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8/3/2019 Introduction to Research Method
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Introduction to Research Methodology
By
Adeel Raja
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What is Research?
The word research derives from the French recherche.
Its literal meaning is:
To systematic process of collecting and analyzing information (data) in order to discover of new knowledge
or expand and verify of the existing one (e.g. theory - law)
To do so, it is required a ..
Scientific Method
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What is research?
We ask questions all the time
Research is a formal way of going aboutasking questions
Uses methodologies
Many different kinds (e.g. market research,media research and social research)
Basic research methods can be learnedeasily
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There are many different kinds of research. For example:
Market research is learning about business markets so thatinvestment or business decisions can be made. The kinds of questions that get asked here include: Who are the potentialcustomers? What do the customers need? Who are the
competitors? And what is the market environment? Economic research has its own way of going about things. For
instance, it may involve specially constructed formulas andequations that facilitate an understanding of the economicenvironment. It may ask questions such as: Are the economicfundamentals in place? What are the economic trends in themanufacturing or mining sectors? Of course, some of the questions
economic research asks may be similar to those market researchasks.
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S cientific research may involve a whole range
of sophisticated and specialist research
instruments, such as mathematical or chemical
formulas and very specialized methodologies.
Media research will involve looking at issues
such as media content and audience. Its own
kind of specific instruments ± such as ways of
measuring audience preferences and its
spending power [2] ± have been developed for
this.
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S ocial research is quite a broad term and mayinvolve different kinds of research: fromgathering information on the population(d emographics) to the attitudes and behavioursof people in a community or country.
In fact, many of these different kinds of researchmay cross over disciplines. For example, mediaresearch may be conducted as part of social
research or vice versa; social research might beconducted as part of scientific research, and soon.
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Scientific Method
Scientific method is the method involves the concepts of :
Ob jectivity - Accepta bility - Inductive Reasoning - Deductive Reasoning
objectivity inductive reasoning
Indicates the
attempt to o bserve
things as they are,
without falsifyingo bservations to
accord with some
preconceived world
view.
Accepta bility is
judged in terms of
the degree to
which o bservations and
experimentations
can be
reproduced.
acceptability deductive reasoning
Reasoning from
specific
o bservations
andexperiments to
more general
hypotheses and
theories
Reasoning
from theories
to account for
specificexperimental
results
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Common Research Process
(Chapter wise)
DESIGN AND EXCUTING PHASE
ANALYTICAL PHASE
Chapter 1 - Introduction
Chapter 2 - Literature review
Chapter 3 ± Methodology
Chapter 4 - Data analysis
Chapter 5- Discussion
Chapter 6- Conclusion
References
FORMULATION PHASE
Appendix
C y c l i c a n d d y n a m i c i t
e r a t i o n
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Formulation Phase
Confirm need ± Review literature - Define the problem ± Develop questionsand objectives ± specify hypotheses ± Develop theoretical model
Chapter 1 introduction
1.1 Introduction1.2 Problem background
1.3 Problem statement
1.4 Research questions
1.5 Objective
1.6 Scope
1.7 Significant of the study
Chapter 2 literature review
1.1 introduction
1.2 Definition of the terms (concepts)
1.3 Logical flow of ideas
1.4 Unbiased and comprehensive view of the
previous research on the topic.
1.5 Identify areas of controversy in the
literature
1.6 Identify gaps in the literature
1.7 Development of the theoretical framework
To guiding
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The Relationship between Problem statement Research Question, and Hypotheses
A Problem Statement is: a clear concise
description of the issues that need to be
created addressed and presented by
the researcher.
A Research Question is: a statement that
identifies the phenomenon to be
studied. It must define the domain , the
variables, and its relationship
A hypotheses is: a specific statement of
prediction. It describes in concrete (rather
than theoretical) terms what you expect will
happen in your study.
lead to formulate
research question/s
lead To formulateHypotheses
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Analytical Phase
Data analysis is the processing of interpretation findings that looking atsummarizing data with the intent to extract useful information and develop
conclusions
Qualitative data analysis
(Interpretation of words and text)
Qualitative data analysis descri bes andsummarizes the mass of words generated by interviews or o bservational data. Itallows researchers to seek relationships between various themes that have been
identified
Qualitative data analysis often contain
content analysis that leads to emerge of
themes and patterns.
Quantitative Data analysis
(Interpretation of numerical data)
Quantitative data analysis often containdescriptive statistics and inferentialstatistics
1) Descriptive statistics include
measures of central tendency
2) Inferential statistics is a set of measurements can be regarded asmeasurements on a sample of items from a population Thus, it make inferences a boutthe population from the sample.
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Analytical Phase
Discussion of findings
- Discussion in relating to literature
- Discussion in relating to research objectives
- Discussion in relating to research questions
-
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Analytical Phase
Conclusion
Conclusions are often the most difficult part to write conclusion is oftenwhat a reader remem bers best
Elements of conclusion
Answer the question "So what?" (important of your thesis)
Synthesize, don't summarize (Don't simply repeat things that
were in your thesis)
Create a new meaning (Create a new picture )
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Some important concepts
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Variable
VariableIs a term ascribed to the characteristic being
investigated, and can take any value in a reasonablerange. For example, blood group, blood pressure, age of
patients being studied.
Independent variable
The variable which is
assumed to determine thevalues of the dependent (response) variable. For example, blood pressure
could be deemed to respond to changes in age.
Dependent variable
The variable which is
assumed to respond to thevalues of the independent
(explanatory) variable. For example, blood pressure
could be deemed to respond to changes in age.
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Unit of Analysis
Unit of Analysis
Units of analysis are the persons,things, or events under study--the
entities that we want to say somethinga bout. Frequently, the appropriateunits of analysis are easy to select.
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Triangulation
Triangulation
A research design that includestwo or more approaches to data
collection or analysis
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Introduction toResearch Methods
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Scientific Method
The scientific method is popularly attributed to Galileowho, in 1590, dropped iron balls of two different weightsoff the Leaning Tower of Pizza.
He wanted to test his hypothesis that the forces acting
on a falling object were independent of the object'sweight. He was correct and so refuted previously heldbelief that heavier objects would fall faster than lightobjects. The steps he took: ± Observation,
± Hypothesis generation, ± Testing of the hypothesis
± and refutation or acceptance of the original hypothesis
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Scientific Method
1. Observation of phenomena;
2. Development of hypothesis to explain observation;
3. Development of predictions based on hypothesis;4. Experiments conducted to test predictions;
5. Data collection and analysis (data can be numerical,graphical, visual observations, case studies, etc.);
6. Modify hypothesis until it is consistent with the
observations; and7. Derive conclusion.
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Laws of Logic
The Law of Identity
The Law of Non-C
ontradiction The Law of Rational Inference
The Law of the Excluded Middle
plus Occam¶s Razor
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Laws of Logic (1/5)
The Law of Identity
This states that if something is true, itis always true. That which is, is, for
example, men are men, women are
women and small furry creatures from
Alpha Centauri are small furry
creatures from Alpha Centauri;
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Laws of Logic (2/5)
The Law of Non-Contradiction
This states that two statements whichare antithetical (opposite) cannot both
be true. For example, Aristotle cannot
be both alive and dead at the same
time;
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Laws of Logic (3/5)
The Law of Rational Inference
This states that if statement A is equalto statement B and if statement B is
equal to statement C, then statement A
is equal to statement C.
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Laws of Logic (4/5)
The Law of the Excluded Middle
This states that if a statement is not true, then theopposite of that statement is taken to be true. For example, if Aristotle is not alive, he must be dead
Or, the disjunctive proposition "Either it is rainingor it is not raining" must be true. Also, if it is truethat it is raining, then the proposition "Either it israining, or I own a car" must also be true. It reallydoesn't matter what the second phrase is.
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Laws of Logic (5/5)
Finally we have Occam¶s Razor , which in
its original form states "Entities should not
be multiplied unnecessarily" {"Pluralitas nonest ponenda sine neccesitate"}, taken to
mean in this case that if two theories
present themselves that are both equallylikely to be true, pick the one that makes the
fewest assumptions.
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Logic Puzzle
Aristotle said that there is a different
between the following two statements;
³T he wood is not white´
³I t is not white wood´
Can you see the difference?
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Logic Puzzle - Solution
³T he wood is not white´
This statement means that the thing under discussion IS
wood BUT isn¶t white, so, from example, it could be
green wood, yellow wood or black wood ³I t is not white wood´
This statement means that it is anything other that white
wood, so, for example, it could be blue wood, green
metal, or white plastic.
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Kuhn¶s Paradigm
In his book ³T he Structure of Scientific
Revolutions´ Thomas Kuhn transformed the
world¶s view on the way science is done. His
opinion was that science with not, in fact, acumulative process, but in reality, a cyclical
process whereby a particular research
perspective (paradigm) dominates for a period of
time, until a new one is developed whichsupersedes it.
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Popper¶s Falsifiability
Karl Popper made falsifiability the key to hisphilosophy of science. It has become the mostcommonly invoked "criterion of demarcation" of
science from non-science. Falsifiability is thelogical possibility that an assertion can be shown
false by an observation or a physicalexperiment. That something is "falsifiable" doesnot mean it is false; rather, that if it is false, then
this can be shown by observation or experiment.
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Finding the Topic
Selecting a topic for your research is the singlemost important decision that you will make for your post-graduate tenure. To sustain your
interest over a number of years it is veryimportant that you find a topic that not onlyinterests you but engages your imagination. If you have a passion for a particular area of research, this passion will give you the
determination you need to reach your goal.
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TYPES
OF RES
EARCH
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Types of research
Theoretical orientation Investigation of field
Identifying strengths & weakness
Acknowledging areas for further development and investigation
Usually involves some type of literature search or review
Development project Software systems
Hardware systems
Process models
Methods and algorithms
Evaluation project Compare and contrasting programming languages
Judge different user interfaces Industry-based project Finding a solution that benefits a real world problem
Problem solving The development of a new technique
Improve existing practice
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Types of research
Theoretical
Investigation of field
Identifying strengths & weakness
Acknowledging areas for further development and investigation
Descriptive
Reviewing existing theories
Describing the state-of -the-art Testing existing theories
Exploratory
Seeking new information
Good for researching wide areas
Literature search ± questionnaire
Explanatory
Clarify phenomena Identify relationship
Causal
Assessing effects of independent variables on dependent ones
Problem solving
Developing/constructing
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Basic research methods
Quantitative research (e.g. survey)
Qualitative research (e.g. face-to-face
interviews; focus groups; site visits) Case studies
Participatory research
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Overview
Quantitative research (the word µquantitative¶comes from the word µquantity¶) involves
information or data in the form of numbers. Thisallows us to measure or to quantify a wholerange of things. For example: the number of people who live below the poverty line; thenumber of children between specific ages whoattend school; the average spending power in acommunity; or the number of adults who haveaccess to computers in a village or town.
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A common way of conducting quantitativeresearch is using a survey . Surveys usuallyinvolve filling in a questionnaire. The usefulness
of a survey is that the information you get isstandardized because each respond ent ± theperson who fills out the questionnaire ± isanswering the exact same questions. Once youhave enough responses to your questionnaire,
you can then put the data together and analyseit in a way that answers your research question
± or what it is you want to know.
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It is important to realize that quantitative research doesnot necessarily mean that respondents will give numbersfor their answers to your questions. Sometimes they mayanswer a µyes¶ or µno¶ question, as in: ¶Do you have a
computer?¶ Sometimes they might write down ananswer, a word, a sentence, or a paragraph to describesomething, as in answers to: ¶What is the brand or makeof your computer?¶ and ¶Please describe in detail whatyou use your computer for.¶ Other answers may involve
numbers, as in: ¶How many computers do you have inyour business or organization?¶
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How these varied responses become numbers
is in the way they are analysed. From the
example questions above, one might be able to
say: 20 out of the 30 (66%) respondents use aparticular brand of computer, while 5 (16%) use
another. The remaining five respondents all
used different brands of computers which you
would list. You might then want to provide someexamples of how the computers are used.
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R esearch tip: Su rveys
Surveys can be conducted in a number of ways. The most important thing is to think
clearly through the kind of questions youwant to ask, and to make sure that theresponses will answer your researchquestion. When you get your responses,you need to be sure of exactly what theyare (and aren¶t) telling you.
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U sing the I nternet for su rveys
A good way to conduct a survey is through an online questionnaire. TheInternet is useful for giving your survey geographic reach. Using theInternet, you can survey many different people from all sorts of countries ±something that would not have been possible before or else too expensive.To do this, you can either distribute a questionnaire via e-mail or create a
simple online form. An easy way is to use SurveyMonkey.com(http://www.surveymonkey.com). SurveyMonkey is an excellent online toolthat helps you create and manage your own online survey easily.
With the online form, the responses will be e-mailed straight back to you.Many people don¶t have a lot of time to answer surveys, and online formsare often quicker for them to complete. However, keep in mind who youwant to reach. Do they have reasonably fast access to the Internet? Do theyhave access to the Internet? You may want to provide a fax number for faxed responses, an e-mail address for e-mail responses and an onlineform to cover all of your bases.
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Don¶t forget that you can even post a surveyquestionnaire using snail mail ± although this is likely tobe quite costly, and you may not get that manyresponses (this often depends on how persistent youare, how well the people you are surveying know you, or
if you are offering them prizes or money for completingthe survey).
Using the Internet to conduct a survey may not be usefulwhen surveying a specific community. Here you maywant to send a team of researchers into the street to
collect responses or conduct a focus group
]
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Participatory research
One of the key problems with some kinds of research is that thewrong kinds of questions get asked, despite the researcher¶s bestintentions. This doesn¶t necessarily mean that the researcher hasn¶tthought long and hard about his or her questions, or that they arenot appropriate. However, sometimes questions are biased towardscertain perspectives and are based on certain assumptions. Theremight be a whole other way of looking at a situation that theresearcher, because of his or her background, does not realize.Unless the researcher is able to understand this different way of looking at things, the research results might simply confirm thepresumptions and prejudices of his or her perspective.
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Anthropologists, for example, often encounter
these kinds of problems when they¶re doing fiel d
work and are living in or visiting a community
they are researching. Good anthropologists arealways conscious of their roles as outsiders, and
how their mere presence can affect the research
results. People sometimes behave differently
when they know there is a researcher around.(See Site visits and observation above.)
]
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Concrete examples of how research can
reinforce prejudices are dotted throughout
the history of anthropology. In their early
encounters with native tribes, colonial
anthropologists often described the
customs and beliefs they observed as
backwards and savage ± quite theopposite of their grand vision of European
culture!
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One way around these sorts of dilemmas is participatory research. Participatory research allows communitymembers, or a particular group being researched, toparticipate in developing research questions, designing
the methodologies to be used in the research, andanalysing the research findings. The usefulness of thisapproach is that perspectives that might otherwise beignored by a researcher are incorporated into theresearch from the start. The analysis of the research
findings shifts from being µresearcher -centric¶ (or biasedtowards the assumptions of the researcher) towardsbeing µcommunity-centric¶, or incorporating theperspectives of the community.
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Participatory research is a very good
methodology to raise awareness around
issues that a community or group might
face, and it also helps in developing
appropriate action plans in response to the
research findings.
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P lanning you r research
Journalists often use a basic formula for writing a straightforwardnews story. It¶s called the 5 Ws and an H structure: Who? What?Where? When? Why? and How? By answering all of thesequestions, you will get to the nuts and bolts of a story in a fewsentences or paragraphs. The point of this is that all the mostessential information is at the top of the story, making a newspaper easy to scan for a reader.
The 5 Ws and an H formula is a useful tool to apply to manysituations, and helps you to remember to ask the most essentialquestions.
Thinking about these questions will help you plan your research,
although you might want to consider them in a different order.
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Step one: What?
You need to ask: What do I want to know?
Deciding on a research q u estion
The first and most important thing to do when planning research is toproperly understand and clarify what it is you want to know.
By understanding what it is you want to know ± some people call thisthe research question ± you will be able to answer all of the other questions that are necessary to plan your research properly, such as:
How do I find out what I want to know?
Where can I get the information I need, or who do I need to ask?
When will my research be done by?
And why? (or finding the right answers to the research question).
When you are formulating your research question, you need to bear in mind the purpose of your research. You need to ask yourself:
Who will be reading and acting on your research? (e.g. is it thecommunity, a donor, or a business?)
What do they need to know to inform their decisions?
What decisions does the research need to inform?
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You might, for instance, want to use it
when designing your survey questionnaire
or developing your interview and focus
group questions.
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Step two: How? Where? Who?
You need to ask:
How do I find out what I want to know?
Where can I get the information I need, or whodo I need to ask?
By constructing your research question or questions, you will have decided quitespecifically what it is you want to know. You will
also have decided the kinds of information thatwill be necessary for the research results toinform a decision or a number of decisions.
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H ow do I find ou t what I want to know?
Now that you are clear on what kind of information you are looking
for, you need to decide on a methodology by asking: Do I need quantitative or numbers information?
Or do I need qualitative or explanatory-type information?
Or do I need a combination of both?
Will case studies be helpful in properly understanding and presentingthe research findings?
If I need quantitative data, will I conduct a survey or develop aquestionnaire?
If qualitative information is needed, will I interview people or conductfocus groups?
Will I conduct site visits or observation?
Given the research topic, will I conduct participatory research?
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Step three: When?
You need to ask:
When do all the different parts of the research need to be done?
Proper planning means a more efficient research process, less time andmoney required to conduct the research, and a happier research team!
Now that you have a good idea of what your research is all about, you needto plan it so that everyone in your research team knows what¶s expected
from them and when. It is also important to plan so that things that need tobe done first - which other parts of the research are dependent on - aredone in time. One way to do this is to develop a research work plan.
There are many ways to develop a work plan, but the simplest is to use atable.
1. Begin by listing all of the work areas in your research. Be specific;
2. Put them in order of priority: Which ones need to be done first?
3. Try to estimate the time that you will need to accomplish each researchactivity;
4. Build a calendar , cross-referencing your work areas with the dates, as inthe example below. Depending how specific you want to be, you calendar might work in days, weeks, months or even hours!
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R et u rning to you r research q u estion
The most important way of getting your research answer or answers is to return to your research question. Whatdid you begin by asking? The research question will be a
good guide in helping you arrange your research results. At the same time, you need to keep in mind who you are
doing the research for, and what they want to do with it.For example, if the government commissioned theresearch, wanting to know how best to inform a
community about conserving water, you might want tobegin by discussing the demographics of the community.
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Research tips: Analysing
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R esearch tips: Analysing
q u antitative data
Save your document/s with your original data in a separate folder on your computer. If you are working with paper documents, consider whether it isnecessary to make photocopies of your results so that the originals can befiled away securely. Work off the copies, not the master documents. This isa good thing to do with any of your research results;
Tabulate the information. For instance, add up the number of responses you
received for your survey and categorize them in an appropriate way byreferring to your research question (e.g. the number of yes and no answersfor each question; male and female responses or racial categories);
Work out what your tabulated answers are saying. For instance, convertsome of your sums into percentages. Say 30% of the respondents said X,while 25% said Y. These are easier to internalize for those reading your report;
Try to be creative. Once you have tabulated and calculated your results,there may be some interesting and unexpected interpretations of the datathat can be made;
Double-check all your calculations.
Research tips: Analysing
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R esearch tips: Analysing
q u alitative data
Read through all the data, making notes of associations or ideas that occur to you;
Organize the data into similar categories (e.g. responses to particular questions; or categories of informants, such as government representatives, members of the community or newspaper editors);
Attempt to identify patterns or associations and causal relationships in the themes (e.g. responsesfrom people in the same geographic area, from the same income group or the media preferencesof people who don¶t have electricity at home). Be creative and analytical;
If you have done quantitative research at the same time, try to match some of your qualitativeresults to your quantitative results. Where are the links? How do the results µspeak to¶ or explaineach other? What conclusions can be reached that aren¶t obvious at first glance?
Be methodical. Think step by step, and explain your assumptions if you have to. Remember, your research results might not tell you everything you want to know but don¶t be afraid to say whatthey d o tell you. Be careful with your words, and be specific.
Remember to file your research results away in a safe place. You may want to refer to themsometime in the future. You have now made an important contribution to how we understand
ourselves. Even if it¶s a small step, it all contributes towards the µbigger picture¶.
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8/3/2019 Introduction to Research Method
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8/3/2019 Introduction to Research Method
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/introduction-to-research-method 66/70
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Planning your research:
Key questions
What do you want to know?
How do you find out what you want to know? Where can you get the information?
Who do you need to ask?
When does your research need to be done?
Why? (Getting the answer)
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8/3/2019 Introduction to Research Method
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