RESEARCH METHODOLOGY (RM)

Chapter I:  A WAY OF THINKING

A). Application of research
Question can be considered from four different perspectives:
1. The service provider
2. The service administrator, manager, and/or planner
3. The service consumer
4. The professional

B). Definition of Research
• Research is a process for collecting, analyzing and interpreting information to answer questions
• Research is one of the ways to find your answers to your questions
• While undertaking a research study, you are implying that the process:
1. Is being undertaken with framework of a set of philosophies
2. Uses procedures, methods and techniques that have been tested for their validity and reliability

3. Is designed to be unbiased and objective
• Validity ensures that in a research study, 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.

C). Characteristics of Research
There are many characteristics of research
1. Controlled (set up your studies in a way that minimizes the effects of other factors affecting the relationship)
2. Rigorous (procedures must be relevant, appropriate and justified)
3. Systematic ( procedures follow a certain logical sequence)
4. Valid and verifiable ( your finds are correct and verified by you and others)
5. Empirical ( conclusions from hard evidence from real-life experiences or observations)
6. Critical (scrutiny of the procedures and the methods employed is crucial to a search inquiry)

D). Types of Research
Research can be classified from three perspectives:
1. Application of the research study
2. Objectives in undertaking the research
3. Applied research

1. Application of the Research Study
There are two kinds of applications
a). Pure research (academic in nature and undertaken to gain knowledge)
b). Applied research (understanding a phenomenon / issue or bring in a program situation)

2. Objectives
Objectives of the research can be classified as: descriptive, correlational, explanatory or exploratory.
a). Descriptive research: to describe a situation, phenomenon, problem or issue
b). Correlational research: to establish or explore a relationship between two or more variables
c). Explanatory research: to explain why certain things happen the way they do
d). exploratory research: to examine the feasibility of conducting a study

3. The Mode of Inquiry
• Inquiry mode concerns the process you adopt to find answers to your research questions.
• From the point of view of the mode of inquiry, there are two types of researches:
a). unstructured / qualitative research: to describe a variation in an phenomenon, situation or attitude / to explore the nature of  a problem
b). structured / quantitative research: to help you to quantify a variation / to determine the extent of a problem
• The study is classified as qualitative
a). if the purpose of the study is primarily to describe a situation, phenomenon problem or event
b). if the analysis is done to establish the variation in the situation, phenomenon or problem without quantifying it.
• The study is classified as quantitative
a). if you want to quantify the variation in a phenomenon, situation, problem or issue
b). if information is gathered using predominantly quantitative variables
c). if the analysis is geared to ascertain the magnitude of variation

E). Paradigms of Research
There are two paradigms that from the basis of research in the social sciences.
a). systematic scientific or positivist approach
b). qualitative, ethnographic, ecological or naturalistic approach