Research Methodology

MEANING OF RESEARCH

Research in common parlance refers to a search for knowledge. Once can also define
research as a scientific and systematic search for pertinent information on a specific
topic. In fact, research is an art of scientific investigation. The Advanced Learner’s
Dictionary of Current English lays down the meaning of research as “a careful
investigation or inquiry especially through search for new facts in any branch of
knowledge.” Redman and Mory define research as a “systematized effort to gain new
knowledge.” Some people consider research as a movement, a movement from the
known to the unknown. It is actually a voyage of discovery. We all possess the vital
instinct of inquisitiveness for, when the unknown confronts us, we wonder and our
inquisitiveness makes us probe and attain full and fuller understanding of the unknown.
This inquisitiveness is the mother of all knowledge and the method, which man employs
for obtaining the knowledge of whatever the unknown, can be termed as research.
Research is an academic activity and as such 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. D. Slesinger and
M. Stephenson in the Encyclopedia of Social Sciences define research as “the
manipulation of things, concepts or symbols for the purpose of generalizing to extend,
correct or verify knowledge, whether that knowledge aids in construction of theory or in
the practice of an art.”3 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 generalization and the formulation of a theory is also
research. As such the term ‘research’ refers to the systematic method consisting of
enunciating the problem, formulating a hypothesis, collecting the facts or data,
analyzing the facts and reaching certain conclusions either in the form of solutions(s)
towards the concerned problem or in certain generalizations for some theoretical
formulation.

OBJECTIVES OF RESEARCH

The purpose of research is to discover answers to questions through the application of

scientific procedures. The main aim of research is to find out the truth which is hidden
and which has not been discovered as yet. Though each research study has its own
specific purpose, we may think of research objectives as falling into a number of
following broad groupings:
1. To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to achieve new insights into it (studies
with this object in view are termed as exploratory or formulative research
studies);
 2. To portray accurately the characteristics of a particular individual, situation or a
group (studies with this object in view are known as descriptive research studies);
3. To determine the frequency with which something occurs or with which it is
associated with something else (studies with this object in view are known as
diagnostic research studies);
4. To test a hypothesis of a causal relationship between variables (such studies are
known as hypothesis-testing research studies).
MOTIVATION IN RESEARCH
What makes people to undertake research? This is a question of fundamental
importance. The possible motives for doing research may be either one or more of the
following:
1. Desire to get a research degree along with its consequential benefits;
2. Desire to face the challenge in solving the unsolved problems, i.e., concern over
practical problems initiates research;
3. Desire to get intellectual joy of doing some creative work;
4. Desire to be of service to society;
5. Desire to get respectability.
However, this is not an exhaustive list of factors motivating people to undertake
research studies.
Many more factors such as directives of government, employment conditions, curiosity
about new things, desire to understand causal relationships, social thinking and
awakening, and the like may as well motivate (or at times compel) people to perform
research operations.

TYPES OF RESEARCH

The basic types of research are as follows:

i) 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. The methods of research
utilized in descriptive research are survey methods of all kinds, including
comparative and correlational methods. In analytical research, on the other
hand, the researcher has to use facts or information already available, and
analyze these to make a critical evaluation of the material.
ii) 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
organization, whereas fundamental research is mainly concerned with
generalizations and with the formulation of a theory. “Gathering knowledge for
knowledge’s sake is termed ‘pure’ or ‘basic’ research.” Research concerning
some natural phenomenon or relating to pure mathematics are examples of
fundamental research. Similarly, research studies, concerning human behavior
carried on with a view to make generalizations about human behavior, are also
examples of fundamental research, but research aimed at certain conclusions
(say, a solution) facing a concrete social or business problem is an example of
applied research. Research to identify social, economic or political trends that
may affect a particular institution or the copy research (research to find out
 whether certain communications will be read and understood) or the marketing
research or evaluation research are examples of applied research. Thus, the
central aim of applied research is to discover a solution for some pressing
practical problem, whereas basic research is directed towards finding
information that has a broad base of applications and thus, adds to the already
existing organized body of scientific knowledge.
iii) 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.
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. Qualitative research is especially important in the behavioral sciences
where the aim is to discover the underlying motives of human behaviour.
Through such research we can analyze the various factors which motivate
people to behave in a particular manner or which make people like or dislike a
particular thing. It may be stated, however, that to apply qualitative research in
practice is relatively a difficult job and therefore, while doing such research, one
should seek guidance from experimental psychologists.
iv) 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. We can also call it as
experimental type of research. In such a research it is necessary to get at facts
firsthand, at their source, and actively to go about doing certain things to
stimulate the production of desired information. In such a research, the
researcher must first provide himself with a working hypothesis or guess as to the
probable results. He then works to get enough facts (data) to prove or disprove
his 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. Such research is thus characterized by the experimenter’s
control over the variables under study and his deliberate manipulation of one of
them to study its effects. Empirical research is appropriate when proof is sought
that certain variables affect other variables in some way. Evidence gathered
through experiments or empirical studies is today considered to be the most
powerful support possible for a given hypothesis.
v) Some Other Types of Research: All other types of research are variations of one
or more of the above stated approaches, based on either the purpose of
 research, or the time required to accomplish research, on the environment in
which research is done, or on the basis of some other similar factor. Form the
point of view of time, we can think of research either as one-time research or
longitudinal research. In the former case the research is confined to a single
time-period, whereas in the latter case the research is carried on over several
time-periods. Research can be field-setting research or laboratory research or
simulation research, depending upon the environment in which it is to be carried
out.
Research can as well be understood as clinical or diagnostic research. Such
research follow case-study methods or in depth approaches to reach the basic
causal relations. Such studies usually go deep into the causes of things or events
that interest us, using very small samples and very deep probing data gathering
devices. The research may be exploratory or it may be formalized. The objective
of exploratory research is the development of hypotheses rather than their
testing, whereas formalized research studies are those with substantial structure
and with specific hypotheses to be tested. Historical research is that which utilizes
historical sources like documents, remains, etc. to study events or ideas of the
past, including the philosophy of persons and groups at any remote point of
time. Research can also be classified as conclusion-oriented and decision-
oriented. While doing conclusion oriented research, a researcher is free to pick
up a problem, redesign the enquiry as he proceeds and is prepared to
conceptualize as he wishes. Decision-oriented research is always for the need of
a decision maker and the researcher in this case is not free to embark upon
research according to his own inclination. Operations research is an example of
decision oriented research since it is a scientific method of providing executive
departments with a quantitative basis for decisions regarding operations under
their control.

Research Approaches

The above description of the types of research brings to light the fact that there are two
basic approaches to research, viz., quantitative approach and the qualitative
approach. The former involves the generation of data in quantitative form which can
be subjected to rigorous quantitative analysis in a formal and rigid fashion. This
approach can be further sub-classified into inferential, experimental and simulation
approaches to research. The purpose of inferential approach to research is to form a
data base from which to infer characteristics or relationships of population. This usually
means survey research where a sample of population is studied (questioned or
observed) to determine its characteristics, and it is then inferred that the population has
the same characteristics.
Experimental approach is characterized by much greater control over the research
environment and in this case some variables are manipulated to observe their effect on
other variables. Simulation approach involves the construction of an artificial
environment within which relevant information and data can be generated. This
permits an observation of the dynamic behaviour of a system (or its sub-system) under
controlled conditions. The term ‘simulation’ in the context of business and social
sciences applications refers to “the operation of a numerical model that represents the
structure of a dynamic process. Given the values of initial conditions, parameters and
exogenous variables, a simulation is run to represent the behaviour of the process over
time.”5 Simulation approach can also be useful in building models for understanding
future conditions.
Qualitative approach to research is concerned with subjective assessment of attitudes,
opinions and behaviour. Research in such a situation is a function of researcher’s
insights and impressions.
Such an approach to research generates results either in non-quantitative form or in the
form which are not subjected to rigorous quantitative analysis. Generally, the
techniques of focus group interviews, projective techniques and depth interviews are
used. All these are explained at length in chapters that follow.

Research Methods versus Methodology

It seems appropriate at this juncture to explain the difference between research

methods and research methodology. Research methods may be understood as all
those methods/techniques that are used for conduction of research. Research
methods or techniques, thus, refer to the methods the researchers use in performing
research operations. In other words, all those methods which are used by the
researcher during the course of studying his research problem are termed as research
methods.
Since the object of research, particularly the applied research, it to arrive at a solution
for a given problem, the available data and the unknown aspects of the problem have
to be related to each other to make a solution possible. Keeping this in view, research
methods can be put into the following three groups:
i) In the first group we include those methods which are concerned with the
collection of data. These methods will be used where the data already available
are not sufficient to arrive at the required solution;
ii) The second group consists of those statistical techniques which are used for
establishing relationships between the data and the unknowns;
iii) The third group consists of those methods which are used to evaluate the
accuracy of the results obtained.
Research methods falling in the above stated last two groups are generally taken as
the analytical tools of research.
Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem. It may be
understood as a science of studying how research is done scientifically. In it we study
the various steps that are generally adopted by a researcher in studying his research
problem along with the logic behind them. It is necessary for the researcher to know not
only the research methods/techniques but also the methodology. Researchers not only
need to know how to develop certain indices or tests, how to calculate the mean, the
mode, the median or the standard deviation or chi-square, how to apply particular
research techniques, but they also need to know which of these methods or
techniques, are relevant and which are not, and what would they mean and indicate
and why. Researchers also need to understand the assumptions underlying various
techniques and they need to know the criteria by which they can decide that certain
techniques and procedures will be applicable to certain problems and others will not.
All this means that it is necessary for the researcher to design his methodology for his
problem as the same may differ from problem to problem. For example, an architect,
who designs a building, has to consciously evaluate the basis of his decisions, i.e., he
has to evaluate why and on what basis he selects particular size, number and location
of doors, windows and ventilators, uses particular materials and not others and the like.
Similarly, in research the scientist has to expose the research decisions to evaluation
before they are implemented. He has to specify very clearly and precisely what
decisions he selects and why he selects them so that they can be evaluated by others
also.
From what has been stated above, we can say that research methodology has many
dimensions and research methods do constitute a part of the research methodology.
The scope of research methodology is wider than that of research methods. Thus, when
we talk of research methodology we not only talk of the research methods but also
consider the logic behind the methods we use in the context of our research study and
explain why we are using a particular method or technique and why we are not using
others so that research results are capable of being evaluated either by the researcher
himself or by others. Why a research study has been undertaken, how the research
problem has been defined, in what way and why the hypothesis has been formulated,
what data have been collected and what particular method has been adopted, why
particular technique of analyzing data has been used and a host of similar other
questions are usually answered when we talk of research methodology concerning a
research problem or study.

Research Process

Research process consists of series of actions or steps necessary to effectively carry out
research and the desired sequencing of these steps. The chart shown in Figure 1.1 well
illustrates a research process.
The chart indicates that the research process consists of a number of closely related
activities, as shown through I to VII. But such activities overlap continuously rather than
following a strictly prescribed sequence. At times, the first step determines the nature of
the last step to be undertaken.
If subsequent procedures have not been taken into account in the early stages, serious
difficulties may arise which may even prevent the completion of the study. One should
remember that the various steps involved in a research process are not mutually
exclusive; nor they are separate and distinct. 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: (1) formulating the research problem; (2) extensive
literature survey; (3) Developing the hypothesis; (4) preparing the research design; (5)
determining sample design; (6) collecting the data; (7) execution of the project; (8)
analysis of data; (9) hypothesis testing; (10) generalizations and interpretation, and (11)
preparation of the report or presentation of the results, i.e., formal write-up of
conclusions reached.