COM 351 Research

Methods
2024-2025 Academic Year Spring Semester
Week 1 – Research: A Way of Thinking & The Research Process
Dr. Niyper Hayal Artaç
 Research

 Research is undertaken within most professions.

 More than a set of skills, research is a way of thinking:

 examining the various aspects of your day-to-day professional work, understanding and formulating guiding principles that
govern a particular procedure, and developing and testing new theories that advance your practice and profession.

 a habit of questioning what you do and systematically examining clinical observations to explain and find answers for what you
perceive to institute appropriate changes for a more effective professional service.

 Various professionals have several questions. There are several ways of obtaining answers to your professional questions. These
methods range from the reasonably informal, based upon clinical impressions, to the strictly scientific, adhering to the conventional
expectations of scientific procedures. Research is one of the ways to find answers to your questions.

 When you say that you are undertaking a research study to find out answers to a question, you are implying that the process being applied:

1.is being undertaken within a framework of a set of philosophies;

2.uses procedures, methods, and techniques that have been tested for their validity and reliability;

3.is designed to be unbiased and objective.

 Research

 Data refers to the information you will collect to answer your research question, for example, the words used by your
interview participants or numerical information from your questionnaires.

 Methodology refers to the totality of how you will undertake your research. It includes your research
approach, epistemological position, and the specific research methods you choose, e.g., interviews and
questionnaires.

 Sampling involves selecting your study's participants (or other data sources., documents). Your sample (the
selection of people or other data sources) is chosen from the total possible data sources, known as the
population.
 Research: An Integral Part of Practice
 Research is a systematic investigation to find answers to a problem. It is a process for collecting, analyzing, and interpreting information
to answer questions. It is a process with specific characteristics and must be controlled, rigorous, systematic, valid, verifiable,
empirical, and critical.

 Controlled: The concept of control implies that, in exploring causality to two variables, you set up your study in a way that minimizes the
effects of other factors affecting the relationship. This can be achieved mainly in the physical sciences, as most research is done in a
laboratory. However, in the social sciences, it is challenging as research is carried out on issues relating to human beings living in a society
where such controls are impossible. Therefore, in the social sciences, as you cannot control external factors, you attempt to quantify their
impact.

 Rigorous: You must be scrupulous in ensuring that the procedures followed to find answers to questions are relevant, appropriate, and
just. The degree of rigor varies markedly between the physical and the social sciences and within the social sciences.

 Systematic: This implies that the procedures adopted to undertake an investigation follow a specific logical sequence. The different steps
must be taken appropriately. Some procedures must follow others.

 Valid and verifiable: This concept implies that whatever you conclude based on findings is correct and can be verified by you and others.

 Empirical: Any conclusions drawn are based upon hard evidence gathered from information collected from real-life experiences or observations.

 Critical: Critical scrutiny of the procedures and methods is crucial to a research inquiry. The process of investigation must be foolproof and
free from any drawbacks. The process adopted, and the procedures used must withstand critical scrutiny.
 Types of Research
 Types of research can be looked at from three different perspectives:

 Applications of the findings of the research study

 Objectives of the study

 Mode of inquiry used in conducting the study

 Types of Research: Application Perspective

 There are two broad categories: pure and applied research

 Pure research involves developing and testing theories and hypotheses that are intellectually challenging to the researcher but may
or may not have practical application. Pure research is also concerned with developing, examining, verifying, and refining research
methods, procedures, techniques, and tools that form the body of research methodology. Examples of pure research include
developing a sampling technique that can be applied to a particular situation, developing a method to assess the validity of a
procedure, developing an
instrument to measure the stress level in people, and finding the best way of measuring people’s attitudes. The knowledge
produced through pure research is sought to add to the existing knowledge of research methods.

 Most of the research in the social sciences is applied. In other words, the research techniques, procedures, and methods that form
the body of research methodology are applied to the collection of information about various aspects of a situation, issue, problem, or
phenomenon so that the information gathered can be used in other ways – such as for policy formulation, administration and the
enhancement of understanding of a phenomenon.
 Types of Research
 Types of Research: Objective Perspective

 If you examine a research study from the perspective of its objectives, broadly, a research endeavor can be classified as
descriptive, correlational, explanatory, or exploratory.

 A research study classified as a descriptive study attempts to describe a situation, problem, phenomenon, service, or program
systematically or provides information, say, the living conditions of a community or describes attitudes towards an issue.

 The main emphasis of a correlational study is to discover or establish the existence of a

relationship/association/interdependence between two or more aspects of a situation.

 Explanatory research attempts to clarify why and how a relationship exists between two aspects of a situation or
phenomenon. This type of research attempts to explain, for example, why stressful living results in heart attacks, why a fertility
decline follows a decline in mortality, or how the home environment affects children’s level of academic achievement.

 The fourth type of research is called exploratory research. This is when a study explores an area where little is known or
investigates the possibilities of launching a particular research study.
 Types of Research
 Types of Research: Mode of Enquiry Perspective

 The structured approach: In the structured approach, everything that forms the research process – objectives, design,
sample, and the questions that you plan to ask of respondents - is predetermined.

 The unstructured approach: The structured approach is more appropriate to determine the extent of a problem, issue, or
phenomenon, whereas the unstructured approach is used to explore its nature.

 The structured approach to the inquiry is classified as quantitative research and unstructured as qualitative research.

 A study is classified as qualitative if the purpose of the study is to describe a situation, phenomenon, problem, or event.
Quantitative research is numeric and objective.

 The study is classified as quantitative if you want to quantify the variation in a phenomenon, station, problem, or issue. Qualitative
research is concerned with subjective phenomena that can not be numerically measured.
 Deciding to Research Planning a Research Study Conducting Research Study

 Conceptualising a Research
 Formulating a Research Design
Problem  Constructing an Instrument  Collecting Data
for Data Collection  Processing and Displaying
Data
 Selecting a sample
 Writing a research report
 Writing a Research Proposal
 The Research Process: An Eight–Step Model
 Phase I: Deciding what to research

 Step I: Formulating a Research Problem: Formulating a research problem is the first and most crucial step in the research
process. A research problem identifies your destination: it should tell you, your research supervisor, and your readers what you
intend to research. The primary function of formulating a research problem is deciding what you want to learn.

 Phase II: Planning a Research Study

 Step II: Conceptualizing a Research Design: An important of research is the use of appropriate methods. Research
involves systematic, controlled, valid, and rigorous exploration and description of what is not known and the establishment of
associations and cushions that permit the accurate prediction of outcomes under a given set of conditions. The primary function
of a research design is to explain how you will find the answers to your research questions. For any investigation, selecting an
appropriate research design is crucial in enabling you to arrive at valid findings, comparisons, and conclusions. A faulty design
results in misleading findings and is therefore tantamount to wasting human and financial resources. In scientific circles, the
strength of an empirical investigation is primarily evaluated in the light of the research design adopted. When selecting a
research design, it is crucial to ensure that it is valid, workable, and manageable.
 The Research Process: An Eight–Step Model
 Step III: Constructing an Instrument for Data Collection

 Anything that becomes a means of collecting information for your study is called a ‘research tool’ or a ‘research
instrument,’ for example, observation forms, interview schedules, questionnaires, and interview guides.

 If you plan to collect data specifically for your study (primary data), you must either construct a research instrument or select one
already built.

 If you are using secondary data, you must identify what information is needed and then develop a form to extract the required
data.

 Step IV: Selecting a sample

 The accuracy of your findings largely depends on how you select your sample. The primary objective of any sampling
design is to minimize, within the limitation of cost, the gap between the values obtained from your sample and those
prevalent in the study population.

 When selecting a sample, you should achieve two essential sampling aims: avoiding bias in choosing a sample and
attaining maximum precision for a given outlay of resources.

 There are three categories of sampling design: random/probability sampling designs, non-random/non-probability sampling
designs,
and ‘mixed’ sampling designs.
 The Research Process: An Eight–Step Model

 Step V: Writing a Research Proposal

 Having done all the preparatory work, the next step is to combine everything to provide adequate information about your research
study for your research supervisor and others. This overall plan called a research proposal, tells a reader about your research
problem and how you plan to investigate it. Broadly, a research proposal’s primary function is to detail the operational plan for
obtaining answers to your research questions. In doing so, it ensures – and reassures the readers of – the validity of the
methodology to receive answers accurately and objectively.

 A research proposal must tell you, your research supervisor, and a reviewer the following information about your study:

 what you are proposing to do,

 how you plan to proceed,

 why did you select the proposed strategy?

 The Research Process: An Eight–Step Model

 Step V: Writing a Research Proposal  Step V: Writing a Research Proposal

 Therefore, it should contain the following information  Therefore, it should contain the following information
about your study: about your study:

 a statement of the objectives of the study;  information on sample size and sampling design;

 a list of hypotheses, if you are testing any;  information on data processing procedures;

 the study design you are proposing to use; an outline of the proposed chapters for the
report;
 the setting for your research;
 the study’s problems and limitations, and
 the research instrument(s) you are planning to use;
 the proposed time frame.
 The Research Process: An Eight–Step Model
 Phase III: Conducting Research Study
 Step VIII: Writing a research report
 Step VI: Collecting Data
 There are two broad categories of reports: quantitative
 Having formulated a research problem, developed a
and qualitative. The distinction is more academic than
study design, constructed a research instrument, and
real, as you need to combine quantitative and
selected a sample, you then collect the data from
which you will draw inferences and conclusions for qualitative skills in most studies. Nevertheless, some
your study. studies are solely qualitative, and some are
quantitatively exclusive.
 Many methods could be used to gather the required
information. As a part of the research design, you  Writing the report is the last and, for many, the most
decided upon the procedure you wanted to adopt to
challenging step of the research process. This report
collect your data. In this phase, you collect the data.
informs the world what you have done, what you have
 Step VII: Processing and Displaying Data discovered, and what conclusions you have drawn

 The way you analyse the information you collect from your findings. If you are transparent about the
largely depends upon two things: the type of whole process, you will also be clear about how you
information (descriptive, quantitative, qualitative, or want to write your report. Your report should be
attitudinal) and the way you want to communicate written in an academic style and be divided into
your findings to your readers.
different chapters and sections based on the main
themes of your study.
 Writing Up: Layout of a Report

 Scientific paper format:

 Abstract

 Introduction

 Literature review

 Methodology

 Findings and discussion

 Conclusion

 References