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Name of institute: Swami Sahjanand Collages of Commerce and Management
of Computer Sciences
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Topic of the assignment: General overview of the Research
skills
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Roll no: 07
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Course: M.phil
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Name: Drashti V. Dave
· Year-2015
· Paper-1 : Research skills:
Documentation & Fundamentals of Research Theory
Definition: Research is the systematic investigation into
and study of materials and sources in order to establish facts and reach new
conclusions or in other words investigate systematically.
Or
Research is work that involves studying something and
trying to discover facts about it.
There are various definitions of the research which
may help to understand the entire concept.
Various definitions of Research Methods by various authors:
According to, Clarke and Clarke: Research is a careful, systematic and objective investigation conducted
to obtain valid facts, draw conclusions and established principles regarding an
identifiable problem in some field of knowledge.
John .W. Best: Research is a systematic and objective analysis and recording of controlled observations that may lead to the development of generalizations, principles, theories and concepts, resulting in prediction for seeing and possibly ultimate control of events.
Clifford woody: Research is a careful enquiry or examination in seeking facts or principles, a diligent investigation to ascertain something.
John .W. Best: Research is a systematic and objective analysis and recording of controlled observations that may lead to the development of generalizations, principles, theories and concepts, resulting in prediction for seeing and possibly ultimate control of events.
Clifford woody: Research is a careful enquiry or examination in seeking facts or principles, a diligent investigation to ascertain something.
These are the views of different
authors about the research now let’s see what Wikipedia’s view about the
research.
Research comprises "creative work
undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of humans, culture
and society, and the use of this stock of knowledge to devise new applications."] It
is used to establish or confirm facts, reaffirm the results of previous work,
solve new or existing problems, support theorems, or
develop new theories. A research project may also be an
expansion on past work in the field. To test the validity of instruments,
procedures, or experiments, research may replicate elements of prior projects,
or the project as a whole. The primary purposes of basic research (as opposed to applied research) are documentation, discovery, interpretation, or the research
and development
(R&D) of methods and systems for the advancement of human knowledge.
Approaches to research depend on epistemologies, which vary considerably both within
and between humanities and sciences. There are several forms of research: scientific, humanities, artistic, economic, social, business, marketing, practitioner
research,
etc. (Wikipedia)
Research is based on primary and secondary sources, often
together with original data collected via research "instruments" (surveys,
interviews, questionnaires, "focus groups," etc.) to produce new
knowledge on a particular topic.
In addition to primary sources and original instruments,
secondary sources are used to provide an overview of existing published
knowledge on a topic, and possible current debates about the topic. The
background provided by secondary sources provides a contextual background and
establishes how the new knowledge described in a paper differs from what is already
known
Research is very important step of any work,
without research person cannot get the things properly. Research cover-up all
the ideas, thinking and knowledge. There are many things which are related or
useful in research like language, content, context, style, pattern of
sentences and most useful is researcher because without researcher
research cannot possible. This all are part of research.
Research may be categorized
as either Basic or Applied: 
The emphasis and methodology of
research may differ between different fields and disciplines, particularly
between the Sciences and the Humanities. However, most fields share the
following concerns:
- Discovering the relevant "facts" of an event, issue, procedure, or problem;
- Reviewing and evaluating contrasting explanations for the topic being researched, especially explanations which may differ from what the current research has concluded;
- Reviewing the consensus (or lack of it) of the research findings among researchers;
- Disseminating the findings and conclusions for critical review.
The Importance of Research
Study Implications:
The purpose of research is to inform action. Thus, your study should seek to contextualize its findings within the larger body of research. Research must always be high quality in order to produce knowledge that is applicable outside of the research setting with implications that go beyond the group that has participated in the research. Furthermore, the results of your study should have implications for policy and project implementation.One problem that often plagues progress in global health is the slow translation of research into practice. Oftentimes, disconnect exists between those who create the evidence base and those who are positioned to implement the research findings. The underlying problem is in “the way in which the production of evidence is organized institutionally with highly centralized mechanisms, whereas the application of that science is highly decentralized. This social distance prevails because scientists are more oriented to the international audiences of other scientists for which they publish than to the needs of practitioners, policy makers, or the local public.”
Thus, as researchers, it is imperative to take steps to overcome this barrier. Publishing your study may be one initial step to make your research known to the global community. Other proactive measures can be taken to encourage the uptake of evidence-based interventions. For example, you can present your research findings at various venues such as the Unite for Sight sponsored Global Health and Innovation Conference. Furthermore, you can send the results of your study to local officials, policy-makers, and community leaders.
Goals of Research:
Well-conducted research is vital to the success of global heath endeavors. Not only does research form the foundation of program development and policies all over the world, but it can also be translated into effective global health programs. Research draws its power from the fact that it is empirical: rather than merely theorizing about what might be effective or what could work, researchers go out into the field and design studies that give policymakers hard data on which they can base their decisions. Furthermore, good research produces results that are examinable by peers, methodologies that can be replicated, and knowledge that can be applied to real-world situations. Researchers work as a team to enhance our knowledge of how to best address the world’s problems.Identifying Your Research 'Problem' — the 'What' ‘how’ and 'Why'
For most researchers, identifying exactly what they are researching, and why, is the most difficult part of the entire process. It is not enough just to be interested in a subject and want to write about it. For a research, there has to be a particular reason why you are writing about it, a particular perspective you are taking, a particular aspect you will be covering, and a particular conclusion you will be drawing.
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:
1. To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to achieve new
insights into it (studies with this objects in view are termed as exploratory or formulate 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);
4. To test a hypothesis of a causal relationship between variables
(such studies are known as hypothesis-testing research studies)
High quality research: Good research requires;
1.
The scope and
limitations of the work to be clearly defined.
2.
The process to be
clearly explained so that it can be reproduced and verify by other researchers.
3.
The thoroughly
planned design.
4.
Here creativity is
prime requirement, researcher must do creative work.
5.
Use of short forms,
idioms and phrases.
Features of
systemic research:
1.
Should be logical
2.
Should be empirical
and replicable in nature
3.
Should be according
to plans
4.
Should be relevant
and appropriate
5.
Should be according
to the rules and the assumptions, it shouldn’t be based on false bases or
judgments.
6.
Researcher should be
knowledgeable
7.
Researcher should
have quality in applicable subject
8.
Researcher must have
vision of his own
9.
It should have an
open thinking, it shouldn’t be bound
10.
It should stable but have quality to flaw or
consistent thinking
11.
It has logical roots, helping to establish
facts or principles
Criteria for a good research process:
1.
Research is an
extremely cyclic process; this is part of the error correction.
2.
Because of the cyclic
of research it can be difficult to determine where to start and when to stop.
3.
In research process
researcher does not ask the question.
4.
In research simple
sentences are used but they are highly reflective.
5.
Sometimes it happens
in research that meaning or message can be communicated but proper message
cannot be communicated.
6.
In research
grammatical error, spelling error, sentence error or any minor error should not
occur.
7.
Sometimes lack of
resources becomes obstacle in research
8.
Repetition problems:
repetition of words, sentences etc.
9.
Researcher must be
bias free so that he/she can accept the change.
10.
To repeat the research for
further advancement, keeping the continuity of the research procedure used
should be described in sufficient detail to permit another researcher what has
already been attained.
11.
The procedural design of the
research should be carefully planned to yield results that are as objective as
possible.
12.
The researcher should report with
complete frankness, flaws in procedural design and estimate
their effects upon the findings.
13.
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.
14.
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.
There are two types of research
1.)
Practical Research: The practical approach consists of the empirical study of the
topic under research and chiefly consists of hands on approach. This involves
first hand research in the form of questionnaires, surveys, interviews,
observations and discussion groups.
2.) Theoretical Research: A non
empirical approach to research, this usually involves perusal of mostly
published works like researching through archives of public libraries, court
rooms and published academic journals.
Basic steps of conducting research:
Research is often conducted using the hourglass model
structure of research. The hourglass model starts with a broad spectrum for
research, focusing in on the required information through the method of the
project (like the neck of the hourglass), then expands the research in the form
of discussion and results. The major steps in conducting research are:
ü Identification of
research problem
- Literature review: in this step researcher have to give their and others view about any literary work. The available literature is reviewed to determine if there is already a solution to the problem.
- Specifying the purpose of research: it is very important step for researcher that he/she must specified their purpose of research.
- Determine specific research questions: researcher may not ask the questions but if questions occur while research researcher must give answer of that questions.
- Specification of a Conceptual framework - Usually a set of hypotheses: the researcher generates intermediate hypotheses to describe the solution to the problem.
- Choice of a methodology: it’s up to researcher that in which method researcher want to research.
- Data collection: in this researcher begins to gather the data relating to the research.
- Analyzing and interpreting the data: after collecting the data analyzing that data is also important step for researcher.
- Reporting and evaluating research
- Communicating the research findings and, possibly, recommendations
- Conclusion
These steps
are generally representing the overall process; however they should be viewed
as an ever-changing iterative process rather than a fixed set of steps. Most
researches begin with a general statement of the problem, or rather, the
purpose for engaging in the study. The literature review identifies flaws or loopholes
in previous research. The research question may be parallel to the hypothesis. The hypothesis is
the supposition to be tested. The researcher collects data to test the hypothesis.
The researcher 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 confirming 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 flip approach: starting with articulating findings and discussion of
them, moving "up" to identification research problem that emerging in
the findings and literature review introducing the findings.
Plato in Meno talks about an
inherent difficulty, if not a paradox, of doing research that can be paraphrase
in the following way, "If you know what you're searching for, why do you
search for it?! If you don't know what you're searching for, what are you
searching for?!
Generally, research is understood to follow a certain
structural process. Though step order may vary depending
on the subject matter and researcher, the following steps are usually part of
most formal research, both basic and applied. So we can say that research is
standing upon these steps.
There are many types of research
which can be helpful in research because with the help of this researcher do
the work effectively. Now let’s briefly overview the types of research process.
The basic types of research are as follows:
(i)Descriptive vs. Analytical: Descriptive
research includes
surveys and fact-finding enquiries of different kinds. The major purpose of
descriptive research is description of the state of affairs as it exists at
present. In social science and business research we quite often use Research Methodology: An Introduction The
main characteristic of this method is that the researcher has no control over
the variables; he can only report what is happening. for descriptive studies in
which the researcher seeks to measure such items as, for example, frequency of
shopping, preferences of people, or similar data. The methods of research
utilized in descriptive research are survey methods of all kinds, including
comparative and co relational methods. In analytical research, on the other hand, the researcher has to
use facts or information already available, and analyze these to make a
critical evaluation of the material.
(ii) Applied vs. Fundamental: Research can either be applied (or
action) research fundamental (to basic or pure) research. Applied research aims at finding a
solution for an immediate problem facing a society or an industrial/business
organization, whereas fundamental
research is mainly concerned
with generalizations and with the formulation of a theory.“Gathering knowledge
for knowledge’s sake is termed ‘pure’ or ‘basic’ research.”Researches
concerning some natural phenomenon or relating to pure mathematics are examples
of fundamental research. Similarly, research studies, concerning human behavior
carried on with a view to make generalizations about human behavior, are also
examples of fundamental research, but research aimed at certain conclusions
(say, a solution) facing a concrete social or business problem is an example of
applied research. Research to identify social, economic or political trends
that may affect a particular institution or the copy research (research to find
out whether certain communications will be read and understood) or the marketing
research or evaluation research are examples of applied research. Thus, the central
aim of applied research is to discover a solution for some pressing practical
problem, whereas basic research is directed towards finding information that
has a broad base of applications and thus, adds to the already existing
organized body of scientific knowledge.
(iii) Quantitative vs. Qualitative: Quantitative research is based on the
measurement of quantity or amount. It is applicable to phenomena that can be
expressed in terms of quantity.
Qualitative research, on the other hand, is concerned with
qualitative phenomenon, i.e. phenomena relating to or involving quality or
kind. For instance, when we are interested in investigating the reasons for
human behavior (i.e., why people think or do certain things) we quite often
talk of ‘Motivation Research’, an important type of qualitative research. This
type of research aims at discovering the underlying motives and desires, using
in depth interviews for the purpose. Other techniques of such research are word
association tests, sentence completion tests, story completion tests and
similar other projective techniques. Attitude or opinion research i.e.,
research designed to find out how people feel or what they think about a
particular subject or institution is also qualitative research. Qualitative
research especially important in the behavioral sciences where the aim is to
discover the underlying motives of human behavior. Through such research we can
analyze the various factors which motivate people to behave in a particular
manner or which make people like or dislike a particular thing. It may be
stated, however, that to apply qualitative research in Research Methodology practice is relatively a difficult job and
therefore, while doing such research, one should seek guidance from
experimental psychologists.
(iv) Conceptual vs. Empirical: Conceptual research is that related to some
abstract idea or theory. It is generally used by philosophers and thinkers to
develop new concepts or to reinterpret existing ones. On the other hand,
empirical research relies on experience or observation alone, often without due
regard for system and theory. It is data-based research, coming up with
conclusions which are capable of being verified by observation or experiment. We can also call it as experimental type of
research. In such a research it is necessary to get at facts firsthand, at
their source, and actively to go about doing certain things to stimulate the production
of desired information. In such a research, the researcher must first provide
himself with a working hypothesis or guess as to the probable results. Such
research is thus characterized by the experimenter’s control over the variables
under study and his deliberate manipulation of one of them to study its
effects. Empirical research is appropriate when proof is sought that certain
variables affect other variables in some way. Evidence gathered through
experiments or empirical studies is today considered to be the most powerful
support possible for a given hypothesis.
(v) Some Other Types of Research: All other types of research are variations of
one or more of the above stated approaches, based on either the purpose of
research, or the time required to accomplish research, on the environment in
which research is done, or on the basis of some other similar factor. Form the
point of view of time, we can think of research either as one-time research or longitudinal research.
In the former case the research is confined to a single time-period, whereas in
the latter case the research is carried on over several time-periods. Research
can be field-setting research or
laboratory research or simulation
research, depending upon the environment in which it is to be carried
out. Research can as well be understood as clinical or diagnostic research. Such research follow case-study
methods or in depth approaches to reach the basic causal relations. Such studies
usually go deep into the causes of things or events that interest us, using
very small samples and very deep probing data gathering devices. The research
may be exploratory or it may be
formalized. The objective of exploratory research is the development of hypotheses
rather than their testing, whereas formalized research studies are those with substantial
structure and with specific hypotheses to be tested. Historical research is that which utilizes historical sources
like documents, remains, etc. to study events or ideas of the past, including
the philosophy of persons and groups at any remote point of time. Research can
also be classified as conclusion-oriented
and decision-oriented. While doing conclusion oriented research, a
researcher is free to pick up a problem, redesign the enquiry as he proceeds
and is prepared to conceptualize as he wishes. Decision-oriented research is always
for the need of a decision maker and the researcher in this case is not free to
embark upon research according to his own inclination.
These types are helpful
for research in any field. It is simplified term it investigate specific
purpose. According to encyclopedia of social science, research can be explained
as ‘the manipulation of generalizing to extend connect to verify knowledge’
What would be the conclusion of research method?
These are main points of the conclusion;
ü First of all
summarize the main points you made in your introduction and review of the
literary topic
ü Than review the
research methods/design in very brief
ü Discuss the broader
implications of findings
ü Mention the
limitations of your research
ü Honestly give web
links or description of reliable sources (from where you have taken useful
points or arguments related to the topic)
ü Offer suggestions for
future research related to your
Conclusion: Research is very broad method/process, it is
endless and research is half-done
work. Research
is equally important for social scientists in studying social relationships and
in seeking answers to various social problems.
It provides the intellectual satisfaction of knowing a few things just for the
sake of knowledge. Data collection procedures are very important for this
study; there are large number of information we get for the research but which
way what and how to use that information is also as much important in research
methodology. Research can involve the overcoming of many obstacles but than
even it has depth to think of something. Research is very important process and
theory in every field. It cover up all the aspects- political, sociological,
economical, psychoanalytical, psychological, methodological etc. So with the
help of different types, suggestions, viewpoints, basic steps, features and
criteria of research skills researcher made research effective.
Work citation:
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https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Types_of_research_methods_and_disciplines&oldid=679038685
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