Research Methodology

UNIT-1-p1

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Introduction:
Meaning of Research
• Redman and Mory define research as a “systematized effort to gain new
knowledge.
• According to Clifford Woody research comprises defining and
redefining problems, formulating hypothesis or suggested solutions;
collecting, organising and evaluating data; making deductions and
reaching conclusions; and at last carefully testing the conclusions to
determine whether they fit the formulating hypothesis.

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• Research is, thus, an original contribution to the existing
stock of knowledge making for its advancement. It is the
pursuit of truth with the help of study, observation,
comparison and experiment.
• In short, the search for knowledge through objective and
systematic method of finding solution to a problem is
research.
• The systematic approach concerning generalisation and the
formulation of a theory is also research

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

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Analytical research, on the other hand, the researcher has to use facts or
information already available, and analyse these to make a critical
evaluation of the material.

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Applied vs. Fundamental: Research can either be applied (or action)
research or fundamental (to basic or pure) research.
• Applied research aims at finding a solution for an immediate problem
facing a society or an industrial/business organisation, whereas
• fundamental research is mainly concerned with generalisations and with
the formulation of a theory.
• Similarly, research studies, concerning human behaviour carried on with
a view to make generalisations about human behaviour, are also
examples of fundamental research

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• Quantitative vs. Qualitative: Quantitative research is based on the
measurement of quantity or amount.
• It is applicable to phenomena that can be expressed in terms of quantity.
• Qualitative research, on the other hand, is concerned with qualitative
phenomenon, i.e., phenomena relating to or involving quality or kind.
• For instance, when we are interested in investigating the reasons for
human behaviour (i.e., why people think or do certain things), we quite
often talk of ‘Motivation Research’, an important type of qualitative
research.

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• This type of research aims at discovering the underlying motives and
desires, using in depth interviews for the purpose.
• Other techniques of such research are word association tests, sentence
completion tests, story completion tests and similar other projective
techniques.
• Attitude or opinion research i.e., research designed to find out how people
feel or what they think about a particular subject or institution is also
qualitative research.

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• Qualitative research is specially important in the behavioural sciences
where the aim is to discover the underlying motives of human
behaviour.
• Through such research we can analyse the various factors which
motivate people to behave in a particular manner or which make people
like or dislike a particular thing.

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• Conceptual vs. Empirical: Conceptual research is that related to
some abstract idea(s) or theory. It is generally used by philosophers
and thinkers to develop new concepts or to reinterpret existing ones.

• On the other hand, empirical research relies on experience or

observation alone, often without due regard for system and theory.
• It is data-based research, coming up with conclusions which are
capable of being verified by observation or experiment.

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Some Commonly Researched Areas in Business

• Employee behaviours such as performance, absenteeism, and

turnover.
• Employee attitudes such as job satisfaction, loyalty, and
organizational commitment.
• Supervisory performance, managerial leadership style, and
performance appraisal systems.
• Employee selection, recruitment, training, and retention.

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• Validation of performance appraisal systems.
• Human resource management choices and organizational
strategy.
• Strategy formulation and implementation.
• Just-in-time systems, continuous-improvement strategies, and
produc-tion efficiencies.
• Updating policies and procedures in keeping with latest
government regulations and organizational changes.

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• Organizational outcomes such as increased sales, market
share, profits, growth, and effectiveness.
• Brand loyalty, product life cycle, and product innovation.
• Consumer complaints.
• Impression management, logos, and image building.
• Product positioning, product modification, and new
product development.

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 Objectives

The main objectives of Research are

• To gain familiarity or to achieve new insights into a phenomenon. This is known as

Exploratory or Formularize Research studies.
• To describe the accurate characteristics of a particular individual, situation or a group. This
is known as Descriptive Research studies.
• To determine the frequency with which something occurs or with which it is associated
with other things. This is known as Diagnostic Research studies.
• To test a hypothesis of a casual relationship between variables. Such studies are known as
Hypothesis-testing Research studies.
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 Characteristics of Research

• Research is directed towards the solution of a problem.

• Research gathers new knowledge or data from primary sources.
• Research is based upon observable experience or experimental
evidence.
• Research is logical and objective, applying every possible test to
verify the data collected and the procedures employed.
• Research is expert, systematic and accurate investigation.
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• Research demands accurate observation and description.

• Research requires patience and courage. The researcher should courageously

face the unpleasant consequences of his finding if any.
• Research is highly purposive. It deals with a significant problem which must
be solved.
• Research is carefully recorded and reported. Everything must be carefully
defined and described in detail.
• Research activity is characterized by carefully designed procedures which
are to be analyzed thoroughly.
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Steps involved in Research Process in Research Methodology

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• They do not necessarily follow each other in any specific
order and the researcher has to be constantly anticipating
at each step in the research process the requirements of the
subsequent steps.
• However, the following order concerning various steps
provides a useful procedural guideline regarding the
research process:

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• Formulating the research problem.

• Extensive literature survey.

• Developing the hypothesis.

• Preparing the research design.

• Determining sample design.

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 Collecting the data.

 Execution of the project.

 Analysis of data.

 Hypothesis testing.

 Generalizations and interpretation, and

 Preparation of the report or presentation of the results, i.e., formal

write-up of conclusions reached.

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1.Formulating the research problem:
• There are two types of research problems, vi., those which relate to
states of nature and those which relate to relationships between
variables.
• At thievery 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.

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• Then, the feasibility of a particular solution has to be considered before a
working formulation of the problem can be set up.
• The formulation of a general topic into a specific research problem, thus,
constitutes the first step in a scientific enquiry.
• Essentially two steps are involved in formulating the research problem,
vi., understanding the problem thoroughly, and rephrasing the same into
meaningful terms from an analytical point of view.

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2.Extensive literature survey: 
• Once the problem is formulated, a brief summary of it should be
written down.
• At this juncture the researcher should undertake extensive
literature survey connected with the problem.

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• 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 and
should be carefully studied.
• A good library will be a great help to the researcher at this stage.

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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. 

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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, vi.,
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 Exploration,

 Description,

 Diagnosis, and

 Experimentation

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5. Determining sample design: 

• All the items under consideration in any field of inquiry constitute

‘universe’ or ‘population’.

• A complete enumeration of all the items in the ‘population’ is known

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.

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• The researcher must decide the way of selecting a sample or what
is popularly known as the sample design.

• In other words, a sample design is a definite plan determined

before any data are actually collected for obtaining a sample from
a given population.

• Thus, the plan to select 12 of a city’s 200 drugstores in a certain

way constitutes a sample design. Samples can be either
probability samples or non-probability samples.

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• With probability samples each element has a known probability of
being included in the sample but the non-probability samples do not
allow the researcher to determine this probability.
• Probability samples are those based on simple random sampling,
systematic sampling, stratified sampling, cluster/area sampling
• whereas non-probability samples are those based on convenience
sampling, judgment sampling and quota sampling techniques.

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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 severing always of collecting the appropriate data which differ
considerably in context of money costs, time and other resources at the disposal
of the researcher.

• Primary data can be collected either through experiment or through survey. If

the researcher conducts an experiment, he observes some quantitative
measurements, or the data, with the help of which he examines the truth
contained in his hypothesis.

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7. Analysis of data: 

• After the data have been collected, the researcher turns to the task of analyzing
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.

• Thus, researcher should classify the raw data into some purposeful and usable
categories. Coding operation is usually done at this stage through which the
categories of data are transformed into symbols that may be tabulated and counted.

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8. 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, generalizations established on the basis of data
may be stated as hypotheses to be tested by subsequent researches in times to come.
• 

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9.Generalizations and interpretation: If a hypothesis is tested and upheld
several times, it maybe possible for the researcher to arrive at
generalization, i.e., to build a theory.
• As a matter of fact,the real value of research lies in its ability to arrive at
certain generalizations.
• 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.

9.Preparation of the report or the thesis: Finally, the researcher has to

prepare the report of what has been done.
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Significance of research
(a) To those students who are to write a master’s or Ph.D. thesis, research may
mean a careerism or a way to attain a high position in the social structure;
(b) To professionals in research methodology, research may mean a source of
livelihood;
(c) To philosophers and thinkers, research may mean the outlet for new ideas
and insights;
(d) To literary men and women, research may mean the development of new
styles and creative work;
(e) To analysts and intellectuals, research may mean the generalisations of new
theories.
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• Thus, research is the fountain of knowledge for the sake of knowledge
and an important source of providing guidelines for solving different
business, governmental and social problems.
• It is a sort of formal training which enables one to understand the new
developments in one’s field in a better way.

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