Research Methodologies

IT-403
 Science
 Science is a way to produce knowledge, which is based on truth
and attempts to be universal

 Science is a method, a procedure to produce knowledge

i.e. discovering universalities/principles, laws, and theories through
the process of observation and re-observation
Research
 Research is the foundation on which any solid science must
be built

 It creates an organized and structured way to gain knowledge

about a certain “system”
(in research, we refer to the system as “the variable”).

https://legacy.saylor.org/psych202a/Unit01/
Research
A collection of methods and methodologies that researchers
apply systematically to produce scientifically based
knowledge about the social world.
(Neuman)

 Research is an organized and Systematic way to find answers

to questions
FINDING ANSWERS

is the end of all research. Whether it is the answer to a

hypothesis or even a simple question, research is successful
when we find answers.
Sometimes the answer is no, but it is still an answer.
QUESTIONS

are central to research. If there is no question, then the answer

is of no use. Research is focused on relevant, useful, and
important questions.
Without a question, research has no focus, drive, or purpose
Types Of research
 Quantitative research
 Qualitative research
 Conceptual Research
 Fundamental research
 Applied research
 Empirical research

http://www.alzheimer-europe.org/Research/Understanding-dementia-research/Types-of-research
Quantitative research
 Its based on the measurement of the quantity

 E.g. How many calories do American men and women

consume per day?

 It is applicable to phenomena that can be expressed in

terms of quantity

 E.g. 98% of the graduating high school class is going to

college.
 Qualitative research
 This type is applicable to phenomena that is measured in terms of quality
 E.g. Why do Asian-American students outscore other student groups on AP
Calculus Exams?
 For instance, when we are interested in investigating the reasons for human
behaviour (i.e., why people think or do certain things), we quite often talk
of ‘Motivation Research’, an important type of qualitative research
 A type of research in which researcher relies on the views of the
participants
 Research tools used like interviews, surveys, and Observations
 Other techniques of such research are word association tests, sentence
completion tests, story completion tests and similar other projective
techniques
Conceptual Research
 This type of research is generally related to some abstract
idea or theory

 It is generally used by philosophers and thinkers to develop

new concepts or to reinterpret existing ones

 E.g. Philosophy theories

Empirical Research
 This is also know as Experimental research
 This type of research relies on Experience & Observation
alone
 E.g. Comparison between various processors
 It is data-based research, coming up with conclusions which
are capable of being verified by observation or experiment
 Also referred to as research-in-small because their scope is
limited
 Evidence gathered through experiments or empirical studies
is today considered to be the most powerful support possible
for a given hypothesis
Applied Research
 This type of research focus on an immediate problem facing by an
entity
 Applied research “aims at finding a solution for an immediate
problem facing a society, or an industrial/business organization
 Applied research is considered to be non-systematic inquiry and it
is usually launched by a company, agency or an individual in order
to address a specific problem.
 E.g. Marketing research
 Purpose of applied studies is closely associated with the solution of
specific problems,
 An investigation into the ways of improving employee motivation
in Marriot Hotel, Hyde Park
Fundamental Research
 Mainly concerned with generalizations and with the
formulation of a theory
 E.g. Pure Mathematics
 the purpose of fundamental studies relate to creation of new
knowledge or expansion of the current knowledge without
any concerns to applicability.
 Also know as Pure research
 Descriptive research
 provides information about conditions, situations, and events that
occur in the present.
 It is also called statistical research.
 The main goal of this type of research is to describe the data and
characteristics about what is being studied.
 The idea behind this type of research is to study frequencies,
averages, and other statistical calculations.
 Although this research is highly accurate, it does not gather the
causes behind a situation.
 Labor Force Surveys, Population Census, and Educational Census
are examples of such research.
Types of Research
Some Other Types of Research:
 All other types of research are variations of one or more of the
above stated approaches, based on either the purpose of research,
or the time required to accomplish research, on the environment
in which research is done, or on the basis of some other similar
factor
 Form the point of view of time, we can think of research either as
one-time research (single time-period) or longitudinal research
(carried on over several time-periods)
Types of Research
 Research can be field-setting research or laboratory research or
simulation research, depending upon the environment in which it is
to be carried out
 The research may be exploratory (development of hypotheses
rather than their testing) or it may be formalized (with substantial
structure and with specific hypotheses to be tested)
 Historical research is that which utilizes historical sources like
documents, remains, etc. to study events or ideas of the past,
including the philosophy of persons and groups at any remote point
of time
Questions?

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