Introduction to Research Methodology

Research Methodology in an academic research work comprises elements that the doctoral or
Master's students are obliged to specify in order to conduct their researches in the most organised
and easiest way possible. It is the specific procedures (how to?) to identify, select, and analyse
data about a topic which would guarantee knowledge validity, scientific accuracy, and benefits for
the academic community. The most common elements in research methodology are:
$\Leftrightarrow$ Research Paradigm
$\Leftrightarrow$ Research Philosophy

(4) Research Design

(5) Research Data Collection and Analysis
1. Research Paradigm

The word paradigm is of Greek origin meaning 'to show,' but it is used in modern languages like
English to mean example, model, or pattern. It holds two essential characteristics namely being so
unprecedented that it attracts researchers, and being sufficiently open-ended to provide new ways
for research. Therefore, the term paradigm in academic research means a way of looking at
something through a set of theories, concepts or thought patterns, and research methods that
explain how something is produced, which is different from one discipline to another. The
researchers in a given discipline are guided by rules and standards of scientific practice. A
scientific research paradigm depends on various factors such as the researcher's beliefs, mental
model, and world vision, and perception of reality because they play an important role in obtaining
reliable and accurate results. For instance, the researcher may stand in a certain position in a case
study that influences significantly the outcomes of a research. However, in natural sciences, the
researchers generally agree on the discoveries and achieve a consensus on the methods and
conclusions of the researches because the experiences can be reproduced.
2. Research Philosophy
Research philosophy deals with the source, nature, and development of knowledge, It refers to the
beliefs and assumptions about the development of knowledge. Therefore, embarking in research
helps formulate beliefs and assumptions, and determines the researcher's engagement in
knowledge creation. At any stage of the research, the researcher makes epistemic assumptions
(human knowledge), ontological assumptions (realities of the research), and axiological
assumptions (researcher's subjectivity or values that influence the research), Inevitably, these types
of assumptions influence the understanding of the research questions, the choice of research
methods, and the interpretation of the findings. Research philosophies provide a perspective
through which it is possible to understand reality. The common types of research philosophies in
the elaboration of an academic research work are: pragmatism, positivism, interpretivism, critical
realism, and post modernism
(H.W)
3. Research Design

The researcher can adopt exploratory or conclusive research design. While in exploratory research
design the researcher does not purposefully come up with final answers and conclusive evidences
to the problematic, in conclusive research design, the researches provide final and conclusive
answers to the research question.
a. Exploratory Research provide the maximum of enformatich.

It is conducted to investigate a problem to make it clearly defined and understood. It provides

deeper understanding of a research question without much importance to understand the solutions
and results. It is suitable when a new phenomenon needs to be studied to pave the way for further
deeper investigations. Advantages of exploratory research design include its flexibility since the
researcher is free to adapt his methods and change research progress if need be. It helps identify
the relevance of a research question since the researcher can from the early stages of the research
decide whether the problem is worth investigating or not as regards its relevance and practicability.
There are in general two types of exploratory research design namely: primary and secondary
research methods.

- Primary research method refers to the data collection that is directly collected from the subject
of study (individuals, a group of people, a company, a department), through observations,
questionnaires, surveys, interviews, focus-groups...
- Secondary research method is based on the collection of data from already existing documents,
researches, online sources, case studies...
b. Conclusive Research
It is used by researchers that intend to reach conclusions in order to make decisions. In general,
the data collected in this research design is quantitative in nature, because the researcher focuses
on the analysis or discussion of the results and the solutions that could be provided to answer the
research problem. Therefore, the conclusive research design is based on highly structured
techniques such as questionnaires, surveys, experiments...etc., to refute or confirm a hypothesis.
Types of conclusive research design can be either descriptive or casual.
$\Leftrightarrow$ Descriptive conclusive research design attempts to provide answers for
questions such as: what? When? Where? Who? How? without answering the why of the research
problem. It is rather a description of the population, event, situation, phenomenon under study.
4. Casual conclusive research design is used to study the cause-effect relationship between data
variables.
4. Research Data Collection and Analysis
A research approach is a plan that the researcher makes to determine the steps to be followed in
undertaking scientific research. it contains a broad assumption(s) to the problematic, with detailed
research methods of data collection, analysis, and interpretation. The data to be collected in
scientific research is either primary or secondary. The primary data (sources) is the one that has
never been published because it can be government archives, companies' records, interviews of
witnesses, or diaries and mail correspondences of eminent political or historical personalities. On
the other hand, secondary data includes published books, articles in journals or newspapers, and
online publishing journals. It is possible that a doctoral or a Master's research paper uses only
secondary data without primary sources because of their rarity and difficulty to access for novice
researchers. In general, research data can be either qualitative or quantitative. Therefore, a research
approach is essentially related to data collection and data analysis.
Research Approach for Data Collection and Analysis
Data Collection:
Qualitative: primary / secondary sources
Quantitative: Stats, numbers, experiments
Mixed Method: using both methods

Data Analysis:
Inductive: analyse data to build a theory

Deductive: Use a theory to analyse data

Abductive: use the appropriate method