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Research Methods: Literature Review

The document outlines the general steps in the research process: 1) Choosing a methodology and collecting data 2) Verifying and analyzing the collected data 3) Reporting results, evaluating findings, and communicating conclusions The steps are iterative rather than fixed. Research typically begins with identifying a problem or purpose through literature review. A gap in existing research leads to a research question and hypothesis testing. Researchers collect data, analyze it, and report whether results reject or fail to reject the null hypothesis. Research aims to expand knowledge through exploratory, constructive, or empirical study designs using qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods.

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17 views

Research Methods: Literature Review

The document outlines the general steps in the research process: 1) Choosing a methodology and collecting data 2) Verifying and analyzing the collected data 3) Reporting results, evaluating findings, and communicating conclusions The steps are iterative rather than fixed. Research typically begins with identifying a problem or purpose through literature review. A gap in existing research leads to a research question and hypothesis testing. Researchers collect data, analyze it, and report whether results reject or fail to reject the null hypothesis. Research aims to expand knowledge through exploratory, constructive, or empirical study designs using qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods.

Uploaded by

rjohn 7
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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 Choice of a methodology (for data collection)

 Data collection
 Verifying data
 Analyzing and interpreting the data
 Reporting and evaluating research
 Communicating the research findings and, possibly,
recommendations
The steps generally represent the overall process; however, they should be viewed as
an ever-changing iterative process rather than a fixed set of steps. [33] Most research
begins with a general statement of the problem, or rather, the purpose for engaging in
the study.[34] The literature review identifies flaws or holes in previous research which
provides justification for the study. Often, a literature review is conducted in a given
subject area before a research question is identified. A gap in the current literature, as
identified by a researcher, then engenders a research question. The research question
may be parallel to the hypothesis. The hypothesis is the supposition to be tested. The
researcher(s) collects data to test the hypothesis. The researcher(s) then analyzes and
interprets the data via a variety of statistical methods, engaging in what is known
as empirical research. The results of the data analysis in rejecting or failing to reject
the null hypothesis are then reported and evaluated. At the end, the researcher may
discuss avenues for further research. However, some researchers advocate for the
reverse approach: starting with articulating findings and discussion of them, moving "up"
to identification of a research problem that emerges in the findings and literature review.
The reverse approach is justified by the transactional nature of the research endeavor
where research inquiry, research questions, research method, relevant research
literature, and so on are not fully known until the findings have fully emerged and been
interpreted.
Rudolph Rummel says, "... no researcher should accept any one or two tests as
definitive. It is only when a range of tests are consistent over many kinds of data,
researchers, and methods can one have confidence in the results." [35]
Plato in Meno talks about an inherent difficulty, if not a paradox, of doing research that
can be paraphrased in the following way, "If you know what you're searching for, why do
you search for it?! [i.e., you have already found it] If you don't know what you're
searching for, what are you searching for?!" [36]

Research methods[edit]

The research room at the New York Public Library, an example of secondary research in progress
Maurice Hilleman, the preeminent vaccinologist of the 20th century, is credited with saving more lives than any
other scientist in that time.[37]

The goal of the research process is to produce new knowledge or deepen


understanding of a topic or issue. This process takes three main forms (although, as
previously discussed, the boundaries between them may be obscure):

 Exploratory research, which helps to identify and define a


problem or question.
 Constructive research, which tests theories and proposes
solutions to a problem or question.
 Empirical research, which tests the feasibility of a solution
using empirical evidence.
There are two major types of empirical research design: qualitative research and
quantitative research. Researchers choose qualitative or quantitative methods
according to the nature of the research topic they want to investigate and the research
questions they aim to answer:
Qualitative research
This involves understanding human behavior and the
reasons that govern such behavior, by asking a broad
question, collecting data in the form of words, images,
video etc. that is analyzed, and searching for themes. This
type of research aims to investigate a question without
attempting to quantifiably measure variables or look to
potential relationships between variables. It is viewed as
more restrictive in testing hypotheses because it can be
expensive and time-consuming and typically limited to a
single set of research subjects.[citation needed] Qualitative research
is often used as a method of exploratory research as a
basis for later quantitative research hypotheses. [citation
needed]
 Qualitative research is linked with the philosophical
and theoretical stance of social constructionism.
Social media posts are used for qualitative research.[38]
Quantitative research
This involves systematic empirical investigation of
quantitative properties and phenomena and their
relationships, by asking a narrow question and collecting
numerical data to analyze it utilizing statistical methods.
The quantitative research designs are experimental,
correlational, and survey (or descriptive).[39] Statistics
derived from quantitative research can be used to
establish the existence of associative or causal
relationships between variables. Quantitative research is
linked with the philosophical and theoretical stance
of positivism.
The quantitative data collection methods rely on random
sampling and structured data collection instruments that fit
diverse experiences into predetermined response
categories.[citation needed] These methods produce results that
are easy to summarize, compare, and generalize.[citation
needed]
 Quantitative research is concerned with testing
hypotheses derived from theory or being able to estimate
the size of a phenomenon of interest.
If the research question is about people, participants may
be randomly assigned to different treatments (this is the
only way that a quantitative study can be considered a
true experiment).[citation needed] If this is not feasible, the
researcher may collect data on participant and situational
characteristics to statistically control for their influence on
the dependent, or outcome, variable. If the intent is to
generalize from the research participants to a larger
population, the researcher will employ probability
sampling to select participants.[40]
In either qualitative or quantitative research, the
researcher(s) may collect primary or secondary data.
Primary data is data collected specifically for the research,
such as through interviews or questionnaires. Secondary
data is data that already exists, such as census data,
which can be re-used for the research. It is good ethical
research practice to use secondary data wherever
possible.[41]
Mixed-method research, i.e. research that includes
qualitative and quantitative elements, using both primary
and secondary data, is becoming more common.[42] This
method has benefits that using one method alone cannot
offer. For example, a researcher may choose to conduct a
qualitative study and follow it up with a quantitative study
to gain additional insights.[43]
Big data has brought big impacts on research methods so
that now many researchers do not put much effort into
data collection; furthermore, methods to analyze easily
available huge amounts of data have also been
developed.[44]
Non-empirical research
Non-empirical (theoretical) research is an approach that
involves the development of theory as opposed to using
observation and experimentation. As such, non-empirical
research seeks solutions to problems using existing
knowledge as its source. This, however, does not mean
that new ideas and innovations cannot be found within the
pool of existing and established knowledge. Non-empirical
research is not an absolute alternative to empirical
research because they may be used together to
strengthen a research approach. Neither one is less
effective than the other since they have their particular
purpose in science. Typically empirical research produces
observations that need to be explained; then theoretical
research tries to explain them, and in so doing generates
empirically testable hypotheses; these hypotheses are
then tested empirically, giving more observations that may
need further explanation; and so on. See Scientific
method.
A simple example of a non-empirical task is the
prototyping of a new drug using a differentiated
application of existing knowledge; another is the
development of a business process in the form of a flow
chart and texts where all the ingredients are from
established knowledge. Much of cosmological research is
theoretical in nature. Mathematics research does not rely
on externally available data; rather, it seeks to
prove theorems about mathematical objects.

Research ethics[edit]
Research ethics is concerned with the moral issues that
arise during or as a result of research activities, as well as
the ethical conduct of researchers. Historically, the
revelation of scandals such as Nazi human
experimentation and the Tuskegee syphilis
experiment led to the realisation that clear measures are
needed for the ethical governance of research to ensure
that people, animals and environments are not unduly
harmed in research.
When making ethical decisions, we may be guided by
different things and philosophers commonly distinguish
between approaches
like deontology, consequentialism, virtue ethics and value
(ethics). Regardless of approach, the application of ethical
theory to specific controversial topics is known as applied
ethics and research ethics can be viewed as a form of
applied ethics because ethical theory is applied in real-
world research scenarios.
Ethical issues may arise in the design and implementation
of research involving human experimentation or animal
experimentation. There may also be consequences for the
environment, for society or for future generations that
need to be considered. Research ethics is most
developed as a concept in medical research, the most
notable Code being the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki.
Research in other fields such as social
sciences, information technology, biotechnology,
or engineering may generate different types of ethical
concerns to those in medical research.[45][46][47][48]
Nowadays, research ethics is commonly distinguished
from matters of research integrity that includes issues
such as scientific misconduct (e.g. fraud, fabrication of
data or plagiarism).

Problems in research[edit]
Meta-research[edit]
Main article: Meta-research
Meta-research is the study of research through the use of
research methods. Also known as "research on research",
it aims to reduce waste and increase the quality of
research in all fields. Meta-research concerns itself with
the detection of bias, methodological flaws, and other
errors and inefficiencies. Among the finding of meta-
research is a low rates of reproducibility across a large
number of fields. This widespread difficulty in reproducing
research has been termed the "replication crisis."[49]
Methods of research[edit]
In many disciplines, Western methods of conducting research are predominant.
[50]
 Researchers are overwhelmingly taught Western methods of data collection and
study. The increasing participation of indigenous peoples as researchers has brought

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