Research Methodology for Engineers

[SOS413]
5th Year Water Resources Engineering
A d a m a S c i e n c e A n d Tec hn o lo g y U ni ve rsi t y
S c h o o l o f C i v i l E n g i n e e r i n g & A rc h i t e c t u re
Wa t e r R e s o u r c e s E n g i n e e r i n g D e p a r t m e n t
NOVEMBER 2015 EC
 Course Contents:
• Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION

• Chapter 2: PLANNING AND WRITING A RESEARCH PROPOSAL

• Chapter 3: DATA COLLECTION, ORGANIZATION AND ANALYSIS

• Chapter 4: RESEARCH REPORT WRITING AND PRESENTATION

• Chapter 5: RESEARCH ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

 Assessments!

Assessment Continuous Assessment (60%) Final

Exam
Assessments Quiz Test Assignment Project Presentation Mid Exam Final Exam
(7 types):

Weight 5% 10% 5% 10% 10% 20% 40%

(100%):
 Brainstorming?
• What is a research for you? And a project?
• What is the difference between research and project?
• What makes proposal different from research?
• What are the essential elements of a proposal?
• What are the essential elements of a research?
• Which one will you do for your BSc degree fulfilment? Project or
research?
• Do you think Engineering and Social Science researches are the
same?
• What do you think are the criteria for senior BSc Project evaluation?
 Chapter One

INTRODUCTION

October 2015 E.C.

 Chapter Objectives:

 to know and able to define what a research is;

 to know about the purposes of a research;

 to understand and describe about the different types of
research methods.
 Flow Chart for Research/Project Overall Work
 Title
 Abstract/Summary
What is a The Two phases  Introduction
Planning & writing
 Literature Review
Research? of a Research research Proposal
 Materials &
Methods
 Work Plan
 Budget
 References
 Title Accepted Presentation
Rejected
 Abstract/Summary
 Introduction
 Literature Review
 Rejected
Materials & Methods
 Results & Discussions
 Conclusion and Accepted
Recommendations Research Work & Final &
 References Report Writing Presentation
Graduated

Developed by: Sissay Dechasa, 2020

the Ws of research
 Definition of Research
• What is research?
• Gathering necessary information/data to answer a question, and thereby help in
solving a problem.
• An organized effort and systematic search for knowledge/truth.
• Scientific and systematic search for significant information on a specific topic.
• A voyage of discovery – and so on.

• Research: refers to the systematic method consisting of stating the problem,

formulating a hypothesis, collecting data, analyzing the data and reaching to a
certain conclusion(s).
• Research is a process of collecting, analyzing and interpreting data to answer
questions.
 What is research not?

• Accidental discovery

• Just gathering data

• Searching out materials in library
• Confined to a laboratory
• Presenting facts
 Purpose of Research
• The purpose of research is to discover answers to questions through the application
of scientific procedures. It could be through either of the following:
Exploration:
• Is undertaken when not much is known about the situation at hand or no information is
available on how similar problems or issues have been solved in the past. E.g.:
Groundwater
Description
• Is undertaken in order to ascertain and be able to describe the characteristics of the
variables of interest in a situation. E.g.: Beseka Lake
Hypothesis Testing
• research that engage in hypotheses testing usually explain the nature of certain
relationships, or establish the differences among groups or the independence of two or
more factors in a situation. E.g.: Meteorological conditions
 Research vs Project: Differences
• Research is the collecting of information, investigation,
experimentation in order to obtain new knowledge or discover something.
While, Project is a temporal endeavour to obtain a defined goal.

• Research is a systematic investigation, a deep study of a particular topic,

whereas Project is a process of achieving a particular result.

• Research is not time-bounded, but Project is assigned a particular time

frame. 

• Project is driven by a clear end result, on the other hand Research starts with
a question.

• Abstract is for a Research while Executive Summary is for a Project.

 What Motivate people to Do Research?
• Desire to get a research degree along with career benefits;
• Desire to face the challenge in solving problems,
• Desire to get intellectual joy of doing a creative work;

• Desire to do research to serve the society (universities mission);

• Seek to get recognition and respect;

• Government direction (e.g., ASTU); and so on.

 Sources of Problems

Reading
Academic
Experiences Brainstorming

Research
Daily
Experiences Consultations
Exposure
to field
situations
Criteria for Selecting a Good Research Problem
• Significance to the discipline
• Researcher’s competency
• Originality
• Feasibility
• Current
• Ethical consideration
• Solvable/researchable
• Clear and unambiguous
• Administrative support
• Peer support
 A Research Topic is fixed based on:
Personal interest

Social problem

Testing theory or to do a case study

Program evaluation (government programs)

Prior research

Human service practice (e.g. comparing scientific and traditional

weather forecast)
What are some of the Limitations Encountered when doing
or Thinking of Doing a Research Project?
 Time constraints
 Financial consideration
 Anticipating and avoiding problems
 Equipment and Human resource limitations

 “Out of the box” thinking (thinking that moves away because it involves a
variety of aspects)
 “In the box” thinking (confined thinking which will not lead to good ideas)
 Types of Research Methods
Based on general category, the following are common research methods:
1. Quantitative Research
2. Qualitative Research
3. Basic Research
4. Applied Research
5. Experimental Research
6. Correlational Research
7. Explanatory Research
8. Analytical Research
 Quantitative Research
Applicable to phenomena that can be expressed in terms of quantity.
Examples: meteorological, hydrological, etc.

Advantages:
◦ Quantitative research allows the researcher to Disadvantage:
measure and analyze data.
◦ Quantitative research does not study
◦ The researcher is more objective about the things in a natural setting or discuss the
findings of the research. meaning things have for different people.

◦ Quantitative research can be used to test ◦ A large sample of the population must be
hypotheses in experiments because of its ability to studied for more accurate results
measure data using statistics.
 Qualitative Research
Is research dealing with phenomena that are difficult or impossible to
quantify mathematically, such as beliefs, meanings, attributes, and symbols.
Advantages: Disadvantage:
◦It enables more complex aspects of a person’s experience ◦ It is more difficult to determine the validity
to be studied and reliability of linguistic data
◦Fewer restriction or assumptions are placed on the data to ◦ There is more subjectivity involved in
analyzing the data.
be collected.
◦The participants are able to provide data in their own ◦ “Data overload” – open-ended questions can
words and in their own way sometimes create lots of data, which can take
◦Not everything can be quantified, or quantified easily, a long time to analyze!
Individuals can be studied in more depth ◦ Time consuming
 Basic Research

 Fundamental or Pure research

 Formulation/development of theories
 Adds more materials to the already existing science or knowledge

 Examples of fundamental research are: research concerning some natural

phenomenon or related to pure mathematics; research studies aimed at studying
and making generalizations about human behaviour.
 Applied Research

 target to find a solution for an immediate problem facing a society or an

industrial/business organization.

Solve specific problems.

Examples:
 Improve agricultural crop production

 overcoming drinking water shortage

 Improve the energy efficiency of homes, offices, etc.

 Experimental Research

relies on experiment or observation alone

It is data-based research, coming up with conclusions which are capable of

being verified by observation or experiment

is characterized by the experimenter's control over the variables

 Correlational Research
 refers to the systematic investigation or statistical study of relationships
among two or more variables, without necessarily determining cause and
effect.
Advantages:
◦ Can collect much information from many subjects at one time.
◦ Can study a wide range of variables and their interrelations.
◦ Study variables that are not easily produced in the laboratory.
Disadvantages:
 Correlation does not indicate causation (cause and effect).
 Problems with self-report method.
 Explanatory Research
Is informal, relying on secondary research such as reviewing
available literature and/or data through in- depth interviews, focus
groups, projective methods, case studies or pilot studies.

Identify cause and effect relationship among different factors.

 The results of exploratory research are not usually useful for

decision-making by themselves, but they can provide significant
insight into a given situation.
 Analytical Research
 use facts or information already available, and analyze
these to make a critical evaluation of the material.

Build and elaborate a theory

 The Research Process

The research process is similar to undertaking a journey.

For a research journey, there are two important decisions to make:

1. What you want to find out about.
◦ what research questions (problems) you want to find answers to;
2. How to go about finding their answers.
◦ The path to finding answers to your research questions constitutes
research methodology.
Researchable
? Research
results
Problem
Research Methods
Steps in Research Process
1. Formulating the Research Problem
2. Extensive Literature Review
3. Developing the objectives
4. Preparing the Research Design including Sample Design
5. Collecting the Data
6. Analysis of Data
7. Generalisation and Interpretation
8. Preparation of the Report or Presentation of Results
9. Formal write up of conclusions reached
10. Publication
Quiz
 Quiz (5%)
List out at least 5 research methods.
1. __________________

2. __________________

3. __________________

4. __________________

5. __________________
Thank You