RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY

DankanVGowda

Resear
chMet
hodol
ogy
Modul
e-1:
Meaning,Objecti
vesandCharact
eri
sti
csofresear
ch-Resear
chmethodsVsMethodology-
Typesofr esearch-Descri
pti
veVs.Analy
tical
,Appl
i
edVs.Fundamental
,Quant
itat
iveVs.
Quali
tat
ive,ConceptualVs.Empiri
cal-Researchprocess-Cri
ter
iaofgoodr esearch-
Devel
opingar esear
chplan.

1.
1MEANI
NGOFRESEARCH
 Resear chi ncommonpar l
ancer eferst oasear chf orknowl edge.
 Oncecanal sodef i
neresear chasasci ent i
ficandsy stemat i
csear chforper tinent
i
nf or
mat ion on a speci fi
ct opi c.I nf act,r esear ch i s an ar tofsci entifi
c
i
nv estigat ion.
 TheAdv ancedLear ner’
sDi cti
onar yofCur rentEngl i
shl ay sdownt hemeani ngof
resear chas“ acarefulinvestigat i
onori nqui ryspeci all
yt hr
oughsear chf ornew
factsinanybr anchofknowl edge. ”
 Redman and Mor ydef ine resear ch as a “ sy stemat ized effortto gai n new
knowl edge. ”
 D.Sl esi ngerandM.St ephensoni nt heEncy cl
opaedi aofSoci alSciencesdef ine
resear chas“ t
hemani pulati
onoft hings,concept sorsy mbolsf orthepur poseof
gener alisingt oextend,correctorv erifyknowl edge,whet herthatknowl edgeai ds
i
nconst ructionoftheoryori nt hepr acticeofanar t.
”
 theter m‘ research’r
eferstot hesy stemat icmet hodconsi sti
ngofenunci atingt he
problem,f ormulati
ngahy pot hesi s,col lectingt hef actsordat a,anal y
zing t he
factsandr eachingcertainconcl usionsei therint hef orm ofsol ut
ions(s)towar ds
the concer ned problem ori n cer tain gener alisations forsome t heor eti
cal
formul at ion.

1.
2OBJECTI
VESOFRESEARCH

Thepur poseofresearchi
stodi scoveranswerstoquestionsthr
oughtheappli
cat
ionof
scient
ifi
c
procedures.Themainaim ofresearchi stofi
ndoutthetruthwhi
chishiddenandwhich
hasnotbeendi scoveredasy et.Thougheachr esear
chst udyhasitsownspeci fi
c
purpose,wemayt hinkofr
esearchobj ecti
vesasfal
li
ngintoanumberoff ol
lowi
ngbroad
groupings:

1.Togai
nf ami
l
iar
itywit
haphenomenonortoachi
evenewinsi
ghtsi
ntoit(
studi
eswi
th
thi
s
obj
ecti
nviewaretermedasexpl
orat
oryorf
ormul
ati
ver
esear
chstudi
es)
;

2.Topor
trayaccur
atel
ythechar
acteri
sti
csofapar
ti
cul
ari
ndivi
dual
,si
tuati
onoragr
oup
(st
udi
eswiththi
sobjecti
nvi
ewar eknownasdescr
ipt
iver
esear
chstudies)
;

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage1
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

3.To determine t
he fr
equencywith which somethi
ng occur
s orwi t
h which i
tis
associ
ated
withsomethi
ngelse(st
udieswit
hthi
sobjecti
nv iewareknownasdiagnost
icr
esearch
studi
es)
;

4.Totestahy pot
hesisofacausalrel
ati
onshi
pbet
weenv
ari
abl
es(
suchst
udi
esar
e
knownas
hypot
hesi
s-t
esti
ngresear
chst
udi
es).

1.
3MOTI
VATI
ONI
NRESEARCH
Whatmakes peopl eto undert
ake r
esear
ch? Thisis a quest
ion offundament
al
i
mportance.The
possi
blemotivesf
ordoi
ngresear
chmaybeeitheroneormoreofthefol
lowi
ng:

1.Desiret
ogetar esearchdegr eealongwit
hitsconsequent
ialbenef
it
s;
2.Desiretof acet hechal l
engei nsol v
ingtheunsolvedpr obl
ems,i.
e.,concer
nov
er
pract
ical
probl
emsi ni
ti
atesr esearch;
3.Desiret
ogeti nt
el l
ectualj
oyofdoi ngsomecr eat
ivework;
4.Desiret
obeofser vicetosoci et
y;
5.Desiret
ogetr espect abi
li
ty.

1.
4Char
act
eri
sti
cofResear
ch:
1.ResearchisaSy stematicandcrit
icalInvesti
gati
on,int
oaPhenomenon.
2.ItadoptsScient
ifi
cmet hod.
3.ItisObjecti
veandLogi cal
.
4.ItisbaseduponObser vableExperienceorempi r
icalevidence.
5.Researchisdi r
ectedtowardsfindinganswer stoPer t
inentquestionsandsol
uti
onst
o
Problems.
6.Itemphasizesthedevelopmentofgener al
izati
on,pri
nciplesortheori
es.

1.
5Resear
chMet
hodsv
ersusMet
hodol
ogy

Resear ch Met hods: Resear ch met hods may be under stood as al lt hose
met hods/techni quest hatar eusedf orconduct ionofr esearch.Researchmet hodsor
techniques*,t hus,r efertot hemet hodst her esearchersusei nper formingr esearch
operations.Inot herwor ds,allthosemet hodswhi chareusedbyt heresearcherduring
thecour seofst udy inghisresear chproblem ar et er
medasr esearchmet hods.
Resear chmet hodscanbeputi ntothefollowingt hr
eegr oups:
1.Int hefir
stgr oupwei ncl
udet hosemet hodswhi chareconcer nedwi t
hthecol l
ection
ofdat a.Thesemet hodswi llbeusedwher et
hedat aalr
eadyav ailabl
earenotsuf fici
ent
toar ri
v eatther equi r
edsolution;
2.Thesecond gr oup consistsoft hosest atisti
caltechniqueswhi ch areused f or
establishi
ngr elationshipsbetweent hedataandt heunknowns;

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage2
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

3.Thethi
rdgr
oupconsist
soft
hosemet
hodswhi
char
eusedt
oev
aluat
etheaccur
acy
ofther
esul
tsobt
ained.

Resear chMet hodology:Researchmet hodol

ogyisawayt osy stematical
lysolvethe
researchpr oblem.I tmaybeunder stoodasasci enceofstudyinghowr esearchisdone
scient
ifical l
y.I
ni twest udythevariousstepsthataregener
allyadoptedbyar esear
cher
i
nst udy inghi sr esearchprobl
em al ongwi t
hthelogicbehi
ndt hem.I ti
snecessaryfor
theresear chertoknownotonl yt heresearchmethods/t
echniques
butalsot hemet hodol
ogy .

Thescopeofr esearchmethodologyiswi
derthanthatofr esear
chmet hods.Thus,when
wet alkofr esearchmet hodol
ogywenotonl yt al
koft her esear
chmet hodsbutal so
considerthelogicbehindthemet hodsweusei nthecont extofourresearchstudyand
explai
nwhywear eusingapar ti
cul
armethodor t
echniqueandwhywear enotusi ng
otherssot hatresearchresult
sarecapabl
eofbei ngevaluatedeit
herbyt heresearcher
himselforbyot hers.

1.
6Si
gni
fi
canceofResear
ch

Resear chinculcatessci enti

fi
candi nducti
vethinki
ngandi tpr omotesthedevelopment
oflogicalhabi t
soft hinki
ngandor ganisati
on.
(a)Tot hosest udent swhoar et owr it
eamast er’sorPh.D.thesis,
researchmaymeana
careerism orawayt oat tai
nahi ghposi t
ioninthesocialst
ructure;
(b)To pr ofessionalsi nr esearch met hodol
ogy ,resear
ch may mean a sour ce of
l
iveli
hood;
(c)Tophi losophersandt hinkers,researchmaymeant heout l
etfornew ideasand
i
nsights;
(d)Tol it
erarymenandwomen, researchmaymeant hedevelopmentofnewst ylesand
creati
vewor k;
(e)To anal ysts and intel
lectuals,research maymean t he generali
sati
ons ofnew
theori
es.

1.
7TYPESOFRESEARCH

Thebasi
cty
pesofr esearchareasfol
lows:
 Descri
ptivevs.Analyt
ical
 Appli
edv s.Fundament al
 Quantit
ativevs.Quali
tati
ve
 Conceptualvs.Empirical
 SomeOt herTy pesofResearch

1.Descr
ipti
vevs.Analyt
ical
:
 Descript
iveresearch i
ncludessur
veysand fact
-f
indi
ng enqui
ri
esofdi
ffer
ent
ki
nds.Themaj orpurposeofdescri
pti
ver
esearchisdescri
pti
onoft
hestateof
affai
rsasitexi
stsatpresent.

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage3
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

 Themaincharact
eri
sti
cofthismethodisthatt
heresear
cherhasnocont
rolov
er
thev
ari
abl
es;hecanonlyreportwhathashappenedorwhati
shappeni
ng.

 Mostexpostf actoresear
chproject
sar
eusedf ordescr
ipt
ivestudi
esinwhich
theresear
cherseekst o measuresuchitemsas,forexampl e,fr
equencyof
shoppi
ng,pref
erencesofpeopl
e,orsi
mil
ardata.

 Themethodsofresear
chut
il
izedi
ndescri
pti
veresear
charesur
veymet
hodsof
al
lki
nds,i
ncl
udi
ngcomparat
iveandcor
rel
ati
onal
met hods.

nanal
 I yti
calr
esear
ch,ont
heot
herhand,t
her
esear
cherhast
ousef
act
sor
i
nfor
mati
onalr
eadyav
ail
abl
e,andanal
yzet
heset
omakeacr
it
icalev
aluat
ionof
t
hemater
ial
.

2.Appl
i
edv
s.Fundament
al:

 Researchcaneit
herbeapplied(oracti
on)researchorfundament
al(
tobasi
cor
pure)r ch.Appl
esear iedresearchaimsatf indingasoluti
onforanimmediat
e
probl
em faci
ngasoci
etyorani ndust
ri
al/
businessorgani
zati
on.

easf
 wher undamentalr
esearchismai
nlyconcer
nedwithgener
ali
sati
onsandwith
t
he for
mulati
on ofa t heor
y.“Gat
heri
ng knowledge f
orknowledge’
s sake i
s
t
ermed‘pure’or‘
basi
c’r
esearch.
”

 Thecentralaim ofappli
edr esear
chistodi scoverasol
uti
onforsomepr essing
practi
cal problem, whereas basic research is dir
ect
ed t owar
ds finding
i
nformationthathasabr oadbaseofappl icati
onsandthus,addstothealready
exist
ingorganizedbodyofscienti
fi
cknowledge.

3.Quant
it
ati
vev
s.Qual
i
tat
ive:

 Quanti
tat
iver
esearchi
sbasedonthemeasurementofquant
it
yoramount
.Iti
s
appl
icabl
etophenomenat
hatcanbeexpr
essedint
ermsofquanti
ty.

 Quali
tat
ive r
esearch,on the other hand,is concer
ned wit
h qual
i
tat
ive
phenomenon,i
.e.
,phenomenar
elat
ingtoorinv
olv
ingqual
it
yorki
nd.

 Qual
i
tat
iveresearchisspeci
all
yimpor
tanti
nthebehav
iouralsci
enceswher
ethe
ai
mistodiscovertheunderl
yi
ngmotiv
esofhumanbehaviour.

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage4
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

4.Concept
ualv
s.Empi
ri
cal
:

 Conceptualresearchisthatrel
atedt
osomeabstractidea(
s)ort
heory.I
tis
generall
yusedbyphi l
osopher
sandt hi
nker
stodevel
opnew concept
sort o
rei
nterpr
etexi
stingones.

 Ont heotherhand,empiri
calr
esearchrel
iesonexperi
enceorobservat
ional one,
oft
en wi t
houtduer egardforsy st
em and theor
y.Itisdata-based research,
comi ngupwithconcl
usionswhicharecapabl
eofbeingver
if
iedbyobserv at
ionor
experiment.

 Empi r
icalr esearchisappr opr
iatewhenpr oofi
ssoughtthatcert
ainvari
ables
affectot herv ari
abl
esi nsomeway .Ev
idencegat
her
edthroughexperi
ment sor
empi r
icalst udiesistodayconsider
edtobet hemostpowerf
ulsupportpossibl
e
foragi venhy pothesi
s.

5.SomeOt herTy pesofResear ch:

Allothert ypes ofr esearch ar ev ariati
ons ofone ormor e oft he abov e stated
approaches,based on ei thert he pur pose ofr esearch,ort he time r equired to
accomplishr esearch,ont heenv i
ronmenti nwhi chr esearchisdone,oront hebasi sof
someot hersi mi l
arfactor.For mt hepoi ntofv i
ew oft i
me,wecant hinkofr esearch
ei
therasone- t
imer esearchorl ongit
udinalresearch.I ntheformercaset heresearchis
confi
nedt oasi ngletime-period,wher easi nthel attercasetheresear chiscar r
iedon
overseveraltime-periods.Resear chcanbef iel
d-settingresear
chorl abor at
oryresearch
orsimulati
onr esearch,dependi ngupont heenv i
ronmenti nwhichitistobecar r
iedout .

1.
8Resear
chandSci
ent
if
icMet
hod
Thesci entif
icmet hodi s,thus, basedoncer tai
nbasicpost
ulateswhi
chcanbest atedas
under :
1.Itreli
esonempi ri
cal ev i
dence;
2.Itutil
izesr el
evantconcept s;
3.Itiscommi t
tedtoonl yobj ecti
v econsiderati
ons;
4.Itpresupposeset hicalneut ral
ity,i
.e.,i
taimsatnothingbutmakingonlyadequateand
correct
statement saboutpopul ationobj ects;
5.Itresultsintoprobabi l
isticpredictions;
6.Itsmet hodologyi smadeknownt oallconcernedforcri
ti
calscr
uti
nyaref orusein
testi
ng
theconcl usionsthroughr epli
cation;
7.Itai msatf or
mul ati
ngmostgener alaxiomsorwhatcanbet ermedassci enti
fi
c

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage5
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

t
heor
ies.

Thus,“t
hescient
if
icmet
hodencour
agesar i
gorous,i
mpersonalmodeofpr
ocedur
e
di
ctat
edbythedemandsofl
ogi
candobject
iveprocedur
e.”

1.
9Resear
chPr
ocess
Resear chprocessconsistsofseri
esofacti
onsorstepsnecessarytoeff
ecti
vel
ycarr
yout
researchandt hedesiredsequenci
ngofthesesteps.ThechartshowninFigur
e1.1well
i
llust
ratesar esearchprocess.
Thef oll
owingor derconcerni
ngvari
ousstepspr
ov i
desausefulprocedur
algui
deli
ne
regardingtheresearchprocess:

 formulat i
ngt her esear chproblem;
 extensivel it
er aturesur vey;
 developingt hehy pothesis;
 prepari
ngt her esearchdesi gn;
 determini ngsampl edesi gn;
 coll
ectingt hedat a;
 executionoft hepr oj
ect ;
 analysi
sofdat a;
 hypothesi st est i
ng;
 generalisat i
onsandi nterpret
ation,
and
 preparationoft herepor torpresentat
ionoft
her
esul
ts,
i
.
e.,f
ormalwr ite-upofconcl usionsreached.

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage6
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

1.For
mul
ati
ngt
her
esear
chpr
obl
em:
Therearet wotypesofr esear
chpr oblems,viz.,t
hosewhi chrel
atet ostatesofnat ureandthose
whichrelatetorelat
ionshipsbetweenv ari
ables.Att hev eryoutsett heresearchermustsi ngl
e
outtheproblem hewant st ost
udy ,i
.e.,hemustdeci dethegener alareaofinterestoraspectof
asubject-matt
erthathewoul dliketoi nqui
reinto.Initi
all
ytheproblem maybest atedinabroad
generalwayandt hent heambi guit
ies,ifany ,r
elatingt othepr oblem ber esolved.Then,the
feasi
bil
it
yofapar ti
cularsoluti
onhast obeconsi deredbeforeawor ki
ngf ormul at
ionofthe
probl
em canbesetup.

2.Ext
ensi
vel
i
ter
atur
esur
vey
:
Oncet
hepr obl
em isformulated,
abr iefsummaryofitshoul
dbewr i
tt
endown.Iti
scompul
sor
y
forar
esearchwor kerwrit
ingat hesisforaPh.D.degreetowri
teasy nopsi
softhet
opi
cand
submi
titt
ot henecessaryCommi tteeortheResear
chBoardforappr
oval.

3.
Devel
opingthehypot hesis:
Af
terextensi
velit
erat ur
esur vey,r
esearchershouldst at
einclearter
mstheworki
ng
hy
pothesisorhypotheses.Wor ki
nghy pothesi
sistentat
iveassumpt
ionmadei
nor
derto
dr
awoutandt estit
sl ogicalorempir
icalconsequences.

How does one go aboutdev

elopi
ng wor
king hy
pot
heses? The answeri
s by usi
ng t
he
f
oll
owi
ngapproach:

(
a)Di
scussi
onswi
thcol
l
eaguesandexper
tsaboutt
hepr
obl
em,i
tsor
igi
nandt
heobj
ect
ives

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage7
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

i
nseekingasol ution;
(
b)Exami nati
on ofdat a and records,ifavai
lable,concerning the pr oblem forpossibl
e
t
rends,peculiari
tiesandot hercl
ues;
(
c)Rev iewofsi mi larstudiesintheareaorofthestudiesonsimil
arpr oblems; and
(
d)Expl oratoryper sonalinvesti
gati
onwhi chi
nvol
vesor i
ginal
fiel
dint
er vi
ewsonal imit
edscale
wit
hi nterestedpar ti
esandi ndiv
idualswit
haviewt osecuregreaterinsightint
othepract
ical
aspectsoft hepr obl
em.

4.
Prepar
ingt
her
esear
chdesi
gn:
Ther esear chpr oblem havingbeenf ormul atedi nclearcutt er
ms, t
her esearcherwil
lberequir
ed
topr eparear esearchdesign,i .e.,hewi llhav etost atetheconcept ualst r
uctur
ewi t
hinwhich
researchwoul dbeconduct ed.
Resear chpur posesmaybegr oupedi ntof ourcat egori
es,viz.,(i
)Explorati
on, (
ii
)Descri
pti
on,
(
ii
i)Diagnosis, and( iv
)Exper imentation.
Thepr epar ationoft heresearchdesi gn,appr opri
ateforapar t
icularresearchproblem,i
nvolv
es
usuallytheconsi derati
onoft hef ollowing:
(i
)themeansofobt ai
ningthei nformat ion;
(i
i)theav ailabili
tyandski l
l
soft her esear cherandhi sst af
f( i
fany );
(i
ii
)expl anat i
onoft hewayi nwhi chsel ect edmeansofobt aininginformat i
onwi l
lbeorgani
sed
andt her easoni ngleadingtot hesel ection;
(i
v)thet imeav ail
ableforresear ch; and
(v)thecostf actorrelat
ingtor esear ch,i.e.,thefinanceav ai
lablef orthepur pose.

5.Det
ermi
ningsampl
edesi
gn:
Abriefment i
onoft hei mpor t
antsampl edesignsisasf ol
lows:
()Del
i iber atesampl i
ng:Del iberat
esampl i
ngi sal soknownaspur posiveornon- probabilit
y
sampl i
ng.Thi ssampl ingmet hodi nvolvespurposiveordeli
berateselect
ionofparticularunit
sof
theuniv ersef orconst i
tutingasampl ewhi chrepresentstheuniv
erse.
(i
i)Simpl er andom sampl ing:Thist ypeofsampl ingi salsoknownaschancesampl ingor
probabi l
it
ysampl i
ngwher eeachandev eryitem int hepopulati
onhasanequalchanceof
i
nclusioni nt hesampl eandeachoneoft hepossi bl
esampl es,i
ncaseoff i
nit
euniverse,hast he
samepr obabi li
tyofbei ngsel ected.
(i
i)Sy
i stemat icsampl ing:I nsomei nstancest hemostpr acti
calwayofsampl i
ngi st oselect
every15t hnameonal ist
, every10thhouseononesi deofast reetandsoon.Sampl i
ngoft his
typeisknownassy stemat icsampl ing.
(i
v)St ratified sampl i
ng:I ft hepopul ati
on from whi ch asampl ei st o bedrawn doesnot
constitute
a homogeneous gr oup,t hen st r
atifi
ed sampl i
ng technique i
s applied so as to obt ai
na
represent ativ esampl e.
(v)Quot asampl ing:
(v)Cl
i ust ersampl i
ngandar easampl ing:
(vi
i)Mul ti
-st agesampl ing:
(vi
i)Sequent
i ialsampl ing:

6.
Col
l
ect
ingt
hedat
a:
Ther
earesever
alwaysofcoll
ecti
ngt heappropri
atedatawhichdiff
erconsiderabl
yincontextof
moneycost
s,ti
meandot herr
esourcesatthedisposaloftheresearcher.
()Byobser
i vati
on:
(i
i)Through personalinterv
iew:
(i)Thr
i
i ough telephone i
nter
views:
(i)By
v
mail
i
ngofquesti
onnai
res:(
v)Thr
oughschedul es:

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage8
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

7.
Execut
ionoft
hepr
oject
:Execut
ionoft
hepr
ojecti
sav
eryi
mpor
tantst
epi
nther
esear
ch
process.I
ftheexecut
ionofthepr
ojectpr
oceedsoncor
rectl
i
nes,
thedat
atobecol
l
ect
edwoul
d
be
adequateanddependable.

8.Analysi
sofdat a:
Afterthedatahav ebeencol lect
ed,theresearcherturnst
ot het askofanalyzi
ngt hem.The
analysi
sofdat ar equir
esanumberofcl osel
yr elat
edoperati
onssuchasest abli
shmentof
categori
es,t
heappl icat
ionofthesecategori
estor awdatathroughcoding,t
abulat
ionandthen
drawingstat
ist
icalinfer
ences.

9.Hy
pot
hesi
stest
ing:
Afteranalysi
ngt hedataasst at
edabov e,theresear
cherisinapositiontot estt
he
hypotheses,i
fany ,hehadf or
mul at
edear l
ier.Dothefact
ssupportthehy pot
hesesor
theyhappent obecont r
ary?Thi
sist heusualquesti
onwhichshouldbeanswer edwhil
e
testi
nghy potheses.Vari
oustests,suchasChisquar etest,t
-t
est,F-
test
,hav ebeen
developedbyst at
ist
ici
ansfort
hepur pose.

10.
Gener
ali
sat
ionsandi
nter
pret
ati
on:
Ifahypothesi
sistest
edandupheldsever
alt
imes,
itmaybepossi
blef
ort
her
esear
chert
oar
ri
ve
atgeneral
isat
ion,
i.
e.,
tobui
ldatheory
.

11. Prepar ationoft her epor torpr esent ationoft her esults:
Final l
y ,ther esear cherhast opr epar et her epor tofwhathasbeendonebyhi m.Wr i
ti
ng
ofr epor tmustbedonewi t
hgr eatcar ekeepi ngi nv iewt hef ollowi ng:
1.Thel ayoutoft her epor tshoul dbeasf ollows:
(i)thepr el i
mi nar ypages; (ii
)t hemai nt ext, and( iii)theendmat t
er.
Ini t
s pr elimi nary pages t he r epor t shoul d car ryt itle and dat ef oll
owed by
acknowl edgement s andf orewor d.Thent her eshoul dbeat ableofcont entsfollowed
byal istoft abl esandl i
stofgr aphsandchar t s,ifany ,giveni nt her eport.
Themai nt extoft her epor tshoul dhav et hef ollowi ngpar ts:
(a)I ntr oduct i
on:I tshoul dcont ainacl earst atementoft heobj ecti
veoft her esearch
andanexpl anat ionoft hemet hodol ogyadopt edi naccompl ishingt her esearch.The
scopeoft hest udyal ongwi thv ariousl imitat i
onsshoul daswel l bestatedi nt hi
spar t.
(b)Summar y off i
ndi ngs:Af teri ntroduct ion t her e woul d appeara st atementof
fi
ndi ngsandr ecommendat i
onsi nnon- techni call anguage.I fthef i
ndingsar eext ensive,
they shoul dbesummar ised.
(c)Mai nr epor t:Themai nbodyoft her epor tshoul dbepr esent edinl ogicalsequence
andbr oken- downi ntor eadi l
yi dent i
fi
abl esect ions.
(d)Concl usi on:Towar dst heendoft hemai nt ext ,resear chershoul dagai nputdown
ther esul tsofhi sr esear chcl ear l
yandpr ecisel y.Inf act,itist hef inalsummi ngup.
1.Att heendoft herepor t,appendi cesshoul dbeenl i
stedi nr espectofal lt
echnical data.
Bibliogr aphy ,i
.e.,li
stofbooks,j ournal s,repor ts,et c.,consul ted,shoul dal sobegi venin
theend.I ndexshoul dal sobegi venspeci all
yi napubl ishedr esear chreport.
2.Repor tshoul dbewr itteni naconci seandobj ect i
vest ylei nsi mplel anguageav oidi
ng
vagueexpr essi onssuchas‘ i
tseems, ’‘ther emaybe’ ,andt hel ike.

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage9
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

3.Chartsandil
lust
rati
onsinthemainrepor
tshouldbeusedonl yi
ftheypresentthe
i
nformati
on
moreclearl
yandfor
cibl
y.
4.Calculat
ed ‘
confi
dence li
mit
s’mustbe mentioned and t
he vari
ous const
rai
nts
exper
iencedi
nconducti
ngresear
choper
ati
onsmayaswel lbest
ated.
1.
10Cr
it
eri
aofGoodResear
ch

Oneexpect sscientifi
cr esearcht osat i
sfyt hefollowi ngcr i
teri
a:11
1.Thepur poseoft her esearchshoul dbecl ear l
ydef inedandcommonconcept sbe
used.
2.Ther esear chpr ocedur eusedshoul dbedescr ibedi nsuf fici
entdet ailtoper mit
anotherr esear chert or epeatt he resear ch forf urtheradv ancement ,keepi ng the
continui
tyofwhathasal readybeenat tained.
3.Thepr ocedur aldesi gnoft her esearchshoul dbecar eful
lypl annedtoy iel
dr esul
ts
thatareasobj ecti
veaspossi ble.
4.Ther esearchershoul dr eportwi thcompl etef rankness,f lawsi nprocedur aldesign
andest i
mat et heireffectsupont hef i
ndings.
5.Theanal y si
sofdat ashoul dbesuf fi
cient l
yadequat et orevealitssignif
icanceandt he
met hodsofanal ysisusedshoul dbeappr opriate.Thev al
idi
tyandr el
iabi
li
tyoft hedat a
shouldbecheckedcar efull
y.
6.Concl usionsshoul dbeconf inedt ot hosej usti
fiedbyt hedat aoft her esearchand
l
imitedtot hosef orwhi chthedat apr ovideanadequat ebasis.
7.Gr eat
erconf i
dencei nr esearchi swar r
antedi ft her esearcheri sexperienced,hasa
goodr eputat i
oninr esear chandi saper sonofi ntegr it
y.

Inot herwor ds,wecanst at ethequaliti

esofagoodr esearch12asunder :
1.Goodr esearchi ssy stemat i
c:Itmeanst hatr esearchi sst ruct
uredwi thspecifi
ed
stepst obet akeni naspeci fiedsequencei naccor dancewi t
ht hewel ldefi
nedsetof
rules.
2.Goodr esear chisl ogical :Thisimpl i
est hatresearchisgui dedbyt herulesoflogical
reasoningandt hel ogicalpr ocessofi nducti
onanddeduct i
onar eofgr eatvaluei n
car r
yingoutr esearch.
3.Goodr esearchisempi rical
:Itimpliesthatresearchi srelatedbasicall
yt ooneormor e
aspect sofar ealsit uationanddeal swi thconcr et edatat hatpr ovi
desabasi sf or
externalvalidi
tytor esear chr esults.
4.Goodr esearchisr epl icable:Thi scharacteri
sti
cal lowsr esearchresultstobev eri
fi
ed
byr epli
catingthest udyandt herebybuildingasoundbasi sf ordecisi
ons.

1.
11Dev
elopi
ngar
esear
chpl
an:
 Adescri
pti
onoftheresearchprobl
em;
 Anargumentastowhyt heproblem i
sint
erest
ingandi
mport
ant
;
 Arevi
ewoft hel
i
ter
aturerelevantt
otheresear
chprobl
em;
 A descr
ipt
ionofthewayi nwhicht heproblem wi
l
lbeapproachedandt
he
pr
oposedresear
chmet hodology;

1.
12Pr
obl
emsEncount
eredbyResear
cher
sinI
ndi
a
Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage10
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

Resear cher sinI ndia, par t

icular lythoseengagedi nempi ri
cal research,aref aci ngsev eral
probl ems.
Someoft hei mpor tantpr obl emsar easf ollows:
1.Thel ackofasci ent ifictraini ngint hemet hodol ogyofr esear ch
2.Ther ei sinsuf ficienti nteract ionbet weent heuni versit
yr esearchdepar t
ment sonone
sideandbusi nessest ablishment s,gov ernmentdepar tment sandr esear chi nsti
t ut
ions
ont heot hersi de.
3.Mostoft hebusi nessuni tsi nourcount rydonothav etheconf idencet hatt he
mat er ial suppl iedbyt hem t or esear cher swi llnotbemi susedandassucht heyar eof ten
reluct anti nsuppl yingt heneedednf ormat iont or esear cher s.
4.Resear chst udi esov erl
appi ngoneanot herar eunder t akenqui teof tenf orwantof
adequat ei nfor mat i
on.
5.Ther edoesnotexi stacodeofconductf orr esear cher sandi nter-univ er
sityand
i
nt erdepar tment al r
iv alriesar eal soqui tecommon.
6.Manyr esear cher si nourcount ryal sof acet hedi fficultyofadequat eandt i
mel y
secr etar ialassi st ance, i
ncl udingcomput er i
al assist ance.
7.Li br arymanagementandf unct i
oni ngi snotsat isfactor yatmanypl acesandmuchof
thet imeandener gyofr esear chersar espenti nt racingoutt hebooks, journal s,reports,
etc.,rat hert hani ntr aci ngoutr elevantmat er i
al from t hem.
8.Ther ei sal sot hepr oblem t hatmanyofourl ibrar i
esar enotabl etogetcopi esofol d
andnew Act s/ Rul es, repor tsandot hergov ernmentpubl icat i
onsi nti
me.
9.Ther ei sal sot hedi f
ficultyoft imel yav ailabi l
ityofpubl i
sheddat af rom v ar
ious
gov ernmentandot heragenci esdoi ngt hisj obi nourcount ry.
10.Ther emay , att i
mes, t
akepl acet hepr obl em ofconcept uali
zati
onandal sopr oblems
relatingt ot hepr ocessofdat acol l
ect ionandr elatedt hings.

M1t
opi
c-Dev
elopi
ngar
esear
chpl
an:
Afteri dent i
fy i
nganddef i
ningt hepr oblem asal soaccompl i
shi
ngt her el
atingtask,r esearcher
mustar rangehi si deasi nor derandwr itet hem i nthef orm ofanexper imentalplanorwhatcan
bedescr ibedas‘ Resear chPl an’.Thi si sessent i
alspeci all
yfornewr esearcherbecauseoft he
foll
owi ng:
(a)Ithel pshi mt oor ganizehi sideasi naf or m wher ebyitwi l
lbepossi bleforhi mtol ookf or
fl
awsandi nadequaci es,ifany .
(b)Itpr ovidesani nv entor yofwhatmustbedoneandwhi chmat eri
alshav et obecol lect
edas
apr eli
mi nar yst ep.
(c)Itisadocumentt hatcanbegi vent oot her sforcomment .
Resear chpl anmustcont aint hef oll
owi ngi tems.
1.Resear chobj ectiveshoul dbecl ear lyst atedi nal i
neort wowhi cht ell
sexact l
ywhati tisthat
ther esear cherexpect st odo.
2.Thepr obl em t obest udiedbyr esear chermustbeexpl icitl
ystatedsot hatonemayknowwhat
i
nfor mat ioni st obeobt ainedf orsol vingt hepr oblem.
3.Eachmaj orconceptwhi chr esear cherwant st omeasur eshoul dbedef inedi noper ati
onal
termsi ncont extoft her esear chpr oject .
4.Thepl anshoul dcont aint hemet hodt obeusedi nsol vingthepr oblem.Anov eralldescri
ption
oft heappr oacht obeadopt edi susual lygi v enandassumpt ions,i fany,oft heconcer ning
met hodt obeusedar ecl earlyment ionedi nt her esearchpl an.
5.Thepl anmustal sost atet hedet ailsoft het echni quest obeadopt ed.
6.Acl earment i
onoft hepopul at i
ont obest udiedshoul dbemade.

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage11
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

7.Theplanmustalsocont
ainthemet hodstobeusedi
nprocessi
ngthedat
a.
8.Resul
tsofpi
lott
est,i
fany,shoul
dber epor
ted.Ti
meandcostbudget
sforther
esear
ch
Proj
ectshoul
dalsobepreparedandlaiddowninthepl
ani
tself
.

Modul e-
2:
Defining t
her esearch problem -Selecti
ng thepr oblem -Necessi tyof
defi
ning the problem -Techniques i
nv ol
ved in defini
ng the problem -
I
mpor tanceoflit
eratur
er evi
ewi ndefi
ningapr oblem -Surveyofli
terat ure-
Pri
mar yandsecondar ysour ces-Reviews,treat
ise,monogr aphspat ents-
webasasour ce-searchi ngtheweb-I denti
fyi
nggapar easfr
om li
ter ature
rev
iew- Devel
opmentofwor kinghypot
hesis.

2.
1WHATI
SARESEARCHPROBLEM?

Ar esearchpr oblem, ingener al, r

efer st osomedi f
fi
cult
ywhi char esearcherexper iencesint he
contextofei therat heor et
ical orpract i
cal si
tuati
onandwant stoobt ai
nasol uti
onf orthesame.
Wecan, thus, st
at ethecomponent s1ofar esearchproblem asunder :
(i
)Ther emustbeani ndivi
dual oragr oupwhi chhassomedi ff
icultyort hepr oblem.
(i
i)Ther emustbesomeobj ect ive(s)t obeat tai
nedat.Ifonewant snot hing,onecannothav ea
problem.
(i
ii
)Ther emustbeal t
ernati
vemeans( orthecour sesofact ion)f orobt ainingtheobj ective(s)
onewi shes t oat tai
n.Thi smeanst hattheremustbeatl eastt womeansav ail
ablet oa
researcherf orifhehasnochoi ceofmeans, hecannothav eapr oblem.
(i
v)Ther emustr emai nsomedoubti nt hemi ndofar esear cherwi thr egardt othesel ecti
onof
alt
ernat i
ves.Thi smeanst hatr esear ch mustanswert hequest ion concer ning ther elati
v e
effi
ciencyoft hepossi bl
eal ter nati
v es.
(v)Ther emustbesomeenv ironment (s)towhi chthediffi
cultyper t
ains.
Thus, aresear chpr oblem isonewhi chr equiresaresearchert of indoutt hebestsol uti
onf orthe
givenpr oblem, i.
e.,tof i
ndoutbywhi chcour seofact i
ont heobj ect i
v ecanbeat t
ainedopt i
mal ly
i
nt hecont extofagi venenv ironment .

2.
2SELECTI
NGTHEPROBLEM

Theresearchprobl
em under
takenf
orstudymustbecar
eful
lysel
ect
ed.Thetaskisadi
ff
icul
t
one,al
thoughitmaynotappeartobeso.Hel
pmaybet akenfr
om aresear
chguidei
nthi
s
connecti
on.

Thef ol
lowingpointsmaybeobservedbyaresear
cherinselecti
ngar esear
chproblem ora
subjectforresear
ch:
(i
)Subjectwhi chisov
erdoneshoul
dnotbenormallychosen,foritwi
llbeadi f
fi
cul
ttasktothr
ow
anynewl ightinsuchacase.
(i
i)Controversi
alsubj
ectshoul
dnotbecomethechoiceofanav erageresearcher
.

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage12
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

(
ii
i)Toonarrowortoovagueprobl
emsshouldbeavoided.
(
iv)Thesubj
ectsel
ectedforr
esear
chshoul
dbef amil
iarandf
easi
blesot
hatt
her
elat
edr
esear
ch
mat er
ial
orsour
cesofresear
charewit
hinone’
sreach.

(v
)Thei mportanceofthesubj ect,t
hequal i
fi
cati
onsandthetr
aini
ngofaresearcher
,thecost
s
i
nv ol
v ed,thetimefact
orar ef ew othercri
teri
athatmustalsobeconsideredinselect
inga
problem.Inotherwords,bef or
et hefinalsel
ecti
onofaproblem i
sdone,aresear
chermustask
hi
msel ft
hefol
lowingquestions:
 Whet herheiswellequippedi nt er
msofhisbackgr
oundtocarr
youttheresear
ch?
 Whet herthest
udyf all
swi thi
nt hebudgethecanaf
ford?

 Whet herthenecessar ycooperati

oncanbeobtainedf r
om thosewhomustpart
ici
pate
i
nr esearchassubj ects?
I
ftheanswer stoallthesequest i
onsareintheaf f
ir
mat
ive,onemaybecomesur esofaras
t
hepr acticabi
li
tyofthest udyisconcerned.
(
vi)Thesel ecti
onofapr oblem mustbepr ecededbyaprel
iminarystudy.
I
fthesubj ectforresearchi sselect
edpr operl
ybyobservingtheabov ement
ionedpoint
s,the
r
esear chwi l
lnotbeabor i
ngdr udger
y,rat
heritwil
lbel
ove’slabour
.

2.
3NECESSI
TYOFDEFI
NINGTHEPROBLEM
Thepr oblem tobei nvestigatedmustbedef i
nedunambi guouslyf orthatwi l
lhelptodi scri
minat e
rel
ev antdat afrom thei r
relevantones.Apr operdef init
ionofr esear chproblem wi l
lenabl ethe
resear chert obeont het rackwher easani ll
-definedpr oblem maycr eatehur dles.Quest i
onslike:
Whatdat aaret obecol l
ected?Whatchar acteristi
csofdat aarer elevantandneedt obest udied?
Whatr elati
onsar etobeexpl ored.Whatt echniquesar et obeusedf orthepur pose?andsi milar
otherquest ionscropupi nt hemi ndoft her esearcherwhocanwel lplanhi sstrat
egyandf ind
answer st oallsuchquest ionsonl ywhent her esearchpr obl
em hasbeenwel ldefined.Thus,
definingar esearchpr obl
em pr operl
yi sapr erequisit
ef oranyst udyandi sast epoft hehighest
i
mpor tance.I nfact,f
or mulationofapr oblem i softenmor eessent i
althani t
ssol ut
ion.Itisonl y
oncar efuldet ai
li
ngt her esearchpr oblem thatwecanwor koutt her esearchdesi gnandcan
smoot hlycar r
yonal ltheconsequent ialst
epsi nv ol
vedwhi l
edoi ngr esearch.

2.
4TECHNI
QUEI
NVOLVEDI
NDEFI
NINGAPROBLEM
Definingar esear chpr obl em proper lyandcl earlyisacr ucialpartofar esearchst udyandmust
i
nnocasebeaccompl ishedhur ri
edl y
.Howev er,inpr acti
cet hisaf requentlyov er
lookedwhi ch
causesa l otofpr oblemsl ateron.Hence,t her esear ch problem shoul d bedef i
ned ina
systemat i
cmanner ,giv i
ngduewei ghtaget oal lrelatingpoi nts.Thet echniquef orthepur pose
i
nv olvest heunder takingoft hef ollowingst epsgener allyoneaf t
ertheot her
:
(
i) st atementoft hepr oblem i nagener alway ;
(
ii) under standi ngt henat ureoft hepr oblem;
(
iii) sur vey i
ngt heav ail
ablel iter
at ure
(
iv )dev elopi ngt hei deast hroughdi scussi ons; and
(v)r ephrasi ngt her esear chpr obl em intoawor kingpr oposi ti
on.
Abr i
efdescr iptionofal lthesepoi ntswi llbehel pful.
(i
)St at ementoft hepr oblem i nagener alway :Firstofal lthepr obl
em shoul dbest at
edi na
broad gener alway ,keepi ng inv iew ei thersome pr act i
calconcer n orsome sci enti
fi
c or
i
ntellect uali nterest .Fort hispur pose,t her esearchermusti mmer sehi mselfthoroughl yinthe
subjectmat terconcer ningwhi chhewi shest oposeapr oblem.I ncaseofsoci alresearch,i
tis
consi der edadv isabl etodosomef i
eldobser vat i
onandassucht her esearchermayunder t
ake

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage13
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

somesor tofpreli
mi narysurveyorwhatisoftencalledpilotsurv
ey.
(i
i)Understandingt henat ur eoft hepr oblem:Thenextst epindef i
ningtheproblem i
sto
understanditsor i
ginandnat ureclear
ly.Thebestwayofunder standi
ngt heproblem i
sto
discussitwit
ht hosewhof ir
straiseditinordert of i
ndouthow t hepr obl
em ori
ginall
ycame
aboutandwi t
hwhat object
ivesinv i
ew.Ifther esearcherhasst at
edt heprobl
em himself
,he
shouldconsideronceagai nall
thosepointsthatinducedhimt omakeagener alstatementconcerningtheprobl
em.

(
ii
i)
Sur
vey
ingt
heav
ail
abl
eli
ter
atur
e:Al
lav
ail
abl
eli
ter
atur
econcer
ningt
hepr
obl
em athand
mustnecessaril
ybesurveyedandex ami
nedbef oreadefini
ti
onoft
heresearchpr
oblem isgi
ven.
Thismeanst hatt heresear
chermustbewel l
-conversantwit
hrel
evanttheori
esint hefi
eld,
repor
tsandr ecordsasal soallotherrel
evantl i
ter
ature.Hemustdev ot
esuffici
enttimein
revi
ewingofresearchal
readyunder
takenonrelatedproblems.

(
iv)Dev
elopi
ng t
hei
deast
hroughdi
scussi
ons:
Discussi
on concer
ning a pr
obl
em of
ten
produces
usefulinfor
mation.Var
iousnew ideascanbedev el
opedthr
oughsuchanexerci
se.Hence,a
resear
cher
mustdi scusshisprobl
em wi t
hhiscoll
eaguesandother
swhohaveenoughexperienceint
he
same
areaorinwor ki
ngonsimilarprobl
ems.Thi
sisquit
eofenknownasanexper
t iencesurvey
.

(
v)Rephr
asi
ngt
her
esear
chpr
obl
em:
Fi
nal
l
y,t
her
esear
chermustsi
ttor
ephr
aset
her
esear
ch
probl
em intoawor ki
ngpr oposi
ti
on.Oncet henatureoftheproblem hasbeencl
earlyunderst
ood,
the
envir
onment( withi
nwhi chtheproblem hasgott obest udied)hasbeendef i
ned,discussi
ons
overthe
probl
em hav et aken place and the av
ailabl
el i
ter
ature has been sur
veyed and examined,
rephrasi
ng
theproblem i
ntoanalyt
icaloroperati
onalt
er msisnotadiffi
culttask.

Inadditiont owhathasbeenst atedabov e,thef oll

owingpointsmustal sobeobser vedwhi l
e
defini
ngar esearchpr oblem:
(a)Techni caltermsandwor dsorphr ases,withspeci almeani
ngsusedi nt hestat
ementoft he
problem, shoul dbecl earl
ydef i
ned.
(b)Basicassumpt ionsorpost ulates( i
fany )r
elati
ngt otheresear
chpr oblem shoul
dbecl earl
y
stated.
(c)A st raightf orwar dstatementoft hev al
ueoft hei nv
esti
gati
on( i
.e.,thecrit
eri
af ort he
selecti
onoft hepr oblem)shoul dbepr ov i
ded.
(d)Thesui tabi
lit
yoft het i
me-per i
odandt hesourcesofdat aavail
ablemustal sobeconsi dered
byt heresear cherindef i
ningthepr oblem.
(e)Thescopeoft hei nv
estigati
onort helimit
swi thi
nwhi chtheproblem istobest udi
edmust
bement i
onedexpl ici
tlyi
ndef i
ningar esear chproblem.

2.
5IMPORTANCEOFLI
TERATUREREVI
EW I
N DEFI
NINGAPROBLEM:

Ar
esear
chl
i
ter
atur
erev
iew i
sasy
stemat
ic,expl
i
cit
,and r
epr
oduci
blemet
hod f
or

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage14
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

i
denti
fyi
ng,ev al uat ing,andsy nthesizi ngt heexi stingbodyofcompl etedandr ecorded
workproducedbyr esear cher s,schol ar s, andpr actitioner s.
Aresearchl iterat ur er ev i
ewcanbedi v idedi nt
osev ent asks:
1.Sel ectingr esear chquest i
ons.Ar esear chquest ionisapr eciselyst atedquest ion
thatgui dest her eview.
2.Sel ecting bi bliographi corar ticledat abase,web si tes,and ot hersour ces.A
bibliogr aphi cdat abasei sacol l
ect ionofar ticles.
3.Choosi ngsear cht erms.Sear cht er msar et hewor dsandphr asest haty ouuset o
getappr opr iatear ticles, books, andr epor ts.
4.Appl yi
ngpr act i
calscr eeni ngcr i
t eria.Pr eli
mi nar ylit
eratur
esear chesal way sy ield
manyar ticles, butonl yaf ewr elev ant .
5.Appl yi
ng met hodol ogi calscr eeni ng cr iter i
a.Met hodologicalcr i
teri
ai ncl
ude
criteriaf orev aluatingt headequacyofast udy ’scov erageandi tsscienti
ficqual i
ty.
6.Doi ngt her ev iew.Rel iableandv al i
dr ev
iewsi nv olveusingast andar dizedf ormf or
abst r
act ing dat af rom ar ticles,t rai
ni ng r ev iewerst o do t he abst raction,
moni tor ingt hequal ityoft her ev i
ew, andpi lott est i
ngthepr ocess.
7.Sy nthesi zing t he r esul t
s. Li terat ure r ev iew r esults may be sy nthesi zed
descr i
pt iv ely.Descr i
pt ivesy nt hesesar ei nt er pretati
onsoft her eview’sf indi
ngs
basedont her ev i
ewer ’sexper ienceandt hequal i
tyandcont entoft heav ail
abl e
li
ter atur e.

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage15
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage16
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

Whenwr
it
ingal
i
ter
atur
erev
iew,
theaut
horshal
lconsi
dert
heset
hings:

 ti
ghtlyassociatethereviewcont entsandcont extwit
htheresear
chquest
ions
 emphasi zesther elat
ionshipsbetweenr esearchproblemsandt heout
comesof
theli
teratur
er evi
ew.
 i
dent i
fyareasofcont roversyintheli
terat
ure.
 l
istthequest i
onst hatneedf urt
herresearch.
 writ
esol i
dandav oidabstracttoshowaf ullanalysi
spath
 writ
edi r
ectlyont hetopicorsub-topics.
 i
ncludeanov eral
lintr
oduct i
onandconcl usiont ost
atethescopeoftheresear
ch
coverage.
 for
mul atether ev
iewquest ionsandpr obl
ems.

Pur
poses

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage17
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

Al i
ter
atur
ereview goesbeyond theinf
ormation sear
ch.Ithel
psy ou i
denti
fyand
art
icul
atetherelat
ionshi
psbetween t
hel i
ter
atur
eand y ourfi
eld ofr
esearch hav
e
summar i
zedf
oll
owingbasicpur
posesforali
ter
aturerevi
ew:

 Itprovidesacont extfort her esear ch,

 Itjusti
fiestheresearch,
 Itensur esther esearch hasnotbeen donebef ore( orthatitisnotjusta
"repli
cat i
onstudy")orther ear egapsi npreviousr esearches,
 Itshowswher ether esear chf i
tsint otheexistingbodyofknowl edge,
 Itenablest heresearchert olear nfr om prev
ioust heoryont hesubj
ect
,
 Itil
lustr
at eshowt hesubj ecthasbeenst udiedpr ev i
ously,
 Ithighli
ght sfl
awsi nprev i
ousr esear ch,
 Itoutli
nesgapsi npr eviousr esear ch,
 Itshowst hatthewor kisaddi ngt ot heunder standingandknowl edgeoft
hefiel
d,
and
 Itassistsonr efi
ning,refocusi ngorev enchangi ngt hetopic.

Besi
dest
hesebasi
cpoi
nts,
ali
ter
atur
erev
iewcanal
sohel
pther
esear
chert
o

 i
denti
fytheresear
chtrendinthi
sarea,
 det
erminethedefi
nit
ionsofthemaintermsappear
edi
npr
evi
ousr
esear
ches
 est
abli
shtheknowledgebaseont hesubject
 adj
ustthescopeoftheresearch

St
epsi
ntheLi
ter
atur
eRev
iewPr
ocess

1.I
dent
if
yar
esear
cht
opi
c.
2.Revi
ewsecondarysourcestogetanovervi
ewoft hetopi
c:Forexampl
e,l
ookatthe
Revi
ew ofEducati
onalResearch,Har
var
dEducationalRevi
ew,Psychol
ogi
calBul
l
etin,
Revi
ewofResearchinEducati
on, heAnnual
ort Rev
iewofPsy chol
ogy.
3.Dev el
opasear chst r
ategyanduseappr opri
atepreli
minarysourcesandpr i
mary
resear
chj our
nals( seeBoxes3. 2,3.4,and3.6),checkt heref
erencesattheendof
rel
evantresearchpublicat
ions,accesspersonalnetworks,and/
orbui l
drel
ati
on¬shi
ps
withappropri
atecommuni tyrepr
esentati
ves.
4.Conductt
hesear
chandsel
ectspeci
fi
car
ti
clest
orev
iew.
5.Obt
ainf
ull
textr
efer
ences(
e.g.
,j
our
nal
art
icl
esorbooks)
.
6.Readar
ti
clesandpr
epar
ebi
bli
ogr
aphi
cinf
ormat
ionandnot
esoneachar
ti
cle.
7.Ev
aluat
ether
esear
chr
epor
ts.
8.Sy
nthesi
zey
ourf
indi
ngs.
9.Usethelit
erat
urerevi
ewtogai
naconcept
ualf
ramewor
kandt
ofor
mul
ater
esear
ch
quest
ions,
hypotheses,
orbot
h.

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage18
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

2.
6Sur
veyofl
i
ter
atur
e

o Beforet aking up t hewor kon ar esear ch problem onehast o know

whet heranywor kwasr eportedont hesamepr oblem.
o Ifsoheshoul dknowt heextentt owhi cht hewor kwascar r
iedout.
o Heshoul dal soknowt hewor kont herelat edfi
eld.
o Unlessoneknowst hedetail
sr egar di
ngt hewor kdonei nt heear l
i
ery ears
i
nt hesameorr elat
edpr obl
em i tisnotpossi bletocarryoutt hewor k.
o Thet otalbodyofchemi cal/phy sicsknowl edgecal ledt hel i
ter
at urei s
l
ocat edont hecombi nedshel vesofal lthechemi calandphy sicslibraries
i
nt hewor ld.
o Thepr ocessofext racti
ngthei nf ormat i
onaboutar esearchpr oblem ora
compoundoramet hodet c.,from t hel iter
aturei scalledt heliterature
survey .
o Lit
erat uresur veyi snotdi f
ficul
tandnowaday sthel i
teraturesear chhas
becomev erysimpl e.

Thelit
erat
urecanbedi
vi
dedi
ntot
wobr
oadcat
egor
iesas•Pr
imar
ysour
ces•Secondar
y
sour
ces

>Pr
imar
ySour
ceLi
ter
at e:Pr
ur imar
ysour
cel
i
ter
atur
eref
erst
oor
igi
nalsour
cemat
eri
als
createdwi t
houtuseofi nterpretati
onandr eview andnotpr evi
ousl
ypubl ishedi nany
format.Pr i
marysour ce li
terature al
so includes mat er
ial
st hatcontaini nformati
on
recordedatt hetimeofcr eation.Someor i
ginalsourcemat eri
alissubjectt othepeer
revi
ewpr ocess.Peerr evi
ewi sdef i
nedasanor ganizedprocedurecarr
iedoutbyasel ect
commi tteeofpr ofessionalsinev aluati
ngt heper formanceofot herpr ofessional
si n
meet i
ngt hestandar dsoft hei rspecial
ty.Rev iew bypeersisusedbyedi torsint he
evaluati
onofar t
iclesandot herpaperssubmi t
t edforpubli
cati
on.Mostj ournalarti
cles
aresubjectt othepeerr eviewpr ocess.

•Conf er
ence Abstract
s •Dat a Sets •Di ssert
ati
ons and Theses (
ifori
ginalresearch)•
GovernmentDocument s•JournalArticl
es•Labor ator
yNotebooks•ManuscriptLett
ers•Or al
hi
stori
es•Pat ents•Rapi dCommuni cat
ions( l
ett
erstojournal
sorbriefcommuni cat
ions)•
Speeches•Stati
sti
cs•TrialTr
anscri
pts.

>Secondar
ySour
ceLi
ter
atur
e:Secondar
ysour
cel
i
ter
atur
eref
erst
omat
eri
alst
hatar
e
i
nterpr
etat
ionsorevaluati
onsofpr
imarysour
cemat er
ialsusingschol ar
lyanal
ysisand
pr
ovideaccesstopr i
mar ysour
celi
ter
atur
e.Secondar
ysour cel i
ter
aturealsoincl
udes
j
ournalart
icl
esordi
ssertati
onst
hatrev
ieworeval
uateprevi
ousr esearch.

Al
manacs•At l
ases•Books/Monographs•Ci t
ati
on Indexes/
Databases•Comment ar
ies•
Di
rector
ies•Di
sser
tati
onsandTheses(ifi
ncl
uder ev
iew materi
al)•Encycl
opedi
as•Journal
Ar
ticl
es•Popul
arPress•Pr
acti
ceGuidel
i
nes•Rev i
ewsoft heLit
erat
ure•TradePubl
i
cati
ons•

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage19
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

Tr
eat
ises.

Whati
sapat
ent
?

anarr
angementbet
weentheinvent
orandthe st
atesucht
hatt
hei
nvent
orr
ecei
vesa
l
imi
ted-
ti
memonopolytoexpl
oitt
heinv
enti
on.

Pat
ent
sar
ethemosti
mpor
tantf
orm ofpubl
i
cat
ionofi
ndust
ri
alr
esear
ch

Monogr
aph
A monograph 
isaspeci
ali
stwor
kofwr
it
ingonasi
ngl
esubj
ectoranaspectofasubj
ect
,
usual
lybyasingl
eauthor
.

Thet erm" monogr aphia"isderiv

edf r
om t heGreek'mono' (
singl
e)and grapho  (
towr i
te)
,
meani ng" wri
ti
ngonasi nglesubject "
.Unlikeat extbook,whichsur v
ey sthest ateof
knowl edgei naf ield,themai npur poseofamonogr aphistopr esentprimar yresearch
and or i
ginalschol arship.Thi sr esear ch is pr
esented atl ength,disti
ngui shing a
monogr aphf r
om anar ti
cle.Fortheser easons,publi
cati
onofamonogr aphiscommonl y
regardedasv it
alf orcar eerprogr essioninmanyacademi cdiscipl
i
nes.I ntendedf or
otherr esearchersandboughtpr imar il
ybyl i
brari
es,monographsar egenerallypubl i
shed
asindi vi
dual vol
umesi nashor tprintrun

Tr
eat
ise
A 
treat
ise 
i
saf ormaland systemati
c wri
tt
en 
discourse 
on some subj
ect
,general
l
y
l
ongerand treati
ng i
tin greaterdepththan an essay,and mor
e concer
ned wit
h
i
nvesti
gati
ngorexposi
ngtheprinci
plesoft
hesubject.

webasasour
ce

TheWor l
dWi deWebpr ovi
desaccesstov astamount sofi nformat
ionofmanydi ffer
ent
sorts( Ó Dochartai
gh 2002)
.You can sear ch t
he hol dings ofotherli
brari
es and
downl oadthecompl etetextofgov er
nmentr eports,someconf erencepapers,and
newspaperar ti
cl
es.You can fi
nd policies ofl ocalgov er
nments,descri
pti
ons of
i
ndividualsocialsci
ent
ist
sandpar t
icul
arr esearchprojects,andpost i
ngsofadv ocacy
groups.

searchingtheweb
Clar
ifyy ourgoal
s.
Qualit
yi snotguarant
eed.
Anti
cipat echange.
Onesi zedoesnotf i
tall
.

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage20
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

Beconcer
nedaboutgener
ali
zabi
l
ity
.
Eval
uat
ethesit
es.
Avoi
dWebaddi ct
ion.
Ci
teyoursour
ces.

Identi
fyinggapar easf r
om li
teratur
er ev
iew
Oncey ouhav efoundapr omisingresear chareaofinter
est
,y oumustidenti
fyresearch
questions thatar e notonl y unresol
v ed butwhose expl orati
on can meaningfull
y
contri
but etoexistingt heor
yand/ orpr acti
ce.Inthissecti
on,y ouwil
llear
nt oidenti
fy
such pr omisi
ng r esearch quest i
ons by av oi
ding common begi nner'
s mi st
akes,
underst andi
nghow t oi dent
ifya" gap"int hescholarl
yli
ter
ature,andmakingsur eitis
wor t
hwhi let
ot r
yt ofil
lthegap.

Dev
elopmentofwor
kinghy
pot
hesi
s

Afterext ensivel iteraturesur veyr esearchershoul dst atei nclearter mst hewor king
hypot hesi sorhy pothesis.Wor kinghy pothesi sist ent
at i
veassumpt i
onmadei nor derto
drawoutandt esti t
sl ogicalorempi ri
calconsequences.Assucht hemanneri nwhi ch
resear chhy pothesi sar edev elopedi spar ti
cularlyimportantsi netheypr ovi
dethef ocal
pointf orr esear ch.Theyal soaf fectt hemanneri nwhi chtestmustbeconduct edi nthe
anal y
si sofdat aandi ndir
ect l
yt hequal ityofdat awhicht estsmustbeconduct edi nthe
anal y
si s.Inmostt ypesofr esear ch,thedev elopmentofwor kinghy pothesisplaysan
i
mpor tantr ole.Hy pothesisshoul dbev eryspeci ficandl i
mi tedtothepi eceofr esearch
i
nhandbecausei thast obet ested.Ther oleoft hehypot hesisistogui detheresearcher
bydel i
mi ti
ngt hear eaofr esearchandt hekeephi m ont her i
ghttrack.Itsharpenshi s
thinkingandf ocusesat tentionont hemor ei mportantf actsoft hepr oblem.I talso
i
ndi catedt hety peofdat ar equi redandt hety peofmet hodsofdat ar equi
redandt he
typeofmet hodsofdat aanal ysist obeused.

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage21
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

Module3:
Researchdesi gnandmet hods–Researchdesign–BasicPr i
ncipl
es-Needofr esearch
desi
gn - Featuresofgooddesign–I mportantconcept
sr el
ati
ngtor esearchdesign–
Observation and Facts,Laws and Theor
ies,Predi
cti
on and explanati
on,Inducti
on,
Deduction,Dev el
opmentofModel s -Dev el
opi
ng a research plan -Explorati
on,
Descri
pt i
on,Di agnosi
s,andExperi
mentati
on-Det ermi
ningexperimentalandsampl e
desi
gns.

3.
1Resear
chdesi
gnandmet
hods
The formi
dabl
e pr
oblem thatfoll
ows the t
ask ofdef
ini
ng the r
esear
ch pr
obl
em i
sthe
prepar
ati
onof
thedesi
gnofther
esearchpr
oject
,popul
arl
yknownasthe“r
esear
chdesign”
.

Decisionsregardi
ngwhat,where,when,how much,bywhatmeansconcer ni
ngani nquir
yora
researchstudyconst
it
utearesearchdesi
gn.
“Ar esear
chdesi gni
st hearr
angementofcondi t
ionsforcol
lect
ionandanalysi
sofdat aina
mannert hataimstocombinerelevancet
otheresearchpur
posewitheconomyinprocedure.
”

Infact,t
her esearchdesignistheconcept
ualstr
ucturewit
hinwhi
chr
esear
chi
sconduct
ed;i
t
consti
tutes
thebluepri
ntforthecol
lecti
on,measurementandanaly
sisofdat
a.

Assuch the design i

ncludesan out l
ine ofwhatt
he researcherwil
ldo fr
om wr
it
ing t
he
hypot
hesi
sandi tsoperat
ionalimpl i
cati
onstothefi
nalanalysisofdata.Mor
eexpl
i
citl
y,t
he
desi
ngdecisi
onshappent obei nrespectof:
(i
)Whatisthestudyabout?
(i
i
)Whyisthest udybei
ngmade?
(i
i
i)Wherewil
lthestudybecar r
iedout ?
(i
v)Whatty
peofdat aisrequir
ed?
(v
)Wherecant herequi
reddatabef ound?
(v
i)Whatperi
odsoft i
mewi llt
hest udyincl
ude?

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage22
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

(
vii
)Whatwil
lbethesampledesign?
(
vii
i)Whatt
echni
quesofdatacoll
ecti
onwil
lbeused?
(
ix)Howwil
lthedatabeanal
ysed?
(
x)Inwhatsty
lewil
lther
eportbeprepar
ed?

Keepi nginv i
ew t heabov estateddesigndeci sions,onemayspl ittheov eral
lresear
chdesi gn
i
ntot hefoll
owi ngpar ts:
(a)thesampl ingdesi gnwhichdealswit hthemet hodofselecti
ngi t
emst obeobser v
edf orthe
givenst udy;
(b)t heobser vat i
onaldesignwhichrel
atest othecondi t
ionsunderwhi chtheobser v
ati
onsar eto
bemade;
(c)t hest atisticaldesign whichconcer nswi tht hequestionofhow manyi temsar et obe
obser vedandhowt heinf
ormat i
onanddat agat her edar
et obeanal y
sed;and
(d)t heoper ationaldesignwhichdealswi ththet echniquesbywhi cht heproceduresspecif
iedin
thesampl ing, stati
sti
calandobservat
ional designscanbecar ri
edout .
From whathasbeenst at
edabov e,
wecanst atet heimpor t
antfeatur
esofar esearchdesignas
under :

(i
)Itisapl ant hatspeci
fiest
hesourcesandtypesofi
nformat i
onrel
evanttotheresearch
probl
em.
(i
i)I
tisastrategyspeci
fyi
ngwhichappr
oachwi
ll
beusedforgatheri
ngandanaly
singt
hedat a.
(i
ii
)Italsoincludestheti
meandcostbudgetssincemoststudiesar
edoneundert heset wo
constr
aint
s.

Inbri
ef,r
esearchdesi
gnmust,atl
east
,cont
ain—(a)aclearst
atementoftheresear
chprobl
em;
(b)procedur
esandt echni
questobeusedf orgather
inginf
ormati
on;(c)thepopulat
iontobe
studi
ed;
(a)and(
d)methodstobeusedinprocessingandanalysi
ngdata.

3.
2Needofr
esear
chdesi
gn
Resear chdesi gni sneededbecausei tfaci
li
tatest hesmoot hsai l
i
ngoft hevari
ousr esearch
oper ations,
Ther ebymaki ngr esearchasef f
ici
entaspossi bleyiel
dingmaxi malinf
or mati
onwi thmi nimal
expendi t
ure
ofef fort,t
imeandmoney .
weneedar esear chdesi gnorapl ani nadvanceofdat acol l
ecti
onandanal ysi
sf orourr esearch
project .Resear chdesi gnst andsf oradv ancepl anni
ng oft hemet hodst o beadopt ed for
coll
ect ingther elevantdataandt het echniquest obeusedi ntheiranalysi
s,keepinginv i
ewthe
object i
v eoft her esearchandt he av ail
abil
ityofst af f
,timeandmoney .Prepar at
ionoft he
resear chdesi gnshoul dbedonewi t
hgr eatcareasanyer rorinitmayupsett heentireproject.
Resear chdesi gn,i nfact,hasagr eatbear ingont hereliabi
li
tyofther esul
tsarr i
vedatandas
such
const itut
est hef i
rmf oundati
onoft heent i
reedi f
iceofther esearchwork.

3.
3Feat
uresofgooddesi
gn
A good desi
gn is of
ten char
acter
ised by adject
ives l
ike fl
exi
ble,appr
opri
ate,eff
ici
ent,
economi
calandsoon.General
ly
,thedesi
gnwhi chminimisesbiasandmaximisesther
eli
abil
it
y
ofthedat
acollect
edandanalysedisconsider
edagooddesi gn.Thedesignwhichgivesthe

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage23
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

smal l
estexperiment alerr
ori
ssupposedt obethebestdesigninmanyi nv
esti
gati
ons.
Similarl
y,a desi gn whi ch yi
elds maximalinfor
mat i
on and pr ovi
des an opport
unit
yf or
consideringmanydi ff
erentaspectsofaprobl
em isconsideredmostappr opr
iateandeffi
cient
designi nrespectofmanyr esearchprobl
ems.Thus,thequest i
onofgooddesi gnisrel
atedt o
thepur poseorobj ecti
veofther esear
chprobl
em andalsowi ththenatur
eoftheproblem tobe
studied.

research design appropriate for a par ti

cular research probl
em,usual
l
yinv
olv
es t
he
considerat
ionofthefol
lowingf actors:
(i
)themeansofobt aini
ngi nformation;
(i
i)theavail
abi
lit
yandskil
lsoft her esearcherandhi sstaff,
ifany
;
(i
ii
)theobjecti
veoftheprobl em tobest udied;
(i
v)thenatureoftheproblem tobest udied;and
(v)theavail
abi
lit
yofti
meandmoneyf ortheresearchwor k.

Iftheresear
chstudyhappenst obeanexplorator
yoraf or
mulati
veone,wherei
nt hemaj
or
emphasisisondi
scoveryofideasandinsi
ght
s,theresearchdesi
gnmostappropri
atemustbe
fl
exibl
eenought
opermittheconsider
ati
onofmanydi f
fer
entaspect
sofaphenomenon.

3.
4Impor
tantconcept
srel
ati
ngt
oresear
chdesi
gn
Befor
edescri
bingt
hedif
fer
entr
esear
chdesi
gns,i
twil
lbeappropri
atet
oexpl
aint
hev
ari
ous
concept
s
rel
ati
ngtodesi
gnssothatt
hesemaybebett
erandeasi
lyunderst
ood.

1.Dependentandi ndependentv ari

abl es:Aconceptwhi chcant akeondi ff
erentquant i
tati
ve
valuesi scall
edav ariabl
e.Assucht heconcept sli
kewei ght,height,i
ncomear eallexamplesof
variabl
es. Qual it
ativephenomena( ort heat t
ri
butes)areal soquant ifi
edont hebasi soft he
presence or absence of t he concer ning attr
ibut
e(s).Phenomena whi ch can t ake on
quant i
tativ
elydiff
erentv al
ueseveni ndeci mal poi
ntsarecalled‘continuousv ari
ables’
.
2.Ext r
aneousv ari
able:Independentv ari
ablesthatarenotr elatedtot hepur poseoft hest udy,
butmayaf f
ectt he dependentv ariable aretermed asext raneousv ari
ables.Suppose t he
researcherwant st ot estthehypothesi sthatthereisar el
ationshipbet weenchi l
dren’
sgai nsin
socialstudiesachiev ementandt heirsel f
-concept
s.
Ast udymustal way sbesodesi gnedt hattheeffectupont hedependentv ari
abl
ei sattr
ibuted
entirel
yt otheindependentv ari
able(s),andnott osomeext r
aneousv ariableorv ar
iabl
es.

3.Control:Onei mportantcharact
eri
st i
cofagoodr esear
chdesi gnistominimi
setheinfl
uence
oreffectofext raneousv ari
able(
s).Thet echni
calt er
m‘ control’i
susedwhenwedesi gnt he
studymi nimisi
ngt heeffect
sofext raneousindependentv ar
iables.I
nexperi
mentalr
esearches,
theterm‘ contr
ol’i
susedt orefert
or estr
ainexperi
ment al
conditions.

4.Confoundedrel
ati
onshi
p:Whent hedependentvar
iabl
eisnotfreefrom theinfl
uenceof
ext
raneousvari
abl
e(s)
,therel
ationshi
pbetweenthedependentandindependentvar
iabl
esis
sai
dtobeconfoundedbyanextraneousvar
iabl
e(s)
.

5.Resear chhypot hesi

s:Whenapr edi
cti
onorahy pothesi
sedrelat
ionshi
pistobet estedby
scienti
fi
c
met hods,iti
stermedasr esear
chhy pot
hesis.Theresearchhypot
hesisisapredi
cti
vest
atement
thatrel
atesani ndependentvar
iabl
et oadependentvari
able.

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage24
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

6.Experiment
aland non-exper
iment
alhy pothesi
s-t
esti
ng resear
ch:When the pur
pose of
resear
chistotestaresear
chhypot
hesis,i
tistermedashy pothesi
s-t
est
ingr
esear
ch.I
tcanbe
oftheexper
imental
designoroft
henon-experi
mentaldesi
gn.

7.Experi
mentalandcontrolgr
oups:Inanexperi
ment
alhypothesis-
testi
ngresearchwhena
groupisexposedtousualconditi
ons,i
tister
meda‘ cont
rolgroup’
,butwhent hegroupi
s
exposedtosomenovelorspeci
alcondi
ti
on,
iti
ster
medan‘experi
mental gr
oup’
.

8.Treat
ment s:Thedif
fer
entconditi
onsunderwhi chexper i
mentalandcont
rolgroupsar
eput
areusual
lyrefer
redtoas‘
treat
ments’.I
ntheil
l
ustrationtakenabove,t
hetwotreat
mentsar
ethe
usualst
udiesprogrammeandt hespeci
alst
udiespr ogr
amme.

9.Experi
ment:Theprocessofexami
ningthetr
uthofast
ati
sti
calhy
pot
hesi
s,r
elat
ingt
osome
resear
chprobl
em,isknownasanexperiment
.

10.Experi
ment
aluni
t(
s):Thepre-
det
erminedplot
sorthebl
ocks,
wheredif
ferenttr
eat
mentsare
used,ar
eknownasexperiment
aluni
ts.Suchexper
iment
aluni
tsmustbeselected(
defi
ned)v
ery
caref
ull
y.

Module6:
I
PRs- Invent
ion and Cr eati
vit
y-I nt
ell
ectual Pr
operty-
Import
ance and Protecti
on of
I
ntel
l
ectualPropertyRights( I
PRs)-Abr iefsummar yof:Pat
ents,Copyr
ight
s,Trademarks,
I
ndustri
alDesigns-Integrated Cir
cuit
s-Geographi
calIndi
cati
ons-Est
abl
ishmentofWI PO-
Appl
icati
onandPr ocedures.

6.1IPRs-InventionandCreat
ivi
ty-
Int
ellect
ualpr opert
y(IP)ref
erstocreati
onsoft
hemind,suchasi
nvent
ions;l
it
erar
yand
arti
sticworks; desi
gns;andsymbols,namesandimagesusedi
ncommer ce.

I
Pi spr ot
ectedinlaw by,forexampl e,
 pat
ent
s, 
copy
right 
and trademar ks,whi
chenablepeople
toear nrecogni
ti
onorf inanci
albenef i
tf r
om whattheyi nv
entorcr eate.Bystr
iki
ngther i
ght
balancebetweentheinterest
sofi nnovator
sandthewi derpubli
ci nter
est,theI
Psystem ai
mst o
fosteranenvir
onmentinwhi chcreati
v i
tyandi
nnovat
ioncanf lourish.

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage25
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

Int
ellectualpr opertyr i
ght s( I
PR)hav e been def ined as i deas,i nvent i
ons,and cr eativ
e
expressionsbasedonwhi chther eisapubl icwi lli
ngnesst obest owt hest atusofpr operty
.
IPRpr ovidecer t
ainexcl usiver ightst ot hei nv ent orsorcr eat or soft hatpr oper t
y ,i
nor derto
enablet hem t oreapcommer cialbenef itsf rom t heircr eat iv
eef fortsorr eput ation.Ther eare
several t
ypesofi ntellect
ual pr
oper t
ypr ot ect ionl ikepat ent ,copy r
ight ,trademar k,etc.
Patenti sr ecognition foran i nvention,whi ch sat i
sf iest he cr i
teria ofgl obalnov elt
y,non-
obviousness,andi ndust ri
alappl i
cation.I PRi spr erequi sitef orbet teri dentification,planning,
commer cial
izati
on, rendering,
andt her ebypr otect ionofi nv ent ionorcr eativi
ty.
Eachi ndust r
yshoul dev olvei tsownI PRpol i
cies,managementst yle,strategi es,andsoon
dependi ngoni tsareaofspeci al ty. 
Int
ellectualpropertyi sdiv
idedi ntot wocat egor i
es:
1.I ndust ri
alPr oper t
yi ncludespat ent sf ori nv entions,t r
ademar ks,
i
ndust ri
al desi gnsandgeogr aphi cal i
ndi cations.
2.Copy ri
ghtcov er sliter arywor ks( suchasnov el
s, poemsandpl ays),
fil
ms, musi c, artisticwor ks( e.g., dr awings, paintings, photographs
and scul ptur es) and ar chi tect uraldesi gn.Ri ght sr el
ated to
copy r
ight i ncl ude t hose of per formi ng ar t
ists i n t heir
per formances,pr oducer sofphonogr amsi nt heirrecor dings,and
broadcast er si nt hei rr adioandt el ev i
sionpr ograms.

Ty
pesofI
ntel
l
ect
ual
Proper
ti
esandt
hei
rDescr
ipt
ion

Ori
ginal
ly
,onl
ypatent,t
rademarks,andindust
ri
aldesi
gnswerepr
otect
edas‘I
ndustr
ialPropert
y’,
butnow theterm‘I
ntel
lectualPr
operty
’hasamuchwi dermeani
ng.IPRenhancestechnology
advancementint
hefoll
owingway s

 i
tprovidesamechanism ofhandl
ingi
nfri
ngement,pi
racy,and
unauthori
zeduse
 i
tprovidesapoolofinfor
mati
ontothegener al
publ
icsinceal
lfor
msofI
P
arepubli
shedexceptincaseoftr
adesecret
s.

I
Ppr
otect
ioncanbesoughtf
orav
ari
etyofi
ntel
l
ect
ual
eff
ort
sincl
udi
ng

 Pat
ent
s:Apat
enti
sanexcl
usi
ver
ightgr
ant
edf
orani
nvent
ion.Gener
all
yspeaki
ng,a
patentpr ovidest hepatentownerwi t
ht herighttodeci dehow -orwhet her-t he
i
nv enti
oncanbeusedbyot her s.Inexchangef orthisr i
ght,thepat entownermakes
technicalinformat i
onaboutt hei nventi
onpubl i
clyav ail
ableint hepubl ishedpat ent
document .
 Copyr i
ghtisal egal t
erm usedtodescr i
betheri
ghtst hatcreatorshaveov ertheirli
terary
andar t
ist
icwor ks.Wor kscov er edbycopy ri
ghtr angef rom books,musi c,paintings,
sculptureand f il
ms,t o comput erprograms,dat abases,adv ert
isement s,mapsand
technicaldrawings.
 At rademar kisasi gncapableofdi st
ingui
shi
ngt hegoodsorser vicesofoneent erprise
from t hose ofot herent er
prises.Tr ademarks dat e back to anci entt i
mes when

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage26
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

craft
smenusedtoputtheirsi
gnatureor"mar k"ont heirpr
oducts.
 Ani ndust
ri
aldesignconsti
tut
est heor nament aloraest het
icaspectofanart
icl
e.A
designmayconsistofthr
ee-dimensionalfeatures,suchast heshapeorsur
faceofan
arti
cle,
oroftwo-
dimensi
onalfeat
ures,suchaspat terns,l
i
nesorcolor
.
 Geogr
aphi
cali
ndi
cat
ionsandappel
l
ati
onsofor
igi
nar
esi
gnsusedongoodst
hathav
ea
speci
fi
cgeographi
calori
ginandpossessqual
it
ies,areput
ati
onorchar
act
eri
sti
csthat
areessent
ial
l
yat t
ri
butabl
etot hatpl
aceofor i
gin.Mostcommonly,ageographi
cal
i
ndicat
ioni
ncl
udesthenameoft hepl
aceofori
ginofthegoods.

6.
2Int
ell
ect
ual
Proper
ty-
Impor
tance

Posi
ti
veI
mpact
s:

IPRsplayv er
yimportantrol
eintheprogressanddevel
opmentofthesociet
y.IPRsnotonl
y
provi
deincent
ivetothecreatorofhi
screat i
onbutal
soleadtoahealt
hycompet i
ti
onamong
creat
orswhichult
imatel
yleadstothepr
ogr essoft
hesociet
y.Someoftheposi
ti
veimpact
sof
IPRare:

 I
PRsar
eimpor
tantf
orf
reef
lowf
orener
gyf
orenhanci
ngi
nvent
ionandr
esear
ch.I
PRs
pr ovidei ncenti
vet ot hei ndividualsf ornew cr eat
ions.I PRspr ovideduer ecognitiont o
thecr eat orsandi nv entors.Thesel awspr ov i
dethem bot ht hemeansandi ncent i
vet o
cr eatenewerwor ks, product sandser vi
ces.
 Int el
lect ualProper tyRi ght senhancei nnovati
onandcr eat i
vitybypr otect i
ngt herightsof
i
nv entor sandar tists.Si ncet hef i
l
ingofpat entsrequir
est hedi sclosur eofi nformat ion
thatwoul denableot herst or eplicatet heinventor
’sdiscov ery,ot her scanuseandbui l
d
upon t hisshar ed knowl edge t o cr eate newerand/ orbet terpr oduct s.IPRsensur e
mat erial rewardfori ntellectual proper ty.
 IPRsensur etheav ailabil
ityoft hegenui neandor i
ginalpr oduct s.I ntell
ectualPr oper t
y
right s,suchaspat entandcopy ri
ght s,areani mportantmeansusedbyf i
rmst ohel p
pr otectt hei ri
nvest ment si ninnov ation.
 IPRsmaybehel pfuli nt hesol uti
ont oglobalchallengesl i
kei nt hef i
eldofal ternate
sour cesofener gy ,newpr oduct stot hef armersanddev elopmentofl owcostdr ugsf or
poorpeopl e.
 IPRsar enecessar yt ost imul ateeconomi cgrowth.Pr otectionofi ntell
ectualpr oper t
y
right si sessent ialinmai ntai
ni ngeconomi cgr owth.Theyencour agef ai
rt r
adingwhi ch
woul d cont ri
butet o economi c and soci aldevelopment .Ef fect i
v e enforcementof
i
nt ellect ualproper tyr i
ght siscr it
icaltosust aini
ngeconomi cgr owt hacr ossallindust r
ies
andgl obal l
y.

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage27
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

Negat
iveI
mpact
s:

Thought
hepur
poseofI
PRsi
stoenhancei
nnov
ati
onandcr
eat
ivi
tybypr
otect
ingt
her
ight
sof
cr
eat
orsandl
eadi
ngt
othegr
owt
handadv
ancementofhumanbei
ngsbutdoI
PRsact
ual
l
ypl
ay
aconst
ructi
ver ol
eintheprogr
essanddevel
opmentofsoci
etyandmanki
ndori
tisafor
m of
i
ntel
l
ectualpr
otecti
oni
sm oraform ofat
emporar
ymonopolyenfor
cedbyt
hest
ate,
isani
ssue
ofgr
eatconcern.

Theyar econsi
deredtobenefi
tt
ingconcent
rat
edi.
e.IPRsconferauthor
it
yoverresourcest
oa
few.Thef ewgainpoweroverthegoalsofmany.Theobject
iveofIPRsistopr
otectthepubli
c
i
nterestbut,
inf
act,t
hepubli
cinter
esti
sharmed.

3Pr
6. otect
ionofI
ntel
l
ect
ual
Proper
tyRi
ght
s(I
PRs)
-

Intell
ectualpr opertyr
ight
sarelikeanyotherproper
t yright
.Theyal l
ow creat
ors,orowner s,of
pat ents,tr
ademar ksorcopyri
ghtedworkst obenefi
tf rom theirownwor korinv est
menti na
creat i
on.Theser i
ghtsareoutl
inedinArti
cle27oft heUni versalDecl
arat
ionofHumanRi ghts,
whi chpr ovidesf ortherighttobenefi
tfrom thepr otecti
onofmor alandmat eri
alint
erests
resulti
ngf rom authorshi
pofscienti
fi
c,l
i
ter
aryorarti
sticproductions.

I
ntel
lect
ualpr
oper
tyri
ghtsaret
heright
sgi
ventoper
sonsov
erthecreat
ionsofthei
rmi
nds.
Theyusual
lygi
vethecreat
oranexcl
usi
ver
ightov
ert
heuseofhis/
hercreat
ionf
oracer
tai
n
peri
odofti
me.

I
ntel
l
ect
ual
proper
tyr
ight
sar
ecust
omar
il
ydi
vi
dedi
ntot
womai
nar
eas:

(
i)
 Copy
rightandr
ight
srel
atedt
ocopy
right
. 

Theri
ghtsofaut horsoflit
eraryandartist
icwor
ks(suchasbooksandotherwri
ti
ngs,musical
composit
ions,painti
ngs,sculpt
ure,computerpr
ogr
amsandf i
lms)arepr
otect
edbycopy r
ight,
foramini
mum per iodof50 yearsaft
erthedeat
hoftheaut
hor
.

Alsoprotect
edthroughcopy r
ightandr elat
ed( someti
mesr eferr
edt oas“nei
ghbour
ing”)r
ight
s
arether i
ghtsofperformers( e.
g. 
actors,singersandmusi cians)
,producer
sofphonogr ams
(soundrecordi
ngs)andbr oadcasti
ngor ganizati
ons.Themai nsocialpur
poseofprotecti
onof
copyri
ghtandrelat
edright
sist oencourageandr ewardcreati
vewor k.

(
 i
i)
 I
ndust
ri
alpr
oper
ty.
 

I
ndust
ri
alpr
oper
tycanusef
ull
ybedi
vi
dedi
ntot
womai
nar
eas:

 Onear
ea can bechar
act
eri
zed ast
hepr
otect
ion ofdi
sti
nct
ivesi
gns,i
n par
ti
cul
ar
t
rademar
ks(
whi
chdi
sti
ngui
sht
hegoodsorser
vicesofoneunder
taki
ngf
rom t
hoseof

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage28
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

otherundert
aki
ngs)andgeographi
cali
ndicat
ions(
whichident
if
yagoodasor
igi
nat
ingi
n
a place where a gi
ven char
act
eri
sti
c ofthe good i
s essent
ial
l
yatt
ri
but
abl
et oit
s
geographi
calori
gin).

Theprotecti
onofsuchdi sti
ncti
v esignsai mst ostimulateandensuref aircompeti
tion
andtoprotectconsumer s,byenabl i
ngthem t omakei nformedchoicesbet weenvarious
goodsandser vices.Thepr ot
ectionmayl astindefi
nit
ely,provi
dedthesi gninquestion
conti
nuestobedi sti
ncti
ve.
 Otherty
pesofi ndustri
alpropert
yar eprotectedpr i
maril
yt ostimul
ateinnovati
on,design
andthecr eat
ionoft echnology.Inthiscat egoryfalli
nv ent
ions(pr
otectedbypat ents)
,
i
ndustri
aldesi
gnsandt r
adesecr ets.

The socialpurpose i
st o pr
ovide pr
otect
ion f
orthe r
esul
ts ofinvest
menti
nt he
developmentofnew t echnol
ogy ,t
hus giv
ing t
he i
ncent
ive and means t
ofi
nance
researchanddevel
opmentacti
vit
ies.

Af uncti
oni
ng i
ntel
lect
ualproper
tyr egi
me shoul
d also faci
l
itat
et he transf
erof
t
echnologyi
nthefor
m offor
eigndi
rectinv
est
ment,j
ointv
ent
uresandl i
censi
ng.

Thepr
otect
ioni
susual
l
ygi
venf
oraf
ini
tet
erm(
typi
cal
l
y20y
ear
sint
hecaseofpat
ent
s).

6.
3Abr
iefsummar
yof
:

6.
3.1Patents:Apatenti
sanexcl
usi
veri
ghtgr
antedforaninvent
ion,whi
chisapr oductora
pr
ocessthatprov
idesanew wayofdoi
ngsomething,orof
fer
sanew t echni
calsol
uti
ont oa
pr
oblem.

An i nvent
ionmaybedef i
nedast heideaofmaki nganew andusef ularti
cle,methodor
substancePatentpr
otect
ionmeanst hattheinvent
ioncannotbecommer cial
lymade,used,
dist
ri
butedorsoldwit
houtthepat
entowner '
sconsent.Apatentownerhastherighttodeci
de
whomayormaynotuset hepatentedinvent
ionfortheper i
odinwhicht hei nv
enti
onis
prot
ected.

Thepat entownermaygi vepermissiont o,orl i

cense,otherparti
estouset heinventi
onon
mut ual
lyagreedt er
ms.Hemayal sosel ltherighttot heinventi
ontosomeoneel se,whowill
thenbecomet henewowneroft hepat ent.APat entisgrantedforaperi
odof20y earsfr
om t
he
dateoff i
li
ngt heappl
icati
onofpat ent.Onceapat entexpires,theprot
ecti
onends,andan
i
nv enti
onent ersthepubli
cdomai n,thatis,theownernol ongerholdsexclusi
veright
st ot
he
i
nv enti
on.

6.3.2Copyr
ights:Copy
righti
sal egalt
erm descr
ibi
ngt
her
ight
sgi
ventocreat
orsforthei
r
l
i
teraryandart
isti
cworks.Copyr
ightmayappl ytoawider
angeofcr
eat
ive,i
ntel
l
ectual
,or

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage29
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

ar
ti
sti
cfor
ms,
orwor
ks.

Thewor kscov er
edbycopy r
ighti
ncl
udeli
ter
aryworkssuchasnovels,poems,play
s,reference
works,newspaper sand computerprogr
ams;databases;fil
ms,musi calcomposit
ions,and
choreography;arti
sti
c works such as pai
nti
ngs,drawings,photographs and sculpture;
archi
tect
ure;andadverti
sements,
mapsandtechni
caldr
awings.

Thereproduct
ioninvari
ousfor
mssuchascopy
ing,pr
int
ing,r
ecor
ding,publ
i
cper
for
manceor
adapt
ati
onareprohi
bit
edundertheser
ight
s.

Copyri
ghtdoesnotcoverideasandi nfor
mationthemselv
es,onlythef
orm ormanneri
nwhich
theyareexpr
essed(Si
mon, 2001).Thisri
ghtprovi
deseconomicr i
ghtt
othecreat
orthati
sthe
fi
nanci
albenef
itf
oraperiodlasti
ngoff i
ft
yyearsaft
erthecreat
or'
sdeat
h.

6.3.
3Tr ademarks:A tr
ademarkref
erstoar ecogni
zabl
esi gn,desi
gnorexpr
essi
onwhi
ch
i
dent
ifi
esproductsorservi
cesofapart
icul
arsourcef
rom thoseofother
s.I
tcanbepat
ent
ed
l
i
keinventi
onandindust
ri
aldesi
gns.

Thetr
ademarkcanbeacombi nati
onofwor ds,l
ett
ers,number
s,drawi
ngs,i
mages,symbols
andevensounds.Thesearegener
all
yregi
steredforsevenyearsbuttheycanber enewed
i
ndef
ini
tel
ybyappl
yi
ngagain.

Itprovi
desprot
ecti
ontot heownerofthemarkbyensur
ingtheexcl
usi
verightt
ousei tto
i
dentif
ygoodsorser v
icesort oaut
hor
izeanot
hert
ousei t
,inret
urnforpayment.I
thelps
consumersident
if
yand pur chaseapr
oductorser
vicebecauseofit
snatureand quali
ty,
i
ndicatedbyi
tsuni
quetrademark.

6.3.4I
ndustr
ialDesi
gns:Anindustri
aldesi
gnconsi
stsoft
hecreat
ionofashape,conf
igur
ati
on
orcompositi
onofpatter
norcol or
,orcombinat
ionofpatt
ernsandcol
orsi
nt hr
eedimensional
forms,
contai
ningaest
heti
cvalue.

Itcanbeat woort hreedi mensi

onalpat t
ern,usedtoproduceaproduct
.Event
het r
adit
ional
craf
ti t
emslikehand-wovenarti
cleslikecarpets,cot
tonbedcov
erscanalsoberegi
ster
edf or
protecti
onasanIndustr
ialdesi
gn( Kannan,2010).

Thedesignhastoberegi
ster
edagainsti
mit
ati
onandunauthor
izedcopy
ing.Thepr
otect
ioni
s
prov
idedforf
ivey
ear
sanditcanberenewedforf
if
teeny
ears.

6.3.5I
ntegr
atedCi r
cui
ts:Semiconduct
orInt
egr
atedCir
cui
tisaproduct,havi
ngt
ransi
storsand
othercir
cui
tr
yelement s,whichareinsepar
abl
yf or
medonasemi conduct
ormater
ialoran
i
nsulat
ingmateri
al.Theini
ti
alter
m ofregi
str
ati
onisfor10year
s;thereaf
teri
tmayber enewed
fr
om ti
met oti
me.

6.
3.6GeographicalIndi
cati
ons:Geogr
aphi
cali
ndi
cat
orsar
ethesi
gnsusedongoodst
hathav
e
aspeci
fi
cgeographicalor
igi
n.

AGIindi
catesthataproductcomesfr
om acer
tai
nplaceandhasspeci
alqual
i
tiesduet
othat
pl
aceofori
ginwhichcoul
dbeav il
l
ageort
own,aregi
onoracount
ry.

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage30
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

Iti
sanexclusi
veri
ghtgiventoapart
icul
arcommunit
yandthusthebenefi
tsofitsregi
str
ation
areshar
edbyt heal
lmember softhecommunity.I
tmaybeusedbyal lproducersortraders
whoseproduct
sori
ginat
ef r
om t
hatpl
aceandwhichshar
ety
pical
charact
eri
sti
cs.

Well
-knownexamplesofGIsincl
udeBor
deaux(
wine)
,Dar
jeel
i
ng(
tea)
,Chander
i(sar
ees)
,Kul
l
u
shawlsandTuscany(
oli
veoil
).

6.
4Est
abl
ishmentofWI
PO-
Appl
icat
ionandPr
ocedur
es.

The Worl
dInt
ell
ect
ual
Proper
tyOr
gani
zat
ion 
(WI
PO)i
soneoft
he17 
speci
ali
zedagenci
es 
of
the 
Uni
tedNati
ons.

WIPOwascreat
edin1967"toencouragecreat
iveact
ivi
ty,
topr
omot
ethepr
otect
ion
of
 i
ntel
l
ect
ualpr
opert
y t
hroughoutt
hewor l
d."

Obj
ect
ivesandmai
nact
ivi
ti
es

TheWor ldIntell
ect
ualProper
tyOr gani
sation(
WIPO)[
1] 
i
stheUnitedNati
onsspeci al
i
sedagency
thatcoordinatesinter
nati
onaltreati
esregardi
ngint
ell
ect
ualpropert
yrights.It
s184member
statescompr i
seov er90%oft hecount r
iesoftheworl
d,whopar t
ici
pat
ei nWI POtonegoti
ate
treati
es and setpol i
cyon intell
ectualproper
tymatter
s such as patents,copyri
ght
s and
trademarks.

WI POwasestabli
shedin1967byt heWI POConv enti
on,whichstatesthatWI PO’sobjecti
vewas
“topromotetheprotect
ionofint
ell
ectualpropert
ythroughoutthewor l
d…”( WI PO,1967,Arti
cle
3).Headquar
teredinGeneva,Swit
zerl
and, WIPOcurrentl
yadminist
er s24treati
esandf acil
it
ates
thenegoti
ati
onofsev er
alpr
oposedtreatiescoveri
ngcopy r
ight
s,patentsandt r
ademar ks.

AlthoughWI PO wasor i
ginallyest abli
shedexpl ici
tlytopromot ethepr ot
ecti
onofi ntel
lectual
property
,wheni tjoinedtheUN f ami l
yi n1974i t
sobjecti
vehadt ober edefi
nedasapubl i
c-
i
nterestorhumani t
ariangoal .Art
icle1oft hekeyagr eementestabli
shingWI PO’
sr el
ationshipt o
the UN r estates WI PO’
s pur pose as:“ f orpromot i
ng creati
veintell
ectualactiv
ityand f or
facil
it
ati
ngt het ransferoft echnologyr elatedtoindustri
alpr
opertytothedev el
opingcount ri
esi n
ordertoaccel erateeconomi c,social andcul t
uraldevel
opment …”(WIPO,1974).

Thef
ivest
rat
egi
cgoal
slai
doutbyWI
POi
nit
s2005-
2006pr
ogr
ammeandbudgetar
e:

 Topromot eanext ensiveintel

l
ectual propertycul
tur
e
 Tointegrat
eintellectual pr
opertyintonat i
onaldevel
opmentpol i
ciesandpr ogrammes
 Todev elopint
er nat i
onalintel
lectualpr opert
ylawsandst andar ds(parti
all
ydefi
nedas
pr
omot inglawsf orbiddingtheci r
cumv enti
onoftechnol
ogicalrestr
ict
ions)
 Todeliverqual
ityser vicesinglobalintell
ectualpr
opert
yprotectionsystems
 Toincreasetheef fici
encyofWI PO’smanagementandsuppor tprocesses.

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage31
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

WI
POADRPr
ocedur
es

Mediat
ion:
 anon-bindi
ngprocedur
einwhichaneut r
alint
ermediar
y,themedi ator,assi
ststhe
par
ti
esi nreachi
ngaset t
lementofthedi
spute.(Dependi
ngont hepar t
ies'choice,mediat
ion
maybef ol
lowed,intheabsenceofasett
lement,byarbi
tr
ati
on,expedit
edar bi
trati
onorexpert
det
erminat
ion.)

Arbi
trat
ion:
 aneutr
alprocedur
einwhi
chthedisputeissubmi
tt
edtooneormor earbit
rat
ors
whomakeabi ndi
ngdecisi
ononthedi
sput
e. 
(Dependi
ngonthepar
ti
es'
choi
ce,ar
bit
rat
ionmay
beprecededbymediati
onorexper
tdet
ermi
nati
on.)

Expedit
edArbit
rat
ion:
 anarbi
tr
ati
onprocedurethati
scar r
iedoutinashor
tti
meandata
reducedcost
.(Dependingonthepart
ies'choi
ce,expedi
tedarbi
tr
ati
onmaybeprecededby
mediati
onorexper
tdetermi
nat
ion.
)

ExpertDet ermi
nation: 
aprocedurei nwhichadisputeoradi f
ferencebetweent heparti
esis
submi t
tedt ooneormor eexpertswhomakeadet erminati
onont hemat t
erreferredtobythe
parti
es.Thedet erminat
ionisbinding,unl
essthepart
ieshav eagreedother
wise.(Dependi
ngon
the parti
es'choice,expertdet erminati
on maybe pr eceded bymedi at
ion orf ol
l
owed by
(expedit
ed)arbit
rati
on.)

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage32
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

Module4:
Sampli
ngdesign-St
epsinsampli
ngdesign-Charact
eri
sti
csofagoodsampl
edesi
gn-
Typesof
sampledesi
gns-Measurementandscal
ingtechni
ques-Methodsofdat
acol
l
ect
ion–
Coll
ect
ionofpri
marydat
a-Datacoll
ecti
oninstr
uments

Int
roduct
ion:Asampledesi
gni
sadef i
nit
eplanforobtai
ningasampl
efr
om agiv
enpopul
ati
on.
Itr
eferst
othetechni
queort
heprocedur
et her
esearcherwoul
dadopti
nsel
ect
ingit
emsforthe
sample.

Sampl e designmayaswelllaydownt henumberofit

emst obeincl
udedint
hesamplei.e.
,the
sizeoft he
sampl e.Sampledesigni
sdeter
mi nedbef or
edataar
ecoll
ected.
Therear emanysampl edesignsf rom whi charesear
chercanchoose.Somedesi gnsar e
relat
ivel
ymor epr
eciseandeasi ertoappl ythanother
s.Researchermustsel
ect
/preparea
sampl edesignwhichshoul
dber eli
ableandappropr
iat
eforhisr
esearchst
udy
.

1St
4. epsi
nsampl
i
ngdesi
gn:

Whil
edevel
opi
ngasampl
i
ngdesi
gn,
ther
esear
chermustpayat
tent
iont
othef
oll
owi
ng
poi
nts:

(i
)Ty peofuni verse:Thef i
rstst epindev elopi nganysampl edesi gni stoclear l
ydef inet hesetof
object s,t echni callycal ledt heUni ver
se,t obest udied.Theuni v
er secanbef initeori nfinite.In
fi
niteuni v erset henumberofi t
emsi scer tain,buti ncaseofani nfini
teuniv erset henumberof
i
temsi si nfini
te, i
.e.,wecannothav eanyi deaaboutt hetotalnumberofi t
ems.
(i
i)Sampl inguni t:A deci sionhast obet akenconcer ningasampl i
nguni tbef or esel ecting
sampl e.Sampl i
nguni tmaybeageogr aphi calonesuchasst ate,distr
ict,v il
lage,et c.,ora
const ruct ionuni tsuchashouse, fl
at,etc.,ori tmaybeasoci aluni tsuchasf ami ly,club, school,
etc.,ori tmaybeani ndividual .Ther esear cherwi l
lhavet odeci deoneormor eofsuchuni ts
thathehast oselectf orhi sst udy .
(i
ii
)Sour cel i
st:Iti sal soknownas‘ sampl ingf rame’f r
om whi chsampl ei st obedr awn.I t
cont ainst henamesofal lit
emsofauni verse( i
ncaseoff i
niteuni verseonly).Ifsour celistisnot
availabl e, researcherhast opr epareit.Suchal i
stshoul dbecompr ehensive,cor rect,reli
abl eand
appr opr iate.I ti s ext remel yi mpor t
antf ort he sour ce li
stt o be as r epr esent ati
v e oft he
popul at i
onaspossi ble.
(i
v)Si zeofsampl e:Thi sref erst othenumberofi t
emst obesel ect
edf rom t heuni v erset o
const ituteasampl e.Thi samaj orpr oblem bef or ear esearcher .Thesi zeofsampl eshoul d
neitherbeexcessi vel
yl arge, nort oosmal l
.I tshouldbeopt imum.
(v)Par amet ersofi nter est:Indet erminingt hesampl edesign, onemustconsi dert hequest ionof
thespeci ficpopul at i
onpar amet erswhi char eofi nterest
.Fori nstance,wemaybei nterestedi n
esti
mat i
ngt hepr opor t i
onofper sonswi thsomechar act
er i
sti
ci nt hepopul ation,orwemaybe
i
nter est edi nknowi ngsomeav erageort heot hermeasur econcer ningt hepopul ati
on.

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage33
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

(vi
)Budgetaryconstrai
nt:Costconsi der
ations,from pr
acticalpointofvi
ew, hav
eamajorimpact
upondecisionsrel
ati
ngt onotonl ythesizeoft hesampl ebutal sotothetypeofsampl
e.Thi
s
factcanevenleadtot heuseofanon- probabil
itysampl e.
(vi
i)Samplingprocedure:Fi
nal l
y,theresearchermustdeci dethetypeofsampl ehewi
llusei.
e.,
hemustdeci deaboutt het echniquet obeusedi nselectingthei t
emsf orthesampl
e.Infact,
thi
stechniqueorprocedurest andsforthesampl edesignitsel
f.

CRI
TERI
AOFSELECTI
NGASAMPLI
NGPROCEDURE:
1.I nappropr iat
e sampl ing frame:Ifthe sampl i
ng frame i si nappropri
atei.e.
,a biased
representati
on
oftheuni verse,itwil
lresul tinasystemat
icbias.
2.Def ectiv
emeasur i
ngdev i
ce:Ift
hemeasur ingdev iceisconst antlyinerror
,itwillr
esul
tin
systemat i
cbi as.
3.Non- r
espondent s:I
fwear eunabl
etosampl ealltheindivi
dualsinit
ial
lyincl
udedinthesample,
theremayar iseasy stemat i
cbias.
4.Indeterminancypr i
nci ple:Someti
meswef i
ndt hatindivi
dualsactdi f
ferent
lywhenkeptunder
observationt hanwhatt heydowhenkepti nnon- observedsituati
ons.
5.Nat uralbiasi nther epor ti
ngofdata:Naturalbiasofr espondent sinthereport
ingofdatais
oftenthecauseofasy stemat i
cbiasinmanyinqui r
ies.

4.
2CHARACTERI
STI
CSOFAGOODSAMPLEDESI
GN
From whathasbeenst at
edabov e,wecanl istdownt hechar act
erist
icsofagoodsampl e
designasunder
:
(a)Sampledesi
gnmustr esul
tinatrulyrepresent ati
vesample.
(b)Sampledesi
gnmustbesuchwhi chr esul
t si
nasmal lsamplingerror.
(c)Sampledesi
gnmustbev i
abl
eint hecont extoff undsavai
lablefortheresear
chstudy
.
(d)Sampledesi
gnmustbesuchsot hatsy stemat icbiascanbecont rol
ledinabett
erway.
(e)Sampleshouldbesucht hatt
her esul
tsoft hesampl estudycanbeappl i
ed,i
ngeneral
,for
theuniver
sewit
har easonabl
elevelofconf i
dence.

4.
3Ty
pesofsampl
edesi
gns:

Therear ediff
erenttypesofsampledesi gnsbasedont wof act
orsviz.,
therepr
esent
ati
onbasis
and the elementsel ect
ion t
echnique.On t he r
epresentati
on basis,the sampl
e may be
probabil
itysamplingoritmaybenon- probabi
li
tysampling.
Probabili
tysampl i
ngi sbasedont heconceptofr andom selecti
on,wher easnon-pr
obabi
li
ty
samplingi s‘non-random’sampling.Onel ementsel ecti
onbasis,t hesamplemaybeei t
her
unrest
rictedorrestri
cted.

Wheneachsampl eelementi sdrawnindi

vi
dual
lyfrom t
hepopul
ati
onatl
arge,t
henthesampl
e
sodrawni sknownas‘ unr
estri
ctedsample’
,whereasallot
herf
ormsofsamplingar
ecover
ed
undert heter
m ‘rest
ri
cted sampling’
.Thefol
lowing char
texhi
bit
sthesampl edesi
gnsas
expl
ainedabove.

Thus,sampl
edesignsarebasi
cal
l
yoft wotypesviz.
,non-
probabi
l
itysampl
i
ngandpr
obabi
l
ity
sampli
ng.Wetakeuptheset
wodesignssepar
atel
y.

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage34
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

Non- pr obabi
li
tysampl ing:Non- pr obabil
it
ysampl ingi sthatsampl ingpr ocedur ewhi chdoesnot
affor danybasi sforest i
mat i
ngt hepr obabil
it
yt hateachi t
em i nt hepopul ationhasofbei ng
i
ncl udedi nthesampl e.
Non- pr obabi
li
tysampl i
ng i s also known bydi f
f er
entnames such as del iberate sampl i
ng,
pur posi v
esampl i
ngandj udgementsampl ing.
Int hist ypeofsampl ing,itemsf ort hesampl ear eselecteddel i
ber atelybyt her esearcher;his
choi ceconcer ningthei temsr emai nssupreme.
Quot asampl ing isal soanexampl eofnon- probabili
tysampl ing.Underquot asampl ingthe
i
nt erv i
ewersar esimpl ygivenquot astobef i
ll
edf rom thediffer
entst rata,wit
hsomer estri
cti
ons
onhowt heyar etobef il
l
ed.
Inot herwor ds,theact ualsel ect ionoft heitemsf orthesampl ei sl ef
ttot hei nterv
iewer’s
discr eti
on.Thi st ypeofsampl ingi sv eryconv enientandi sr elati
velyinexpensi ve.Butt he
sampl essosel ectedcer t
ainl
ydonotpossesst hechar act
eristi
cofr andom sampl es.Quot a
sampl esar eessent i
allyjudgementsampl esand i nfer
encesdr awn on t hei rbasisar enot
amenabl etost ati
stical t
reatmenti naformal way .

Probabil
it
ysampli
ng:Probabil
i
tysampl
ingisal
soknownas‘random sampl
i
ng’or‘chance
sampling’
.Underthi
ssamplingdesi
gn,ever
yit
em oft
heuni
versehasanequalchanceof
i
nclusi
oni nt
hesample.

I
ti s,sotosay ,al
otterymet hodinwhichi ndivi
dualuni
tsarepickedupf rom t
hewholegr oupnot
deliberatelybutbysomemechani calpr ocess.Hereitisblindchanceal onethatdetermines
whet heronei tem ortheot herissel
ected.
The r esul ts obt
ained from pr obabi
li
tyorr andom sampl i
ng can be assured int erms of
probabi l
i
t yi.
e.,wecanmeasur etheerrorsofestimati
onort hesignif
icanceofresul
tsobt ai
ned
from ar andom sampl e,
andt hi
sfactbringsoutthesuperior
ityofrandom samplingdesignov er
thedel i
ber at
esampl ingdesi gn.

Random sampl i
ngensur est hel aw ofSt ati
sti
calRegul
arit
ywhichstatesthati
fonanav erage
the sampl e chosen i sar andom one,t he sample wil
lhavet he same composit
ion and
charact eri
sti
csast heuniverse.Thi sisther easonwhyr andom sampli
ngisconsider
edast he
bestt echniqueofsel ecti
ngar epresentat
ivesample.
Inbrief,theimplicationsofrandom sampl ing(orsi
mplerandom sampli
ng)are:
(a)Itgiv eseachel ementi nt hepopul ati
onanequalpr obabil
it
yofgetti
ngintothesample;and
allchoicesar eindependentofoneanot her.

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage35
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

(
b)I
tgi
veseachpossi
blesampl
ecombi
nat
ionanequal
probabi
l
ityofbei
ngchosen.

4.
4Measur
ementandScal
ingTechni
ques

MEASUREMENTSCALES:wecanwr i
tethatscalesofmeasur ementcanbeconsideredin
ter
msofthei
rmathemati
calpropert
ies.Themostwi del
yusedcl assi
fi
cati
onofmeasurement
scal
esar
e:(
a)nominal
scal
e;(b)ordi
nalscal
e;(c)i
nter
valscal
e;and(d)rat
ioscal
e.

(a)Nomi nalscale:Nominalscaleissimplyasystem ofassigni

ngnumbersy mbol stoeventsin
ordert olabelthem.Theusualexampl eoft hi
si stheassignmentofnumber sofbasket bal
l
playersinordertoident
ifythem.
Nomi nalscaleist heleastpower f
ullevelofmeasur ement.Iti
ndicat
esnoor derordistance
relati
onshipandhasnoar i
thmeti
corigi
n.Anomi nalscal
esimplydescribesdi
fferencesbet
ween
thingsbyassigningthem tocategori
es.Nominaldataare,t
hus,counteddata.

(b)Or dinalscal e:Thelowestl ev eloftheorderedscalethati scommonl yusedi st heordi

nal
scale.
Theor dinalscal epl
acesev entsi norder
,butthereisnoat t
emptt omaket heinterval
softhe
scaleequali nt ermsofsomer ule.Rankorder
sr epr
esentordinalscalesandarefrequentl
yused
i
nr esear chrelatingtoqual i
tat
ivephenomena.
Thus, theuseofanor dinalscalei mpli
esastatementof‘greaterthan’or‘
lessthan’(anequali
ty
statementi sal soaccept abl
e)wi thoutourbei
ngabletostatehowmuchgr eat
erorless.Thereal
diff
erencebet weenr anks1and2maybemor eorlessthanthedi ff
erencebetweenranks5and
6.

(c)Inter
valscal
e:Inthecaseofinter
v alscal
e,theinterval
sareadj ustedintermsofsomer ul
e
thathasbeenest abl
i
shedasabasi sf ormaki ngtheunitsequal.Theuni tsareequalonl
yinso
farasoneaccept st
heassumpt i
onsonwhi chther ul
ei sbased.I nt
ervalscal
escanhav ean
arbi
traryzer
o,butiti
snotpossibl
et odet er
mi neforthem whatmaybecal l
edanabsolut
ezero
ortheuniqueorigi
n.Theprimar
ylimitati
onoft heinterv
alscal
eist helackofat ruezer
o;i
tdoes

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage36
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

nothav
ethecapaci
tyt
omeasur
ethecompl
eteabsenceofat
rai
torchar
act
eri
sti
c.

(d)Ratioscale:Rati
oscaleshav eanabsoluteort r
uezeroofmeasurement.Theter
m‘ absolut
e
zero’isnotaspr eciseasitwasoncebel i
evedt obe.Wecanconcei veofanabsolut
ezer oof
l
engt handsimi l
arl
ywecanconcei veofanabsol utezeroofti
me.Forexample,t
hezeropointon
acent i
meterscaleindicat
esthecompl et
eabsenceofl engt
horheight
.
Ratioscalerepresentstheactualamountsofv ari
ables.Measur
esofphysi
caldimensi
onssuch
aswei ght
,height,di
stance,et
c.areexamples.

Sour
cesofEr
rori
nMeasur
ement
Measurementshoul dbepreci
seandunambi guousi nanidealr
esearchstudy.Thisobj
ect
ive,
however,
i
sof t
ennotmetwi thinenti
ret
y.Assucht heresearchermustbeawar eaboutthesourcesof
err
orin
measurement.Thef ol
lowi
ngarethepossiblesourcesoferrori
nmeasur ement .
(a)Respondent:Attimestherespondentmayber eluct
anttoexpressstrongnegativ
efeeli
ngs
oriti
sjustpossibl
ethathemayhav everyli
ttl
eknowl edgebutmaynotadmi thisignor
ance.

(b)Situat
ion:Situati
onalf
act
orsmayalsocomei nthewayofcor r
ectmeasur
ement.Any
condit
ionwhi chpl acesastr
ainoni
nterv
iew canhaveser
iousef
fectsontheint
erv
iewer
-
respondentrapport.

(c)Measurer
:Thei
nter
viewercandi
stor
tresponsesbyrewordi
ngorreor
der
ingquesti
ons.Hi
s
behav
iour,
styl
eandl
ooksmayencourageordiscour
agecert
ainrepl
i
esfr
om r
espondent
s.

(d)Instrument :Er
rormayar i
sebecauseoft hedefecti
vemeasur i
ngi
nst
rument
.Theuseof
compl exwor ds,beyondt hecomprehensionofther espondent
,ambi
guousmeani
ngs,poor
pri
nting,inadequat
e
spacef orrepli
es,r
esponsechoiceomi
ssions,et
c.

Test
sofSoundMeasur
ement
Soundmeasur ementmustmeett het estsofvalidit
y ,
reli
abili
tyandpr acti
cali
ty.Infact,t
hesear e
thet hr eemaj orconsi der ationsoneshoul dusei nev aluatingameasur ementt ool
.“ Vali
dit
y
referst ot heext enttowhi chat estmeasur eswhatweact uallywisht omeasur e.Reli
abil
ityhas
todowi tht heaccur acyandpr ecisionofameasur ementpr ocedur e...Practi
calit
yisconcer ned
withawi der angeoff actorsofeconomy ,conv enience,andi nt
erpretabil
it
y...”1Web ri
eflytake
upt her elev antdet ailsconcer ni
ngt hesetestsofsoundmeasur ement .
1.TestofVal i
dity*
Val i
dityist hemostcr iti
calcr i
terionandi ndicat
est hedegr eet owhi chani nstrumentmeasur es
what
i
ti ssupposedt omeasur e.
()Cont
i entv ali
dityist heext entt owhi chameasur inginstrumentpr ovidesadequat ecov erageof
thet opicunderst udy .
(i
i)Cr iteri
on- r
elatedv alidityr elatest oourabi l
ityt opr edictsomeout comeorest imat ethe
existenceofsomecur rentcondi tion.
Relev ance:( Acr i
teri
oni sr elevanti fitisdefi
nedi ntermswej udget obet hepr opermeasur e.
)
Freedom f r om bi as:( Freedom f r
om bi asisattainedwhent hecr it
eriongi v
eseachsubj ectan
equal oppor tunitytoscor ewel l
.)
Reliabi l
it
y:( Ar el
iablecr i
terioni sst ableorreproduci bl
e.)
Av ail
abi l
it
y :(Thei nformat ionspeci fiedbythecriterionmustbeav ail
abl e.
)

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage37
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

2.TestofRel iabili
ty
Thet estofr el
iabil
ityisanot herimpor t
anttestofsoundmeasur ement.Ameasur i
nginstr
ument
i
sr eli
ablei fitprov i
desconsi stentresults.Rel
iablemeasur inginstr
umentdoescont r
ibuteto
vali
dity,butar eli
ableinstrumentneednotbeav ali
dinstrument .
Reliabili
tycanbei mpr ovedi nthef ol
lowingtwoway s:
(i
)Byst andardisingt hecondi t
ionsunderwhi cht hemeasur ementt akespl acei.
e.,wemust
ensur et hatext ernalsour cesofv ariati
onsuchasbor edom,f ati
gue,etc.,areminimisedt othe
extentpossi bl
e.Thatwi l
limpr ovestabili
tyaspect.
(i
i)Bycar efull
ydesi gneddi recti
onsf ormeasur ementwi thnov ari
ati
onf rom grouptogr oup,by
usingt r
ainedandmot i
vat edper sonst oconductt her esearchandal sobybr oadeningt he
sampl eofi t
emsused.Thi swi l
limprov eequival
enceaspect .
3.TestofPr act i
calit
y
Thepr acticali
tychar acteristicofameasur i
ngi nstr
umentcanbej udgedi ntermsofeconomy ,
conv enienceandi nterpr
etabi l
ity.From theoper ati
onalpoi ntofview,themeasur inginstrument
oughtt obepr actical i
.e.
,itshoul dbeeconomi cal,convenientandinterpretabl
e.

TECHNI
QUEOFDEVELOPI
NGMEASUREMENTTOOLS
Thet echni
queofdev elopingmeasur ementt oolsi
nv olvesaf our-stagepr ocess, consist i
ngof
thefollowi
ng:
(a)Conceptdev elopment ;
(b)Specifi
cati
onofconceptdi mensions;
(c)Selecti
onofindi cators;and
(d)Format i
onofi ndex.
Thef ir
standf oremostst epi st hatofconceptdev elopmentwhi chmeanst hatt her esearcher
shouldar r
iveatanunder standi ngoft hemaj orconcept sper tainingt ohisst udy .Thi sstepof
conceptdev elopmenti smor eappar entint heoreticalst udi
est hani nt hemor epr agmat i
c
research,wherethef undament alconcept sar eoftenal r
eadyest ablished.
Thesecondst epr equi r
est her esearchert ospecifythedi mensi onsoft heconcept st hathe
developedinthef ir
stst age.
Oncet hedimensi onsofaconcepthav ebeenspeci fied, t
her esear chermustdev el opindicators
formeasur i
ngeachconceptel ement .Indicatorsarespeci fi
cquest ions,scales,orot herdev ices
bywhi chrespondent ’sknowl edge, opi nion,expectati
on, etc.
, ar
emeasur ed.
Thelaststepist hatofcombi ni
ngt hev ari
ousi ndi
cator sintoani ndex, i.
e.,f
ormat ionofani ndex.
Whenwehav esev eraldimensi onsofaconceptordi ff
erentmeasur ementsofadi mensi on,we
mayneedt ocombi net hem i ntoasi ngl eindex .

Scal
ingCl
assi
fi
cat
ionBases
Thenumberassigningproceduresort
hescali
ngproceduresmaybebr oadl yclassi
fiedonone
or
mor eoft
hefoll
owingbases:(a)subj
ector
ient
ati
on;(b)responseform;(c)degr eeofsubj
ecti
vi
ty;
(d)scal
eproper
ties;(
e)numberofdimensi
onsand( f)scaleconst
ructi
ont echniques.

4.
5Met
hodsofDat
aCol
lect
ion:
Thet askofdat acol lectionbeginsafteraresear chproblem hasbeendef i
nedandr esearch
desi gn/planchalkedout .Whil
edecidi
ngaboutt hemet hodofdat acollecti
ontobeusedf orthe
study ,theresearchershoul dkeepinmi ndtwot ypesofdat aviz.,primaryandsecondar y.The
primar ydataaret hosewhi charecoll
ectedafreshandf orthefi
rstt ime,andthushappent obe
originalincharacter.Thesecondar ydata,ontheot herhand,ar
et hosewhi chhav
ealreadybeen
collectedbysomeoneel seandwhi chhav eal
readybeenpassedt hrought hest
ati
sti
calprocess.

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage38
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

4.
5.1COLLECTI
ONOFPRI
MARYDATA
Wecollectpri
mar ydat aduringt
hecourseofdoingexperi
mentsinanexperimentalresearchbut
i
ncasewedor esearchoft hedescri
pti
vety
peandper for
m survey
s,whethersamplesur veysor
censussurveys,thenwecanobt ai
nprimarydataei
therthr
oughobser v
ati
onort hroughdi r
ect
communi cat
ionwi t
hr espondentsinonefor
m oranotherort
hroughpersonali
nterv
iews.*

therear eseveralmet hodsofcol l

ecti
ngpr i
marydata,parti
cularl
yi nsurvey
sanddescr ipt
ive
researches.Importantonesar e:(i
)observati
onmet hod,(ii
)i nter
view method,(iii
)through
questionnair
es,(i
v)throughschedules,and(v)othermethodswhi chincl
ude(a)war rantycards;
(b)distri
butoraudit
s;(c)pantryaudit
s;(d)consumerpanels;(e)usingmechani caldev i
ces;(f)
throughpr oj
ecti
vetechniques;(
g)depthi nt
ervi
ews,and(h)contentanalysi
s.Webr iefl
yt akeup
eachmet hodseparatel
y.

Obser
vat
ionMet
hod
Theobser vati
onmet hodi st hemostcommonl yusedmet hodspeci all
yinst udiesrelat
ingto
behav i
oural
sciences.Inawayweal lobser vethingsaroundus, butt hissortofobser vati
oni snotscienti
fi
c
observati
on.Obser vati
onbecomesasci entifi
ctoolandt hemet hodofdat acollect
ionforthe
researcher,
wheni tservesaf ormul atedr esearchpur pose,issy stemat ical
lyplannedandr ecordedandi s
subjected
tochecksandcont r
olsonv al
idityandr el
i
abili
ty.
Therear eseveralmer i
tsoft hepar ti
cipanttypeofobser v ati
on:(i
)Ther esearcherisenabledto
recordthenaturalbehav i
ouroft hegroup.(ii
)Ther esear chercanev engatherinformat i
onwhich
couldnoteasi l
ybeobt ainedi fheobser vesinadi sint
er estedfashi on.(i
ii
)Ther esearchercan
evenv eri
fythet r
uthofst at
ement smadebyi nformant si nt hecont extofaquest i
onnair
eora
schedule.

I
nter
viewMet
hod
Theintervi
ewmet hodofcol l
ecti
ngdat ainvol
vespr esent ati
onofor al
-verbalsti
mul iandr epl
yin
ter
msofor al
-verbalresponses.Thismet hodcanbeusedt hroughper sonalintervi
ewsand,i f
possibl
e,thr
ought elephoneinterv
iews.
(a)Personali
nterviews:Personalinterv
iewmet hodr equi resaper sonknownast heintervi
ewer
aski
ngquest i
onsgener al
lyinaf ace-t
o-facecontactt ot heot herpersonorper sons.( Attimes
theinterv
ieweemayal soaskcer t
ainquestionsandt hei nterv
iewerr espondst ot hese,but
usual
lytheinterv
ieweri ni
ti
atestheinter
viewandcol lectst heinformati
on.)

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage39
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

Thechi efmer i
tsoft heintervi
ewmet hodar eas
follows:
(i
)Mor ei nformat i
onandt hattooingreaterdept hcanbeobt ained.
(i
i)I nterviewerbyhi sownski l
lcanov ercomet her esi
stance,i fany ,ofther espondents;t he
i
nt erviewmet hodcanbemadet oyi
eldanal mostper fectsampl eoft hegener alpopulati
on.
(i
ii
)Ther ei sgr eaterflexi
bil
it
yundert hismet hodast heoppor tuni
tytor estr
ucturequest i
onsi s
alway st her e,
speci al
lyincaseofunst ructur edi nter
views.
(i
v)Obser vati
onmet hodcanaswel lbeappl iedt orecordingv erbalanswer stov ari
ousquest ions.
(v)Per sonal i
nformat i
oncanaswel lbeobt ainedeasi lyundert hismet hod.
(vi
)Sampl escanbecont r
oll
edmor eeff ect i
v el
yast herear isesnodi ff
icult
yoft hemi ssing
returns; non- r
esponsegener al
lyremainsv er yl ow.
(vi
i)Thei nt er
viewercanusual lycontrolwhi chper son(s)wi l
lanswert hequest ions.Thisisnot
possi bleinmai ledquest i
onnaireapproach.I fsodesi red,groupdi scussionsmayal sobehel d.

(b) Tel ephone i nt erv i

ews:Thi s met hod ofcol lecti
ng i nformat i
on consi stsi n cont acti
ng
respondent sont elephonei t
self.Itisnotav erywi delyusedmet hod,butpl aysi mportantpar ti
n
i
ndust rialsurvey s, par ticularlyindev elopedr egions.Thechi efmer it
sofsuchasy st
em are:
1.Iti
smor eflexi blei ncompar isont omai l
i
ngmet hod.
2.Iti
sf ast erthanot hermet hodsi .e.,aquickwayofobt aininginf ormat ion.
3.Iti
scheapert hanper sonal i
nter vi
ewingmet hod; her ethecostperr esponsei srelat
ivel
yl ow.
4.Recal liseasy ;cal lbacksar esi mpl eandeconomi cal.
5.Ther ei sahi gherr ateofr esponset hanwhatwehav einmai l
ingmet hod;thenon- r
esponsei s
gener al
lyv erylow.
6.Repl i
escanber ecor dedwi t
houtcausi ngembar rassmentt or espondent s.
7.Interviewercanexpl ainr equirement smor eeasi ly.
8.Att i
mes,accesscanbegai nedt or espondent swhoot herwi secannotbecont actedforone
reasonort heot her .
9.Nof i
eldst affisr equi red.
10.Repr esentat iveandwi derdi stri
butionofsampl eispossi ble.Butt hissystem ofcol lecti
ng
i
nf or
mat i
oni snotf reef rom demer it
s.Someoft hesemaybehi ghlighted.
1.Littlet i
mei sgi vent or espondent sf orconsi der edanswer s;i nterview periodi snotlikelyto
exceedf i
vemi nut esi nmostcases.
2.Sur veysar er est rictedt or espondent swhohav et elephonef aci li
ti
es.
3.Extensi vegeogr aphi cal cov eragemaygetr estrictedbycostconsi derations.
4.Itisnotsui tabl ef orintensi vesur vey swher ecompr ehensi veanswer sarer equir
edt ov ari
ous
quest i
ons.
5.Possi bili
tyoft hebi asoft heint ervi
eweri srelativelymor e.
6.Quest i
onshav et obeshor tandt ot hepoint;probesar edi f
fi
cul ttohandl e.

4.
6Dat
aCol
lect
ionI
nst
rument
s:

ResearchDat aCol l
ectionInstr
umentsincludesQuestionnai
re,I
nterv
iew,Obser v
ationand
Reading.
Essenti
all
yther esearchermustensurethattheinstr
umentchoseni sv al
idandrel
iable.The
vali
dit
y and r eli
abil
i
ty of any resear
ch pr oj
ectdepends t oal arge ext
enton t he
appropri
atenessoft hei nst
rument
s.What everprocedureoneusest ocol l
ectdat
a,itmust
becr i
ti
call
yexami nedt ochecktheextentt owhichi tisli
kel
ytogi v eyoutheexpect ed
resul
ts.

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage40
 RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
DankanVGowda

Quest
ionnai
re:

 Thi sisadat acollecti

oninstr
umentmost lyusedi nnor mati
vesurveys.Thisi sasy stemat i
call
y
preparedform ordocumentwi thasetofquest ionsdeliberatel
ydesignedtoel i
citresponsesf rom
respondentsorr esearchinf
ormantsf orthepur poseofcol l
ecti
ngdataorinformat ion.
 I tisaf orm ofinqui r
ydocument ,whichcont ainsasy stemati
call
ycompi l
edandwel lorganized
seri
esofquest i
onsi nt
endedt oeli
ci
tt heinfor
mat ionwhi chwillpr
ov i
deinsightintot henat ur
eof
theproblem underst udy.
 I tisaf or
mt hatcont ai
nsasetofquest ionsonat opi
corgr oupoft opicsdesi gnedt obe
answer edbyt herespondent.
 The r espondent s aret he popul
ation sampl es oft he study.The answer s prov i
ded byt he
respondentsconst it
utethedatafortheresearch.
Typesofquest ionnaires:maybedesi gnedasst ructuredorcl osedform andunst ructuredoropen
for
m.

I
nter
views:I nterv i
ewsbecomenecessar ywhenr esear
chersfeeltheneedt omeetf acet o
f
acewi t
hi ndividual st oi nteractandgener ateideasinadi scourset
hatbor dersonmut ual
i
nter
est.Iti
sani nter actioni nwhi choralquesti
onsar eposedbyt hei
ntervi
ewert oeli
citoral
r
esponsef rom thei nt erviewee.
I
nter
viewsr angef rom f ormal tolessformal andtocompl et
elyinf
ormalint
erviews.Thereare
f
ourmai nkindsofi nter view:
 Thest ruct ural inter v
iew
 Theunst ruct uredi nter
view
 Thenon- direct ivei nterv
iew
 Thef ocusi nter view.

Observation:
The st udyofphot ographs,vi
deot
apes,taper ecordi
ngs,ar
tobject
s,computersoftwar
eand
fi
lmsfallwithinthistypeofdatacol
lect
ionprocedure.
Observation is one oft he veryi
mpor t
antmet hods forobt
aini
ng comprehensi
ve datai
n
qual
it
ativer esearchespeciall
ywhenacomposi teofbothoralandvisualdat
abecomev it
alt
o
ther
esear ch.

Readi
ngDocument
s:

Alt
hough readi
ngismoret odowi t
hlit
erat
urer ev i
ew,i tisal
soani nst
rumentsforstudyi
ng
publi
cdocumentssuchasnewspapers,minutesofmeet ingsandpri
vatedocument ssuchas
l
etter
s,bi
ographi
es and di
ari
es t
o enablethe r esearcherobt ai
nthe language and wor
ds
i
nformant
swhomaynotbeal i
veatt
hetimeoft her esearch.

Dept
.ECE,
SVCEPage41