This ppt gives a crystal clear picture of meaning, definition and types of research.

1. Research Methodology
Basics-I
Edited by
Dr.S.Vigneswaran
Assistant Professor,
Department of Economics,
Mannar Thirumalai Naicker College,
Madurai-4.

2. Topics Covered
Research: Meaning – Objectives –
Types – Significance – Research
process – Problems in quantitative and
qualitative research.

3. Top 10 International Research Institutes for
Economics
Ran
k
Name of Institution Location
1 Harvard University U S
2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) U S
3 Stanford University U S
4 University of California, Berkeley (UCB) U S
5= London School of Economics and Political Science
(LSE)
U K
5= Princeton University U S
7 University of Chicago U S
8 Yale University U S
9 University of Oxford U K
10 University of Cambridge U K

4. Important Research Institutes for Economics in India

5. Research..!!! What it is?
Research: composed of two syllables, re and
search.
 re is a prefix meaning again or anew
 search is a verb meaning to examine closely
and carefully
 together they form a noun describing a
careful, systematic, patient study undertaken
to establish facts or principles.

6. Meaning:
Research is a process of collecting, analyzing
and interpreting information to answer questions.
Definition:
“Systematized effort to gain new knowledge”
by Redman and
Mory
Meaning of Research Methods:
Systematic Plan for conducting research.

7. Characteristics of Research
 Solution of a problem.
 Generation of principles or theories.
 Based on observable or empirical
evidence.
 Demands accurate observation.
 Involves gathering new data or using
existing data for a new purpose.

8.  Applying rigorous analysis.
 Requires expertise (understand and
analyse).
 Applying possible test to validate.
 Requires courage.
 Characterised by patient and
unhurried activity.
 Carefully recorded.

9. Types of research
Research can be classified from three
perspectives:
1. application of research study
2. objectives in undertaking the
research
3. inquiry mode employed

10. 1. Application basis
 From the point of view of application,
there are two broad categories of
research:
 - pure research and
 - applied research.

11. Pure research
 Pure research involves developing
and testing theories and hypotheses
 intellectually challenging to the
researcher
 may or may not have practical
application at the present time or in
the future.

12. Applied research
 Applied research is done to solve
specific, practical questions.
 It can be exploratory, but is usually
descriptive.

13. II. Objectives basis
 From the viewpoint of objectives, a
research can be classified as
 -descriptive
 -correlational
 -explanatory
 -exploratory

14.  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.

15.  Correlational research attempts to
discover or establish the existence of
a relationship/ interdependence
between two or more aspects of a
situation.

16.  Explanatory research attempts to
clarify why and how there is a
relationship between two or more
aspects of a situation or phenomenon.

17.  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.

18. III. Inquiry Mode:
 From the process adopted to find
answer to research questions – the
two approaches are:
- Structured approach
- Unstructured approach

19. Structured approach:
 The structured approach to inquiry is
usually classified as quantitative
research.
 It is more appropriate to determine the
extent of a problem, issue or
phenomenon by quantifying the
variation.
 e.g. how many people have a
particular problem? How many people
hold a particular attitude?

20. Unstructured approach:
 The unstructured approach to inquiry
is usually classified as qualitative
research.
 This approach allows flexibility in all
aspects of the research process.
 It is more appropriate to explore the
nature of a problem, issue or
phenomenon
without quantifying it.

21. THE RESEARCH PROCESS
For a research journey there are two
important decisions to make:
1) What you want to find out about?
2) How to go about finding their answers?
The path to finding answers to your
research questions constitutes research
methodology.

22. 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-Formal write ups of conclusions reached.

24. Quantitative & Qualitative Research
Quantitative research is “explaining phenomena by
collecting numerical data that are analysed using
mathematically based methods (in particular
statistics).”
Qualitative research seeks to answer questions
about why and how people behave in the way that
they do. It provides in-depth information about
human behaviour.

26. Limitations of Qualitative
Research:
 Because of the time and costs
involved, qualitative designs do not
generally draw samples from large-
scale data sets.

27.  The problem of adequate validity or
reliability is a major criticism. Because
of the subjective nature of qualitative
data and its origin in single contexts, it
is difficult to apply conventional
standards of reliability and validity.

28.  For example, because of the central
role played by the researcher in the
generation of data, it is not possible to
replicate qualitative studies. Also,
contexts, situations, events,
conditions, and interactions cannot be
replicated to any extent nor can
generalizations be made to a wider
context than the one studied with any
confidence

29.  The time required for data collection,
analysis and interpretation are lengthy.
Analysis of qualitative data is difficult
and expert knowledge of an area is
necessary to try to interpret qualitative
data, and great care must be taken
when doing so, for example, if looking
for symptoms of mental illness.

30. Limitations of Qualitative
Research:
 Context: Quantitative experiments do
not take place in natural settings. In
addition, they do not allow participants
to explain their choices or the meaning
of the questions may have for those
participants (Carr, 1994).

31.  Researcher expertise: Poor
knowledge of the application of
statistical analysis may negatively
affect analysis and subsequent
interpretation (Black, 1999).

32.  Variability of data quantity: Large
sample sizes are needed for more
accurate analysis. Small scale
quantitative studies may be less
reliable because of the low quantity of
data (Denscombe, 2010). This also
affects the ability to generalize study
findings to wider populations.

33.  Confirmation bias: The researcher
might miss observing phenomena
because of focus on theory or
hypothesis testing rather than on the
theory of hypothesis generation.

34. Objectives of research:
 Development of knowledge.
 Scientific study of social life.
 Welfare of humanity.
 Classification of facts.
 Social control and prediction.

35. Reference:
1. Dawson, Catherine, 2002, Practical Research
Methods, New Delhi, UBS Publishers’ Distributors
2. Kothari, C.R.,1985, Research Methodology-
Methods and Techniques, New Delhi,Wiley Eastern
Limited.
3.Kumar, Ranjit, 2005, Research Methodology-A
Step-by-Step Guide for
Beginners,(2nd.ed.),Singapore, Pearson Education.

36. Thank you.