STA630 Notes Lectures 1-22

Lesson 1:

INTRODUCTION, DEFINITION & VALUE OF RESEARCH

The study of research methods provides you with the knowledge and skills you need to solve the problem and meet the challenges of a fast-paced decision-making environment. What is Research? General image of the research is that it has something to do with the laboratory where scientists are supposedly doing some experiments. Somebody who is interviewing consumers to find out their opinion about the new packaging of milk is also doing research. Research is simply the process of finding solutions to a problem after through study and analysis of the situational factors. It is gathering information needed to answer a question, and thereby help in solving a problem. We do not do study in any haphazard manner. Instead we try to follow a system or a procedure in an organized manner. What is the value of Research? The nature of research problems could vary. The researchers try to make use of their findings for generating theories and models that could be used for understanding human behavior and the functioning of different structures both at the micro (organizational) and macro (societal) level. Therefore, research may be considered as an organized, systematic, data based, critical, objective, scientific inquiry or investigation into a specific problem, undertaken with the purpose of finding answers or solutions to it. The value of research for policy makers, planners, business managers, and other stakeholders is that it reduces uncertainty by providing information that improves the decision-making process. The decision making process associated with the development and implementation of a strategy involves four interrelated stages:

1. Identifying problems or opportunities;
2. Diagnosing and assessing problems or opportunities;
3. Selecting and implementing a course of action; and
4. Evaluating the course of action.

Identifying problems and solutions to the same problems is in fact applying the research findings to overcome an undesirable situation. Research helps in developing methodologies. By now we know that the researchers have to develop methodologies for carrying out the research. These methodologies are for the collection of data, data processing and data analysis. For the new researchers these methodologies are already available, most of the researchers just use these. Nevertheless, there is always a scope for improvement and certainly new methodologies are developed.

Lesson 2:

SCIENTIFIC METHOD OF RESEARCH & ITS SPECIAL FEATURES

Research produces knowledge which could be used for the solution of problems as well as for the generation of universal theories, principles and laws. But all knowledge is not science. The critical factor that separates scientific knowledge from other ways of acquiring knowledge is that it uses scientific approach. Some sciences, such as the natural sciences deal with the physical and material world. Some other sciences involve the study of people – their beliefs, behavior, interactions, attitudes, institutions, and so forth. They are sometimes called soft sciences. Science is a way to produce knowledge, which is based on truth and attempts to be universal. In other words 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. Observation here implies that scientists use “sensory experiences” for the study of the phenomena. They use their five senses, which are possessed by every normal human being. They not only do the observation of a phenomenon but also repeat the observation, may be several times. The researchers do so because they want to be accurate and definite about their findings. Re-observation may be made by the same researcher at a different time and place or done by other professionals at some other time or place By repeating the observation, the researchers want to be definite and positive about their findings. Those who want to be definite and positive are often referred to as positivists. The researchers do not leave their findings into scattered bits and pieces. Rather the results are organized, systematized, and made part of the existing body of knowledge; and this is how the knowledge grows. All this procedure for the creation of knowledge is called a scientific method, whereby the consequent knowledge may be referred to as scientific knowledge. In this way science refers to both a system for producing knowledge and the knowledge produced from that system. Since the subject matters of the researchers differ, therefore, we have the diversification of different sciences: broadly natural or physical sciences and human sciences.

Important Characteristics of Scientific Method:

1. Empirical
2. Verifiable
3. Cumulative
4. Deterministic 5. Ethical and Ideological Neutrality 6. Statistical Generalization 7. Rationalism
5. Empirical: Scientific method is concerned with the realities that are observable through “sensory experiences.” It generates knowledge which is verifiable by experience or observation. There are also realities which cannot be observed directly but the researchers have designed ways to observe these indirectly. Any reality that cannot be put to

“sensory experience” directly or indirectly (existence of heaven, the Day of Judgment, life hereafter, God‟s rewards for good deeds) does not fall within the domain of scientific method.

2. Verifiable: Observations made through scientific method are to be verified again by using the senses to confirm or refute the previous findings. Such confirmations may have to be made by the same researcher or others. Replicability in this way is an important characteristic of scientific method. Hence revelations and intuitions are out of the domain of scientific method.
3. Cumulative: Instead of reinventing the wheel the researchers take stock of the existing body of knowledge and try to build on it. The results are to be organized and systematized. A linkage between the present and the previous body of knowledge has to be established and that is how the knowledge accumulates.
4. Deterministic: Science is based on the assumption that all events have antecedent causes that are subject to identification and logical understanding. For the scientist, nothing “just happens” – it happens for a reason. The scientific researchers try to explain the emerging phenomenon by identifying its causes. The researcher tries to narrow down the number of reasons in such a way that some action could taken.
5. Ethical and Ideological Neutrality: The conclusions drawn through interpretation of the results of data analysis should be based on the facts of the findings derived from actual data, and not on our own subjective or emotional values. Researchers are human beings, having individual ideologies, religious affiliations, cultural differences which can influence the research findings. Any interference of their personal likings and dis-likings in their research can contaminate the purity of the data, which ultimately can affect the predictions made by the researcher. Therefore, one of the important characteristics of scientific method is to follow the principle of objectivity, uphold neutrality, and present the results in an unbiased manner.
6. Statistical Generalization: Generalisability refers to the scope of the research findings in one organizational setting to other settings. Obviously, the wider the range of applicability of the solutions generated by research, the more useful the research is to users. The more generalizable the research means the greater its usefulness and value. Here the use of statistics is very helpful. Statistics is device for comparing what is observed and what is logically expected. The use of statistics becomes helpful in making generalizations, which is one of the goals of scientific method.
7. Rationalism (Reason): Science is fundamentally a rational activity and the scientific explanation must make sense. Religion may rest on revelations, custom, or traditions, gambling on faith, but science must rest on logical reason. There are two distinct logical systems referred to as deductive logic and inductive logic. Inductive reasoning means from particular instances to general principles or from facts to theories and deductive reasoning means from the general to the particular or applying a theory to a particular case. “All men are mortal; Mahmood is man; therefore Mahmood is mortal.”

Looking at the important features of scientific method one might say that there are two power bases of scientific knowledge: (1) empiricism i.e. sensory experiences or observation, and (2) rationalism i.e. the logical explanations for regularity. Finally it may be said that anybody who is following the scientific procedure of doing research is doing a scientific research; and the knowledge generated by such research is scientific knowledge.

Lesson 3:

CLASSIFICATION OF RESEARCH

Research comes in many shapes and sizes. Before a researcher begins to conduct a study, he or she must decide on a specific type of research. Good researchers understand the advantages and disadvantages of each type, although most end up specializing in one. For classification of research we shall look from four dimensions:

1. The purpose of doing research;
2. The intended uses of research;
3. How it treats time i.e. the time dimension in research; and
4. The research (data collection) techniques used in it.

The four dimensions reinforce (strengthen) each other.

1. Purpose of Doing Research: If we ask someone why he is conducting a study, we might get a range of responses: The purposes of research may be organized into three groups based on what the researcher is trying to accomplish either explore a new topic or describe a social phenomenon or explain why something occurs. Studies may have multiple purposes (e.g. both to explore and to describe) but one purpose usually dominates.

a. Exploratory/Formulative Research: You may be exploring a new topic or issue in order to learn about it. If the issue was new or the researcher has written little on it, you began at the beginning. This is called exploratory research. Exploratory research may be the first stage in a sequence of studies. Initial research conducted to clarify the nature of the problem. Exploratory research rarely yields definitive answers. It addresses the “what” question: There could be a number of goals of exploratory research.

Goals of Exploratory Research:

1. Become familiar with the basic facts, setting, and concerns;
2. Develop well grounded picture of the situation;
3. Develop tentative theories; generate new ideas, conjectures, or hypotheses;

For exploratory research, the researcher may use different sources for getting information like (1) experience surveys, (2) secondary data analysis, (3) case studies, and (4) pilot studies. A pilot study implies that some aspect of the research is done on a small scale. For this purpose focus group discussions could be carried out. b. Descriptive Research: Descriptive research presents a picture of the specific details of a situation, social setting, or relationship. The major purpose of descriptive research, as the term implies, is to describe characteristics of a population or phenomenon. Descriptive research seeks to determine the answers to who, what, when, where, and how questions. Labor Force Surveys, Population Census, and Educational Census are examples of such research. Descriptive study offers to the researcher a profile or description of relevant aspects of the phenomena of interest. When we start to look at the relationship of the variables, then it may help in diagnosis analysis.

Goals of Descriptive Research

1. Describe the situation in terms of its characteristics i.e. provide an accurate profile of a group;
2. Present background information;
3. Create a set of categories or classify the information;

Q4. Focus on „who,‟ „what,‟ „when,‟ „where,‟ and „how‟ but not why?

A great deal of social research is descriptive. Descriptive researchers use most data –gathering techniques – surveys, field research, and content analysis. c. Explanatory Research: When we encounter an issue that is already known and have a description of it, we might begin to wonder why things are the way they are. The desire to know “why,” to explain, is the purpose of explanatory research. It builds on exploratory and descriptive research and goes on to identify the reasons for something that occurs. Explanatory research looks for causes and reasons. For example, a descriptive research may discover that 10 percent of the parents abuse their children, whereas the explanatory researcher is more interested in learning why parents abuse their children.

Goals of Explanatory Research

1. Explain things not just reporting. Why? Elaborate and enrich a theory‟s explanation.
2. Determine the accuracy of the theory; test a theory‟s predictions or principle.
3. Extend a theory or principle to new areas, new issues, new topics:
4. Test a theory‟s predictions or principles

Q2. The Uses of Research: Some researchers focus on using research to advance general knowledge, whereas others use it to solve specific problems.

1. Basic Research: Basic research advances fundamental knowledge about the human world. It focuses on refuting or supporting theories that explain how this world operates, what makes things happen, why social relations are a certain way, and why society changes. Basic research is the source of most new scientific ideas and ways of thinking about the world. It can be exploratory, descriptive, or explanatory; however, explanatory research is the most common. Basic research generates new ideas, principles and theories, which may not be immediately utilized; though are the foundations of modern progress and development in different fields. Researchers at the center of the scientific community conduct most of the basic research.
2. Applied Research: Applied researchers try to solve specific policy problems or help practitioners accomplish tasks. Theory is less central to them than seeking a solution on a specific problem for a limited setting. Applied research is frequently a descriptive research, and its main strength is its immediate practical use. Applied research is conducted when decision must be made about a specific real-life problem.
3. Basic and Applied Research Compared: Both employ the scientific method to answer the questions at hand. The scientific community is the primary consumer of basic research. The consumers of applied research findings are practitioners such as teachers. The results of applied research are less likely to enter the public domain in publications. Applied and basic researchers adopt different orientations toward research methodology. Basic researchers emphasize high standards and try to conduct near-perfect research. Applied researchers make more trade-offs.
4. Types of Applied Research Practitioners use several types of applied research. Some of the major ones are:

i) Action research: The applied research that treats knowledge as a form of power and abolishes the line between research and social action. They also assume that ordinary people can become aware of conditions and learn to take actions that can bring about improvement. ii) Impact Assessment Research: Its purpose is to estimate the likely consequences of a planned change. iii) Evaluation Research: It addresses the question, “Did it work?” Evaluation research measures the effectiveness of a program, policy, or way of doing something. “Did the program work?” “Did it achieve its objectives?” Evaluation researchers use several research techniques (survey, field research). Types of Evaluation Research There are two types of evaluation research formative and summative. Formative evaluation is built-in monitoring or continuous feedback on a program used for program management.