Research Methodology

An Overview

Dr. J.Letha

Director of Tech. Education

Govt. of Kerala

“Research is to see what

everybody has seen and to think

what nobody else had thought.”

What is Research ?

Creative work undertaken on a systematic

basis in order to increase the stock of

knowledge, including knowledge of man,

culture and society, and the use of this

stock of knowledge to devise new

applications

Systematic investigation to establish facts

A carefully planned and performed

investigation, searching for previously

unknown facts.

Basic Requirements

Number ONE Requirement…

• You need to have an inquisitive and

imaginative mind

• You need a Questioning attitude

• Wonder why?

►THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN

IMPOSSIBLE AND POSSIBLE

LIES IN A PERSON’S

DETERMINATION

►AS YOU GO UP THE LADDER ,

SEE THAT IT IS LEANING

AGAINST THE RIGHT WALL

Factors of Success

Three Dimensions:

• Attitude

• Commitment

• Creativity

Attitude

►Skeptical optimism

►Emotional detachment

►Try to do new things

►…

Commitment

“It has been my experience that the most unattractive problem becomes absorbingly interesting when one digs into it ... when you really get acquainted with a problem, you are apt to fall in love with it”

Testimonial from student

Multiple attempts as a materialization

of commitment

There is nothing wrong in failing or

“if it does not kill us, it makes us stronger”

Failures is a good experience to

learn from

Failures is an INTEGRAL part of the

ultimate success (e.g., PhD

Thesis)

• Autonomy

• Flexibility and Openness

Levels of Creativity

Autonomy

• Know what you don’t know

• Know what to ask

• Know when to ask

• Know where is the boundary

Flexibility and Openness

Flexibility:

maintain context, be ready to

change context

Openness:

new ideas may come from

boundary between areas

Creativity

1. Originality (newness)

2. Usefulness (basic vs. applied)

3. Transformation Property

4. Condensation Property

Transformation Property

Forces us to “see” reality in a new way

Example 1: Example 2:

3 wheels, some

wood on the top

witch connects them

I have built

a truck

It’s a new

concept

Transformation Property

Knowledge

Time

Creation of a

new concept

Condensation Property

You must answer to:

• what have you done?

• what is the key idea?

• what characterize the work?

Through a Minimal Explanation “One paper (thesis, talk, ...) one message”

How Extraordinary Creative Ideas

Occur?

►Sudden spontaneous visions

►Dreams

►Cross-pollination from different fields

Nurturing Creativity

►Exploring in depth a new area

►Think creatively on a regular basis

►Know when to work more deeply or to

move on

►Daily meditation

►Practicing observation and describing

►Practicing imagination

What It Takes?

►Creativity

►Open mind

►Curiosity

►Patience

►Persistence

►Positive Attitude

►Discipline and focus

Basic and applied

Philosophical

Empirical Theoretical / Conceptual

Categories of Research

Categories of research

3.1. Basic Research:

2. Applied Research:

Study about application or

applicability of one or more

techniques in problem domain

23

Types of Research Exploratory Research:

►undertaken with the aim of clarifying ambiguous

problems

►general problems usually known but not

sufficiently understood

► the purpose is to get more information, not to

uncover specific courses of action (subsequent

research)

Determining a specific course of action to follow

is not a purpose of exploratory research!

24

Types of Research

Descriptive Research:

►undertaken with the aim of determining

the characteristics of a population or

phenomenon

►Previous knowledge of problem exists

►High degree of precision or accuracy

required

Types of Research

Experimental Research

◦Laboratory based

◦Field based

Analytical Research

◦Conceptual

◦Computational

Positive Aspects of Descriptive/Qualitative Research

►Naturalistic; allows for subjects to interact with environment

►Can use statistical analysis

►Seeks to further develop theory (not to influence action); Prescientific

►Coding schemes often arise from interplay between data and researcher’s knowledge of theory

Problems with Descriptive / Qualitative Research

►Impossible to overlay structure

►Impossible to impose control

►Subject pool often limited, not representative

►Seen as more “subjective,” less rigorous

►Beneficial only in terms of initial investigation to form hypothesis

Positive Aspects of Experimental Research

►Tests the validity of generalizations

►Seen as rigorous

►Identifies a cause-and-effect relationship

►Seen as more objective, less subjective

►Can be predictive

Problems with Experimental Research

►Generalizations need to be qualified according to limitation of research methods employed

►Controlled settings don’t mirror actual conditions; unnatural

►Difficult to isolate a single variable

►Doesn’t allow for self-reflection (built-in)

Stages in the Research Process

Topic selection

(Literature Review)

Problem formulation &

definition

(Literature Review)

Planning a

Research Design

Gathering

the Data

Processing and

Analysing the Data

Conclusions

and Report

Forward and Backward Linkages

Forward Linkage – The earlier stages of a research project determine the design at a later stage

Example: The goal of the research project will determine the selection of the sample and the way data is collected

Backward Linkage – The later stages of a research project determine how its earlier stages are conducted

Basic steps of a research project

►Find a topicWhat, When

►Formulate questionsWhat, Why

►Define populationWho, When

►Select design & MeasurementHow

►Gather evidenceHow

►Interpret evidenceWhy

►Tell about what you did and found out

Figuring out your study

►What?

►Who?

►When?

►Why?

►And How?

Typical Methodology

1.Identification of research Problem

2.Review of literature -state of the art

3.Definition & scope of the research problem

4.Propose approach to address problem

5.Execute experimental / Analytical method

6.Analysis & Evaluation of results

7.Validation of results

8.Conclusions and Future work

►1. TOPIC SELECTION

►2. PROBLEM FORMULATION

►3.DEFINITION OF PROBLEM

IDENTIFICATION OF

RESEARCH PROBLEM

How is a research topic selected?

• Researchers interest in a topic

• National or agency priorities

• Urgency of an issue

• Availability of research funds

• Availability of supervision

Ask yourself these questions:

►Start the process by asking

yourself:

● What is my research question?

● Am I looking at: Theory

Methodology

Policy

Qualitative or Quantitative research

TOPIC SELECTION

TOPIC SELECTION

►Broad enough for there to be

material on it

►Narrow enough for relevant

articles

Characteristics of good topics

1.Interesting – keeps the researcher interested in it

throughout the research process

2. Researchable – can be investigated through the

collection and analysis of data

3. Significant – contributes to the improvement and

understanding of educational theory and practice

4. Manageable – fits the level of researcher’s level

of research skills, needed resources, and time

restrictions

5. Ethical – does not embarrass or harm participants

Problem Formulation

►Asking the right questions

►Developing analytical models

►Designing algorithmic descriptions

►Discussions and brain storming with the supervisor and group

Formulate Research Problem

Three Levels:

1. There is the problem and

you don’t see it

2. There is the problem, you see

it but you don’t know how to

solve it

3. There is the problem, you see

it and you know how to solve it

Difficulty:

Problem Definition

•Defining the Appropriate Problem is the Most Important

Step

•Interest & Aptitude

•Resource Availability

•Problem Sizing (Small or Large)

•Field Relevance/Applicability

• Career Development

•Publication/patent potential

Why define the Research Problem?

• Defining your destination before beginning

a journey.

• It determines,

– what you will do,

– will it withstand scientific scrutiny,

– how you will do it, and

– what you may achieve!

A good research question

• Clear and concise

• Grounded and researchable

• Literature supported

• Derived from practical/theoretical

Considerations

• Raises and indicates the nature and direction

of relationships between variables/themes

• Contributes to knowledge building –

theoretical and practical implications

Research Planning

►Time and resource planning

►Planning of research processes

►Planning of developing new skills

►Planning of presentations

►Costly waste of resources

►Difficult statistical analysis

►Data for which interpretation is

controversial

►An experiment which is precise but

which answers the wrong questions

Good Planning Can Prevent:

The Literature Review plants the seeds that will grow

your study from those that came before it.

Build on Others Work Using

existing work as a basis for

future work is acceptable.

Researcher is able to go further

If I have seen further than

other men,' said Isaac Newton,

'it is because I have stood on

the shoulders of giants.

What is a Literature Review

“The literature review is a

critical look at the existing

research that is significant to

the work that you are

carrying out…”

Why do a Lit Review?

The purpose is to:

► define your research problem: find

a gap, ask a question, continue

previous research, explore counter-

claims

►read every source relevant to your

research problem. *

►offer an overview of significant

literature published on a topic

Example

If you were a lawyer arguing a case,

you wouldn’t expect the jury to

believe what you said without using

evidence or citing case law.

Getting Started for

Literature Survey

► Read to learn; read to analyze

● About research methodology

● Studies on similar topics

● Interesting studies

● Non-library studies

Literature Survey

►Recognizing new problems

►Important to read outside the area

►Books, journal and conference

papers

►IEEE Internet Explore

The inverted pyramid concept

Broad introduction to

topic

Your research

question

At the end of your

literature review the

reader must have only

one thought in their

heads…….

That this research

question must be

answered!

level of detail

Collecting data- Getting

Started

►Data collection involves agreement

& consent

►Forge partnerships

►At some point you will need to

leave the comfort zone of reading

and literature gathering and …

PRIMARY VS SECONDARY DATA

Primary data: Data originated by a

researcher for the specific purpose of

addressing the problem at hand.

Secondary data: Data collected for some

purpose other than the problem at hand.

METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION

I.COLLECTION OF PRIMARY DATA

(i)observation method

(ii) interview method

(iii) through questionnaires

(iv) through schedules and

(v) Through experiments

Experiment

• LAB BASED

• FIELD MEASURED

Collection of primary data

Experiment

• Planned experiment

• Unplanned experiment

Planned experiments

►Design

►Plan

►Execute

Unplanned experiment

►Learning from failures!

►Forensic Engineering– scientific and

legalistic investigations and

deductions to detect the causes as

well as the process of distress in a

structure.

COLLECTION OF SECONDARY DATA

•Secondary data means data that are already

available

•Secondary data may either be published data

or unpublished data.

•Researcher must be very careful in using

secondary data.

PROCESSING AND ANALYSIS OF DATA

The data, after collection, has to be processed

and analysed

Processing implies editing, coding, classification

and tabulation of collected data so that they are

amenable to analysis

The term analysis refers to the computation of

certain measures along with searching for patterns

of relationship that exist among data-groups.

Types of Analysis

►QuaLitative Measures

● Descriptive

● Numbers not the primary focus

● Interpretive, ethnographic, naturalistic

►QuaNtitative Measures

● N for numbers

● Statistical

● Quantifiable

Modeling

Conceptual Model

Mathematical Model

Numerical Model

Try for incremental progress

(think small!)

• Brainstorm or deconstruct the “state of the art”

in your very specific area and choose ONE [OR

MAYBE TWO] GOOD IDEA(S) to pursue

• Reduce the scope of your project to the

minimum necessary to make progress

HOW TO DRAW CONCLUSIONS?

•Use of graphical presentations

•Use of statistical analyses

•Sharing data among colleagues and receiving

constructive feedback

• Critically analyzing data and results

Be Critical About Numbers

►How was the choice for the measurement made?

►What type of sample was gathered & how does that affect result?

►Is the statistical result interpreted correctly?

►If comparisons are made, are they appropriate?

►Are there competing statistics?

Time to write!

It is now time to write. Remember you

are synthesizing/summarizing the

research…whether or not you like it

is not the point!

Communication of Research

Findings

►Seminars

►Conference papers

►Journal papers

►Theses

►Books

Writing Papers

►Focus on innovation

►Paper structure

►Make it readable and interesting

►Where to publish?

►Ethics and integrity

►Quality counts more than quantity

Research Output

•Publications

•Field Practice

•Patents

Characteristics of a good research

► State of the art – Current stage of technological development

► absolutely up to date.

► Innovative.

► Rigour, systematic, thorough, exact, appropriate, controllable,

unbiased.

► Credibility - accuracy, validity, reliability.

► Research Output

► New Knowledge/Product/Service.

► Addition to previous knowledge.

► Correction/change in existing knowledge.

What else does research teach you ?

•Art of planning.

•Hope.

•Patience.

•Art of management.

•Broad outlook.

•Pleasure of getting to a truth

Research Ethics

What is ethics in research ?

When are we violating ethical

practices ?

What is Plagiarism ?

A project’s objectives may

be ethically questionable

For example, research into:

Weapons of mass destruction

Biological warfare

Nuclear weapons

Environmentally destructive technologies

Ethical Behavior Considerations:

Researchers

No deception, be forthright and do not conceal the

true purpose of the research

Maintain objectivity, courtesy and high professional

standards through scientific process

No falsification, alteration or misrepresentation of

data for political or other purposes

Protect the confidentiality of the research subjects

and research sponsors

No faulty conclusions

No inclusion or use of information or ideas

contained in competing research proposals

Just get out and do it!

Questions?