experiment or through survey. If the researcher conducts an
experiment, he observes some quantitative measurements, or the data, with the help of which he examines the truth
contained in his hypothesis

But in the case of a survey, data can be collected by any one or more of the following ways:

By observation:
Through personal interview:
Through telephone interviews:
By mailing of questionnaires:
Through schedules:

The researcher should select one of these methods of collecting the data taking into consideration the nature of
investigation, objective and scope of the inquiry, finanical resources, available time and the desired degree of
accuracy.
8. Analysis of data:

After the data have been collected, the researcher turns to the task of analysing them. The analysis of data requires a
number of closely related operations such as establishment of categories, the application of these categories to raw data
through coding, tabulation and then drawing statistical inferences. The unwieldy data should necessarily be condensed into
a few manageable groups and tables for further analysis.

9. Hypothesis-testing:

After analysing the data as stated above, the researcher is in a position to test the hypotheses, if any, he had formulated
earlier. Do the facts support the hypotheses or they happen to be contrary? This is the usual question which should be
answered while testing hypotheses. Various tests, such as Chi square test, t-test, F-test, have been developed by
statisticians for the purpose.

10. Generalisations and interpretation: If a hypothesis is tested and upheld several times, it may be possible for the
researcher to arrive at generalisation, i.e., to build a theory. As a matter of fact, the real value of research lies in its ability
to arrive at certain generalisations. If the researcher had no hypothesis to start with, he might seek to explain his findings
on the basis of some theory. It is known as interpretation. The process of interpretation may quite often trigger off new
questions which in turn may lead to further researches.
11. Preparation of the report or the thesis:
Finally, the researcher has to prepare the report of what has been done by him. Writing of report must be done with
great care keeping in view the following:
1. The layout of the report should be as follows:
(i) the preliminary pages; (ii) the main text, and (iii) the end matter.

In its preliminary pages the report should carry title and date followed by acknowledgements and foreword. Then there
should be a table of contents followed by a list of tables and list of graphs and charts, if any, given in the report. The main
text of the report should have the following parts:
(a) Introduction: It should contain a clear statement of the objective of the research and an explanation of the
methodology adopted in accomplishing the research. The scope of the study along with various limitations should as
well be stated in this part.
(b) Summary of findings: After introduction there would appear a statement of findings and recommendations in non-
technical language. If the findings are extensive, they should be summarised.
(c) Main report: The main body of the report should be presented in logical sequence and broken-down into readily
identifiable sections.
(d) Conclusion: Towards the end of the main text, researcher should again put down the results of his research clearly and
precisely. In fact, it is the final summing up. At the end of the report, appendices should be enlisted in respect of all
technical data. Bibliography, i.e., list of books, journals, reports, etc., consulted, should also be given in the end. Index
should also be given specially in a published research report.