TECHNICAL WRITING AND Faculty of fine arts

RESEARCH METHODS

Prepared By:
SARA M. ELRAWY
Assistant Professor Department Of Architecture
Course outlines:

▪ Scientific Research ( definitions)

▪ An Introduction to Research Methodology
▪ Technical writing (definitions)
▪ Technical writing outputs
▪ Report
▪ Brochure
▪ Email
▪ Resumé
▪ questionnaire
▪ Design Principles (instruction)
What is Research?

“Research is a systematic inquiry to describe,

explain, predict, and control the observed
phenomenon. It involves inductive and deductive
methods."

Earl Robert Babbie American Sociologist

It describes as “creative and systematic

work undertaken to increase the stock
of knowledge ''

Research is the process of gathering and analyzing information to answer questions or solve problems. It
is a systematic approach to inquiry, and it can be used in any field of study.
 Creative–Build Something New

The term “creative” refers to the fact that successful research must provide results
that were not previously achieved via previous study.

There are three kinds of originalities that may be found in the fields of science and
engineering.

1- New tools, approaches, or procedures should be implemented that have not

been used before.

2- Another approach to be “creative” is to “investigate new fields.”

3- Studying unexpected issues is another kind of creativity

A new product, theory, concept, or technique, to name a few examples of novel results,
may be created. Although not all experiments result in the desired results, by-products
may still be considered innovative – for example, learning why a certain experiment
failed or why a specific method did not work in a new setting.
Systematic

Research must be a deliberate activity that

adheres to well established set of steps and

procedures. Then directly transfer the creativity

and knowledge into works that have the

potential to impact others and are simple to

follow for others to replicate.

1. A review of the literature and a survey on a particular area or issue;

2. Using your knowledge and actual data, develop your own hypothesis;
3. Empirically or theoretically test the theory with a comprehensive
experimentation/implementation;
4. Reflecting and integrating the information that have gathered as a result of observations and
consider how findings may affect others in the domain.
Increase–Acquire and Contribute

It is possible to interpret the phrase “increase” in the definition of research as a “contributing to knowledge.”

The act of doing a unique piece of study and learning something new for oneself is standard practice.

In contrast, unless you are able to communicate this information to others, the findings of your study are
essential pointless.

The research should contribute to global knowledge so that it is available to everyone, rather than just the
researchers themselves.
The Stock of Knowledge

To explain what is meant by the stock of knowledge, it will be discussed in terms of a hierarchy consisting of
data, information, knowledge.

Data. When it comes to data, they are the factual components that describe things or events that take place
under particular conditions. Their raw statistics and raw observations reflect the raw data you have gathered
through your studies.
For example, as part of your research assignment, you may be required to gather pictures of buildings from various sources
online. The information you gathered may have originated from a variety of sources, including various style and structure and
materials. They are collected in the form of raw pictures that, in their current state, signify practically nothing.

Information. The information represents data that has been processed in order to give you with some insight
into the significance of the information. To put it another way, the data has been preprocessed, examined,
summarized, and otherwise processed into a more intelligible and usable manner. Information may be passed on
to other individuals in this format, which can include books, articles, recordings, speeches, and other forms of
communication.
Processing your raw building pictures into something useful may lead to the development of feature extraction, the
identification of various buildings style and theories, the identification of the most significant differences between each style,
and other theories. In these forms, the data would have some significance, and you now have some understanding of what
these data represent or might lead to in the future.

Knowledge. Knowledge is your more in-depth knowledge of a subject or situation. While information provides
you with a grasp of the “what” (i.e., what is occurring in the actual world), knowledge reflects your comprehension
of the “why.” Information is a method of communication that is used to convey knowledge.
In other words, knowledge is your own interpretation of what you learn through information in the form of rules or patterns or
choices or models or ideas or other forms of expression.
Approaches to research (type of researches)
Exploratory, descriptive, and explanatory research.

Basic and applied research.

Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies.

Qualitative and quantitative research.

Mixed methods (mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods).

The approach depends on the nature of the problem under investigation.

Exploratory, descriptive and explanatory research

Exploratory research: a preliminary investigation of a relatively unknown field which aims

to gain new insights.

Descriptive research: an in-depth study of an individual, a situation, group, organization or

phenomenon which aims to describe the object of study accurately.

Explanatory research: a study which is designed to indicate causality.

Basic and applied research
Basic research: research that advances knowledge of the fundamentals of how the social world works

and develops general theoretical explanation.

Applied research: research that attempts to solve a concrete problem or address a specific question

and that has a direct, practical application.

Longitudinal and cross-sectional research

Longitudinal research: a study that takes place over time.

Cross-sectional research: a study that confines itself to taking a snapshot at a specific

time.

The fundamental difference between cross-sectional and longitudinal studies is that cross-
sectional studies take place at a single point in time and that a longitudinal study involves a
series of measurements taken over a period of time.
Qualitative and quantitative research

Quantitative research: Quantitative research uses numerical data to answer questions or test hypotheses.
Quantitative methods often seek causes and relationships which are demonstrated statistically in a process where
hypotheses (theories) are tested.

Qualitative research: Qualitative research uses non-numerical data, such as interviews, observations, and documents, to
answer questions or investigate social phenomena.
Qualitative methods aim at discovering meanings as experienced by the participants in the study which is achieved
through inductive analysis.

Mixed methods
There are benefits of combining
qualitative and quantitative
methods:
Allows the findings of one type to
validate the findings of the other
type.
Quantitative studies can precede
qualitative studies to investigate the
context and background and lay the
conceptual ground.
 The deductive and inductive approaches
‫يقوم الباحث من خالل االستقراء بتجميع‬
‫ ويربط بينها‬،‫معلومات كثيرة وقوانين‬
The deductive and inductive approaches are two different ways ‫ بينما يهدِف‬،‫للوصول إلى قاعدة أعم‬
of thinking about the world and drawing conclusions. ‫باالستنباط لتجزئة القانون أو المعلومة العامة‬
،‫إلى قوانين ونظريات خاصة بحاالت محددة‬
Research is conducted either to test a theory or to generate a new theory. The ‫ومن الممكن تجميعها بعد ذلك لترجع قاعدة‬
‘generating theory’ mode is called inductive approach, whereas the other one is called
‫عامة‬
the hypothetico-deductive approach.

Both the hypothetico-deductive and the inductive approaches are associated with
quantitative and qualitative research respectively.

Deductive reasoning is a top-down

approach that starts with a general
statement or hypothesis and then
uses logic to derive specific
conclusions

Inductive reasoning is a bottom-up

approach that starts with specific
observations and then uses them to
generalize about the world
The research question or problem

Having an area of interest or research does not signify the actual research question that you will be addressing.
The aim of a thesis is not mere description; its aim is to provide answers to a question and you need to formulate a
question that needs answering.
For example, a topic such as the Internet and Crime is broad. A number of different questions are possible:
How should Internet crime be addressed.
Should government be involved.
Which are the most serious Internet crimes.

The research question or problem

There are two types of research questions:
Empirical questions: concerned with solving problems in the real world.
Non-empirical questions: concerned with more abstract concepts or theories such as philosophical or conceptual
analyses.
The research proposal
A research proposal is a planning document and essentially mirrors the
basic phases in the research process.

The literature review

Important to identify the significant writers and works in your
field of study.
Try to find one or more review articles or a good introductory
textbook to have a good idea of the scope of your subject.
When relying on WWW sources, be careful to evaluate each
source critically.

Research design
Important to explain what you intend to do and to ask
questions such as:
How will you structure your research?
What approach will you be using (quantitative, qualitative)?
Is this the best way to go about answering your question?
What are the assumptions and limitations?

Research methodology
Methodology, which might be confused with research design, is
the systematic, methodical and accurate execution of the
design.
Methodology is therefore concerned with exactly how you are
going to work and what you will be doing.
•Qiu, M., Qiu, H., & Zeng, Y. (2018). Research and technical writing for science and engineering. Springer Nature.

•Rothwell, E. J., & Cloud, M. J. (2016). Engineering writing by design. Pearson Education.
•Lannon, J. M. (2016). Technical communication. Pearson Education.

•Alley, M. (2012). The craft of scientific writing. Pearson Education.

•BCcampus Open Textbooks. (2019). Technical writing essentials. BCcampus.