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The document outlines the nature, importance, and processes of research, emphasizing its role in developing critical thinking and communication skills among students. It discusses various methods of acquiring knowledge, the characteristics of scientific research, and the ethical considerations involved in conducting research. Additionally, it highlights the significance of reliability, validity, and generalizability in research findings.

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8 views

Notes-in-Practical-Research-Chapter-1 3

The document outlines the nature, importance, and processes of research, emphasizing its role in developing critical thinking and communication skills among students. It discusses various methods of acquiring knowledge, the characteristics of scientific research, and the ethical considerations involved in conducting research. Additionally, it highlights the significance of reliability, validity, and generalizability in research findings.

Uploaded by

Blessie Zyren Basinang
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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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Notes in Practical Research 1

Nature of Research
Research in common parlance refers to a search for knowledge. It is the process used by the students
enabling them to gain the Kto12 21st century skills. It is important to note that students who can think
critically and communicate effectively must build on a base of research. Doing research may provide the
students with background knowledge, models and applied skills in the various areas of instruction and
daily activities (OECD - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2003).
Below is the Inquiry‒ Based Learning (IBL) process. Examine the process as shown in the
flow chart.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com.jpg

Ways of Knowing: Sensing, Sharing information with others, Being told something by an expert, logical
reasoning, science.

The Value of Scientific Inquiry (Burlew, 2013):


1. It is a vehicle to development.
2. It is a tool to understand phenomenon.
3. It helps establish the truth.
4. It is a guide to important policies and decisions.
5. It enhances skills towards self-realization.

What is research?
Research comprises “creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock
knowledge, including the knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock knowledge to
device new applications (OECD, 2002).
Scientific research is a systematic way of gathering data, a harnessing of curiosity. It provides
scientific information and theories for the explanation of the nature and properties of the world (Armstrong
and Sperry,1994). Research is the gathering of data, information and facts for the advancement of
knowledge (Shuttleworth, 2008). According to Good (1956) defines research as: “ideally, the careful,
unbiased investigation of a problem, based in so far as possible, upon demonstrable facts and involving
refined distinctions, interpretations and usually some generalizations”. Furthermoire, Isidro and Malolos
(1979) argued that research is “a process of scientific thinking that leads to the discovery or establishment
of new knowledge or truth. It is not a subjective expression of ideas or opinion”.

Why undertake research? (Hussey and Hussey, 1997)


1. To investigate some existing situation or problem.
2. To provide solutions to a problem.
3. To explore and analyse more general issues.
4. To construct or create a new procedure or system.
5. To explain a new phenomenon.
6. To generate new knowledge.

Importance of Research
1. A Tool for Building Knowledge.
2. Means to Understand Various Issues.
3. A Way to Prove Lies and to Support Truths
4. A Seed to Love Reading, Writing, Analyzing, and Sharing Valuable Information
5. Nourishment and Exercise for the Mind

What are the sources of knowledge? (Ary, Jacobs and Sorensen, 2010)
EXPERIENCE. Experience is a familiar and well-used source of knowledge. By personal experience,
you can find the answers to many of the questions you face. Much wisdom passed from generation to
generation is the result of experience.
AUTHORITY. For things difficult or impossible to know by personal experience, people frequently
turn to an authority; that is, they seek knowledge from someone who has had experience with the problem
or has some other source of expertise. People accept as truth the word of recognized authorities.
DEDUCTIVE REASONING. Aristotle and his followers introduced the use of deductive reasoning,
which can be described as a thinking process in which one proceeds from general to specific knowledge
through logical argument. The final statement is the conclusion, and the rest, called premises, offer
supporting evidence.
INDUCTIVE REASONING. As noted previously, the conclusions of deductive reasoning are true only if
the premises on which they are based are true. But how are you to know if the premises are true? You can
see the difference between deductive and inductive reasoning in the following examples:
Deductive: Every mammal has lungs.
All rabbits are mammals.
Therefore, every rabbit has lungs.
Inductive: Every rabbit that has ever been observed has lungs.
Therefore, every rabbit has lungs.
THE SCIENTIFIC APPROACH. Exclusive use of induction often resulted in the accumulation of
isolated knowledge and information that made little contribution to the advancement of knowledge.
Furthermore, people found that many problems could not be solved by induction alone. In the 19th
century, scholars began to integrate the most important aspects of the inductive and deductive methods
into a new technique, namely the inductive – deductive method, or the scientific approach. This approach
differs from inductive reasoning in that it uses hypotheses. A hypothesis is a statement describing
relationships among variables that is tentatively assumed to be true. It identifies observations to be made
to investigate a question. Darwin’s procedure, involving only observation, was unproductive until reading
and further thought led him to formulate a tentative hypothesis to explain the facts that he had gathered
through observation. He then proceeded to test this hypothesis by making deductions from it and
gathering additional data to determine whether these data would support the hypothesis. From this
method of inquiry, Darwin was able to develop his theory of evolution. The scientific approach is generally
described as a method of acquiring knowledge in which investigators move inductively from their
observations to hypotheses and then deductively from the hypotheses to the logical implications of the
hypotheses.

What is scientific research?


Scientific research has these characteristics: It is based on facts; It starts from complex problems; It is
free from personal bias or opinion; and It uses objective measurement.
It is the systematic, controlled, empirical and critical investigation of hypothetical propositions about
the presumed relations among natural phenomena (Kerlinger, 1973).

What is qualitative research?


In the handbook of qualitative research Denzin and Lincoln (2005, p. 3) describe qualitative research
as involving “… an interpretive naturalistic approach to the world. This means that qualitative researchers
study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of or interpret phenomena in terms of the
meanings people bring to them.”

Characteristics of Research (Kumar, 2015).


1. Reliability is a subjective term which cannot be measured precisely, but today there are instruments
which can estimate the reliability of any research. If any research yields similar results each time it is
undertaken with similar population and with similar procedures, it is called to be a reliable research.
Suppose a research is conducted on the effects of single parenting on the class performance of the
children. If the results conclude that it causes low grades in class, these results should have to be
reliable for another sample taken from a similar population.
2. Validity is the strength with which we can make research conclusions, assumptions or propositions
true or false. Validity determines the applicability of the research. Validity of the research instrument
can be defined as how accurately the instrument measures the problem.
3. Accuracy is also the degree to which each research process, instrument, and tool is related to each
other. Accuracy also measures whether research tools have been selected in best possible manner and
research procedures suits the research problem or not. For example if a research has to be conducted
on the trans-gender people, several data collection tools can be used depending on the research
problems but if you find that population less cooperative the best way is to observe them rather than
submitting questionnaire because in questionnaire either they will give biased responses or they will not
return the questionnaires at all.
4. Credibility comes with the use of the best source of information and best procedures in research.
Secondary data has been manipulated by human beings and is therefore not very valid to use in
research. When researcher gives accurate references in the research the credibility of the research
increases.
5. Generalizability is the extent to which research findings can be applied to larger population. When a
researcher conducts a study he/she chooses a target population and from this population he takes a
small sample to conduct the research. This sample is representative of the whole population so the
findings should also be.
6. Empirical nature of research means that the research has been conducted following rigorous scientific
methods and procedures. Each step in the research has been tested for accuracy and is based on real
life experiences. Quantitative research is easier to prove scientifically than qualitative research. In
qualitative research biases and prejudice are easy to occur.
7. Systematic approach is the only approach to carry on a research. No research can be conducted
haphazardly. Each step must follow other. There are set of procedures that have been tested over a
period of time and are thus suitable to use in research.
8. Controlled in real life experience there are many factors that affect an outcome. A single event is often
a result of several factors. When similar event is tested in research, due to the broader nature of factors
that effect that event, some factors are taken as controlled factors while others are tested for a possible
effect. In pure sciences, it is very easy to control such elements because experiments are conducted in
the laboratory but in social sciences it becomes difficult to control these factors because of the nature
of research.

The Research Process (Cornell University Library, 2016).

Define Review Formulate Design Collect


Research the hypothesi research data
problem literature s

Analyze Interpret
data and
report
Figure 2. The Research Process.
Ethics in Research (U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, 2017):
What are research misconducts? (The Office of Research Integrity, U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services, 2017)
(1) Fabrication - making up data or results and recording or reporting them.
(2) Falsification - manipulating research materials, or changing or omitting data or results such that the
research is not accurately represented in the research record.
(3) Plagiarism - the appropriation of another person's ideas, processes, results, or words without giving
appropriate credit.
(4) Research misconduct does not include honest error or differences of opinion.

How to avoid plagiarism? (Quoting, Paraphrasing, Summarizing)


• Quote and cite phrases, sentences, and paragraphs taken directly from the original source.
• Quote and cite statistics, charts, graphs and drawings taken directly from the original source.
• When you paraphrase or summarize, give credit to the original author.

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