INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH

METHODOLOGY

Rafiu Oyesola Salawu (Ph.D., FCA, FCTI)

Professor of Accounting, Obafemi Awolowo
University, Phone: +234 803 379 5887
Email: [email protected]
 Outline
 Meaning of Research
 Objective of Research
 Motivation in Research
 Criteria of a scientific Research
 A Good Research
 Type of Research
 How to Select a good Topic
 What is Research?
❑ The word research is composed of two syllables, re
and search.
❑ The dictionary defines the former as a prefix
meaning again, anew or over again and the latter
as a verb meaning to examine closely and carefully,
to test and try, or to probe. Together they form a
noun describing a careful, systematic, patient study
and investigation in some field of knowledge,
undertaken to establish facts or principles.
(Grinnell 1993: 4)
❑ Burns (1997: 2) defines research as ‘a systematic
investigation to find answers to a problem’.
 What is Research?

❑“The inquisitiveness is the

mother of all knowledge and the
method, which man employs for
obtaining the knowledge of
whatever the unknown, can be
termed as research.”
 What is Research?
Concept of research are:
 To re-search

 To re-examine

 To investigate

 To test

 To enquire

 To analyse

 To establish
 Objectives of Research
❖ The purpose of research is to discover answers to
questions through the application of scientific
procedures.
❖ The main aim of research is to find out the truth
which is hidden and which has not been discovered
as yet.
❖ Though each research study has its own specific
purpose, we may think of research objectives as
falling into a number of following broad groupings:
 Objectives of Research Cont.
 1. To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to achieve new
insights into it (studies with this object in view are termed
as exploratory or formulative research studies.);
 2. To portray accurately the characteristics of a particular
individual, situation or a group (studies with this object in
view are known as descriptive research studies);
 3. To determine the frequency with which something
occurs or with which it is associated with something else
(studies with this object in view are known as diagnostic
research
studies); and
 4. To test a hypothesis of a causal relationship between
variables (such studies are known as hypothesis-testing
research studies).
 Objectives of Research Cont.
 5. To test what you already know
 6. To understand the other side of an
issue
 7. To establish reliable guide
 8. To expand knowledge
 9. To predict, explain and interpret a
behaviour
 10. To provide solution to a problem
 Motivation in Research
❑The possible motives for doing research may
be either one or more of the following:
❖1. Curiosity about new things,
❖2. Desire to understand causal relationships
❖3. Desire to get a research degree along with
its consequential benefits;
❖4. Desire to face the challenge in solving the
unsolved problems, i.e., concern over
practical
problems initiates research;
❖5. Desire to get intellectual joy of doing
some creative work;
❖6. Desire to be of service to society;
 Criteria of a scientific Research
➢ 1. The purpose of the research should be clearly
defined and common concepts be used.
➢ 2. The research procedure used should be
described in sufficient detail to permit another
researcher to repeat the research for further
advancement, keeping the continuity of what has
already been attained.
➢ 3. The procedural design of the research should be
carefully planned to yield results that are as
objective as possible.
 Criteria of a scientific Research
➢ 4. The researcher should report with complete
frankness, flaws in procedural design and estimate
their effects upon the findings.
➢ 5. The analysis of data should be sufficiently
adequate to reveal its significance and the methods
of analysis used should be appropriate. The validity
and reliability of the data should be checked
carefully.
➢ 6. Conclusions should be confined to those justified
by the data of the research and limited to those for
which the data provide an adequate basis.
 A Good Research
❑1. Good research is systematic:
❑2. Good research is logical:
❑3. Good research is empirical:
❑4. Good research is replicable.

❑This characteristic allows research

results to be verified by replicating
the study and thereby building a
sound basis for decisions.
 Types of Research
❑ By Application
❑ Pure research
❑ Applied research
❑ Pure research is also concerned with the
development, examination, verification and
refinement of research methods, procedures,
techniques and tools that form the body of
research methodology. Basic/Pure – to determine
or establish fundamental facts and relationships
within a discipline or field of study. Develop
theories … (examples in economics?)
❑ Natural phenomenon and mathematics are
examples of pure research
 Types of Research
❑ Examples: developing a sampling technique that can be
applied to a particular situation; developing a methodology
to assess the validity of a procedure; developing an
instrument, say, to measure the stress level in people; and
finding the best way of measuring people’s attitudes
❑ Basic has little application to real world policy and
management but could be done to guide applied research
❑ Applied research: Research undertaken specifically for
the purpose of obtaining information to help resolve a
particular problem. This is conducted for the purpose of
applying or testing theory and evaluate its usefulness in
solving problems. It is concerned with the usefulness of
ideas or theories or practical situation.
 Types of Research
❑By Objective
❑Descriptive,
❑Correlational,
❑Explanatory
❑Exploratory
 Types of Research
❑ Descriptive study attempts to describe
systematically a situation, problem, phenomenon,
service or programme, or provides information
about, say, the living conditions of a community, or
describes attitudes towards an issue.
❑ Advantages
❑ 1. The people individual studied are unaware so they act naturally or as they usually do
in everyday situation.
❑ 2. It is less expensive and time consuming than quantitative experiments.
❑ 3. Collects a large amount of notes for detailed studying.
❑ 4. As it is used to describe and not make any conclusions it is to start the research with
it.
❑ Disadvantages
❑ 1. Descriptive research requires more skills
❑ 2. Do not identify cause behind a phenomenon
❑ 3. Response rate is lo in this research
❑ 4. Results of this research can change over the period of time.
 Types of Research
❑ Correlational research: a correlational study is to discover
or establish the existence of a
relationship/association/interdependence between two or
more variables. In correlational research, the goal is to
determine whether two or more variables are related. A
variable is anything that can take on different values, such
as weight, time, and height.).
❑ Advantages
❑ 1. Can collect much information from many subjects at one time.
❑ 2. Can study a wide range of variables and their interrelations.
❑ 3. Study variables that are not easily produced in the laboratory.
❑ Disadvantages
❑ 1. correlation does not indicate causation (cause and effect)
❑ 2. Problems with self-report method.
 Types of Research

 Explanatory research attempts to

clarify why and how there is a
relationship between two aspects of a
situation or phenomenon. Example:
how the home environment affects
children’s level of academic
achievement
 Types of Research
❑Exploratory research is when a study is
undertaken with the objective either to
explore an area where little is known or to
investigate the possibilities of undertaking a
particular research study. When a study is
carried out to determine its feasibility it is
also called a feasibility study or a pilot study.
❑It is not typically generalizable to the
population at large.
 Types of Research
❑ Experimental research: In its simplest form,
experimental research involves comparing two
groups on one outcome measure to test some
hypothesis regarding causation. For example, if a
researcher is interested in the effects of a new
medication on headaches, the researcher would
randomly divide a group of people with headaches
into two groups.
❑ Advantage
❑ 1. Best establishes cause-and-effect relationship
❑ Disadvantages
❑ 1. Artificiality
❑ 2. Feasibility
❑ 3. Unethical
 Types of Research
❑ One of the groups, the experimental group, would
receive the new medication being tested. The other
group, the control group, would receive a placebo
medication (i.e., a medication containing a harmless
substance, such as sugar, that has no physiological
effects). Besides receiving the different medications,
the groups would be treated exactly the same so
that the research could isolate the effects of the
medications. After receiving the medications, both
groups would be compared to see whether people
in the experimental group had fewer headaches
than people in the control group.
 Types of Research
❑By Enquiry
❑The structured approach/quantitative
research/computational

❑Unstructured /qualitative research/non

computational
 Types of Research
❑ By Enquiry
❑ The structured approach/quantitative research/computational: Based
on measurement of quantity or amount • Weighing, measuring are
examples of quantitative research. It is a systematic empirical
investigation of any phenomena via statistical, mathematical or
computational techniques. To develop models, theories and/or
hypotheses pertaining to phenomena. Development of instruments and
methods for measurement.
❑ Advantages
❑ 1. It allows the researcher to measure and analyse data
❑ 2. The researcher is more objective about the findings of the research
❑ 3. It can be used to test hypotheses in experiments because of its ability to measure data
using statistics.
❑ Disadvantages
❑ 1. It does not study things in a natural settings or discuss the meaning things have for
different people
❑ 2. A large sample of the population must be studied for more accurate results.
 Types of Research
❑ By Enquiry
❑ Unstructured /qualitative research/non computational: Phenomena
relating to quality or kind • Character, personality and mankind are
examples of variables used to measure qualitative research • Word
association test, sentence completion test. Deal with phenomena that
are difficult or impossible to quantify mathematically, such as beliefs,
attributes, symbol.
❑ Advantages
❑ 1. It enables more complex aspects of a persons experience to be studied.
❑ 2. Fewer restriction or assumptions are placed on the data to be collected.
❑ 3. Not everything can be quantified, or quantified easily, individuals can be studied in more depth.
❑ 4. Good for exploratory research.
❑ 5.The participants are able to provide data in their own words and in their own way.
❑ Disadvantages
❑ 1. It is more difficult to determine the validity and reliability of linguistic data.
❑ 2.There is more subjectivity involved in analysing the data.
❑ 3. Data overload- open-ended questions can sometimes create lots of data, which can take a long time
to analyse.
❑ 4.Time consuming
 How to Select a good Topic
 The factors that can influence choice of research
topic:
◦ The researcher’s discipline
◦ Duration
◦ Fund availability
◦ Desire for in-depth knowledge
 How to Select a good Topic
✓ A researchtopic is taken from research problem. It
can emanate from:
✓ 1.Personal interest
✓ 2.Social problem
✓ 3.Testing theory
✓ 4.Prior research
✓ 5.Program evaluation
✓ 6.Human service practice
 How to Select a good Topic
WORDINGS OF RESEARCH TOPIC
A research topic should be:
- Appropriate
- Descriptive
- Simple and unambiguous
 It must be short and straight forward
 It must be large enough to cover the subject matter
 Word limit per title 14-22
 Ensure that each word is needed
 Avoid work wasters e.g. studies on
◦ Investigation on
◦ Analysis of etc.
 How to Select a good Topic
 It must be researchable i.e. problem that can be
investigated through collection of data
 It must have 2 or more interacting variables
 It must be an area of interest
 PROCESS OF RESEARCH
 Problem identification
 Defining the problem in precise terms in unambiguous
terms
 Stating the problems in form of research questions and
research hypotheses
 Review of literature
 Data and methodology
 Data Analysis
 Interpretation of Results/Discussion of Finding
 Drawing conclusion
 Policy recommendations
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