Research Methodology

Overview of research and its methodology

Concepts of research The need for research Types of research Steps in conducting research

What is research?
John prepared a paper on computer usage in secondary schools after reviewing literature on the subject available in his university library and called it a piece of research. Mary says that he has researched and completed a document which gives information about the age of his students, their parents income and distance of their schools from the District Office Gary participated in a workshop on curriculum development and prepared what he calls, a research report on the curriculum for building technicians. He did this through a literature survey on the subject and by discussing with the participants of the workshop.

An example
A general manager of a car producing company was concerned with the complaints received from the car users that the car they produce have some problems with rating sound at the dash board and the rear passenger seat after few thousand kilometers of driving. He obtained information from the company workers to identify the various factors influencing the problem. He then formulated the problem and generated guesses (hypotheses). He constructed a checklist and obtained requisite information from a representative sample of cars. He analyzed the data thus collected, interpreted the results in the light of his hypotheses and reached conclusions.

An example
A general manager of a car producing company was concerned with the complaints received from the car users that the car they produce have some problems with rating sound at the dash board and the rear passenger seat after few thousand kilometers of driving. He obtained information from the company workers to identify the various factors influencing the problem. He then formulated the problem and generated guesses (hypotheses). He constructed a checklist and obtained requisite information from a representative sample of cars. He analyzed the data thus collected, interpreted the results in the light of his hypotheses and reached conclusions.

Definition
When you say that you are undertaking a research study to find answers to a question, you are implying that the process;
is being undertaken within a framework of a set of philosophies ( approaches); uses procedures, methods and techniques that have been tested for their validity and reliability; is designed to be unbiased and objective.

Research is a structured enquiry that utilizes acceptable scientific methodology to solve problems and create new knowledge that is generally applicable. Scientific methods consist of systematic observation, classification and interpretation of data. Although we engage in such process in our daily life, the difference between our casual day- to-day generalization and the conclusions usually recognized as scientific method lies in the degree of formality, rigorousness, verifiability and general validity of latter.

Characteristics of Research
Controlled - in exploring causality in relation to two variables (factors), set up your study in a way that minimizes the effects of other factors affecting the relationship. Rigorous - scrupulous in ensuring that the procedures followed to find answers to questions are relevant, appropriate and justified. Systematic - procedure adopted to undertake an investigation follow a certain logical sequence. Valid and verifiable Empirical - any conclusion drawn are based upon hard evidence gathered from information collected from real life experiences or observations Critical - critical scrutiny of the procedures used and the methods employed is crucial to a research enquiry. The process of investigation must be foolproof and free from drawbacks.

Types of Research
Application Objectives Enquiry mode

Types of Research - Application Pure research - developing and testing theories and hypotheses that are intellectually challenging to the researcher but may or may not have practical application at the present time or in the future Applied research - to solve specific, practical questions; for policy formulation, administration and understanding of a phenomenon

Types of Research - Objectives

Descriptive research attempts to describe systematically a situation, problem, phenomenon, service or programme, or provides information about , say, living condition of a community, or describes attitudes towards an issue. Co-relational research attempts to discover or establish the existence of a relationship/ interdependence between two or more aspects of a situation. Explanatory research attempts to clarify why and how there is a relationship between two or more aspects of a situation or phenomenon. Exploratory research is undertaken to explore an area where little is known or to investigate the possibilities of undertaking a particular research study (feasibility study / pilot study).
In practice most studies are a combination of the first three categories.

Types of Research Enquiry mode

Structured approach - quantitative research, forms the research process- objectives, design, sample, and the questions that you plan to ask of respondents- is predetermined. Unstructured approach - qualitative research, Main objective is to describe the variation in a phenomenon, situation or attitude. e,g, description of an observed situation, the historical enumeration of events, an account of different opinions different people have about an issue, description of working condition in a particular industry.

Criteria of Good Research

The purpose of the research should be clearly defined and common concepts be used. 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. The procedural design of the research should be carefully planned to yield results that are as objective as possible. The researcher should report with complete frankness, flaws in procedural design and estimate their effects upon the findings. 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. 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. Greater confidence in research is warranted if the researcher is experienced, has a good reputation in research and is a person of integrity.

Good research is ..
Systematic: It means that research is structured with specified steps to be taken in a specified sequence in accordance with the well defined set of rules. Systematic characteristic of the research does not rule out creative thinking but it certainly does reject the use of guessing and intuition in arriving at conclusions. Logical: This implies that research is guided by the rules of logical reasoning and the logical process of induction and deduction are of great value in carrying out research. Induction is the process of reasoning from a part to the whole whereas deduction is the process of reasoning from some premise to a conclusion which follows from that very premise. In fact, logical reasoning makes research more meaningful in the context of decision making. Empirical: It implies that research is related basically to one or more aspects of a real situation and deals with concrete data that provides a basis for external validity to research results. Replicable: This characteristic allows research results to be verified by replicating the study and thereby building a sound basis for decisions.

Steps in Research Process

Formulating the Research Problem Extensive Literature Review Developing the objectives Preparing the Research Design including Sample Design Collecting the Data Analysis of Data Generalization and Interpretation Preparation of the Report or Presentation of Results-Formal write ups of conclusions reached.

FORMULATING RESEARCH PROBLEM

Considerations in selecting a research problem:
Interest: a research endeavour is usually time consuming, and involves hard work and possibly unforeseen problems. One should select topic of great interest to sustain the required motivation.

Magnitude: It is extremely important to select a topic that you can manage within the time and resources at your disposal. Narrow the topic down to something manageable, specific and clear.
Measurement of concepts: Make sure that you are clear about the indicators and measurement of concepts (if used) in your study.

Considerations in selecting a research problem (cont.):

Level of expertise: Make sure that you have adequate level of expertise for the task you are proposing since you need to do the work yourself. Relevance: Ensure that your study adds to the existing body of knowledge, bridges current gaps and is useful in policy formulation. This will help you to sustain interest in the study. Availability of data: Before finalizing the topic, make sure that data are available. Ethical issues: How ethical issues can affect the study population and how ethical problems can be overcome should be thoroughly examined at the problem formulating stage.

Steps in formulation of a research problem (1)

Identify a broad field or subject area of interest to you. Dissect the broad area into sub areas Select what is of most interest to you Raise research questions Formulate objectives Assess your objectives

Steps in formulation of a research problem (2)

Determining the field of research Develop the mastery on the area or it should be the field of his specialization Review the researches conducted in area to know the recent trend and studies in the area On the basis of review, consider the priority field of the study. Draw an analogy and insight in identifying a problem experience of the field in locating the problem. Discuss with supervisor or expertee of the field if required. Pin-point specific aspect of the problem which is to be investigated

Novel cooling strategy for electronic packages: Directly injected cooling

The last two decades, thermal management is becoming the challenge area in electronic product design. Worldwide, both consumer and industry continuously demand more functionality, better performance and increased product miniaturization. As a result, power dissipations increase on even smaller surfaces, thus intensifying local heat fluxes. To cope with these growing thermal issues, the thermal design process of electronic products plays an increasingly dominant role in the total design process.
This study focuses on developing a novel cooling strategy for electronic packages. Fig. 1(a) shows a general view of such an electronic package. The heart of the package is formed by the semiconductor die or integrated circuit (IC).

Experimental Method
An experiment usually consists in making an event occur under known conditions whereas many extraneous influences as far as possible are eliminated and close observation is possible so that relationship between phenomena can be revealed. William I.B. Beveridge An experiment is an observation under controlled conditions. F.S. Chapin Experiment is the proof of a hypothesis which seeks to make up two factors into a casual relationship through the study of contrasting situations which have been controlled on all factors the one of interest, the latter being either the hypothetical cause or the hypothetical effect. Ernest, Greenwood The essence of an experiment may be described as observing the effect on a dependent variable of the manipulation of an independent variable. Festinger

Experiment design and analysis

o It is often required that effects of individual factors to be identified, so that meaningful statements can be made about different levels of each factor o Develop a model that best describes the data obtained
Regression models, modeling categorical data Estimate confidence intervals for model parameters

o Estimate the contribution of each factor to performance; o Check if the alternatives of a factor are significantly different in their impact.

Experimental control
it is essential that all variables except experimental variable, should be controlled.
NEEDS OF CONTROL

1. For the internal validity of result. 2. To know the effect on situations by changing them. 3. To make scientific observation. 4. To make prediction.

Research Planning and Sampling

Research design is a choice of an investigator about the components of his project and development of certain components of the design. A design of research does not consists of an ordered sequential step by-step procedure. It is a planning stage of research which is usually made logically visualizing its practicability.

The selection of research components is done keeping in view of the objectives of the research. Research hypotheses also provide the basis for designing a research work.
The review of the literature and related research reports are set as an important component of design. Kerlinger asserts that research design has two basic purposes: (1) to provide answers to research questions, and (2) to control the variance.

Research Planning and Sampling (cont.)

A research design includes the following components : (a) Research method or research strategy. (b) Sampling design. (c) Choice of research tools, and (d) Choice of statistical techniques.

IMPORTANT CONCEPTS RELATING TO RESEARCH DESIGN

Dependent (criterion), independent (experimental), controlled, and intervening variables Extraneous variable: Independent variables that are not related to the purpose of the study, but may affect the dependent variable are termed as extraneous variables. Control: One important characteristic of a good research design is to minimise the influence or effect of extraneous variable(s). Research hypothesis: When a prediction or a hypothesised relationship is to be tested by scientific methods, it is termed as research hypothesis.

IMPORTANT CONCEPTS RELATING TO RESEARCH DESIGN (cont.)

o Experimental and non-experimental hypothesistesting research: It can be of the experimental design or of the non-experimental design. Research in which the independent variable is manipulated is termed experimental hypothesis-testing research and a research in which an independent variable is not manipulated is called non-experimental hypothesistesting research. o Experimental and control groups: In an experimental hypothesis-testing research when a group is exposed to usual conditions, it is termed a control group, but when the group is exposed to some novel or special condition, it is termed an experimental group.

o Treatments: The different conditions under which experimental and control groups are put. o Experiment: The process of examining the truth of a statistical hypothesis, relating to some research problem, is known as an experiment. For example, we can conduct an experiment to examine the usefulness of a certain newly developed drug. Experiments can be of two types viz., absolute experiment and comparative experiment. o Experimental unit(s): The pre-determined plots or the blocks, where different treatments are used, are known as experimental units. Such experimental units must be selected (defined) very carefully.

o Response Variable: outcome of an experiment E.g., throughput, response time o Factors: Variables that affect the response variable E.g., CPU type, memory size, number of disk drives, workload used, and user's educational level Also called predictor variables or predictors o Levels: The values that a factor can assume E.g., the CPU type has three levels: 68000, 8080, or Z80; # of disk drives has 4 levels. Also called treatment o Primary Factors: The factors whose effects need to be quantified E.g., CPU type, memory size only, and number of disk drives

o Secondary Factors: Factors whose impact need not be quantified E.g., the workloads and user educational level o Replication: Repetition of all or some experiments o Design: a design specifies the # of experiments, the factor level and the # of replications for each experiment E.g., Full Factorial Design with 5 replications: 3*3*4*3*3 or 324 experiments, each repeated five times. o Interaction: effect of one factor depends upon the level of the other

Non-interacting factors
A1
B1 B2 12 9

A2
15 12 Impact of factor A is always 3 irrespective of the level of factor B

Interacting factors
A1
B1 B2 12 9

A2
15 13

DIFFERENT RESEARCH DESIGNS

Research design in case of exploratory (formulative) research studies:
1. 2. 3. Survey of concerning literature Experience survey analysis of insight-stimulating examples

Research design in descriptive and diagnostic research studies:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Formulating the objective of the study (what the study is about and why is it being made?) Designing the methods of data collection (what techniques of gathering data will be adopted?) Selecting the sample (how much material will be needed?) Collecting the data (where can the required data be found and with what time period should the data be related?) Processing and analysing the data. Reporting the findings.

DIFFERENT RESEARCH DESIGNS (cont.)

Research design in case of hypothesis-testing research studies: generally known as experimental studies)
1. The Principle of Replication: the experiment should be repeated more than once. Thus, each treatment is applied in many experimental units instead of one. By doing so the statistical accuracy of the experiments is increased The Principle of Randomization, provides protection, when we conduct an experiment, against the effect of extraneous factors The Principle of Local Control; the extraneous factor, the known source of variability, is made to vary deliberately over as wide a range as necessary and this needs to be done in such a way that the variability it causes can be measured and hence eliminated from the experimental error

2. 3.

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS
Principle of Replication - the experiment should be repeated more than once, use statistical analysis Principle of Randomization - provides protection, when we conduct an experiment, against the effect of extraneous factors Principle of Local Control - the extraneous factor, the known source of variability, is made to vary deliberately over as wide a range as necessary and this needs to be done in such a way that the variability it causes can be measured and hence eliminated from the experimental error

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS (more..)

(a) Informal experimental designs: (i) Before-and-after without control design. (ii) After-only with control design. (iii) Before-and-after with control design. (b) Formal experimental designs: (i) Completely randomized design (C.R. Design). (ii) Randomized block design (R.B. Design). (iii) Latin square design (L.S. Design). (iv) Factorial designs.