Research Methods: An Introduction to Key Concepts and Approaches, Study Guides, Projects, Research of Research Methodology

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CENG 6902 RESEARCH METHODSRESEARCH METHODS

Bikila Teklu, Dr.AAiT, Department of Civil EngineeringRoad and Transport Engineering Chair [email protected] March 2012

Research methods

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Unit 1: The Concept of Research

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Unit 2: Types of Research

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Unit 3: Process in Research Proposal Development

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Unit 4: Process in Conducting Research

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Unit 5: Research Ethics

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Unit 6: Reporting Research Findings

Unit 1: The Concept of Research^ •

Key Concept^ –

Common sense

Science

Science

Deductive reasoning

Epistemology

Inquiry

Empirical

Nomothetic

Probabilistic

Unit 1: Key Concept

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Common Sense

: (noun) Sound judgment not based

on specialized knowledge; native good judgment

(American heritage Dictionary) sound practical judgment;"Common sense is not so common";

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Common sense :

(based on a strict construction of

the term) consists of what people in commonwould agree on: that which they "sense" as theircommon natural understanding.

Unit 1: Key Concept^ • Deductive Reasoning

deduction: reasoning from the general to the particular (or from cause to effect)particular (or from cause to effect) Deductive reasoning, also called Deductivelogic,

• An example of a deductive argument:

All men are mortal, Socrates is a man,therefore, Socrates is mortal

Unit 1: The Concept of Research^ •

Inductive Reasoning

: moves from the particular to

the general. It gathers together particular observations in the form of premises, then itobservations in the form of premises, then it reasons from these particular premises to a generalconclusion.

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Example: If I observe 10,000 dogs, and every dog has fleas,I may conclude "All dogs must have fleas."

Unit 1: Key Concept^ • Inquiry:

a search for knowledge; "their

inquiry deserves more research than it has received"received"

• An inquiry

is any process that has the aim

of augmenting knowledge, resolving doubt,or solving a problem.

Unit 1: Key Concept^ •

Empirical:

derived from experiment and

observation rather than theory; "an empirical basisfor an ethical theory"; "empirical laws"; "empirical data"; "an empirical treatment of a disease aboutdata"; "an empirical treatment of a disease about which little is known"

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Empirical

denotes information gained by means of

observation, experience, or experiment. A centralconcept in science and the scientific method is thatall evidence must be empirical, or empiricallybased, that is, dependent on evidence

Unit 1: Key Concept^ There are three basic types of questions that research projects

can address:

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Descriptive:^ –

When a study is designed primarily to describe what is

When a study is designed primarily to describe what is^ going on or what exists.

Public opinion polls that seek only to describe theproportion of people who hold various opinions areprimarily descriptive in nature.

For instance, if we want to know what percent of thepopulation would vote for different parties in anelection, we are simply interested in describingsomething.

Unit 1: Key Concept^ There are three basic types of questions that research

projects can address:

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Relational.

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Relational.^ –

When a study is designed to look at the relationshipsbetween two or more variables.

A public opinion poll that compares what proportion ofmales and females say they would like to live incondominium is essentially studying the relationshipbetween gender and housing preference.

Unit 1: Key Concept^ •

Time in Research

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Time is an important element of any research design,and here is one of the most fundamental distinctions in research design nomenclature:research design nomenclature:^ – cross-sectional

versus

longitudinal

studies. A cross-

sectional study is one that takes place at a singlepoint in time. In effect, we are taking a 'slice' orcross-section of whatever it is we're observing ormeasuring.

A longitudinal study is one that takes place overtime -- we have at least two (and often more)waves of measurement in a longitudinal design.

Unit 1: Key Concept^ •

A further distinction is made between two types oflongitudinal designs:^ –

repeated measures

and

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time series

.

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time series

.

•^

There is no universally agreed upon rule for distinguishingthese two terms, but in general, if you have two or a fewwaves of measurement, you are using

a

repeated measures

design.

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If you have many waves of measurement over time, youhave a

time series

.^

Time series analysis

requires that you

have at least twenty or so observations.

Unit 1: Key Concept^ •

The Nature of a Relationship

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While all relationships tell about the correspondencebetween two variables, there is a special type of relationship that holds that the two variables are not only in correspondence,

but that one

causes

the other.

relationship that holds that the two variables are not only in correspondence,

but that one

causes

the other.

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This is the key distinction between a simple correlational relationship

and a

causal relationship

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A correlational relationship simply says that twothings perform in a synchronized manner. Forinstance, we often talk of a correlation betweeninflation and unemployment. When inflation is high,unemployment also tends to be high. When inflation islow, unemployment also tends to be low.

Unit 1: Key Concept^ •

Say, two variables are correlated.^ –

But knowing that two variables are correlated does nottell us whether

one

causes

the other?

We know, for instance, that there is a correlation

We know, for instance, that there is a correlation^ between the number of roads built in Ethiopia and thenumber of children born in the United States.

While there is a relationship between the number ofroads built and the number of babies, we don't believethat the relationship is a

causal

one.

The key lesson here is that you have to be careful whenyou interpret correlations