Research Methodology for subject/discipline

Research Methodology for subject/discipline

Research methodology describing how the study was conducted. It includes; research design, Study population, sample and sample size, methods of data collection, methods of data analysis and anticipation of the study. Research methodology refers to a philosophy of research process. It includes the assumptions and values that serve a rationale for research and the standards or criteria the researcher uses for collecting and interpreting data and reaching at conclusions (Martin and Amin, 2005:63). In other words research methodology determines the factors such as how to write hypothesis and what level of evidence is necessary to make decisions on whether to accept or reject the hypothesis. Research Methodology is the complete plan of attack on the central research problem. It provides the overall structure for the procedures that the researcher follows, the data that the researcher collects, and the data analyses that the researcher conducts, thus involves planning. It is a plan with the central goal of solving the research problem in mind.

Research Methods

Survey Method:

Surveys involve collecting information, usually from fairly large groups of people, by means of questionnaires but other techniques such as interviews or telephoning may also be used. There are different types of survey. The most straightforward type (the “one shot survey”) is administered to a sample of people at a set point in time. Another type is the “before and after survey” which people complete before a major event or experience and then againafterwards.2.

Experiments Method:

 People who take part in research involving experiments might be asked to complete various tests to measure their cognitive abilities (e.g.word recall, attention, concentration, reasoning ability etc.) usually verbally, on paper or by computer. The results of different groups are then compared.Participants should not be anxious about performing well but simply do their best.

The aim of these tests is not to judge people or measure so-called intelligence, but to look for links between performance and other factors.

Case Study Method:

Case study research involves an in-depth study of an individual or group of individuals. Case studies often lead to testable hypotheses and allow us to study rare phenomena. Case studies should not be used to determine cause and effect, and they have limited use for making accurate predictions.

Observation Method:

Observational trials study health issues in large groups of people but in natural settings. Studies which involve observing people can bedivided into two main categories, namely participant observation and non- participant observation

a)      In participant observation studies, the researcher becomes (or is already) part of the group to be observed. This involves fitting in, gaining the trust of members of the group and at the same time remaining sufficiently detached as to be able to carry out the observation. 

b)      In non-participant observation studies, the researcher is not part of the group being studied. The researcher decides in advance precisely what kind of behaviour is relevant to the study and can be realistically and ethically observed. The observation can be carried out in a few different ways.

Research Type or Nature of the Research

Descriptive Research

Descriptive research attempts to describe systematically a situation, problem, phenomenon, service or Programme, or provides information about, say, living condition of a community, or describes attitudes towards an issue.

Explanatory Research:

 Explanatory research attempts to clarify why and how there is a relationship between two or more aspects of a situation or phenomenon.3.

Exploratory Research:

 Exploratory research is undertaken to explore an area where little is known or to investigate the possibilities of undertaking a particular research study (feasibility study/ pilot study).

Quantitative Research:

The emphasis of Quantitative research is on collecting and analyzing numerical data; it concentrates on measuring the scale, range, frequency etc. of phenomena. This type of research, although harder to design initially, is usually highly detailed and structured and results can be easily collated and presented statistically.

Qualitative Research:

Qualitative research is more subjective in nature than Quantitative research and involves examining and reflecting on the less tangible aspects of a research subject, e.g. values, attitudes, perceptions. Although this type of research can be easier to start, it can be often difficult to interpret and present the findings; the findings can also be challenged more easily.

Methods of Data Collection

Focus Groups:

Excellent approach to gather in-depth attitudes, beliefs, and unreliable data from a large group of patrons at one time. Group dynamics might generate more ideas than individual interviews. Can be effectively used to focus on details regarding issues found through surveys or other data collection methods. Participants are not required to read or write. Technique relies on oral communication. Requires staff time to set up and facilitate focus group. Requires staff time to identify and schedule participants for focus group. Requires strong facilitator to guide discussion and ensure participation by all members. Usually requires special equipment to record and transcribe focus group discussion.

Interviews:

Good approach to gather in-depth attitudes, beliefs, and unreliable data from individual patrons. Personal contact with participants might elicit richer and more detailed responses. Provides an excellent opportunity to probe and explore questions. Participants do not need to be able to read and write to respond. Requires staff time and quiet area to conduct interviews. Requires special equipment to record and transcribe interviews.

Observation:

Excellent approach to discover behaviors provides indicators of the impact of programs that might be more reliable than data gained by asking people. Good technique when there are observable products and outcomes. Requires staff time to observe and record observations. Cannot ask questions of participants during observation. Might want to use follow-up interviews to verify observations.

Surveys:

Best for gathering brief written responses on attitudes, beliefs regarding library programs. Can include both close-ended and open-ended questions. Can be administered in written form or online. Personal contact with the participants is not required. Staff and facilities requirements are minimal, since one employee can easily manage the distribution and collection of surveys, and issues such as privacy, quiet areas, etc. are typically not concerns. Responses are limited to the questions included in the survey. Participants need to be able to read and write to respond. Takes time to pre-test a written survey to make sure that your questions are clearly stated. Relies on participants' perceptions.

 Be aware of potential gaps between participants' responses and reality. Surveys work better after you havedetermined the range of outcomes that the survey can target. Therefore, surveys may not be the best initial data collection tool. Questions on surveys can be misunderstood, especially if they are self-administered and/or if participants do not understand the context for the survey questions. Survey questions (especially closed-ended questions) can be limited to what the provider thinks may be the range of responses.

Tools of Data Collection

Interview Schedule (Open-ended/Close-ended):

This method of data collection is very much like the collection of data through questionnaire, with little difference which lies in the fact that schedules (proforma containing a set of questions) are being filled in by the enumerators who are specially appointed for the purpose. These enumerators along with schedules, go to respondents, put to them the questions from the proforma in the order the questions are listed and record the replies in the space meant for the same in the proforma. In certain situations, schedules may be handed over to respondents and enumerators may help them in recording their answers to various questions in the said schedules. Enumerators explain the aims and objects of the investigation and also remove the difficulties which any respondent may feel in understanding the implications of a particular question or the definition or concept of difficult terms.

Questionnaire (Open-ended Question):

This method of data collection is

quite popular, particularly in case of big enquiries. It is being adopted by privateindividuals, research workers, private and public organisations and even by governments. In this method a questionnaire is sent (usually by post) to the persons concerned with a request to answer the questions and return thequestionnaire. A questionnaire consists of a number of questions printed or typed in a definite order on a form or set of forms. The questionnaire is mailed to respondents who are expected to read and understand the questions and write down the reply in the space meant for the purpose in the questionnaire itself. The respondents have to answer the questions on their own.

Checklist:

Checklists structure a person’s observation or evaluation of a performance or artifact. They can be simple lists of criteria that can be marked as present or absent, or can provide space for observer comments. These tools can provide consistency over time or between observers. Checklists can be used forCase Study method.

Rating Scale:

This is a recording form used for measuring individual's attitudes, aspirations and other psychological and behavioural aspects, and group behaviour.

Drawing Conclusions

This section of the Research Gateway is here to give you an idea of how to pull together the analysis and discussion of your research in order to say what your research actually means. The conclusion of your research should provide a final critical reflection on the study and its contribution to literature and the area of investigation. It should also point to issues that could be pursued in future research. It answers the ‘so what?’ question that examiners will use to evaluate your work and gives you the opportunity to demonstrate that you know what your research means. Conclusions are usually short and should not contain new material. They are often difficult to write as you are likely to feel that you have said it all by this stage. As a result, many students simply summarise what they have said in previous chapters…unfortunately, this is NOT concluding! The conclusion of your research has three main roles. First, it provides an ending to the project – as we said above, it provides the opportunity for you to say what your research means. Second, it provides you with the opportunity to say how your research can contribute to our understanding of the knowledge in the area, of current management practice and/ or relevant policy. Third, it leaves the reader with a final impression of the quality of your work!

Referencing and bibliography

When you are writing an essay, report, dissertation or any other form of academic writing, your own thoughts and ideas inevitably build on those of other writers, researchers or teachers. It is essential that you acknowledge your debt to the sources of data, research and ideas on which you have drawn by including references to, and full details of, these sources in your work. Referencing your work allows the reader:

·         To distinguish your own ideas and findings from those you have drawn from the work of others;

·         To follow up in more detail the ideas or facts that you have referred to.

Whenever you read or research material for your writing, make sure that you include in your notes, or on any photocopied material, the full publication details of each relevant text that you read. These details should include:

·         Surname(s) and initial(s) of the author(s);

·         The date of publication;

·         The title of the text;

·         If it is a paper, the title of the journal and volume number;

·         If it is a chapter of an edited book, the book's title and editor(s)
the publisher and place of publication;

·         The first and last page numbers if it is a journal article or a chapter in an edited book.

For particularly important points, or for parts of texts that you might wish to quote word for word, also include in your notes the specific page reference.

Your source should be acknowledged every time the point that you make, or the data or other information that you use, is substantially that of another writer and not your own. As a very rough guide, while the introduction and the conclusions to your writing might be largely based on your own ideas, within the main body of your report, essay or dissertation, you would expect to be drawing on, and thus referencing your debt to, the work of others in each main section or paragraph.

Some academic disciplines prefer to use footnotes (notes at the foot of the page) or endnotes (notes at the end of the work) to reference their writing. Although this method differs in style from the 'author, date' system, its purpose - to acknowledge the source of ideas, data or quotations without undue interruption to the flow of the writing - is the same.

Footnote or endnote markers, usually a sequential series of numbers either in brackets or slightly above the line of writing or printing (superscript), are placed at the appropriate point in the text. This is normally where you would insert the author and date if you were using the 'author, date' system described above.

The 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, i.e., formal write-up of conclusions reached.

A brief description of the above stated steps will be helpful.

1. Formulating the research problem: There are two types of research problems, viz., those which relate to states of nature and those which relate to relationships between variables. At the very outset the researcher must single out the problem he wants to study, i.e., he must decide the general area of interest or aspect of a subject-matter that he would like to inquire into. Initially the problem may be stated in a broad general way and then the ambiguities, if any, relating to the problem be resolved.

2. 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. As such the manner in which research hypotheses are developed is particularly important since they provide the focal point for research. They also affect the manner in which tests must be conducted in the analysis of data and indirectly the quality of data which is required for the analysis. In most types of research, the development of working hypothesis plays an important role. Hypothesis should be very specific and limited to the piece of research in hand because it has to be tested.

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 preparation of such a design facilitates research to be as efficient as possible yielding maximal information. In other words, 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

5. Determining sample design: All the items under consideration in any field of inquiry constitute a ‘universe’ or ‘population’. A complete enumeration of all the items in the ‘population’ is known as a census inquiry. It can be presumed that in such an inquiry when all the items are covered no element of chance is left and highest accuracy is obtained. But in practice this may not be true. Even the slightest element of bias in such an inquiry will get larger and larger as the number of observations increases.

 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. There are several ways of collecting the appropriate data which differ considerably in context of money costs, time and other resources at the disposal of the researcher.

7. Execution of the project: Execution of the project is a very important step in the research process. If the execution of the project proceeds on correct lines, the data to be collected would be adequate and dependable. The researcher should see that the project is executed in a systematic manner and in time. If the survey is to be conducted by means of structured questionnaires, data can be readily machine-processed. In such a situation, questions as well as the possible answers may be coded. If the data are to be collected through interviewers, arrangements should be made for proper selection and training of the interviewers. The training may be given with the help of instruction manuals which explain clearly the job of the interviewers at each step.

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. The hypotheses may be tested through the use of one or more of such tests, depending upon the nature and object of research inquiry. Hypothesis-testing will result in either accepting the hypothesis or in rejecting it. If the researcher had no hypotheses to start with, generalisations established on the basis of data may be stated as hypotheses to be tested by subsequent researches in times to come.

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 as per objectives.