Research Methodology-A2, Study notes of Research Methodology

Download Research Methodology-A2 and more Study notes Research Methodology in PDF only on Docsity!

Research Methodology and Research Method

Methods Commonly Used By Researchers

Author: Sam Goundar Victoria University of Wellington May 2012

Note: This is and extensive reading better suited for those researchers who require

detailed knowledge of various schools of thought that pertain to research options.

Chapter 3 – Research Methodology and Research Method This chapter looks at the various research methodologies and research methods that are commonly used by researchers in the field of information systems. The research methodology and research method used in this research is acknowledged and discussed. The chapter starts off by providing a comprehensive introduction to research. Then the research methodologies and research methods particularly used in information systems are discussed. A significant effort has been made to clarify and provide distinctions between research methodology and research method. During the course of this research, when investigating the literature on research methodology and research methods, it was found that many researchers were using the two interchangeably. Therefore the two sections on research methodology and research methods have been treated separately. A section that compares and differentiates between the two is presented first, followed by the section on research methodology. Then the different types of research methodology are described and the two main types of research methodologies namely qualitative research methodology and qualitative research methodology is discussed. The research methodology that has been utilised for this research is discussed and the reason why the particular research method was chosen with proper justification is explained. Then research methods in general are discussed and the types of research methods suitable for information systems research are explained. The differences between the qualitative and quantitative research methods are elaborated upon. Since secondary data sources have been used in this research, a section is included to discuss the differences between the two and to explain the advantages of using secondary data sources for research.

Philosophies mean approaches e.g. qualitative, quantitative and the academic discipline in which you have been trained. Validity means that correct procedures have been applied to find answers to a question. Reliability refers to the quality of a measurement procedure that provides repeatability and accuracy. Unbiased and objective means that you have taken each step in an unbiased manner and drawn each conclusion to the best of your ability and without introducing your own vested interest. (Bias is a deliberate attempt to either conceal or highlight something). Adherence to the three criteria mentioned above enables the process to be called ‘research’. However, the degree to which these criteria are expected to be fulfilled varies from discipline to discipline and so the meaning of ‘research’ differs from one academic discipline to another. The difference between research and non-research activity is, in the way one finds answers: the process must meet certain requirements to be called research. One can identify these requirements by examining some definitions of research. The word research is composed of two syllables, re and search; re is a prefix meaning again, anew or over again, search is a verb meaning to examine closely and carefully, to test and try, or to probe. Together they form a noun describing a careful, systematic, patient study and investigation in some field of knowledge, undertaken to establish facts or principles. 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 generalisation and the conclusions usually recognized as scientific method lies in the degree of formality, rigorousness, verifiability and general validity of the latter.

Characteristics of Research: Research is a process of collecting, analyzing and interpreting information to answer questions. But to qualify as research, the process must have certain characteristics: it must, as far as possible, be controlled, rigorous, systematic, valid and verifiable, empirical and critical.

• Controlled - in real life there are many factors that affect an outcome. The concept of control implies that, in exploring causality in relation to two variables (factors), you set up your study in a way that minimizes the effects of other factors affecting the relationship.
• Rigorous - you must be scrupulous in ensuring that the procedures followed to find answers to questions are relevant, appropriate and justified. Again, the degree of rigor varies markedly between the physical and social sciences and within the social sciences.
• Systematic - this implies that the procedure adopted to undertake an investigation follow a certain logical sequence. The different steps cannot be taken in a haphazard way. Some procedures must follow others.
• Valid and verifiable - this concept implies that whatever you conclude on the basis of your findings is correct and can be verified by you and others.
• Empirical - this means that any conclusions 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. The process adopted and the procedures used must be able to withstand critical scrutiny. For a process to be called research, it is imperative that it has the above characteristics. Types of Research:

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. Correlational 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. Research Inquiry Mode: From the process adopted to find answer to research questions – the two approaches are: − Structured approach − Unstructured approach Structured approach: The structured approach to inquiry is usually classified as quantitative research. Here everything that forms the research process- objectives, design, sample, and the questions that you plan to ask of respondents- is predetermined. 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? 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.

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. Both approaches have their place in research. Both have their strengths and weaknesses. In many studies you have to combine both qualitative and quantitative approaches. For example, suppose you have to find the types of cuisine / accommodation available in a city and the extent of their popularity. Types of cuisine is the qualitative aspect of the study as finding out about them entails description of the culture and cuisine. The extent of their popularity is the quantitative aspect as it involves estimating the number of people who visit restaurant serving such cuisine and calculating the other indicators that reflect the extent of popularity. Different researchers have categorised research into what suits their discipline or field of research the best. Rajsekar, et. al. (2006) proposes two types of research (basic research and applied research) as detailed below: Basic Research Basic research is an investigation on basic principles and reasons for occurrence of a particular event or process or phenomenon. It is also called theoretical research. Study or investigations of some natural phenomenon or relating to pure science are termed as basic research. Basic researches sometimes may not lead to immediate use or application. It is not concerned with solving any practical problems of immediate interest. But it is original or basic in character. It provides a systematic and deep insight into a problem and facilitates extraction of scientific and logical explanation and conclusion on it. It helps build new frontiers of knowledge. The outcomes of basic research form the basis for many applied research. Researchers working on applied research have to make use of the outcomes of basic research and explore the utility of them. Research on improving a theory or a method is also referred as fundamental research. For example, suppose a theory is applicable to a system provided the

Its aim is to get the meaning, feeling and describe the situation. We measure and weigh things in the study of substance or structure. Can we measure or weigh patterns? We cannot measure or weigh patterns. But to study patterns we must map a configuration of relationships. That is, structures involve quantities whereas patterns involve qualities. If one wishes to investigate why certain data are random then it is a qualitative research. If the aim is to study how random the data is, what is the mean, variance and distribution function then it becomes quantitative. There has been widespread debate in recent years within many of the social sciences regarding the relative merits of quantitative and qualitative strategies for research. The positions taken by individual researchers vary considerably, from those who see the two strategies as entirely separate and based on alternative views of the world, to those who are happy to mix these strategies within their research projects. In exploring the distinctions between qualitative and quantitative forms of research one needs to consider the different ontological and epistemological questions as well as positivism, interpretivism and critical paradigms. 3.2 Research Methodology and Research Method Research Methods and Research Methodology are two terms that are often confused as one and the same. Strictly speaking they are not so and they show differences between them. One of the primary differences between them is that research methods are the methods by which you conduct research into a subject or a topic. On the other hand research methodology explains the methods by which you may proceed with your research. Research methods involve conduct of experiments, tests, surveys and the like. On the other hand research methodology involves the learning of the various techniques that can be used in the conduct of research and in the conduct of tests, experiments, surveys and critical studies. This is the technical difference between the two terms, namely, research methods and research methodology. Research methodology is a systematic way to solve a problem. It is a science of studying how research is to be carried out. Essentially, the procedures by which researchers go about their work of describing, explaining and predicting phenomena are called research methodology. It is also defined as the study of

methods by which knowledge is gained. Its aim is to give the work plan of research. Research methods are the various procedures, schemes, algorithms, etc. used in research. All the methods used by a researcher during a research study are termed as research methods. They are essentially planned, scientific and value- neutral. They include theoretical procedures, experimental studies, numerical schemes, statistical approaches, etc. Research methods help us collect samples, data and find a solution to a problem. Particularly, scientific research methods call for explanations based on collected facts, measurements and observations and not on reasoning alone. They accept only those explanations which can be verified by experiments. In short it can be said that research methods aim at finding solutions to research problems. On the other hand research methodology aims at the employment of the correct procedures to find out solutions. It is thus interesting to note that research methodology paves the way for research methods to be conducted properly. Research methodology is the beginning whereas research methods are the end of any scientific or non-scientific research. Let us take for example a subject or a topic, namely, ‘employment of figures of speech in English literature’. In this topic if we are to conduct research, then the research methods that are involved are study of various works of the different poets and the understanding of the employment of figures of speech in their works. On the other hand research methodology pertaining to the topic mentioned above involves the study about the tools of research, collation of various manuscripts related to the topic, techniques involved in the critical edition of these manuscripts and the like. If the subject into which you conduct a research is a scientific subject or topic then the research methods include experiments, tests, study of various other results of different experiments performed earlier in relation to the topic or the subject and the like. On the other hand research methodology pertaining to the scientific topic involves the techniques regarding how to go about conducting the research, the tools of research, advanced techniques that can be used in the conduct of the experiments and the like. Any student or research candidate is

Researchers also need to understand the assumptions underlying various techniques and they need to know the criteria by which they can decide that certain techniques and procedures will be applicable to certain problems and others will not. All this means that it is necessary for the researcher to design his methodology for his problem as the same may differ from problem to problem. For example, an architect, who designs a building, has to consciously evaluate the basis of his decisions, i.e., he has to evaluate why and on what basis he selects particular size, number and location of doors, windows and ventilators, uses particular materials and not others and the like. Similarly, in research the scientist has to expose the research decisions to evaluation before they are implemented. He has to specify very clearly and precisely what decisions he selects and why he selects them so that they can be evaluated by others also. From what has been stated above, we can say that research methodology has many dimensions and research methods do constitute a part of the research methodology. The scope of research methodology is wider than that of research methods. Thus, when we talk of research methodology we not only talk of the research methods but also consider the logic behind the methods we use in the context of our research study and explain why we are using a particular method or technique and why we are not using others so that research results are capable of being evaluated either by the researcher himself or by others. 3.3 Research Methodology Research methodology is a collective term for the structured process of conducting research. There are many different methodologies used in various types of research and the term is usually considered to include research design, data gathering and data analysis. Research methodology seeks to inform: Why a research study has been undertaken, how the research problem has been defined, in what way and why the hypothesis has been formulated, what data have been collected and what particular method has been adopted, why particular technique of analysing data has been used and a host of similar other questions are usually answered when we talk of research methodology concerning a research problem or study.

Research methodologies can be quantitative (for example, measuring the number of times someone does something under certain conditions) or qualitative (for example, asking people how they feel about a certain situation). Ideally, comprehensive research should try to incorporate both qualitative and quantitative methodologies but this is not always possible, usually due to time and financial constraints. Research methodologies are generally used in academic research to test hypotheses or theories. A good design should ensure the research is valid, i.e. it clearly tests the hypothesis and not extraneous variables, and that the research is reliable, i.e. it yields consistent results every time. Part of the research methodology is concerned with the how the research is conducted. This is called the study design and typically involves research conducted using questionnaires, interviews, observation and/or experiments. The term research methodology, which prescribes the research method to use, usually encompasses the procedures followed to analyze and interpret the data gathered. These often use a range of sophisticated statistical analyses of the data to identify correlations or statistical significance in the results. Objective, representative research can be difficult to conduct because tests can normally only be conducted on a small sample (e.g. you cannot test a drug on every person in the world so a sample needs to be used in research). This means that researchers need to have a very detailed understanding of the types and limitations of research methodologies which they are using. In simple terms research methodology is used to give a clear cut idea on what the researcher is carrying out his or her research. In order to plan in a right point of time and to advance the research work, research methodology makes the right platform to the researcher to mapping out the research work in relevance to make solid plans. More over research methodology guides the researcher to involve and to be active in his or her particular field of enquiry. Most of the time, the aim of the research and the research topic won’t be same

for the researcher to know not only the research methods necessary for the research under taken but also the methodology. For example, a researcher not only needs to know how to calculate mean, variance and distribution function for a set of data, how to find a solution of a physical system described by mathematical model, how to determine the roots of algebraic equations and how to apply a particular method but also need to know (i) which is a suitable method for the chosen problem?, (ii) what is the order of accuracy of the result of a method?, (iii) what is the efficiency of the method? And so on. Considerations of these aspects constitute a research methodology. More precisely, research methods help us get a solution to a problem. On the other hand, research methodology is concerned with the explanation of the following: (1) Why is a particular research study undertaken? (2) How did one formulate a research problem? (3) What types of data were collected? (4) What particular method has been used? (5) Why was a particular technique of analysis of data used? The study of research methods gives training to apply them to a problem. The study of research methodology provides us the necessary training in choosing research methods, materials, scientific tools and training in techniques relevant for the problem chosen. Research methodology includes a philosophically coherent collection of theories, concepts or ideas as they relate to a particular discipline or field of inquiry. Methodology refers to more than a simple set of methods; rather it refers to the rationale and the philosophical assumptions that underlie a particular study relative to the scientific method. This is why scholarly literature often includes a section on the methodology of the researchers. This section does more than outline the researchers’ methods (for example, “we conducted a survey of 50 people over a two-week period and subjected the results to statistical analysis”, etc.); it might explain what the researchers’ ontological or epistemological views are. Researchers acknowledge the need for rigor, logic, and coherence in their research methodologies, which are subject to peer review. 3.3.1 Types of Research Methodologies

Traditionally, research methodologies are broadly classified into qualitative and quantitative thereby creating a huge divide amongst researchers, especially in social sciences (Onwuegbuzie and Leech, 2005). The difference between these two methods has been prominent in many research methods publications (Howe, 1988; Neuman, 1997). For instance, Myers (2009, p. 8) distinguishes that qualitative research is an in-depth study of social and cultural phenomena and focuses on text whereas quantitative research investigates general trends across population and focuses on numbers. Likewise, Miles and Huberman (1994) maintain that qualitative research focuses on in- depth examination of research issues while Harrison (2001) argues that quantitative design provides broad understanding of issues under investigation. As ascertained by reputable research methodologies researchers above, we can conclude that there are two main types of research methodology, 1- Quantitative methodology, 2- Qualitative methodology.1- Quantitative research methodology is the type by which you test the significance of your hypothesis, in other words you answer the words: How much? Is there a relationship? Quantitative research methods tend to be systematic and use numbers. However, 2- Qualitative methodology is the type by which you are depending on your observations and descriptions. It is subjectively and descriptive, no facts. This kind of method is used to assess knowledge’s, attitudes, behaviours, and opinions of people depending on the topic of your research. Researchers in this type of method use his opinion and experiences which are not allowed to be used in quantitative method at all. Given this distinction, purists uphold that research questions are usually oriented towards quantitative or qualitative direction and as such these two methodologies should not go hand-in- hand (Howe, 1988; Smith and Heshusius, 1986). Consequently, Myers (2009) supports the purists’ view of separating the two research philosophies by citing examples of research techniques under the two main categories in his recent publication on ‘Qualitative Research in Business and Management’. Thus, qualitative research methods include action research, case study, ethnography, grounded research, semiotics, discourse analysis, hermeneutics and narrative while quantitative research methods

are random then it is a qualitative research. If the aim is to study how random the data is, what is the mean, variance and distribution function then it becomes quantitative. Explaining how digestion of food takes place in our body is a qualitative description. It does not involve any numbers or data and quantities. Determination of exact amount of a particular compound present in a volume is essentially quantitative analysis. Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methodology The above description of the types of research methodologies brings to light the fact that there are two basic approaches to research, viz., quantitative approach and the qualitative approach. The former involves the generation of data in quantitative form which can be subjected to rigorous quantitative analysis in a formal and rigid fashion. Quantitative research is based on the measurement of quantity or amount. It is applicable to phenomena that can be expressed in terms of quantity. Qualitative research, on the other hand, is concerned with qualitative phenomenon, i.e., phenomena relating to or involving quality or kind. 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. Reviewing these definitions of what is meant by quantitative versus qualitative research helps identify the reasons for the primarily separate use of each method and the continuing debate among researchers concerning the relative value of each approach. The arguments can be complicated and often are philosophical; however, they essentially make the following kinds of distinctions: The word qualitative implies an emphasis on processes and meanings that are not rigorously examined or measured (if measured at all), in terms of quantity, amount, intensity, or frequency. Qualitative researchers stress the socially constructed nature of reality, the intimate relationship between the researcher and what is studied, and the situational constraints that shape inquiry. In contrast, quantitative studies emphasize the measurement and analysis of causal relationships between variables, not processes. Inquiry is purported to be within a value-free framework.

While it may be somewhat naive to delineate the differences between qualitative and quantitative research so definitively, it is helpful to begin to understand the nature of the debate by understanding commonly held divisions and basic definitions. Simply put, the terms ‘qualitative’ and ‘quantitative’ should refer to the type of data generated in the research process. Quantitative research produces data in the form of numbers while qualitative research tends to produce data that are stated in prose or textual forms. In order to produce different types of data, qualitative and quantitative research tend to employ different methods. Using the terminology from Hentschel’s (1999) Research Methodology-Data Framework, non-contextual methods—applied across the population universe, often a country or region—are designed to achieve breadth in coverage and analysis. Typically, the random sample survey produces quantifiable data that can be statistically analysed with the main aim of measuring, aggregating, modelling and predicting behaviour and relations. Contextual methods in contrast are applied to a specific locality, case or social setting and sacrifice breadth of population coverage and statistical generalisability in order to explore issues in depth (Booth et al, 1998). Contextual research includes ethnographic techniques, such as participant observation, interviews and participatory tools that are often group-based and visual. Using open-ended questions these methods are designed to capture judgements and perceptions and allow complex analyses of often non-quantifiable cause-and-effect processes. The Research Methodology Framework Source: Hentschel (1999) There has been widespread debate in recent years within many of the social sciences regarding the relative merits of quantitative and qualitative strategies for research. The positions taken by individual researchers vary considerably, from those who see the two strategies as entirely separate and based on alternative views of the world, to those who are happy to mix these strategies within their research projects. For example, Bryman (1988) argued for a `best of both worlds' approach and suggested that qualitative and quantitative approaches should be combined. Hughes (1997), nevertheless, warns that such technicist solutions underestimate the politics of legitimacy that are associated