UNIT 2 Research Process

According to the APA, Research is defined as “the systematic effort to discover or confirm facts, to
investigate a new problem or topic, or to describe events and understand relationships among
variables, most often by scientific methods of observation and experimentation.”

Research is essential to science in contributing to the accumulation of generalizable knowledge.

STEPS INVOLVED IN RESEARCH

The research process consists of a series of systematic procedures that a researcher must go through
in order to generate knowledge that will be considered valuable by the project and focus on the
relevant topic.

Step 1: identify the problem

- Finding an issue or formulating a research question is the first step

- A well-defined research problem will guide the researcher through all stages of the research
process, from setting objectives to choosing a technique.
- There are a number of approaches to get insight into a topic and gain a better understanding
of it. Such as: A preliminary survey, case studies, interviews with a small group of people,
observations, etc.

Step 2: review of literature

- A review of relevant literature is an integral part of the research process.

- It enables the researcher to identify the precise aspects of the problem.
- It teaches the investigator about previous research, how they were conducted, and its
conclusions.
- The researcher can build consistency between his work and others through a literature
review.
- Such a review exposes the researcher to a more significant body of knowledge and helps him
follow the research process efficiently.

Step 3: create hypothesis

- Such a review exposes the researcher to a more significant body of knowledge and helps him
follow the research process efficiently.
- It is important for researchers to keep in mind while formulating a hypothesis that it must be
based on the research topic.
- Researchers are able to concentrate their efforts and stay committed to their objectives
when they develop theories to guide their work.

Step 4: select research design

- Research design is the plan for achieving objectives and answering research questions
- It outlines how to get the relevant information.
- Its goal is to design research to test hypotheses, address the research questions, and provide
decision-making insights.
- The research design aims to minimize the time, money, and effort required to acquire
meaningful evidence.
- There are four basic research designs that a researcher can use to conduct their study
o Surveys
 o Experiments
o Secondary data studies
o Observational studies
- The type of research design to be chosen depends primarily on 4 factors
o The type of problem
o The objectives of the study
o The existing state of knowledge about the problem that is being studied
o The resources are available for the study.

Step 5: describe the population

- Research projects usually look at a specific group of people, facilities, or how technology is
used in the business
- In research, the term population refers to this study group
- The research topic and purpose help determine the study group.
- Suppose a researcher wishes to investigate a certain group of people in the community. In
that case, the research could target a specific age group, males or females, a geographic
location, or an ethnic group.
- A final step in a study’s design is to specify its sample or population so that the results may
be generalized.

Step 6: data collection

- Data collection is important in obtaining the knowledge or information required to answer

the research issue.
- Data can be collected from 2 sources
o Primary data sources include data collected from experiments, questionnaires,
observations, or interviews
o Secondary data sources include literature surveys, official/unofficial reports, etc

Step 7: data analysis

- After collecting data, the researcher analyses it.

- The data is examined based on the approach selected in this step
- Data analysis involves a number of closely related stages, such as setting up categories,
applying these categories to raw data through coding and tabulation, and then drawing
statistical conclusions. The researcher can examine the acquired data using a variety of
statistical methods
- Further, based on his analysis, the researcher determines if his findings are consistent with
the formulated hypotheses and theories.
- The techniques used in analysing data may range from simple graphical techniques to very
complex multivariate analyses depending on the study’s objectives, the research design
employed, and the nature of the data collected.

Step 8: report writing

- After completing these steps, the researcher must prepare a report detailing his findings
- The style and organization of the report will differ according to the target audience, the
occasion, and the purpose of the research
- A report is an excellent means that helps to establish the researcher’s credibility.
- a research report should contain sections on:
 o An executive summary;
o Background of the problem;
o Literature review;
o Methodology;
o Findings;
o Discussion;
o Conclusions and
o Recommendations.

LITERATURE REVIEW

A literature review is the process of locating, obtaining, reading, and evaluating the research
literature in your area of interest.

- The most important reason for conducting a literature review is to avoid needless duplication
of effort
- Another reason for conducting a literature review is that your specific research question may
have already been addressed and answered. If so, then conducting your research as
originally planned would be a waste of time.
- However, this doesn’t mean you drop your idea. your literature review may reveal other
questions (perhaps more interesting) that remain to be answered. By familiarizing yourself
with existing research and theory in an area, you can revise your research project to explore
some of these newly identified questions.
- Another reason for reviewing the literature applies to the design phase of your research.
- Designing a study involves several decisions as to what variables to include and how to
measure them, what materials or apparatus to use, what procedures to use, and so on.
Published research provides you with a rich resource for addressing these important design
questions. You may find, for example, that you can use established procedures and existing
materials.
- Reviewing the literature also keeps you up to date on current empirical or theoretical
controversies in a particular research area. As science progresses, new ideas develop
concerning age-old behavioural issues.

Sources of literature

Sources containing research information are classified according to whether a source is primary or
secondary

A primary source is one containing the full research report, including all details necessary to
duplicate the study.

- A primary source includes descriptions of the rationale of the study, its participants or
subjects, materials or apparatus, procedure, results, and references

A secondary source is one that summarizes information from primary sources (such as presenting the
basic findings).

- Secondary sources of research include review papers and theoretical articles that briefly y
describe studies and results, as well as descriptions of research found in textbooks, popular
magazines, newspaper articles, television programs, films, or lectures
 - Another type of secondary source is a meta-analysis. In a meta-analysis, a researcher
statistically combines or compares the results from research in a particular area to determine
which variables are important contributors to behaviour

How to review literature

1. Identify and define the topic that you will be reviewing

a. The topic, which is commonly a research question (or problem) of some kind, needs
to be identified and defined as clearly as possible
b. you need to have an idea of what you will be reviewing in order to effectively search
for references and to write a coherent summary of the research on it.
c. At this stage it can be helpful to write down a description of the research question,
area, or topic that you will be reviewing, as well as to identify any keywords that you
will be using to search for relevant research.
2. Conduct a literature search
a. Use a range of keywords to search databases such as PsycINFO and any others that
may contain relevant articles
b. You should focus on peer-reviewed, scholarly articles.
c. Published books may also be helpful, but keep in mind that peer-reviewed articles
are widely considered to be the “gold standard” of scientific research.
d. Read through titles and abstracts, select and obtain articles (that is, download, copy,
or print them out), and save your searches as needed.
3. Read through the research that you have found and take notes
a. Read through titles and abstracts, select and obtain articles (that is, download, copy,
or print them out), and save your searches as needed.
b. The notes should include anything that will be helpful in advancing your own
thinking about the topic and in helping you write the literature review (such as key
points, ideas, or even page numbers that index key information).
c. you may notice patterns or striking contrasts between different sources; and some
sources may refer to yet other sources of potential interest
d. This is often the most time-consuming part of the review process. However, it is also
where you get to learn about the topic in great detail.
4. Organize your notes and thought and create an outline
a. Identify the patterns that stand out, if different sources converge on a consensus or
not, what are the unresolved questions
b. Look over your notes and figure out how you will present then in your literature
review – will you summarize or critically evaluate, will you use a chronological
or other type of organizational structure
c. It can also be helpful to create an outline of how your literature review will be
structured.
5. Write the literature review
a. When writing, keep in mind that literature reviews are generally characterized by
a summary style in which prior research is described sufficiently to explain critical
findings but does not include a high level of detail
b. However, the degree of emphasis that is given to individual studies may vary
c. After you have written a first draft, you should read it carefully and then edit and
revise as needed.
d. You may need to repeat this process more than once. It may be helpful to have
another person read through your draft(s) and provide feedback.
 6. Incorporate the literature review into your research paper draft
a. After the literature review is complete, you should incorporate it into your research
paper
b. depending on the stage at which your paper is at, this may involve merging your
literature review into a partially complete Introduction section, writing the rest of
the paper around the literature review, or other processes.

HYPOTHESIS

- The second important consideration in the formulation of a research problem in quantitative

research is the construction of a hypothesis
- A hypothesis is “an empirically testable proposition about some fact, behaviour, relationship,
or the like, usually based on theory, that states an expected outcome resulting from specific
conditions or assumptions.”
- Hypotheses primarily arise from a set of ‘hunches’ that are tested through a study. in order
to narrow the field of investigation, it is important to formulate hypotheses
- The importance of hypotheses lies in their ability to bring direction, specificity and focus to a
research study. They tell a researcher what specific information to collect, and thereby
provide greater focus.
- Hypothesis are used to assess the validity of your assumption, and only after careful
investigation did you arrive at a conclusion about the validity of your assumptions.

Functions of a hypothesis

While some researchers believe that to conduct a study a hypothesis is required, having a hypothesis
is not essential. However, a hypothesis is important in terms of bringing clarity to the research
problem. Specifically, a hypothesis serves the following functions:

- The formulation of a hypothesis provides a study with focus. It tells you what specific aspects
of a research problem to investigate.
- A hypothesis tells you what data to collect and what not to collect, thereby providing focus
to the study.
- As it provides a focus, the construction of a hypothesis enhances objectivity in a study.
- A hypothesis may enable you to add to the formulation of theory. It enables you to conclude
specifically what is true or what is false.

Characteristics of a hypothesis

There are a number of considerations to keep in mind when constructing a hypothesis. A good
hypothesis should have the following characteristics:

- A hypothesis should be simple, specific and conceptually clear

o There is no place for ambiguity in the construction of a hypothesis
o It should be ‘unidimensional’ – that is, it should test only one relationship or hunch
at a time.
o To be able to develop a good hypothesis you must be familiar with the subject area.
The more insight you have into a problem, the easier it is to construct a hypothesis
For example, The average age of the male students in this class is higher than that of
the female students.
The above hypothesis is clear, specific and easy to test. It tells you what you are
attempting to compare (average age of this class), which population groups are being
 compared (female and male students), and what you want to establish (higher
average age of the male students).
- A hypothesis should be capable of verification
o Methods and techniques must be available for data collection and analysis
o There is no point in formulating a hypothesis if it cannot be subjected to verification
because there are no techniques to verify it
o However, this does not necessarily mean that you should not formulate a hypothesis
for which there are no methods of verification. You might, in the process of doing
your research, develop new techniques to verify it.
- A hypothesis should be related to the existing body of knowledge
o It is important that your hypothesis emerges from the existing body of knowledge,
and that it adds to it, as this is an important function of research
- A hypothesis should be operationalizable
o This means that it can be expressed in terms that can be measured. If it cannot be
measured, it cannot be tested and, hence, no conclusions can be drawn.

Types of hypothesis

Alternate hypothesis

- The alternative hypothesis states that there is a relationship between the two variables being
studied (one variable has an effect on the other).
- An experimental hypothesis predicts what change(s) will take place in the dependent
variable when the independent variable is manipulated.
- It states that the results are not due to chance and that they are significant in terms of
supporting the theory being investigated.

Null hypothesis

- The null hypothesis states that there is no relationship between the two variables being
studied (one variable does not affect the other).
- There will be no changes in the dependent variable due to the manipulation of the
independent variable.
- It states results are due to chance and are not significant in terms of supporting the idea
being investigated.

Non-directional hypothesis

- A non-directional (two-tailed) hypothesis predicts that the independent variable will have an
effect on the dependent variable, but the direction of the effect is not specified.
- It just states that there will be a difference.
- E.g., there will be a difference in how many numbers are correctly recalled by children and
adults.

directional hypothesis

- A directional (one-tailed) hypothesis predicts the nature of the effect of the independent
variable on the dependent variable.
- It predicts in which direction the change will take place. (i.e., greater, smaller, less, more)
- E.g., adults will correctly recall more words than children.
VARIABLES

A variable is anything that varies. However, for research a variable is a concept that is measurable.

- according to the APA a variable is “ a condition in an experiment or a characteristic of an

entity, person, or object that can take on different categories, levels, or values and that can
be quantified (measured)”
- For example, test scores and ratings assigned by judges are variables.

Numerous types of variables exist. Some of these variables are as follows:

1. Independent and dependent variables

a. An independent variable is A variable that stands alone and isn't changed by the
other variables or factored that are measured
i. For example, Age: Other variables such as where someone lives, what they
eat or how much they exercise are not going to change their age.
b. A dependent variable is A variable that relies on and can be changed by other factors
that are measured
i. For example, A grade someone gets on an exam depends on factors such as
how much sleep they got and how long they studied.
c. In studies, researchers often try to find out whether an independent variable causes
other variables to change and in what way.
d. When analysing relationships between study objects, researchers often try to
determine what makes the dependent variable change and how.
e. Independent variables can influence dependent variables, but dependent variables
cannot influence independent variables.
2. Extraneous variables
a. An extraneous variable is anything that could influence the dependent variable.
These unwanted variables can unintentionally change a study's results or how a
researcher interprets those results.
b. They are the variables that the researcher did not originally consider when designing
the experiment
c. For example, Parental support, prior knowledge of an alternate language or
socioeconomic status are extraneous variables that could influence a study assessing
whether private tutoring or online courses are more effective at improving students'
language test scores.
3. Confounding variables
a. Extra variables that the researcher did not account for that can disguise another
variable's effects and show false correlations
b. Confounding variables can invalidate your experiment results by making them biased
or suggesting a relationship between variables exists when it does not.
c. For example , in a study of whether a particular genre of movie affects how much
candy kids eat, with experiments are held at 9 a.m., noon and 3 p.m. Time could be a
confounding variable, as the group in the noon study might be hungrier and
therefore eat more candy because lunchtime is typically at noon.
4. Control variables
a. Characteristics that are constant and do not change during a study
b. Control, or controlling, variables have no effect on other variables and are often kept
the same throughout an experiment to prevent bias.
 c. In an experiment about plant development, control variables might include the
amounts of fertilizer and water each plant gets. These amounts are always the same
so that they do not affect the plants' growth.
5. Intervening variables
a. A theoretical variable used to explain a cause or connection between other study
variables
b. For example, Access to health care: If wealth is the independent variable, and a long-
life span is a dependent variable, a researcher might hypothesize that access to
quality health care is the intervening variable that links wealth and life span.