Fundamentals of Research

 

Research  Methods Versus Methodology

Research  methods  include  all  the  techniques  and  methods  which have  been  taken  for  conducting  research  where  as  research methodology  is  the  approach  in  which  research  troubles  are  solved thoroughly.  It  is  a  science  of  studying  how  research  is  conducted systematically.  In this  field the  researcher explains himself with the different  steps  generally  taken  to  study  a  research  problem.  Hence, the  scientific  approach  which  is  adopted  for  conducting  a  research is called methodology. 

Meaning of  Research

The  term  Research  is  related  to  seek  out  the  information  and knowledge  on a  particular topic or  subject.  In other words, research is  an  art  of  systematic  investigation.  Someone  says  that  necessity  is mother  of  all  the  inventions  and  the  person  engaged  in  this scientific  investigation can be  termed as  research.   Research  is  a  pedagogic  action  the  term  should  be  used  in  a technical  sense.  According  to  Clifford  Woody  research  comprises defining  and  redefining  problems,  formulating  hypothesis  or suggested  solutions;  collecting,  organizing  and  evaluating  data; making  deductions  and  reaching  conclusions;  and  at  last  carefully testing  the  conclusions  to  determine  whether  they  fit  the formulating  hypothesis.

Objectives of  Research

The major aim of any type of research is to find out the reality and facts which is unknown and which has not been exposed. Although each research activity has its own particular reason, the objectives of research can be grouped into the following categories : 1. To achieve skillfulness with a trend or to get novel opinions into it (research with this objective can be termed as exploratory or formulative); 2. To find out the characteristics of a particular character, condition or a grouping (research with this objective can be termed as descriptive research); 3. To establish the relationship with which something occur or with which it is related with something else (research with this objective are known as diagnostic research); 4. To test a hypothesis of a reasonable liaison between different variables (this type of research can be grouped into hypothesis-testing research ).

Types of  Research

The basic types of research are as follows: (i) Descriptive vs. Analytical: Descriptive research consists of survey and fact-finding investigation of different kinds. The main purpose of descriptive research is explanation of the set of circumstances as it is present as such. The term Ex post facto research has been used to elaborate this type of research in different areas or subjects of research. The main feature of this method is that the scientist does not have direct control over the variables; he can only report what is happening or what has happened. For example, why peoples of the south side are suffering from lung cancer as compared to north-side neighbors and investigation revealed that south side persons have wood burning stoves and fire places, the researcher could hypothesize the reason that the wood smoke is a factor of lung cancer. The

techniques  used  in  descriptive  research  are  can  be  of  all  kinds  like survey  methods, comparative  and correlational methods  etc. On the other  hand,  in  analytical  research,  ,  the  researcher  could  be  use  the facts,  information,  data  which  is    already  available,  and  analyze these  sources to make  a  hypothesis to evaluation of  the material. (ii)  Applied  vs.  Fundamental:  Applied  research  refers  to  finding  a solution  for  specific,  practical  problem  facing  by  an  individual, society  or  an  industrial  or  business  organization,  for  example  how to  abolish  hate  crime,  what  are  the  ways  to  market  a  product,  what is  causing  increased  poverty  etc.  whereas  fundamental  research  is mainly  concerned  with  overview  and  with  the  formulation  of  a theory.  This  is  pure  and  basic  type  of  research,  for  example  an investigation  looking  for  whether  stress  levels  influence  how  often students engage  in  academic  cheating  or how caffeine consumption impacts the  brain.   Thus,  the  main  aim  of  applied  research  is  to  find  out  a  solution for  some  critical  practical  problem,  whereas  basic  research  is handling  towards  finding  information  that  has  a  wide  sense  of applications  to  the  already  existing  organized  body  of  scientific knowledge. (iii)  Quantitative  vs.  Qualitative:  In  natural  sciences  and  social sciences,  quantitative  research  is  based  on  the  aspect  of  quantity  or extent.  It  is  related  to  object  that  can  be  expressed  in  terms  of quantity  or  something  that  can  be  counted.  Such  type  of  research involve  systematic  experimental  analysis  of  observable phenomenon  via  statistical,  mathematical  or  computational techniques  in  numerical  form  such  as  statistics,  percentages,  etc. whereas  Qualitative  research,  ,  is  concerned  with  qualitative phenomenon,  i.e.,  relating  to  quality  or  variety.  Such  type  of research  is  typically  descriptive  and  harder  to  analyze  than quantitative  data.  Qualitative  research  involves  looking  in-depth  at non-numerical data.    It is  more  naturalistic  or  anthropological.   (iv)  Conceptual  vs.  Empirical:  Conceptual  research  is  that  related to  some  abstract  idea(s)  or  theory.  It  focuses  on  the  concept  and theory  that  explain  the  concerned  theory  being  studied.  It  is generally  used  by  logicians,  philosophers  and  theorist  to  develop new  concepts  or  to  again  understand  the  existing  ones.  On  the other  hand,  empirical  research  relies  on  experience  or  observation alone.  It  is  a  way  of  gaining  knowledge  by  means  of  direct  and indirect  observation  or  experience.  We  can  also  refer  it  as experimental  type  of  research.  In  such  a  research  it  is  necessary  to get  the  facts  and  data  firstly,  their  source,  and  then  actively engaged  to  doing  certain  things  to  stimulate  the  production  of desired information.   (v)  Some  Other  Types  of  Research:  Other  types  of  research  may be  of  different  types  rather  than  above  stated  types  like  form  the point  of  view  of  time  one-time  research  or  longitudinal  research.  In  the  former  case  the  research  is  restricted  to  a  single  time-period, while  in  the  latter  case  the  research  is  carried  on  over  several  timeperiods.  Research  can  be  field-setting  research  or  laboratory research  or  model  research,  which  will  depend  upon  the environment  in  which  it  is  to  be  carried  out.  Research  may  be understood  as  clinical  or  diagnostic  research.  Such  research follows  case-study  methods  or  exhaustively  approaches  to  reach the  basic  reasons  behind  the  problems.  The  research  may  be exploratory  or  it  may  be  formalized.  The  objective  of  exploratory research  is  the  creation  of  hypotheses  rather  than  their  testing, whereas  formalized  research  are  those  with  significant  structure and  with  specific  hypotheses  to  be  tested.  The  term  historical research  is  refers  to  that  which  make  use  of  historical  resource  like documents,  papers,  leaflets  remains,  etc.  to  study  events  or thoughts  of  the  past,  including  the  philosophy  of  persons  and groups  at  any  point  of  time.  Research  can  also  be  classified  as conclusion-oriented  and  decision-oriented.  While  doing  conclusion oriented  research,  a  researcher  having  freethinking  to  choose  a problem,  redesign  the  queries  as  he  proceeds  and  is  prepared  to conceptualize  as he  wants. Decision-oriented  research  is always  for the  need  of  a  decision  maker  and  the  researcher  in  this  case  is  not free  to  get on research  according  to his own preference.