basic fundamentals of research
Meaning of Research:
Research is not
an existing bag of technique. Research is not a fishing expedition or an
encyclopedic gathering of assorted facts. Research
is purposeful investigation. It provides a structure of decision making.
There are three part involved in any investigation: (1) The implicit question
posed. (2) The explicit answer proposed. (3) Collection, analysis, and
interpretation of the information leading from the question to the answer. This
third part is the defense that justifies the recommendation and is viewed as
research.
The Advance Learner’s Dictionary of
Current English lays down the meaning of research as “A careful investigation
or inquiry specially through search for new facts in any branch of knowledge”
Redman and Mory define research as “systematized
effort to gain new knowledge.”
Research in common parlance refers
to a search for knowledge. One can also define research as a scientific search
for pertinent information on a specific topic. In fact, research is an art of
scientific investigation.
Research is an academic activity and
as such the term should be used in a technical sense. According to Clifford
Woody research comprises defining and redefining problem, formulating
hypothesis or suggested solutions; collecting, organizing and evaluating data;
making deductions and reaching conclusions; and last carefully testing the
conclusions to determine whether they fit the formulating hypothesis.
CHARACTERISTICS
OF RESEARCH:
1. Research
is process
2. Research
is scientific process
3. Research
is systematic process
4. Research
is search for knowledge
5. Research
is movement
6. Research
is an academic activity
7. Research
is helpful in decision making
8. Research
is a search for new fact
9. Research
is voyage of discovery
1. Research
is systematic method of finding solution of a problem.
NEED OF RESEARCH:
The purpose of research is to
discover answer the 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 for research need by following points.
1. To
get a research degree along with its consequential benefits.
2.
To face the challenge in solving the
unsolved problems. i.e., concern over practical problems initiates research;
3.
To get intellectual joy of doing some
creative work.
4.
To provided service to the society
5.
To get respectability.
6.
To overcome the problem arises in any
area
7.
To provided services to the nation
However, this is not an exhaustive
list of factors motivating people to undertake research studies. Many more
factors such as directives of government, employment conditions, curiosity
about new things, desire to understand casual relationships, social thinking
and awakening, and the like may as well motivate (or at times compel) people to
perform research operations.
TYPES OF RESEARCH:
1.
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3. Fundamental (Basic Research): 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.” Research 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 generalization about human behavior, are also examples of
fundamental research. Basic research is directed towards finding information
that has broad base of application and thus, adds to the already existing
organized body of scientific knowledge.
3. Quantitative Research: Quantitative
research is based on the measurement of quantity or amount. It is applicable to
phenomena that can be expressed in terms of quantity. It involves the
generation of data in quantitative form which can be subjected to rigorous
quantitative analysis in a formal and rigid fashion. This research is also known
as inferential, experimental and simulation research.
4. Qualitative Research: Qualitative
research is concerned with qualitative phenomenon i.e., phenomena relating to
or involving qualitative 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 is aims at discovering the
underlying motives and desires, using in depth interviews for the purpose.
Other techniques of such research are worked 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 is specially 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 practice is relatively a difficult job and therefore,
while doing research, one should seek guidance from experienced psychologists.
5. Conceptual Research: Conceptual
research is that related to some abstract idea(s) or theory. It is generally
used by philosophers and thinkers to develop new concepts or to reinterpret
existing ones.
6.
Empirical Research: 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 research, the
researcher must first provide himself with a working hypothesis or guess as to
the probable results. He then works to get enough facts (data) to prove or
disprove his hypothesis. He then sets up experimental designs which he thinks
will manipulate the persons or the material concerned so as to bring forth the
desired information. Such research thus characterized by the experimenter’s control
over the variables under study and his deliberate manipulation of one of them
to study its effect. An empirical study is today considered to be the most
powerful support possible for a given hypothesis.
7. Exploratory Research: Many
times a decision maker is grappling with broad and poorly defined problems.
Attempts to secure better definitions by analytic thinking may be the wrong
approach and may even be counter productive – counter productive in the sense
that this approach may lead to a definitive answer to the wrong question.
Exploratory research uses a less formal approach. It pursues several
possibilities simultaneously, and in a sense it is not quite sure of its
objective. Exploratory research is designed to provide a background, to
familiarize and, as the word implies, just “explore” the general subject. A
part of exploratory research is the investigation of relationships among
variables without knowing why they are studied. It borders on an idle curiosity
approach, different from it only in that the investigator thinks there may be a
payoff in application somewhere in the forest of questions. The typical
approaches in exploratory research are (1) The literature survey, (2) The
experience survey, and (3) The analysis of “insights-stimulating” examples.
8. Conclusive research: Exploratory
research gives rise to several hypotheses which will have to be tested for
drawing definite conclusions. These conclusions when tested for validity lay
the structure for decision making. Conclusive research is used for this purpose
of testing the hypotheses generated by exploratory research. Conclusive
research can be classified as either descriptive
or experimental (analytical) research.
9. Descriptive Research:
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 the term ex post facto
research for descriptive research studies. The main characteristic of this
method is that the researcher has no control over the variables; he can only
report what has happened or what is happening. Most ex post facto research
projects are used for descriptive studies in which the researcher seeks to
measure such items as, for example, frequency of shopping, preferences of
people, or similar data. Ex post facto studies also include attempts by
researchers to discover causes even when they cannot control the variables. The methods of research utilized in
descriptive research are survey methods of all kinds, including comparative and
co relational methods.
10.
Analytical Research: In this kind of
research the researcher has to use facts or information already available, and
analyze these to make a critical evaluation of the material. This research is
based on secondary data. Analytical
Research is also known as Experimental Research. Experimentation will refer
to that process of research in which one or more variables are manipulated
under conditions which permit the collection of data which show the effects.
Experiments will create artificial situation so that the researcher can obtain
the particular data needed and can measure the accurately. Experiments are artificial
in the sense that the situations are usually created for testing purposes. This
artificiality is the essence of the experimental method, since it gives
researchers more control over the factors they are studying. If they can
control the factors which are present in a given situation, they can obtain
more conclusive evidence of cause and effect relationships between any two of
them. Thus the ability to set up a situation for the express purpose of
observing and recording accurately the effect on one factor when another is
deliberately changed permits researchers to accept or reject hypothesis beyond
reasonable doubt. It the objective is to validate in a resounding manner the
cause and effect relationship among variables, and then undoubtedly experiments
are much more effective than descriptive techniques.
11. Action Research: Applied
research is action research, applied
research aims at finding a solution for an immediate problem facing a society
or an industrial/business organization.
12. Survey Research: Descriptive
research is survey research.
13.
Library Research: A research based on historical records
and analysis of documents is known as Library Research. Recording of notes,
content analysis, tape and film listening and analysis, statistical compilations
and manipulation, reference and abstract guides, content analysis etc. are the
techniques used in this kind of research.
14.
Laboratory research: Laboratory research may be known as
field research or simulation research, depending upon the environment in which
it is to be carried out. Research can as be understood as clinical or
diagnostic research. Such research follows case study methods or in-depth
approaches to reach the basic causal relations. Such studies are usually go
deep into the causes of things or events that interest us, using very small
samples and very deep probing data gathering devices.
FACTORS
HINDERING RESEARCH
- The lack of a scientific training in the methodology of research
- Insufficient interaction
- Business units faith in researcher
- Duplication of work
- Code of conduct
- Time limit
- Library management and functioning is not satisfactory
- Libraries are not up-to-date
- Non availability of data from government on time
- Problem of conceptualization
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