Research II 1

Research
According to the Armstrong, research is
“A careful investigation or enquiry especially through search for new facts in any branch of knowledge”.

Research Methodology

According to Leedy and Ormrod

Research methodology is “the general approach the researcher takes in carrying out the
research project;
to some extent, this approach dictates the particular tools the researcher selects”.
Babbie and Mouton
Research methodology “focuses on the individual (not linear) steps in the research process and
the most “objective” (unbiased) procedures to be explored”.
Therefore, in the researcher’s view,
Research methodology refers to a step-by-step process that is followed when conducting
research.

1. Selection of Problem
Research problem is simply the topic of the research. Selection of research problem
involves selecting a broad area and then narrowing it down to a specific topic.
2. Justification
3. Objectives
Objectives are aims that you want to explore in the research. The simple way to make
objectives is to first make questions that what do you want to explore about the topic
and then convert these questions into objectives.
For example, you select ”illiteracy in bhakkar” as your research topic. You
can raise the following question about this topic.
• What is the impact of illiteracy in bhakkar?
• Illiteracy Ratio in bhakkar?
4. Aspects of study
 Illiteracy
 In bhakkar
5. Universe
Universe can be described as the entire population with which the research is
concerned. It includes
 Geographical
 Human
6. Sampling
Sampling means to select a part of population for study. It is difficult for a researcher to
study all the population of an area due to limited resources - time, money and energy.
Hence, a part of the population is selected for research study. The number of total
respondents for a sample is known as sample-size.
Sample is the subset of the whole population containing all relative qualities of the
whole.

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7. Tools of data collection

1. Case study
2. Questionnaire
3. Interview schedule
4. Survey

Designing Tool / Developing Questionnaire for data collection

1. Identify Objectives
What kind of information do you want to gather with your questionnaire? What is your
main objective? Is a questionnaire the best way to go about collecting this information?
 Come up with a research question. It can be one question or several, but this
should be the focal point of your questionnaire.
 Develop one or several hypotheses that you want to test. The questions that you
include on your questionnaire should be aimed at systematically testing these
hypotheses.

2. Choose question types

Depending on the information you wish to gather, there are several possible types of
questions to include on your questionnaire, each with unique pros and cons. Here are
the types of commonly used questions on a questionnaire.
 Dichotomous question: this is a question that will generally be a “yes/no” question, but
may also be an “agree/disagree” question.
 Open-ended questions: these questions allow the respondent to respond in their own
words. They can be useful for gaining insight into the feelings of the respondent, but can
be a challenge when it comes to analysis of data. It is recommended to use open-ended
questions to address the issue of “why.”
 Multiple choice questions: these questions consist of three or more mutually-exclusive
categories and ask for a single answer or several answers. Multiple choice questions allow
for easy analysis of results, but may not give the respondent the answer they want.

3. Develop your questions

The questions that you develop for your questionnaire should be clear, concise, and
direct. This will ensure that you get the best possible answers from your respondents.
 Be simple and clear
 Ask only one question at a time
 Beware of asking private information
 Beware of question leading to missing data
4. Restrict length of Questionnaire
Keep your questionnaire as short as possible. More people will be likely to answer a
shorter questionnaire, so make sure you keep it as concise as possible while still
collecting the necessary information. If you can make a questionnaire that only requires
5 questions, do it.
 Ask necessary questions

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 Refrain from redundant questions

 Beware of contradictory questions
5. Identify Demographic Target
Is there a certain group of people who you want to target with your questionnaire? If so,
it is best to determine this before you begin to distribute your questionnaire.
Population , Respondents
6. Ensure you can protect privacy
Make your plan to protect respondents’ privacy before you begin writing your survey.
This is a very important part of many research projects.
 Anonymous questionnaire
 Consider Di identification
 Destroy data

Sample size calculation

1. Population size
It is based on population’s real size
2. Margin of error
Vernier clipper , sugar machine
3. Confidence level
This is simply the confidence level that researcher has about his taken sample size.
4. Standard of deviation
There can be errors in answers you must know all these , during conducting

Taro Yamane Formula

N = Total population
e = Margin of error
1 = Constant N
n=
1+ N (e)2

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Sampling
Sampling means the process of selecting a part of the population. A population is a group
people that is studied in a research. These are the members of a town, a city or a country. It is
difficult for a researcher to study the whole population due to limited resources e.g. time, cost
and energy. Hence, the researcher selects a part of the population for his study, rather than
studying the whole population. This process is known as sampling
Sample
The selected part of the population is known as a sample.
Sample Size
The number of people in the selected sample is known as sample size.
Sampling Frame
Sampling frame means the list of individual or people included in the same. It reflects who will
be included in the sample. For making a sampling frame, the researcher has to make a list of
names and details of all the items of the sample.
Sampling Technique
It refers to the technique or procedure used to select the members of the sample. There are
various types of sampling techniques.

TYPES OF SAMPLING

There are two major types of sampling i.e. Probability and Non-probability Sampling, which are
further divided into sub-types as follows:

PROBABILITY SAMPLING
Probability sampling is a type of sampling where each member of the population has a known
probability of being selected in the sample. When a population is highly homogeneous, its each
member has a known chance of being selected in the sample
1. Simple Random Sampling
2. Systematic Sampling
3. Cluster Sampling
4. Multi-stage Sampling

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1. Simple Random Sampling

In simple random sampling, the members of the sample are selected randomly and purely
by chance. As every member has an equal chance of being selected in the simple, random
selection of members does not affect the quality of the sample. Hence, the members are
randomly selected without specifying any criteria for selection
2. Stratified Random Sampling
In stratified random sampling, first, the population is divided into sub-groups (known as
strata) and then members from each sub-group are selected randomly. This technique is
adopted when the population is not highly homogeneous. Hence, firs the population is
divided into homogeneous sub-groups on the basis of similarities of the members. Then,
members from each sub-group are randomly selected.
3. Systematic Sampling
In systematic sampling, a member occurring after a fixed interval is selected. The member
occurring after fixed interval is known as Kth element. For instance, if a research wants to
select member occurring after every ten members, the Kth element become 10th element.
It means for selecting a sample from 100 members will be as follows:
Sample 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100 As it follows a systematic technique for
selecting members, it is called systematic sampling. The Kth element or fixed interval
depends upon the size of the population and desired sample. For example, if we want to
select a sample of 20 members of from the population of total 1000 member. We will divide
total population over the desired sample e.g. 1000/50 = 50. It means we will select every
50th member from the population to make a sample of 20 members.
4. Cluster Sampling
In cluster sampling, various segments of a population are treated as clusters and members
from each cluster are selected randomly. Though it seems similar to stratified sampling but
there is difference in both. In stratified sampling, the researcher divides the population into
homogeneous sub-groups on the basis of similar characteristics e.g. age, sex, profession,
religion and so on. On the other hand, in cluster sampling, the does not divides the
population into sub- groups or cluster but randomly select from already existing or naturally
occurring sub- groups (clusters) of the population e.g. families within a society, towns within
a district, organizations within a city and so on. A researcher may treat each family within a
community as a cluster.

5. Multi-stage Sampling
Multi-stage sampling is a complex form of cluster sampling. In multi-stage sampling, each
cluster of the sample is further divided into smaller clusters and members are selected from
each smaller cluster randomly. It is called a multi-stage sampling as it involves many stages.
First, naturally occurring groups in a population are selected as clusters, then each cluster is
divided into smaller clusters and then from each smaller cluster members are selected
randomly. Even the smaller cluster can be further divided into smallest cluster depending
upon the nature of the research.

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NON-PROBABILITY SAMPLING
Non-probability sampling is a type of sampling where each member of the population does not
have known probability of being selected in the sample. In this type of sampling, each member
of the population does not get an equal chance of being selected in the sample. Non-probability
sampling is adopted when each member of the population cannot be selected or the researcher
deliberately wants to choose members selectively. For example, to study impacts of domestic
violence on children, the researcher will not interview all the children but will interview only
those children who are subjected to domestic violence. Hence, the members cannot be
selected randomly. The researcher will use his judgment to select the members. The types of
non-probability sampling are explained as below
1. Purposive Sampling
2. Convenience Sampling
3. Snow-ball Sampling
4. Quota Sampling

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1. Purposive Sampling
It is a type of sampling where the members for a sample are selected according to the
purpose of the study. For example, if a researcher wants to study the impact of drugs
abuse on health. Every member of the society is not the best respondent for this study.
Only the drug addicts can be the best respondents for this study as they have
undergone impacts of drug abuse on their health and they can provide the real data for
this study Hence, the researcher deliberately selects only the drug addicts as
respondents for his study.

2. Convenience Sampling
It is a type of sampling where the members of the sample are selected on the basis of
their convenient accessibility. Only those members are selected which are easily
accessible to the researcher. For example, a research may visit a college or a university
and get the questionnaires filled in by volunteer students. Similarly, a researcher may
stand in a market and interview the volunteer persons
3. Snow-ball Sampling
Snow-ball sampling is also called chain sampling It is a type of sampling where one
respondent identifies other respondents (from his friends or relatives) the study. Snow-
ball sampling is adopted in situations where it is difficult to identify the members of the
sample. For example, a researcher wants to study 'problems faced by migrants in an
area. The researcher may not know enough number of migrants in the area to collect
data from them. In such a case, the researcher may ask a migrant to help him locate
other migrants to be interviewed. The respondents may tell the researcher about his
other friends who are also migrants in the area. Similarly, the new respondents
(identified by last respondent) may suggest some other new respondents. In this way,
the sample goes on growing like a snow-ball. Research continues this method until the
required sample-size is achieved.

4. Quota Sampling
In this type of sampling, the members are selected according to some specific
characteristics chosen by the researcher. These specific characteristics serve as a quota
for selection of members of the sample. Hence, the members are selected on the basis
of these specific characteristics such as age, sex, religion, profession, ethnicity, interest
and so on.

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Sampling Errors
1. Population Specification Error
This error occurs when the researcher does not understand who they should survey. For
example, imagine a survey about breakfast cereal consumption. Who to survey? It might
be the entire family, the mother, or the children. The mother might make the purchase
decision, but the children influence her choice.
2. Sample Frame Error
A frame error occurs when the wrong sub-population is used to select a sample. A
classic frame error occurred in the 1936 presidential election between Roosevelt and
Landon. The sample frame was from car registrations and telephone directories. In
1936, many Americans did not own cars or telephones, and those who did were largely
Republicans. The results wrongly predicted a Republican victory.
3. Selection Error
This occurs when respondents self-select their participation in the study – only those
that are interested respond. Selection error can be controlled by going extra lengths to
get participation.
4. Non-Response
Non-response errors occur when respondents are different than those who do not
respond. This may occur because either the potential respondent was not contacted or
they refused to respond.

How to control these errors

1 Careful sample design
2 Large sample size
3 Contacts to assure sample representative.

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Writing your Questionnaire

1. Introduce yourself. Your introduction should explain who you are, and what your
credentials are. You should clarify if you are working alone or as a part of a team.
Include the name of the academic institution or company for whom you are collecting
data. Here are some examples:

 My name is Jack Smith and I am one of the creators of this questionnaire. I am part of the
Department of Psychology at the University of Michigan, where I am focusing in developing
cognition in infants.
 I’m Kelly Smith, a 3rd year undergraduate student at the University of New Mexico. This
questionnaire is part of my final exam in statistics.
 My name is Steve Johnson, and I’m a marketing analyst for The Best Company. I’ve been
working on questionnaire development to determine attitudes surrounding drug use in
Canada for several years.

2. Explain the purpose of the questionnaire.[13] Many people will not answer a
questionnaire without understanding what the goal of the questionnaire is. No long
explanation is needed; instead, a few concise sentences will do the trick. Here are some
examples:

 I am collecting data regarding the attitudes surrounding gun control. This information is
being collected for my Anthropology 101 class at the University of Maryland.
 This questionnaire will ask you 15 questions about your eating and exercise habits. We are
attempting to make a correlation between healthy eating, frequency of exercise, and
incidence of cancer in mature adults.

3. Reveal what will happen with the data you collect. Are you collecting these data for a
class project, or for a publication? Are these data to be used for market research?
Depending on what you intend to do with the data you collect from your questionnaire,
there may be different requirements that you need to pay attention to before
distributing your survey.

 Beware that if you are collecting information for a university or for publication, you may
need to check in with your institution’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) for permission
before beginning. Most research universities have a dedicated IRB staff, and their
information can usually be found on the school’s website.
 Remember that transparency is best. It is important to be honest about what will happen
with the data you collect.

4. Estimate how long the questionnaire will take. Before someone sits down to take your
questionnaire, it may be helpful for them to know whether the questionnaire will take

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Research II 10

them 10 minutes or 2 hours. Providing this information at the onset of your

questionnaire is more likely to get you more complete questionnaires in the end.

 Time yourself taking the survey. Then consider that it will take some people longer than
you, and some people less time than you.
 Provide a time range instead of a specific time. For example, it’s better to say that a survey
will take between 15 and 30 minutes than to say it will take 15 minutes and have some
respondents quit halfway through.

5. Describe any incentives that may be involved. An incentive is anything that you can
offer as a reward at the end of the questionnaire. Incentives can be many types of
things: they can be monetary, desired prizes, gift certificates, candy, etc. There are both
pros and cons to offering incentives.

 Incentives can attract the wrong kind of respondent. You don’t want to incorporate
responses from people who rush through your questionnaire just to get the reward at the
end. This is a danger of offering an incentive.[15]
 Incentives can encourage people to respond to your survey who might not have responded
without a reward. This is a situation in which incentives can help you reach your target
number of respondents.[16]
 Consider the strategy used by SurveyMonkey. Instead of directly paying respondents to
take their surveys, they offer 50 cents to the charity of their choice when a respondent fills
out a survey. They feel that this lessens the chances that a respondent will fill out a
questionnaire out of pure self-interest.[17]
 Consider entering each respondent in to a drawing for a prize if they complete the
questionnaire. You can offer a 25$ gift card to a restaurant, or a new iPod, or a ticket to a
movie. This makes it less tempting just to respond to your questionnaire for the incentive
alone, but still offers the chance of a pleasant reward.

6. Make sure your questionnaire looks professional. Because you want people to have
confidence in you as a data collector, your questionnaire must have a professional look.

 Always proof read. Check for spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors.
 Include a title. This is a good way for your respondents to understand the focus of the
survey as quickly as possible.
 Thank your respondents. Thank them for taking the time and effort to complete your
survey.

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Distributing Your Questionnaire

1. Do a pilot study. Ask some people you know to take your questionnaire (they will not be
included in any results stemming from this questionnaire), and be prepared to revise it if
necessary.[18] Plan to include 5-10 people in the pilot testing of your
questionnaire.[19] Get their feedback on your questionnaire by asking the following
questions:

 Was the questionnaire easy to understand? Were there any questions that confused you?
 Was the questionnaire easy to access? (Especially important if your questionnaire is
online).
 Do you feel the questionnaire was worth your time?
 Were you comfortable answering the questions asked?
 Are there any improvements you would make to the questionnaire?

2. Disseminate your questionnaire. You need to determine what is the best way to
disseminate your questionnaire.[20] There are several common ways to distribute
questionnaires:

 Use an online site, such as SurveyMonkey.com. This site allows you to write your own
questionnaire with their survey builder, and provides additional options such as the option
to buy a target audience and use their analytics to analyze your data.[21]
 Consider using the mail. If you mail your survey, always make sure you include a self-
addressed stamped envelope so that the respondent can easily mail their responses back.
Make sure that your questionnaire will fit inside a standard business envelope.

3. Include a deadline. Ask your respondents to have the questionnaire completed and
returned to you by a certain date to ensure that you have enough time to analyze the
results.

 Make your deadline reasonable. Giving respondents up to 2 weeks to answer should be

more than sufficient. Anything longer and you risk your respondents forgetting about your
questionnaire.
 Consider providing a reminder. A week before the deadline is a good time to provide a
gentle reminder about returning the questionnaire. Include a replacement of the
questionnaire in case it has been misplaced by your respondent.[22]

A.R Rehman Joyia