Research Methodology 1 Prepared by: Prof. P.

Laxminarayana
What is Research ?

Origin of the Word Research

From the French word "recherche" which means to travel through or survey Re means : again, Search means : examine closely and carefully It is considered as carefully investigation or inquiry to find out new facts in any field of knowledge. The Advanced Learners Dictionary of Current English lays down the meaning of research as a careful investigation or inquiry specially through search for new facts in any branch of knowledge. Some people consider research as a movement, a movement from the known to the unknown. We all possess the vital instinct of inquisitiveness for, when the unknown confronts us, we wonder and our inquisitiveness makes us probe and attain full and fuller understanding of the unknown. This inquisitiveness is the mother of all knowledge and the method, which man employs for obtaining the knowledge of whatever the unknown, can be termed as research. Research has been seen as part of the problem rather than part of the solution. Researchers must make their position clear at the outset, ensuring that our choice of research methodology and data collection strategies are logical, rigorous and open to scrutiny

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The advanced learners dictionary of current English : The advanced learners dictionary of current English Research is a careful investigation or enquiry specially done through search for new facts in any branch of knowledge Clifford Woody: Clifford Woody Research comprises defining and redefining problems, formulating hypothesis or suggesting solutions, collecting, organizing and evaluating data, making deductions and reaching conclusions and at last carefully testing the conclusions to determine whether they fit the formulated hypothesis or not. Why Research: Why Research Business competition Customers: their needs, their perceptions, and future requirements. Products: their pricing, positioning, packaging, branding, sales promotion and other promotional activities. Industry competition: you need to know what other companies are doing to increase their market share, factors responsible for increase or decrease in market share & trends in industry growth.

How do we know what we know and why do we do what we do? Personal Experience (Sensory Experience) Our personal experiences are limited
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 We may be mistaken in our observations We may fail to see things clearly because of our biases Ex: You might have eaten some type of food and got sick. Therefore, you never eat this food again because it makes you sick. Tradition (Agreement with Others) Advice, rules, and approaches to handling problems are passed from year to year and accepted as truth Reliance on tradition eliminates the need to search for knowledge, makes accepting new knowledge difficult, and mitigates our desire to question existing practice.

Ex: Wood from a tree struck by lightning should never be used in the construction of a house, or barn, or they in turn may also be struck by lightning. Authority (Expert Opinion) Authorities can be wrong, and the public has a tendency to accept as fact what are actually opinions.

Ex: In 1992 the Catholic Church reversed their decision charging Galileo with heresy. He had claimed the earth was round and revolved around the sun, which went against the teachings of the church. The Scientific Method Testing ideas in the public arena by formulating a hypothesis (a tentative, testable assertion about certain behaviors, phenomena, or events) within a rigorous format. Must be reproducible and described in sufficient detail through 5 distinct steps: State the problem Define the purpose of the study How to gather the information How to organize and analyze the information obtained How the information is interpreted
Scope of Research : Scope of Research Finance, Budgeting and investments. Purchasing and procurement of material. Production management. Product distribution management. Human Resource management.

Definition and Scope The first step is to define the purpose. What is it that we want to create a plan of action for? What do we want to understand? What type of facts do we want to gather? Typically, the more specific the purpose, the more helpful the information is to creating a plan of action.
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However, that said, there are times when a general purpose is what is needed. For example, a survey conducted at the federal level for a comparison between state systems and outcomes will necessarily be general in order to accommodate the differences between states. Or another example may be an environmental scan or a baseline study. An environmental scan is research for a A baseline study is used for general understanding and education, rather than for creating a plan of action. Often it will be followed by research with a more specific purpose and a plan of action after the general assessment is made. In general, however, a research will be most helpful when it has a specific purpose. In working to define the scope of a study, it is helpful to answer some questions about the purpose: What do we want to achieve? What question do we want to answer? What issues are we addressing (or measuring)? What is the study covering? Who is the study covering? How big is the study?

Once you and your team have answered the questions about definition and scope, you are ready to move to the next step in the process Defining the Population. Objectives of Research : y Objectives of Research To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to achieve new insights into it. (formulative research study). To describe accurately the characteristics of an individual, situation or a group. (descriptive research study) y To determine the frequency with which something occurs or with which it is associated with something else. (diagnostic research studies). To test a hypothesis of a causal relationship between variables. (hypothesis testing study). To verify and test the existing facts and theories. (descriptive study). To develop new theories, concepts or tools for study of unknown phenomenon. (analytical study) To find many ways to solve a problem. Development of knowledge. Welfare of humanity. Classification of data.

Motivation in Research : y Motivation in Research Desire to get a research degree along with its consequential benefits. y Desire to get respectability. y Desire to face the challenge in solving the unsolved problems.
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Desire to get intellectual joy of doing some creative work. Desire to be of service to society. Curiosity about new things. Employment conditions.

The eight most widely agreed upon characteristics of research are as follows:
Systematic procedures, Controlled procedures, validity, rigorousness, logicality, critical thought, objectivity and accuracy. But are you sure you want to stop and limit yourself to eight characteristics? I say that as I say there are 10, and by a stroke of luck Ive listed them below its all so cyclical sometimes: 1. Systematic: You have to employ valid procedures and principles. 2. Reproducibility: Is your experiment/thesis designed flawlessly with clear procedures so that others can test your findings? 3. Controlled: Im guessing you have got a couple of variables? Keep as many of these variables constant. 4. Empirical and objective: Only base data on what you see (direct observation) and not what you think or want to happen. Stick to the truth, even if its not what you expected. This leads on to step five. 5. Courage: Dont be afraid of what you might find. 6. Hypothetical: Equally dont be afraid of sticking your neck on the line and giving an intelligent response to your data. 7. Patience: Rushing your research could jeopardize your findings; slow it down and be meticulous. 8. Analytical and critical: Dig deep in to the idea you are researching. 9. Accuracy: Leave no stone unturned by conducting a careful and thorough investigation, if there are holes in your methodology your findings will be disregarded. 10. Originality: This should go without saying but all work should be your own. Also originality should apply to the overall idea driving the work, why cover something that has been covered hundreds of times before? Your work will stand out if it tackles something new or something old from an interesting or different angle not thought of before.

And / OR
y Research is systematic: A researcher should employ a structured procedure. From the beginning to the end should follow certain pre-established rules and regulations. Research is logical: Without manipulating ideas logically, the scientific researcher cannot make much progress in any investigation. Research is Reductive: As practical phenomena, reductivity refers to reducing researcher's responsibility. This means that findings of one researcher is transferred to other researchers to prevent them from repeating, the same research. In other words, research is in most cases, additive. Findings are accumulated, sometimes from one generation to another, in order of scientists to use them in their endeavor to uncover the mysterious of nature. Research is replicable: in such situations, in which other researchers are interested in previously investigated question, they may want to confirm the findings of previous research in new environment, with a new group of subjects, or at a different point in time. Research is generative: This is one of the most valuable characteristics of research because answering one question leads to generating many other new questions.

Significance of Research: Significance of Research Careerism for Ph.D students. Source of livelihood for professional. Outlet for new ideas for philosophers and thinkers. The generalization of new theories for analysts and intellectuals. Research Types : Research Types Explorative/ Formulative Descriptive Vs Analytical Diagnostic Quantitative Vs Qualitative Applied/ Action Vs Fundamental/ Basic/Pure purpose Process outcome Explorative : Explorative When you use no earlier study for your reference. When you study any of the topic in depth and which is done for the first time. Descriptive Vs Analytical: Descriptive Vs Analytical Descriptive research aims at facts finding of different kind and is more based on surveys. The main purpose of descriptive research is description of state of affairs as it exists at present. The main characteristics of this method is that the researcher has no control over the variables, he can only report only what has happened or what is happening. (no hypothesis) Example: What was the turnover of the organization last year? What are the levels of job satisfaction of the employees? What are the number of complaints of an employee from the customers? What is the absentee rate amongst a particular group?

Analytical research on the other hand uses the facts and figures provided by the descriptive research or which is already available and analyses and evaluates them critically. An analytical research primarily aims at testing hypothesis and specifying and interpreting relationships. Examples On the basis of last years figure setting hypothesis: What will be the turnover for this year? How can the absentee rate among the employees be reduced? How can the number of complaints be reduced? Quantitative Vs Qualitative: Quantitative Vs Qualitative Quantitative research is based on quantity or amount. It is applicable to phenomena that can be expressed in terms of quantity. Example: Some organizations give more emphasis on quantity rather than quality. What are number of complaints of an employee at the work spot. Qualitative research on the other hand is concerned with qualitative phenomena. Eg: Motivation in research Fundamental/ Basic/Pure Vs Applied/ Action: Fundamental/ Basic/Pure Vs Applied/ Action Fundamental research is gathering information just for the sake of knowledge. There is no application or commercial aspect involved. Example: Research concerning some natural phenomena. Discovery Channel Applied research aims at finding a solution for an immediate problem facing a society or an industry. It may accidentally contribute to development of a new theory. Example: Administrative plans need actions so as to give perfection. Company adopts promotional activities. Buy one get one free (ek key sath ek free) Conceptual Vs Empirical Historical Conceptual Vs Empirical : Conceptual Vs Empirical Conceptual research is related to some abstract ideas or theories. It is generally used by the philosophers and thinkers to develop new concepts or to interpret the existing ones. Empirical research relies on daily experiences and observation alone often at the cost of neglecting theory or systems. hypothesis formulation is there. Eg. Boiling point of water. Diagnostic : Diagnostic Diagnostic research aims to identify the causes of a problem and its possible solutions. To test the frequency with which some thing is associated with something else. Historical : Historical Historical research is that which utilizes historical sources like documents to study events or ideas of the past, including the philosophy of persons and groups.
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Research Methodology : y Research Methodology the steps adopted by the researcher to solve the problem and the logic behind that is research methodology. The researchers need not only know to develop certain indices or tests, how to calculate the mean, the mode, the median or the standard deviation, how to apply the particular technique but they also should know the which of these method are relevant and which are not. y It means that it is necessary for the researcher to design his methodology as the same may differ from problem to problem. The scope of research methodology is wider than the research methods. Thus when we talk about research methodology, we not only talk about the methods used but we also consider the logic behind using the particular method.

Research Process : Research Process Formulating the research problem. Extensive literature survey. Development of working hypothesis. Preparing the research design. Determining the sample design. Collecting the data. Execution of report. Analysis of data. Testing hypothesis. Generalization and interpretation. Preparation of report. Figure out what to research Design the way to do the research Gather data from respondents Generate findings and interpret them Formulating the research problem. : Formulating the research problem. Two types of research problem: Those which relates states of nature. Those which relates to relationship between variables. Two steps involved in it: Understanding the problem thoroughly Rephrasing the same into meaningful result (objective) from analytical point of view. Extensive literature survey. : Extensive literature survey. Once the problem is formulated, a brief summary of it should be written. The researcher should undertake extensive literature with the help of abstracting and indexing journals and published and unpublished bibliographies. The earlier studies if any which are similar to the study should be carefully studied.

Development of working hypothesis. : Development of working hypothesis. Working hypothesis is a tentative assumption made in order to draw certain conclusion. It has to be very specific because it has to be tested. The role of hypothesis is to guide the researcher and to keep him on a right track. It sharpens the thinking an focuses more on the important aspects of the problem. It determines the data collection methods. Preparing Research Design : Preparing Research Design The researcher will have to state the conceptual structure within which he would conduct the research. In other words the researcher has to mention, what type of studies he would be conducting with minimum efforts, time and money.

Types of Research Design : Types of Research Design Descriptive Research Explorative Research Diagnostic Research Experimental Research 5) Determining the sample design : Determining the sample design All the items under consideration in any field of enquiry constitutes a Universe or Population. Counting of all the items in the population is known as Census Enquiry. The Census Enquiry is not possible in many cases. Hence we select few items from the population for our study purpose. And the items selected is known as sample. The researcher must decide the way of selecting a sample is known as sample design. Example: A plan to select 12 medical stores from 200 medical stores of a city constitutes a sample design. Sampling Methods : Sampling Methods Probability Sampling Each item has a known probability of being included In the sample. Types: Simple Random Systematic Stratified Cluster Non Probability Sampling Involves purposive or deliberate selection of units. Types: Convenience Judgment Quota Collecting the data : Collecting the data Data can be collected through two types of information. Primary data. Secondary data. 1)Primary data : Primary data Primary data is the data collected for the first time to serve some specific purpose. Primary data can be collected by two ways: Experiments 2) Surveys The data is collected through experiments. Surveys : Surveys Observation Personal Interviews Telephonic Interviews Mailing Questionnaire Questionnaire Manually Schedules Secondary Information : Secondary Information Government departments. Magazines. Annual reports. Bibliographies. Execution of the Project. : Execution of the Project. Possible answers of the questions. Occasional field checks. Proper training to the field officers.. 8) Analysis of data. : Analysis of data. After collecting the data the researcher turns to a task of evaluating it. Editing: is the procedure that improves the quality of data. Coding: categories of data are transformed into symbols. Tabulation: is the technical part wherein the data is put in the form of tables. And at last statistical calculations.