Features of a Good Research Study It should be Systematic – A research must be structured with specified steps in a specified sequence, according to well defined set of rules. It should be Logical – A research must be guided by logic reasoning and the logical process of induction and deduction. It should be Empirical – The research must be related to one or more aspects of real life situations.

It should be Replicable – Other people must be able to verify and replicate the original research report. The purpose of the research should be clearly defined and common concepts used. The research procedure should be well described in detail to permit replication. The Design should be planned to yield results that are objective.

The researcher must report with complete frankness and flaws. The analysis of data must be adequate and the method of analysis should be appropriate. Conclusions must be confined to those justified by the data and limited to those for which data is not adequate. The Researcher is experienced, has good reputation and is a person of integrity.

Importance of Research Methodology Research inculcates scientific and inductive thinking and promotes development of logical habits of thinking and organization. Research plays a dynamic role in several fields and it has increased significance in recent times, it can be related to a small business and also to the economy as a whole. Most of the Government Regulations and Policies are based on and are a result of intensive research.

Its significance lies in solving various planning and operational problems. It aids in decision making. t involves the study of cause and effect relationships between various variables and helps to identify behaviour/patterns/trends in certain variables

Approaches to Knowledge Five sources of evidence in the pursuit of truth: 1. Authority 2. Custom and tradition 3. Personal experience 4. Deductive reasoning 5. Scientific inquiry

Deductive Reasoning A.k.a., Logic. Thinking proceeds from general assumption to specific application GENERAL to SPECIFIC

Inductive Reasoning Conclusions about events (general) are based on information generated through many individual and direct observations (specific).

Deductive vs. Inductive Reasoning – Every mammal has lungs. All rabbits are mammals. Therefore, every rabbit has lungs. Inductive: – Every rabbit that has been observed has lungs. Therefore, every rabbit has lungs.

Approaches in Research The two broad research methodologies in education are quantitative and qualitative.

Quantitative research deals with questions of relationship, cause and effect, or current status that researchers can answer by gathering and statistically analyzing numeric data. It can be further classified as experimental and nonexperimental.

Qualitative research focuses on understanding social phenomena and providing rich verbal descriptions of settings, situations, and participants. The qualitative approach includes a number of different methods, such as ethnography, case study, naturalistic observation, focused interviews, and historical studies.

SCIENTIFIC METHOD identification or clarification of a problem; developing a hypothesis (testable theory) inductively from observations; charting their implications by deduction; practical or theoretical testing of the hypothesis; rejecting or refining it in the light of the results.

It is this combination of experience with deductive and inductive reasoning which is the foundation of modern scientific research, and is commonly referred to as scientific method.

TYPICAL STAGES IN RESEARCH 1. Selecting a problem. The first step is to select the problem to investigate. 2. Reviewing the literature on the problem. Researchers should thoroughly review the relevant literature to gain more understanding and insight into the problem and to determine what research may already have been done.

3. Designing the research 3. Designing the research. The investigator next plans how to conduct research to answer the question. The design is the researcher’s plan for the study, which includes the method to be used, what data will be gathered, where, how, and from whom. 4. Collecting the data. The next step involves executing the research plan. Quantitative researchers use a wide variety of instruments to gather data, including tests, questionnaires, ratings, and attitude scales. Qualitative researchers also have a toolbox of data-gathering techniques, including indepth interviewing, participant observation, and document analysis.

5. Analyzing the data. The data collected in research must be analyzed 5. Analyzing the data. The data collected in research must be analyzed. Quantitative data are usually in the form of numbers that researchers analyse using various statistical procedures. Qualitative data generally take the form of words (descriptions, observations, impressions, recordings, and the like). The researcher must organize and categorize or code the large mass of data so that they can be described and interpreted. Although the qualitative researcher does not deal with statistics, analyzing qualitative data is not easy. It is a time-consuming and painstaking process.

6. Interpreting the findings and stating conclusions 6. Interpreting the findings and stating conclusions. The researcher next tries to interpret the findings in terms of the research problem. 7. Reporting results. Researchers must make their procedures, findings, and conclusions available in a form intelligible to others who may be interested.