Research methodology part 1

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
By
Prof.A. Balasubramanian
Centre for Advanced Studies in Earth Science
University of Mysore, India

The Inventions of Thomas
Edison
 The first great
invention
developed by
Edison in Menlo
Park was the tin
foil phonograph.
 August 12, 1877,
is the date
popularly given
for Edison's
completion of the
model for the first
phonograph.

 Thomas Edison's
greatest challenge was
the development of a
practical incandescent,
electric light.
 In 1879, using lower
current electricity, a
small carbonized
filament, and an
improved vacuum inside
the globe, he was able
to produce a reliable,
long-lasting source of
light.

 Thomas Alva Edison held 1,093 patents for
different inventions. Many of them, like the
lightbulb, the phonograph, and the motion picture
camera, were brilliant creations that have a huge
influence on our everyday life. However, not
everything he created was a success; he also
had a few failures.
 Edison, of course, had a predictably inventive
take on the projects that didn’t quite work the
way he expected.
 “I have not failed 10,000 times, “ he said, “I’ve
successfully found 10,000 ways that will not
work.”

Alexander Graham Bell - Talk
with Electricity
 By October 1874,
Bell's research had
progressed to the
extent that he could
inform his future
father-in-law, Boston
attorney Gardiner
Greene Hubbard,
about the possibility
of a multiple
telegraph.

 While he's best known as the
inventor of the telephone,
Alexander Graham Bell
considered the photophone his
most important invention... and
he may have been right.
 On June 3, 1880, Alexander
Graham Bell transmitted the first
wireless telephone message on
his newly invented
"photophone," a device that
allowed for the transmission of
sound on a beam of light. Bell
held four four patents for the
photophone, and built it with the
help of an assistant, Charles
Sumner Tainter.

What is research?
a. the systematic investigation into and
study of actions, events, processes,
materials, sources, etc, in order to
establish facts and reach new
conclusions.
b. an endeavour to discover new or collate
old facts etc by the scientific study of a
subject or by a course of critical
investigation. [Oxford Concise
Dictionary] 22

Research
 Research is what we do when we
have a question or a problem we want
to resolve
 We may know the answer to our
question already
 We may think the answer is obvious,
common sense even
 But until we have subjected our
problem to rigorous scrutiny, our
'knowledge' remains little more than
guesswork or at best, intuition.

Where do you start?
 Decide on a general area of interest
 Why does this area interest you?
Answer the questions:
 What is your aim? (In general terms)
 What is your hypothesis? (In specific
terms)
 Is your idea novel?
 Why does it matter?

Discuss your ideas with others
 Ascertain who might be your supervisor or
mentor: talk in detail with that person
about your potential research project
Other issues to consider
 Collaborating with experienced
researchers
 Having your research proposal peer
reviewed at every stage

What is research?
 Research is a systematic inquiry to
describe, explain, predict and control
the observed phenomenon.

Research is a structured
enquiry
 Research is a structured enquiry that
utilizes acceptable scientific
methodology to solve problems and
create new knowledge that is
generally applicable.
 Scientific methods consist of
systematic observation, classification
and interpretation of data.

Research involves inductive and
deductive methods
 Inductive methods analyze the
observed phenomenon and identify
the general principles, structures, or
processes underlying the
phenomenon observed;
 deductive methods verify the
hypothesized principles through
observations.
 The purposes are different: one is to
develop explanations, and the other is
to test the validity of the explanations.

Heart of research is not statistics
 One thing that we have to pay
attention to research is that the heart
of the research is not on statistics, but
the thinking behind the research.
 How we really want to find out, how
we build arguments about ideas and
concepts, and what evidence that we
can support to persuade people to
accept our arguments.

CHARACTERISTICS OF
RESEARCH
 Research is a process of collecting,
analyzing and interpreting information
to answer questions.
 But to qualify as research, the process
must have certain characteristics: it
must, as far as possible, be controlled,
rigorous, systematic, valid and
verifiable, empirical and critical.

Controlled
Controlled- in real life, there are many factors that
affect an outcome.
 The concept of control implies that, in exploring
causality in relation to two variables (factors), you set
up your study in a way that minimizes the effects of
other factors affecting the relationship. This can be
achieved to a large extent in the physical sciences
(cookery, bakery), as most of the research is done in
a laboratory.
 However, in the social sciences (Hospitality and
Tourism) it is extremely difficult as research is carried
out on issues related to human beings living in
society, where such controls are not possible.
EXAMPLE: in Hospitality and Tourism, as you cannot
control external factors, you attempt to quantify their

Rigorous
 you must be scrupulous in
ensuring that the procedures
followed to find answers to
questions are relevant,
appropriate and justified.
 Again, the degree of rigor varies
markedly between the physical
and social sciences and within the
social sciences.

Systematic
 this implies that the procedure
adopted to undertake an
investigation follow a certain logical
sequence. The different steps cannot
be taken in a haphazard way.
 Some procedures must follow others.

Valid and verifiable
 -Valid and verifiable -this concept
implies that whatever you conclude
on the basis of your findings is
correct and can be verified by you and
others.

Empirical
 -this means that any conclusion
drawn are based upon hard
evidence gathered from information
collected from real life experiences or
observations.

TYPES OF RESEARCH
Research can be classified from three
perspectives:
1. application of research study
2. objectives in undertaking the
research
3. inquiry mode employed

Application research:
From the point of view of application,
there are two broad categories of
research:
- pure research and
- applied research.

Pure research
Pure research involves developing and
testing theories and hypotheses that
are intellectually challenging to the
researcher but may or may not have
practical application at the present
time or in the future.
The knowledge produced through pure
research is sought in order to add to
the existing body of research
methods.

Applied research
Applied research is done to solve
specific, practical questions; for policy
formulation, administration and
understanding of a phenomenon.
It can be exploratory, but is usually
descriptive.
It is almost always done on the basis of
basic research.

Applied research can be carried out by
academic or industrial institutions.
Often, an academic institution such as a
university will have a specific applied
research program funded by an
industrial partner interested in that
program.

Classification based on
Objectives
 From the viewpoint of objectives, a
research can be classified as
 -descriptive
 -correlational
 -explanatory
 -exploratory

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.

Correlational research
 Correlational research attempts to
discover or establish the existence of
a relationship/ interdependence
between two or more aspects of a
situation.

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

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).

Inquiry Mode:
From the process adopted to find
answer to research questions – the
two approaches are:
 - Structured approach
 - Unstructured approach

Structured approach:
The structured approach to inquiry is
usually classified as quantitative
research.
Here everything that forms the research
process- objectives, design, sample, and
the questions that you plan to ask of
respondents- is predetermined.
It is more appropriate to determine the
extent of a problem, issue or
phenomenon by quantifying the
variation.
e.g. how many people have a particular
problem? How many people hold a
particular attitude?

Unstructured approach:
The unstructured approach to inquiry is usually
classified as qualitative research.
This approach allows flexibility in all aspects of
the research process.
It is more appropriate to explore the nature of a
problem, issue or phenomenon without
quantifying it.
Main objective is to describe the variation in a
phenomenon, situation or attitude.
e,g, description of an observed situation, the
historical enumeration of events, an account
of different opinions different people have
about an issue, description of working
condition in a particular industry.

Reference
 Dawson, Catherine, 2002, Practical
Research Methods, New Delhi, UBS
Publishers’ Distributors,
 Kothari, C.R.,1985, Research
Methodology-Methods and
Techniques, New Delhi, Wiley Eastern
Limited.
 Kumar, Ranjit, 2005, Research
Methodology-A Step-by-Step Guide
for Beginners, (2nd.ed), Singapore,

Gall, Borg and Gall (1996)
 Gall, Borg and Gall (1996) proposed
four types of knowledge that research
contributed to education as follows:
 Description
 Prediction
 Improvement
 Explanation

Descriptive Research :
 Results of research can describe natural
or social phenomenon, such as its form,
structure, activity, change over time,
relationship to other phenomena.
 The descriptive function of research
relies on instrumentation for
measurement and observations.
 The descriptive research results in our
understanding of what happened.
 It sometimes produces statistical
information about aspects of education.

Predictive research :
 Prediction research is intended to predict
a phenomenon that will occur at time Y
from information at an earlier time X.
 In educational research, researchers
have been engaged in:
◦ Acquiring knowledge about factors that
predict students' success in school and in the
world of work
◦ Identifying students who are likely to be
unsuccessful so that prevention programs
can be instituted.

Improvement research:
 This type of research is mainly
concerned with the effectiveness of
intervention.
 The research approach include
experimental design and evaluation
research.

Explanation research:
 This type research subsumes the
other three: if the researchers are able
to explain an educational
phenomenon, it means that they can
describe, can predict its
consequences, and know how to
intervene to change those
consequences.

Types and purposes of
research:
 Patton (1990) pointed out the
importance of identifying the purpose
in a research process. He classified
four types of research based on
different purposes:
 Basic Research
 Applied Research
 Evaluation Research
 Action Research

Basic Research:
 The purpose is to understand and
explain, i.e. the research is interested in
formulating and testing theoretical
construct and propositions that ideally
generalize across time and space.
 This type of research takes the form of a
theory that explains the phenomenon
under investigation to give its
contribution to knowledge.
 This research is more descriptive in
nature exploring what, why and how
questions.

Applied Research:
 The purpose is to help people
understand the nature of human
problems so that human beings can
more effectively control their
environment.
 In other words, this type of research
pursues potential solutions to human
and societal problems.
 This research is more prescriptive in
nature, focusing on how questions.

Evaluation Research
 (summative and formative): Evaluation
research studies the processes and
outcomes aimed at attempted
solution.
 The purpose of formative research is
to improve human intervention within
specific conditions, such as activities,
time, and groups of people; the
purpose of summative evaluation is to
judge the effectiveness of a program,
policy, or product.

Action Research:
 Action research aims at solving
specific problems within a program,
organization, or community.
 Patton (1990) described that design
and data collection in action research
tend to be more informal, and the
people in the situation are directly
involved in gathering information and
studying themselves.

Classical scientific method
 Observation of some phenomenon
◦ Maybe systematic, occasional or
accidental
 Some idea of an explanation
(hypothesis)
◦ Induction, conjecture, intuition, guesswork
◦ Usually informed by related work
 Testing of the hypothesis
◦ Test and revision cycle
66

Hypothesis
 Probability of research
◦ Nothing is certain
◦ The exception that “proves” the rule
◦ Scientific “truth” is actually usually a statement of
what is most probable given the currently known
data ...
◦ ... within the given framework
 Statistical techniques try to help us show
extent to which our results really do support
the hypothesis
67

Hypothesis
 A hypothesis makes a prediction of the
expected outcome in a given situation
 Usually: how the manipulation of the
independent variable will influence the
behaviour of a dependent variable
 The hypothesis is tested in an experiment
 Experimental design ensures that what you
are doing is genuinely (and solely)
responsible for the results
 Extraneous variables have to be
controlled
68

Experiment
 If the experiment works, the
hypothesis is shown to be probably
correct
◦ Can’t prove 100% truth
 If it fails, it could be because
◦ The hypothesis is wrong
◦ The experimental design is faulty
69

Variables
 The experiment measures the
“behaviour” of the dependent variable
 DV must be operationalised
◦ Some aspect of the DV must be
measurable
◦ What to measure?
◦ How to measure it?
 Are you really measuring what you think you
are measuring?
70

Quantitative vs qualitative
 Quantitative research
◦ systematically observe changes in the
phenomena of interest while manipulating
what are believed to be causal influences
 Qualitative research
◦ may be more concerned with the
individual’s personal experiences of the
problem under study
71

“Proof” by demonstration
 Intuitive alternative to the classical scientific
method:
◦ Build something specific and then claim that it
can be seen as an example of a more general
class of solutions
 High risk
◦ difficult to demonstrate generalisability
◦ in fact doing so entails making an a posteriori
hypothesis
◦ What can you say if it goes wrong ?
 So you still need a theoretical basis
72

Planning
 Statement of the problem
 Literature review
 Choice of research method
 Design of study
 Data collection
 Analysis of data
 Write-up
73

What is the research process?
 Gall, Borg, and Gall (1996) described the following
stages of conducting a research study:
 Identify a significant research problem: in this stage,
find out the research questions that are significant and
feasible to study.
 Prepare a research proposal: a research proposal
usually consists of the sections including introductory,
literature review, research design, research method,
data analysis and protection of human subject section,
and timeline.
 Conduct a pilot study: the purpose is to develop and try
out data-collection methods and other procedures.
 Conduct a main study
 Prepare a report

Steps in Research Process:
1. Formulating the Research Problem
2. Extensive Literature Review
3. Developing the objectives
4. Preparing the Research Design
including Sample Design
5. Collecting the Data
6. Analysis of Data
7. Generalisation and Interpretation
8. Preparation of the Report or
Presentation of Results-Formal write-ups
of conclusions reached.

Step1. Formulating the
research problem:
It is the first and most crucial step in the
research process
- Main function is to decide what you
want to find out about.
- The way you formulate a problem
determines almost every step that
follows.

Sources of research problems
Research in social sciences revolves
around four Ps:
• People- a group of individuals
• Problems- examine the existence of
certain issues or problems relating to
their lives; to ascertain attitude of a
group of people towards an issue
• Programs- to evaluate the effectiveness
of an intervention
• Phenomena- to establish the existence of
a regularity.

Considerations in selecting a
research problem:
These help to ensure that your study will
remain manageable and that you will remain
motivated.
1. Interest: a research endeavour is usually
time consuming, and involves hard work
and possibly unforeseen problems. One
should select topic of great interest to sustain
the required motivation.
2. Magnitude: It is extremely important to
select a topic that you can manage within
the time and resources at your disposal.
Narrow the topic down to something
manageable, specific and clear.

3. Measurement of concepts: Make sure that you are
clear about the indicators and measurement of
concepts (if used) in your study.
4. Level of expertise: Make sure that you have
adequate level of expertise for the task you are
proposing since you need to do the work yourself.
5. Relevance: Ensure that your study adds to the
existing body of knowledge, bridges current gaps and
is useful in policy formulation. This will help you to
sustain interest in the study.
6. Availability of data: Before finalizing the topic, make
sure that data are available.
7. Ethical issues: How ethical issues can affect the
study population and how ethical problems can be
overcome should be thoroughly examined at the
problem formulating stage.

Steps in formulation of a
research problem :
Working through these steps presupposes a
reasonable level of knowledge in the broad
subject area within which the study is to be
undertaken.
Without such knowledge it is difficult to clearly and
adequately ‘dissect’ a subject area.
Step 1 Identify a broad field or subject area of
interest to you.
Step 2 Dissect the broad area into sub areas.
Step 3 Select what is of most interest to you.
Step 4 Raise research questions.
Step 5 Formulate objectives.
Step 6 Assess your objectives.
Step 7 Double check.

Step 2. Reviewing the
literature:
-Essential preliminary task in order to acquaint
yourself
with the available body of knowledge in your area
of interest.
-Literature review is integral part of entire research
process and makes valuable contribution to
every operational step.
-Reviewing literature can be time-consuming,
daunting and frustrating, but is also rewarding.
Its functions are:
a. Bring clarity and focus to your research problem;
b. Improve your methodology;
c. Broaden your knowledge;
d. Contextualise your findings.

 a. Bring clarity and focus to your
research problem;
 The process of reviewing the literature
helps you to understand the subject area
better and thus helps you to conceptualise
your research problem clearly and
precisely.
 It also helps you to understand the
relationship between your research
problem and the body of knowledge in the
area.

 b. Improve your methodology:
 A literature review tells you if others have
used procedures and methods similar to
the ones that you are proposing, which
procedures and methods have worked
well for them, and what problems they
have faced with them.
 Thus you will be better positioned to select
a methodology that is capable of providing
valid answer to your research questions.

 c. Broaden your knowledge base in
your research area:
 It ensures you to read widely around the
subject area in which you intend to
conduct your research study.
 As you are expected to be an expert in
your area of study, it helps fulfill this
expectation.
 It also helps you to understand how the
findings of your study fit into the existing
body of knowledge.

 d. Contextualise your findings:
 How do answers to your research questions
compare with what others have found?
 What contribution have you been able to
make in to the existing body of knowledge?
 How are your findings different from those of
others?
 For you to be able to answer these
questions, you need to go back to your
literature review.
 It is important to place your findings in the
context of what is already known in your field
of enquiry.

Procedure for reviewing the
literature:
i) search for existing literature in your
area of study;
ii) review the literature selected;
iii) develop a theoretical framework;
iv) develop a conceptual framework.

Search for existing literature:
 -To effectively search for literature in
your field of enquiry, it is imperative that
you have in mind at least some idea of
broad subject area and of the problem
you wish to investigate, in order to set
parameters for your search.
 -Next compile a bibliography for this
broad area. Sources are:
 1. books
 2.journals

BOOKS
 comprise a central part of any bibliography.
 Advantage-material published generally is of
good quality and the findings are integrated with
other research to form a coherent body of
knowledge.
 Disadvantage-material is not completely up to
date, as it can take a few years between the
completion of a work and publication in the form
of a book.
 Search for books in your area of interest, prepare
a final list, locate these books in the libraries or
borrow from other sources.
 Examine their content, if contents are not found
to be relevant to your topic, delete it from your
reading list.

JOURNALS
 Journals provide you with the most up-to-date
information, even though there is a gap of
two to three years between the completion of
a research project and the publication in a
journal.
 As with books, you need to prepare a list of
journals for identifying literature relevant to
your study. This can be done as follows:
 -locate the hard copies of the journal that are
appropriate to your study;
 - use the internet
 - look at the index of research abstracts in the
relevant field to identify and read the articles.

 Whichever method you choose, first
identify the journals you want to look at in
more detail for your review of literature.
 Select the latest issue, examine its content
page to see if there is an article of
relevance to your research topic.
 If you feel a particular article is of
relevance to you, read its abstract.
 If you think you are likely to use it,
photocopy or prepare a summary and
record it for reference for later use.

 Review the literature selected:
 After identifying books and articles as useful, the
next step is to start reading them critically to pull
together themes and issues that are associated.
 If you do not have a theoretical framework of
themes in mind to start with, use separate sheets
of paper for each article or book.
 Once you develop a rough framework, slot the
findings from the material so far reviewed into that
framework, using a separate sheet of paper for
each theme of that
 framework.
 As you read further, go on slotting the information
where it logically belongs under the theme so far
developed.
 You may need to add more themes as you go.

Read critically with particular reference to the
following aspects:
• Note whether the knowledge relevant to your
theoretical framework is confirmed beyond
doubt.
• Note the theories put forward, the criticisms
of these and their basis, the methodologies
adopted and the criticisms of them.
• Examine to what extent the findings can be
generalized to other situations.
Ascertain the areas in which little or nothing is
known-the gaps that exist in the body of
knowledge.

Develop a theoretical framework:
As you have limited time it is important to set parameters by
reviewing the literature in relation to some main themes
pertinent to your research topic.
As you start reading the literature, you will realize that it deals with
a number of aspects that have a direct `and indirect bearing on
your research topic. Use these aspects as a basis for
developing your theoretical framework.
Until you go through the literature you cannot develop a
theoretical framework and until you have developed a
theoretical framework, you cannot effectively review the
literature.
Literature pertinent to your study may deal with two types of
information:
- universal;
- more specific( i.e. local trends or specific program)
In writing about such information you should start with the general

Writing up the literature
reviewed:
 In order to comply with the first function of
literature review
 i.e. to provide theoretical background to your
study:
 -List the main themes that have emerged while
reading literature.
 -Convert them into subheadings. These
subheadings should be precise, descriptive of
the theme in question, and follow a logical
progression.
 -Now, under each subheading, record the main
findings with respect to the theme in question,
highlighting the reasons for and against an
argument if they exist, and identify gaps and
issues.

 In order to comply with the second
function of literature review
 i.e. contextualising the findings of your
study- requires you to very systematically
compare your findings with those made by
others.
 Quote from these studies to show how
your findings contradict, confirm or add to
them. It places your findings in the context
of what others have found out.
 This function is undertaken when writing
about your findings i.e. after analysis of
your data.

THE BIBLIOGRAPHY
The bibliography should give a clear, complete
description of the sources that were used while
preparing the report.
It is an alphabetical list as per the author’s
surname.
1. For a Book
Surname of author, name or two initials, Title taken
from titlepage-underlined or in italics, Edition (if
more than one), volume if more than one, place
of publication, publishers, date on title page or
copyright date.
e.g. Kothari, C.R., Research Methods-Methods and
Techniques,1989,New Delhi :Wiley Eastern
Limited,4835/24 Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New
Delhi 110 006.

Step 3 The formulation of
objectives:
-Objectives are the goals you set out to attain in
your study.
-They inform a reader what you want to attain
through the study.
-It is extremely important to word them clearly and
specifically.
Objectives should be listed under two headings:
a) main objectives ( aims);
b) sub-objectives.
• The main objective is an overall statement of the
thrust of your study.
It is also a statement of the main associations and
relationships that you seek to discover or
establish.

The sub-objectives
• The sub-objectives are the specific
aspects of the topic that you want to
investigate within the main framework of
your study.
-They should be numerically listed.
-Wording should clearly, completely and
specifically
Communicate to your readers your
intention.
-Each objective should contain only one
aspect of the Study.
-Use action oriented words or verbs when
writing objectives.

The objectives should start with
words such as
 ‘to determine’,
 ‘to find out’,
 ‘to ascertain’,
 ‘to measure’,
 ‘to explore’ etc.
 The wording of objectives determines the
type of research (descriptive,
correlational and experimental) and the
type of research design you need to
adopt to achieve them

Descriptive studies:
 -To describe the types of incentives
provides by Hotel XYZ to employees
in Mumbai.
 -To find out the opinion of the
employees about the medical facilities
provided by five star hotels in Mumbai.

Correlatinal studies:
 -To ascertain the impact of training on
employee retention.
 -To compare the effectivenesss of
different loyalty programmes on repeat
clientele.

Hypothesis –testing studies:
 -To ascertain if an increase in working
hours will increase the incidence of
drug/alchohol abuse.
 -To demonstrate that the provision of
company accommodation to
employees in Mumbai hotels will
reduce staff turnover.

The difference between a
concept and a variable:
 Concepts are mental images or
perceptions and therefore their
meaning varies markedly from
individual to individual.
 A concept cannot be measured
whereas a variable can be subjected
to measurement by crude/refined or
subjective/objective units of
measurement.
 It is therefore important for the
concept to be converted into variables
.

Concepts, indicators and
variables:
 If you are using a concept in your study,
you need to consider its
operationalisation- that is, how it will be
measured.
 For this, you need to identify indicators-
a set of criteria reflective of the concept
which can then be converted into
variables.
 The choice of indicators for a concept
might vary with researchers, but those
selected must have a logical link with the
concept.

Types of measurement scales:
Measurement is central to any enquiry.
The greater the refinement in the unit of
measurement of a variable, the greater
the confidence, other things being equal,
one can place in the findings.
S.S. Stevens has classified the different
types of into four categories:
• Nominal or classificatory scale
• Ordinal or ranking scale
• Interval scale
• Ratio scale

The nominal or classificatory
scale:
 A nominal scale enables the classification of
individuals, objects or responses into subgroups
based on a common/shared property or
characteristic.
 A variable measured on a nominal scale may
have one, two or more subcategories depending
upon the extent of variation.
 For example, ’water’ or ‘tree’ have only one
subgroup, whereas the variable “gender” can be
classified into two sub-categories: male and
female. ‘Hotels’ can be classified into ---- sub-
categories.
 The sequence in which subgroups are listed
makes no difference as there is no relationship
among subgroups.

The ordinal or ranking
scale:
 Besides categorizing individuals, objects,
responses or a property into subgroups on the
basis of common characteristic, it ranks the
subgroups in a certain order.
 They are arranged either in ascending or
descending order according to the extent a
subcategory reflects the magnitude of variation in
the variable.
 For example, ‘income’ can be measured either
quantitatively (in rupees and paise) or qualitatively
using subcategories ‘above average’, ‘average’ and
‘below average’. The ‘distance’ between these
subcategories are not equal as there is no
quantitative unit of measurement.
 ‘Socioeconomic status’ and ‘attitude’ are other
variables that can be measured on ordinal scale.

 The interval scale:
 An interval scale has all the characteristics
of an ordinal scale.
 In addition, it uses a unit of measurement
with an arbitrary starting and terminating
points.
 For example, Celsius scale: 0*C to 100*C

The ratio scale:
 A ratio scale has all the properties of nominal,
ordinal and interval scales plus its own
property: the zero point of a ratio scale is
fixed, which means it has a fixed starting
point.
 Since the difference between intervals is
always measured from a zero point, this
scale can be used for mathematical
operations.
 The measurement of variables like income,
age, height and weight are examples of this
scale.
 A person who is 40 year old is twice as old as

Constructing hypotheses:
 As a researcher you do not know about a
phenomenon, but you do have a hunch to form
the basis of certain assumption or guesses.
 You test these by collecting information that will
enable you to conclude if your hunch was right.
 The verification process can have one of the
three outcomes. Your hunch may prove
 to be: 1. right;
 2. partially right; or
 3. wrong.
 Without this process of verification, you cannot
conclude anything about the validity of your
assumption.

 Hence, a hypotheses is a hunch, assumption,
suspicion, assertion or an idea about a
phenomenon, relationship or situation, the
reality or truth of which you do not know.
 A researcher calls these assumptions/
hunches hypotheses and they become the
basis of an enquiry.
 In most studies the hypotheses will be based
upon your own or someone else’s
observation.
 Hypotheses bring clarity, specificity and focus
to a research problem, but are not essential
for a study.
 You can conduct a valid investigation without
constructing formal hypotheses.

The functions of
hypotheses:
• The formulation of hypothesis provides a
study with focus. It tells you what specific
aspects of a research problem to
investigate.
• A hypothesis tells you what data to
collect and what not to collect, thereby
providing focus to the study.
• As it provides a focus, the construction of
a hypothesis enhances objectivity in a
study.
• A hypothesis may enable you to add to
the formulation of a theory. It enables
you to specifically conclude what is true
or what is false.

Step 4. PREPARING THE
RESEARCH DESIGN
 Research design is the conceptual
structure within which research would
be conducted.
 The function of research design is to
provide for the collection of relevant
information with minimal expenditure
of effort, time and money.

The preparation of research
design
 The preparation of research design,
appropriate for a particular research
problem, involves the consideration of
the following :
1. Objectives of the research study.
2. Method of Data Collection to be adopted
3. Source of information—Sample Design
4. Tool for Data collection
5. Data Analysis-- qualitative and
quantitative

Objectives of the Research
Study:
1. Objectives identified to answer the
research
questions have to be listed making sure that
they are:
a) numbered, and
b) statement begins with an action verb.
2. Methods of Data Collection: There are
two types of data
Primary Data— collected for the first time
Secondary Data—those which have already
been collected and analysed by someone
else.

Methods of Primary Data
Collection
 OBSERVATION METHOD:
 Commonly used in behavioural
sciences
 It is the gathering of primary data by
investigator’s own direct observation
of relevant people, actions and
situations without asking from the
respondent.
 Observation can yield information
which people are normally unwilling or

Types of Observation:
 1. Structured – for descriptive
research
 2. Unstructured—for exploratory
research
 3. Participant Observation
 4. Non- participant observation
 5. Disguised observation

Limitations:
 - feelings, beliefs and attitudes that
motivate buying behaviour and
infrequent behaviour cannot be
observed.
 - expensive method
 Because of these limitations,
researchers often supplement
observation with survey research.

SURVEY METHOD
 Approach most suited for gathering
descriptive information.
 Structured Surveys: use formal lists of
questions asked of all respondents in
the same way.
 Unstructured Surveys: let the
interviewer probe respondents and
guide the interview according to their
answers.
 Survey research may be Direct or
Indirect.

Approaches
 Direct Approach: The researcher asks
direct questions about behaviours and
thoughts.
 Indirect Approach: The researcher
might ask: “What kind of people eat at
MacDonald’s?”
 From the response, the researcher
may be able to discover why the
consumer avoids
 MacDonald’s. It may suggest factors
of which the consumer is not

Survey methods
 ADVANTAGES:
 -can be used to collect many different kinds of
information
 -Quick and low cost as compared to observation and
experimental method.
 LIMITATIONS:
 -Respondent’s reluctance to answer questions asked by
unknown interviewers about things they consider
private.
 -Busy people may not want to take the time
 -may try to help by giving pleasant answers
 -unable to answer because they cannot remember or
never gave a thought to what they do and why -may
answer in order to look smart or well informed.

CONTACT METHODS:
 Information may be collected by
 Mail
 Telephone
 Personal interview

Mail Questionnaires:
 Advantages:
 -can be used to collect large amounts of
information at a low cost per respondent.
 -respondents may give more honest
answers to personal questions on a mail
questionnaire
 -no interviewer is involved to bias the
respondent’s answers.
 -convenient for respondent’s who can
answer when they have time
 - good way to reach people who often
travel

 Limitations:
 -not flexible
 -take longer to complete than
telephone or personal interview
 -response rate is often very low
 - researcher has no control over who
answers.

Telephone Interviewing:
 - quick method
 - more flexible as interviewer can explain questions not understood
by the
 respondent
 - depending on respondent’s answer they can skip some Qs and
probe more on others
 - allows greater sample control
 - response rate tends to be higher than mail
 Drawbacks:
 -Cost per respondent higher
 -Some people may not want to discuss personal Qs with interviewer
 -Interviewer’s manner of speaking may affect the respondent’s
answers
 -Different interviewers may interpret and record response in a variety
of ways
 -under time pressure ,data may be entered without actually
interviewing

Personal Interviewing:
 It is very flexible and can be used to collect
large amounts of information.
 Trained interviewers are can hold the
respondent’s attention and are available to
clarify difficult questions.
 They can guide interviews, explore issues,
and probe as the situation requires.
 Personal interview can be used in any type of
questionnaire and can be conducted fairly
quickly.
 Interviewers can also show actual products,
advertisements, packages and observe and
record their reactions and behaviour.

Intercept interviewing:
 Widely used in tourism research.
 -allows researcher to reach known people in a short
period of time.
 - only method of reaching people whose names and
addresses are unknown
 -involves talking to people at homes, offices, on the
street, or in shopping malls.
 -interviewer must gain the interviewee’s cooperation
 -time involved may range from a few minutes to several
hours( for longer surveys compensation may be
offered)
 --involves the use of judgmental sampling i.e.
interviewer has guidelines as to whom to “intercept”,
such as 25% under age 20 and 75% over age 60

EXPERIMENTAL METHOD
 Also called Empirical Research or Cause and
Effect Method, it is a data-based research,
coming up with conclusions which are capable of
being verified with observation or experiment.
 Experimental research is appropriate when proof
is sought that certain variables affect other
variables in some way.
 e.g.
 -Tenderisers ( independent variable) affect
cooking time and texture of meat( dependent
variable) .
 - The effect of substituting one ingredient in
whole or in part for another such as soya flour to
flour for making high protein bread.
 -Develop recipes to use products.

 Such research is characterised by the experimenter’s
control over the variables under study and the
deliberate manipulation of one of them to study its
effects.
 In such a research, it is necessary to get at facts first
hand, at their source, and actively go about doing
certain things to stimulate the production of desired
information.
 -Researcher must provide self with a working
hypothesis or guess as to the probable results.
 - Then work to get enough facts (data) to prove or
disprove the hypothesis.
 -He then sets up experimental designs which he thinks
will manipulate the persons or the materials concerned
so as to bring forth the desired information.
 Evidence gathered through experimental or empirical
studies today is considered to be the most powerful
support possible for a given hypothesis.

DETERMINING SAMPLE
DESIGN
 Researchers usually draw conclusions
about large groups by taking a sample
 A Sample is a segment of the
population selected to represent the
population as a whole.
 Ideally, the sample should be
representative and allow the
researcher to make accurate
estimates of the thoughts and
behaviour of the larger population.

Designing the sample calls for
three decisions:
 Who will be surveyed? ( The Sample)
 • The researcher must determine what type of
information is needed and who is most likely to
have it.
 How many people will be surveyed? (Sample
Size)
 • Large samples give more reliable results than
small samples. However it is not necessary to
sample the entire target population.
 How should the sample be chosen? (Sampling)
 • Sample members may be chosen at random
from the entire population ( probability sample)
 • The researcher might select people who are
easier to obtain information from ( nonprobability
sample)

Types of Samples
 Probability samples
 Simple random sample: Every member
of the population has a known and equal
chance of being selected.
 Stratified random sample :Population is
divided into mutually exclusive groups
such as age groups and random
samples are drawn from each group.
 Cluster(area)sample: The population is
divided into mutually exclusive groups
such as blocks, and the researcher
draws a sample of the group to interview.

Nonprobability samples
 Convenience sample: The researcher
selects the easiest population
members from which to obtain
information.
 Judgment sample: The researcher
uses his/her judgement to select
population members who are good
prospects for accurate information.
 Quota sample: The researcher finds
and interviews a prescribed number of
people in each of several categories.

Step 5: COLLECTING DATA :
 Having formulated the research
problem,, developed a study design,
constructed a research instrument and
selected a sample, you then collect
the data from which you will draw
inferences and conclusions for your
study.
 Depending upon your plans, you might
commence interviews, mail out a
questionnaire, conduct experiments
and/or make observations.

Collecting data
 Collecting data through any of the
methods may involve some ethical
issues in relation to the participants and
the researcher :
 - Those from whom information is
collected or those who are studied by a
researcher become participants of the
study.
 - Anyone who collects information for a
specific purpose, adhering to the
accepted code of conduct, is a

Ethical issues
 a) Ethical issues concerning research
participants: There are many ethical
issues in relation to participants of a
research activity.

 i) Collecting information:
 Your request for information may put
pressure or create anxiety on a respondent.
Is it ethical?
 Research is required to improve conditions.
Provided any piece of research is likely to
help society directly or indirectly, it is
acceptable to ask questions, if you first
 obtain the respondents’ informed consent.
 If you cannot justify the relevance of the
research you are conducting, you are wasting
your respondents’ time, which is unethical.

 ii)Seeking consent:
 In every discipline it is considered unethical to
collect information without the knowledge of the
participant, and their expressed willingness and
informed consent.
 Informed consent implies that subjects are made
adequately aware of the type of
 information you want from them, why the
information is being sought, what purpose it will
be put to, how they are expected to participate in
the study, and how it will directly or indirectly
affect them.
 It is important that the consent should be
voluntary and without pressure of any kind.

 iii) Providing incentives:
 Most people do not participate in a
study because of incentives, but
because they realize the importance
of the study.
 Is it ethical to provide incentives to
respondents to share information with
you because they are giving their
time?
 Giving a present before data collection

 iv)Seeking sensitive information:
 Certain types of information can be
regarded as sensitive or confidential
by some people and thus an invasion
to their privacy, asking for such
information may upset or embarrass a
respondent.

 v) The possibility of causing harm to participant:
 When you collect data from respondents or
involve subjects in an experiment, you need to
examine carefully whether their involvement is
likely to harm them in any way.
 Harm includes l research that might include
hazardous experiments, discomfort, anxiety,
harassment, invasion of privacy, or demeaning or
dehumanizing procedures.
 If it is likely to, you must make sure that the risk
is minimal i.e. the extent of harm or discomfort is
not greater that ordinarily encountered in daily
life. If the way information is sought creates
anxiety or harassment, you need to take steps to
prevent this.

 vi) Maintaining confidentiality:
 Sharing information about a respondent
with others for purposes other than
research is unethical. Sometimes you
need to identify your study population to
put your findings into context. In such a
situation you need to make sure that at
least the information provided by
respondents is kept anonymous.
 It is unethical to identify an individual’s
responses. Therefore you need to
ensure that after the information has
been collected, the source cannot be
known.

Ethical issues relating to the
researcher
 b) Ethical issues relating to the researcher:
 i) Avoiding bias:
 Bias on the part of the researcher is unethical.
Bias is a deliberate attempt to either to hide what
you have found in your study, or highlight
something disproportionately to its true
existence.
 ii) Provision or deprivation of a treatment:
 Both the provision and deprivation of a treatment/
intervention may pose an ethical dilemma for you
as a researcher. Is it ethical to provide a study
population with an intervention/ treatment that
has not yet been conclusively proven effective or
beneficial? But if you do not test, how can you
prove or disprove its effectiveness or benefits?

 iii) Using inappropriate research
methodology:
 It is unethical to use a method or
procedure you know to be inappropriate
e.g. selecting a highly biased sample,
using an invalid instrument or drawing
wrong conclusions.
 iv) Incorrect reporting:
 To report the findings in a way that
changes or slants them to serve your
own or someone else’s interest, is
unethical.

 v) Inappropriate use of the information:
 The use of information in a way that directly
or indirectly adversely affects the
respondents is unethical. If so, the study
population needs to be protected.
 Sometimes it is possible to harm individuals
in the process of achieving benefits for the
organizations.
 An example would be a study to examine the
feasibility of restructuring an organization.
Restructuring may be beneficial to the
organization as a whole bur may be harmful
to some individuals.

Step 6: PROCESSING AND
ANALYSING DATA
 Processing and analysing data
involves a number of closely related
operations which are performed with
the purpose of summarizing the
collected data and organizing these in
a manner that they answer the
research questions (objectives).

 The Data Processing operations are:
 1. Editing- a process of examining the
collected raw data to detect errors and
omissions and to correct these when
possible.
 2. Classification- a process of arranging data
in groups or classes on the basis of common
characteristics. Depending on the nature of
phenomenon involved
 a) Classification according to attributes: here
data is analysed on the basis of common
characteristics which can either be
 : descriptive such as literacy, sex, religion etc.
or
 : numerical such as weight, height, income

 Such classification can be either:
 Simple classification: where we
consider only one attribute, and divide
the universe into two classes—one
class consisting of items possessing
the given attribute and the other class
consisting of items which do not
possess the given attribute.

 Classification according to class –
intervals: is done with data relating to
income, age, weight, tariff, production,
occupancy etc.
 Such quantitative data are known as
the statistics of variables and are
classified on the basis of class –
intervals.

 Tabulation-Tabulation is the process of
summarizing raw data and displaying the
same in compact form for further analysis. It
is an orderly arrangement of data in columns
and rows. Tabulation is essential because:
 a) It conserves space and reduces
explanatory and descriptive statement to a
minimum.
 b) It facilitates the process of comparison.
 c) It facilitates the summation of items and
the detection of errors and omissions.
 d) It provides the basis for various statistical
computations.

 Tabulation may also be classified as
simple and complex tabulation. Simple
tabulation generally results in one-way
tables which supply answers to
 questions about one characteristic of
data only. Complex tabulation usually
results on two-way tables (which give
information about two inter-related
characteristics of data), three –way
tables or still higher order tables, also
known as manifold tables.

Data Analysis Methods
 Qualitative Data Analysis:
 Qualitative data analysis is a very
personal process with few rigid rules and
procedures. For this purpose, the
researcher needs to go through a
process called Content Analysis.
 Content Analysis means analysis of the
contents of an interview in order to
identify the main themes that emerge
from the responses given by the
respondents

This process involves a number
of steps:
 Step 1. Identify the main themes. The researcher
needs to carefully go through the descriptive
responses given by respondents to each
question in order to understand the meaning they
communicate.
 From these responses the researcher develop
broad themes that reflect these meanings People
use different words and language to express
themselves. It is important that researcher select
wording of the theme in a way that accurately
represents the meaning of the responses
categorized under a theme.
 These themes become the basis for analyzing
the text of unstructured interviews.

 Step 2. Assign codes to the main
themes: If the researcher wants to count
the number
 of times a theme has occurred in an
interview, he/she needs to select a few
responses
 to an open- ended question and identify
the main themes. He/she continues to
identify
 these themes from the same question till
a saturation point is reached. Write these
 themes and assign a code to each of
them, using numbers or keywords.

 Step 3. Classify responses under the
main themes: Having identified the
themes Next step is to go through the
transcripts of all the interviews and
classify the responses under the
different themes.

 Step 4. Integrate themes and responses into
the text of your report: Having identified
responses that fall within different themes,
the next step is to integrate into the text of
your report. While discussing the main
themes that emerged from their study, some
researchers use verbatim responses to keep
the feel of the response. There are others
who count how frequently a theme has
occurred, and then provide a sample of the
responses. It entirely depends upon the way
the researcher wants to communicate the
findings to the readers.

Quantitative Data Analysis:
 This method is most suitable for large
well designed and well administered
surveys using properly constructed
and worded questionnaire.
 Data can be analysed either manually
or with the help of a computer .

Manual Data Analysis:
 This can be done if the number of respondents is
reasonably small, and there are not many variables to
analyse.
 However, this is useful only for calculating frequencies
and for simple cross-tabulations.
 Manual data analysis is extremely time consuming. The
easiest way to do this is to code it directly onto large
graph paper in columns. Detailed headings can be used
or question numbers can be written on each column to
code information about the question.
 To manually analyse data (frequency distribution), count
various codes in a column and then decode them.
 In addition, if you want to carry out statistical tests, they
have to be calculated manually. However, the use of
statistics depends on your expertise and the
desire/need to communicate the findings in a certain
way.

Data Analysis Using a
Computer:
 If you want to analyse data using
computer, you should be familiar with
the appropriate program. In this area,
knowledge of computer and statistics
plays an important role.
 The most common software is SPSS
for windows. However, data input can
be long and laborious process, and if
data is entered incorrectly, it will
influence the final results.

Step8: REPORTING THE
FINDINGS:
 Writing the report is the last, and for
many, the most difficult step of the
research process. The report informs
the world what you have done, what
you have discovered and what
conclusions you have drawn from your
findings. The report should be written
in an academic style. Language
should be formal and not journalistic.

Written Research Project Report
Format
 Traditional written reports tend to be
produced in the following format.
 Title Page
 -Title of the Research Project,
 -Name of the researcher,
 -Purpose of the research project, e.g. “A
research project submitted in partial
fulfillment of the requirements of National
Council for Hotel Management and Catering
Technology, New Delhi for the degree of B.Sc
Hospitality and Hotel Administration”
 -Date of Publication

 Gall, Borg, and Gall (1996) also
explained that these five stages may
overlap or occur in a different order
depending the nature of the study.
 Qualitative studies which involve
emergent research design may gather
and analyze some data before
developing the proposal, or a pilot
study can be done before writing a
research proposal or not at all.

 Anglin, Ross, and Morrison (1995)
took a closer look at the stages of
identifying a research problem and
preparing the research proposal.
 They advised a sequence of planning
steps:
 Select a Topic
 Identify the Research Problem
 Conduct a Literature Search

 Select a Topic
 Research requires commitment. As a
researcher, you want to make sure
you are doing something that you
have a great interest in doing.

 Identify the Research Problem
 Based on your own understanding and
interest of the topic, think about what
issues can be explored? Sometimes,
a research problem cannot be
immediately identified. But, through
reviewing the existing literature and
having continuous discourse with
peers and scholars, the research
problem will start take its shape.

Conduct a Literature Search
 Reviewing literature has two major
purposes: one is to build up the
researcher's knowledge base of the topic
under exploration for a deeper
understanding, and the other is to ensure
the significance of the research.
 The researcher needs to make sure how
the research will be able to contribute to
the knowledge in the related field
compared with the existing research
literature.

State the Research Question
 The research problem will evolve
during your pursuing knowledge base
through reviewing literature and
discourse with peers and scholars.
 To specify what questions your
research study want to answer helps
to provide the basis of planning other
parts of your study, e.g. the research
design, the methods for data collection
and analysis.

Research Studies
 Experimental/Positivist Study
 Correlational Study
 Qualitative/Naturalist Study

Determine the Research
Design
 In the intention of the research study is
to verify a causal relationship between
certain variables, use an experimental
design; if the intention of the research
study is to find out how variables relate
to one another, use a correlational
design; if the intention of the research
study is to describe and understand a
particular social condition/pattern and
meaning of a social experience, conduct
a qualitative study.

Determine Methods
 Three major elements in the research
study need to be considered:
participants, materials, and
instruments.

 Participants: It concerns whom to study. For
experimental studies, the researcher needs
to consider statistical sampling to make sure
that sample is representative of the
population, e.g. techniques of random
sampling and stratified sampling. For
qualitative research, purposeful sampling is
the major principle. The selection of
individuals, groups, or cases depends on how
the characteristics, or properties of the
individuals, groups, or cases will best inform
the researcher with the focus of what is under
investigation.

 Materials and Instrumentation: For experimental
research, operationalization of the variables is the
focus, i.e. what are different treatment conditions, and
how to measure the dependent variables. The
researcher has to consider issues about the reliability
(the consistency of the test), and validity (whether the
test is testing what is meant to test) of the
measurement. The design of the experimental
conditions has taken the threats of the internal and
external validity into account. The researcher wants to
make sure that the establishing of the causal
relationship is not influenced by other factors than the
controlling factors, and the researcher needs to
consider to what extent the results of the research can
be generalized to the population beyond the sample
under study.

 For qualitative research, the issues are the
sources of data, where the researcher can find
the information and what methods the researcher
can use to get the information. Qualitative
research usually focuses on the verbal
information gathered from the interviews,
observations, documents or cultural artifacts. The
very distinctive feature about the qualitative
research is that the researcher is part of the
instrument. The recognition of this researcher's
subjective interpretation of the information yields
the process of triangulation, which emphasizes
use of multiple sources, methods, investigators,
and theories to ensure the credibility of the
research.

 Procedures: A procedural planning of
how to get approval from IRB, how to
get entry to research participants or to
the field, how to implement the
experimental treatment or to schedule
observations and interviews, and how
to prepare for write-up. A general
outline of the process and a timeline
will facilitate the research progress.

Identify Analysis
Procedures
 Different research questions and different
research designs entail different analysis method
to take. Experimental design employs statistical
analysis to give statistical descriptions of the
groups in terms of different independent
variables and dependent variables, and to
determine the significance of the differences
whether the dependent variables are caused by
the independent variables. On the other hand,
qualitative design employs semantic analysis to
identify themes, categories, processes, and
patterns of an observed phenomenon, and
provides rich descriptions of the phenomenon in
order to develop a deeper understanding of
human systems.

Action research
 Action research is a reflective process
of progressive problem solving led by
individuals working with others in teams
or as part of a "community of practice" to
improve the way they address issues
and solve problems.
 Action research can also be undertaken
by larger organizations or institutions,
assisted or guided by professional
researchers, with the aim of improving
their strategies, practices, and
knowledge of the environments within
which they practice.

 Action research challenges traditional
social science, by moving beyond
reflective knowledge created by
outside experts sampling variables to
an active moment-to-moment
theorizing, data collecting, and
inquiring occurring in the midst of
emergent structure. “Knowledge is
always gained through action and for
action.

 Action Science begins with the study of
how human beings design their actions
in difficult situations.
 Human actions are designed to achieve
intended consequences and governed
by a set of environment variables.
 Participatory action research has
emerged in recent years as a significant
methodology for intervention,
development and change within
communities and groups.

Developmental Action Inquiry
 The Developmental Action Inquiry is a
“way of simultaneously conducting
action and inquiry as a disciplined
leadership practice that increases the
wider effectiveness of our actions.
 Such action helps individuals, teams,
organizations become more capable
of self-transformation and thus more
creative, more aware, more just and
more sustainable” (Torbert, 2004).

Action research in
organization development

The cycle begins
 The cycle begins with a series of
planning actions initiated by the client
and the change agent working together.
The principal elements of this stage
include a preliminary diagnosis, data
gathering, feedback of results, and joint
action planning. In the language of
systems theory, this is the input phase, in
which the client system becomes aware
of problems as yet unidentified, realizes
it may need outside help to effect
changes, and shares with the consultant
the process of problem diagnosis.

The second stage
 The second stage of action
research is the action, or
transformation, phase. This stage
includes actions relating to learning
processes (perhaps in the form of role
analysis) and to planning and
executing behavioral changes in the
client organization.

The third stage
 The third stage of action research is
the output, or results, phase. This
stage includes actual changes in
behavior (if any) resulting from
corrective action steps taken following
the second stage. Data are again
gathered from the client system so
that progress can be determined and
necessary adjustments in learning
activities can be made.

Action research
 Action research is problem centered, client centered,
and action oriented. It involves the client system in a
diagnostic, active-learning, problem-finding, and
problem-solving process.
 Data are not simply returned in the form of a written
report but instead are fed back in open joint sessions,
and the client and the change agent collaborate in
identifying and ranking specific problems, in devising
methods for finding their real causes, and in developing
plans for coping with them realistically and practically.
 Scientific method in the form of data gathering, forming
hypotheses, testing hypotheses, and measuring results,
although not pursued as rigorously as in the laboratory,
is nevertheless an integral part of the process.

 A research design is a systematic plan
to study a scientific problem. The design
of a study defines the study type
(descriptive, correlational, semi-
experimental, experimental, review,
meta-analytic) and sub-type (e.g.,
descriptive-longitudinal case study),
research question, hypotheses,
independent and dependent variables,
experimental design, and, if applicable,
data collection methods and a statistical
analysis plan.

Research Designs- Classified
 There are many ways to classify research
designs, but sometimes the distinction is artificial
and other times different designs are combined.
Nonetheless, the list below offers a number of
useful distinctions between possible research
designs.
 Descriptive (e.g., case-study, naturalistic
observation,
 Correlational (e.g., case-control study,
observational study)
 Semi-experimental (e.g., field experiment, quasi-
experiment)
 Experimental (Experiment with random
assignment)
 Review (Literature review, Systematic review)
 Meta-analytic (Meta-analysis)

Confirmatory versus exploratory
research
 Confirmatory research tests a priori hypotheses—
outcome predictions that are made before the
measurement phase begins. Such a priori hypotheses
are usually derived from a theory or the results of
previous studies. The advantage of confirmatory
research is that the result is more meaningful, in the
sense that it is much harder to claim that a certain result
is statistically significant. The reason for this is that in
confirmatory research, one ideally strives to reduce the
probability of falsely reporting a non-significant result as
significant. This probability is known as α-level or a type
I error. Loosely speaking, if you know what you are
looking for, you should be very confident when and
where you will find it; accordingly, you only accept a
result as significant if it is highly unlikely to have been
observed by chance.

 Exploratory research on the other hand seeks to generate a
posteriori hypotheses by examining a data-set and looking for
potential relations between variables. It is also possible to
have an idea about a relation between variables but to lack
knowledge of the direction and strength of the relation. If the
researcher does not have any specific hypotheses
beforehand, the study is exploratory with respect to the
variables in question (although it might be confirmatory for
others). The advantage of exploratory research is that it is
easier to make new discoveries due to the less stringent
methodological restrictions. Here, the researcher does not
want to miss a potentially interesting relation and therefore
aims to minimize the probability of rejecting a real effect or
relation, this probability is sometimes referred to as β and the
associated error is of type II. In other words, if you want to
see whether some of your measured variables could be
related, you would want to increase your chances of finding a
significant result by lowering the threshold of what you deem
to be significant.

State problems versus process
problems
 A distinction can be made between state
problems and process problems.
 State problems aim to answer what the state of a
phenomena is at a given time, while process
problems deal with the change of phenomena
over time.
 Examples of state problems are the level of
mathematical skills of sixteen year old children or
the level, computer skills of the elderly, the
depression level of a person, etc.
 Examples of process problems are the
development of mathematical skills from puberty
to adulthood, the change in computer skills when
people get older and how depression symptoms
change during therapy

Non-experimental research
designs
 Non-experimental research designs
do not involve a manipulation of the
situation, circumstances or experience
of the participants. Non-experimental
research designs can be broadly
classified into three categories.

References
 Anglin, G. J., Ross, S. M., & Morrsion, G.
R. (1995). Inquiry in instructional design
and technology: Getting started. In G. J.
Anglin (ed.), (2nd ed.) Instructional
technology: Past, present, and future.
Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, Inc.
 Gall, M. D., Borg, W. R., & Gall, J. P.
(1996). Educational Research: An
Introduction ( Sixth ed.). White Plains,
NY: Longman.
 Patton, M. Q. (1990). Qualitative
Evaluation and Research Methods. ( 2nd
ed.). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

 See Part-2
 Presenting research data, etc
 Thank You.

Research methodology part 1

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Research methodology part 1