Research Methodology (MCM34) UNIT-1

REF NO: MCM34-U1-01 – Dated 02-08-2020

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY (MCM34)

UNIT – I
INTRODUCTION
Learning objectives:

After reading this lesson, you should be able to understand:

o Meaning, Objectives and Types of Research

o Qualities of Researcher
o Significance of Research
o Research Process
o Research Problem
o Features, Importance, Characteristics, Concepts and Types of Research Design
o Case Study Research
o Hypothesis and Its Testing
o Sample Survey and Sampling Methods

Meaning of Research:

Research in simple terms refers to search for knowledge. It is a scientific and systematic
search for information on a particular topic or issue. It is also known as the art of scientific
investigation. Several social scientists have defined research in different ways.

In the Encyclopaedia of Social Sciences, D. Slesinger and M. Stephension (1930) defined

research as “the manipulation of things, concepts or symbols for the purpose of generalizing
to extend, correct or verify knowledge, whether that knowledge aids in the construction of
theory or in the practice of an art”.

According to Redman and Mory (1923), research is a “systematized effort to gain new
knowledge”. It is an academic activity and therefore the term should be used in a technical
sense. According to Clifford Woody (kothari, 1988), research comprises “defining and
redefining problems, formulating hypotheses or suggested solutions; collecting, organizing
and evaluating data; making deductions and reaching conclusions; and finally, carefully
testing the conclusions to determine whether they fit the formulated hypotheses”.

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Thus, research is an original addition to the available knowledge, which contributes to its
further advancement. It is an attempt to pursue truth through the methods of study,
observation, comparison and experiment. In sum, research is the search for knowledge, using
objective and systematic methods to find solution to a problem.

TERM RESEARCH

The term ‘Research’ consists of two words:

Research = Re + Search
‘Re’ means again and again and ‘Search’ means to find out something, the following is the
Process:

Observes Collection of Data

Pearson Phenomena Conclusions
Again and Again Analysis of Data

Therefore, research means to observe the phenomena again and again from different
dimensions. For example there are many theories of learning due to the observation from
different dimensions.

The research is a process of which a person observes the phenomena again and again and
collects the data and on the basis of data he draws some conclusions.

Research is oriented towards the discovery of relationship that exists among phenomena of
the world in which we live. The fundamental assumption is that invariant relationship exists
between certain antecedents and certain consequents so that under a specific set of conditions
a certain consequents can be expected to follow the introduction of a given antecedent.

OBJECTIVES OF RESEARCH

The purpose of research is to discover answers to questions through the application of

scientific
Procedures. The main aim of research is to find out the truth which is hidden and which has
not been discovered as yet. Though each research study has its own specific purpose, we may
think of research objectives as falling into a number of following broad groupings:

1. To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to achieve new insights into it (studies with
this object in view are termed as exploratory or formulative research studies);

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2. To portray accurately the characteristics of a particular individual, situation or a group

(studies with this object in view are known as descriptive research studies);
3. To determine the frequency with which something occurs or with which it is associated
with something else (studies with this object in view are known as diagnostic research
studies);
4. To test a hypothesis of a causal relationship between variables (such studies are known as
Hypothesis-testing research studies).

DEFINITIONS OF RESEARCH
According to Rusk

“Research is a point of view, an attitude of inquiry or a frame of mind. It asks questions

which have hitherto not been asked, and it seeks to answer them by following a fairly definite
procedure. It is not a mere theorising, but rather an attempt to elicit facts and to face them
once they have been assembled. Research is likewise not an attempt to bolster up pre-
conceived opinions, and it implies a readiness to accept the conclusions to which an inquiry
leads, no matter how unwelcome they may prove. When successful, research adds to the
scientific knowledge of the subject.

According to George J. Mouly

He defines research as, “The systematic and scholarly application of the scientific method
interpreted in its broader sense, to the solution of social studiesal problems; conversely, any
systematic study designed to promote the development of social studies as a science can be
considered research.”

According to Francis G. Cornell

“To be sure the best research is that which is reliable verifiable and exhaustive, so that it
provides information in which we have confidence. The main point here is that research is,
literally speaking, a kind of human behaviour, an activity in which people engage. By this
definition all intelligent human behaviour involves some research.”

“In social studies, teachers, administrators, or others engage in ‘Research’ when they
systematically and purposefully assemble information about schools, school children, the

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social matrix in which a school or school system is determined, the characteristic of the
learner or the interaction between the school and pupil.” Perception of Research

According to R.M. Hutchins

R.M. Hutchins, Chancellor of the University of Chicago, in “The Higher Learning in

America” says, “Research in the sense of the development, elaboration, and refinement of
principles, together with the collection and use of empirical materials to aid in these
processes, is one of the highest activities of a university and one in which all its professors
should be engaged.”

J.H. McGrath and D.E. Watson have defined the term ‘Research’ more comprehensively.
“Research is a process which has utility to the extent that class of inquiry employed as the
research activity vehicle is capable of adding knowledge, of stimulating progress and helping
society and man relate more efficiently and effectively to the problems that society and man
perpetuate and create.”

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF RESEARCH

The following characteristics may be gathered from the definitions of ‘Research’

1. It gathers new knowledge or data from primary or first-hand sources.

2. It places emphasis upon the discovery of general principles.
3. It is an exact systematic and accurate investigation.
4. It uses certain valid data gathering devices.
5. It is logical and objective.
6. The researcher resists the temptation to seek only the data that support his hypotheses.
7. The researcher eliminates personal feelings and preferences.
8. It endeavours to organise data in quantitative terms.
9. Research is patient and unhurried activity.
10. The researcher is willing to follow his procedures to the conclusions that may be
unpopular
and bring social disapproval.
11. Research is carefully recorded and reported.

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12. Conclusions and generalisations are arrived at carefully and cautiously.

SPECIFIC CHARACTERISTICS OF RESEARCH

The following are the main characteristics of research:

1. A sound philosophy of social studies as the basis of research

Robert R. Rusk observes. “In the application of scientific procedure to social studies a sound
philosophy as well as a sound common sense must be invoked to save the scientific
procedure from itself.”

2. Research is based on insight and imagination

The same writer feels, “Social studies by its reliance on research must never fail to realize
that in addition to its practical practitioner and skilled investigators, it stands in need of men
and women of imaginative insight, who look beyond, he present and behold the vision
splendid. If the vision should fade into the light of common day, not only will the people
perish, but research itself will become a sterile futility.”

3. Research requires an inter-disciplinary approach

Research is not the mere description of elementary and isolated facts of nature. It must be
related to the study of complex relationships of various facts. It requires an inter- disciplinary
approach.

4. Research usually employs deductive reasoning process

Eric Hylla writes in the ‘Nature and Functions of Research’, the science of mind commonly
uses methods of description, explanation, interpretation, sympathetic or intuitive
understanding methods which are mainly speculative and deductive in character and which
rarely furnish results that can be subjected to measurement or mathematical procedures.

5. Research should come out of a desire to do things better

Stephen M. Corey writes. “Better social studies means better development or formulation of
instructional aims, better motivation of pupils, better teaching methods, better evaluation and
better supervision and administration, these are ‘activities’ or ‘operations’.

6. Research is not as exact as research in physical science

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No two human beings have ever been found to be alike. No scientific investigations of human
behaviour even those of so called “identical twins” have resulted in the findings of
individuals completely similar in structure or behaviour. “In the whole world there are
probably no two things exactly alike similarly no two human beings are alike, they differ
physically in size, weight, height, colour of eyes and hair texture of skin and in a thousand
other details as well as in thousands of details of mental, social and spiritual life,” writes H.C.
McKown. This fact stands in the way of making research as an exact science.

7. Research is not the field of the specialist only

W.C. Redford writes, “In sum, I believe the teachers in every country have the opportunity
and the capacity to undertake some research. Such research, carried out in the day-to-day
work of the school, should be concerned directly with the problems of that school. It can
properly concern itself with such matters as child development, class organisation, teacher-
pupil relationships, and interaction with the community, curriculum matters, teaching
techniques and many others.”

Similarly, V.V. Kamat, in an article entitled “Can a teacher do research?” published in

‘Teaching’ making these remarks: “Any teacher with common sense, intelligence and insight
can undertake research in a problem. In the beginning such workers may require some
guidance and training but this can be made easily available to them at the hands of experts.”

8. Research generally requires inexpensive material

In many social studies research studies we simply need subjects, i.e., children, their social
studies tools of daily use, paper and pencil and a few tests.

9. Research is based on the subjectivity and intangibility of social phenomena

Lundberg has pointed out that the physical phenomena may be known directly through sense,
whereas social phenomena are known only symbolically through words representing such
phenomena as tradition, custom, attitude, values and the whole realm of so called subjective
worlds.

10. Research is perhaps incapable of being dealt through empirical method

According to Lundberg “Exact science tends to become increasingly quantitative in its units,
measures, and terminology while most of the matter of social science is quantitative and does
not admit of quantitative statement. We can talk of urbanisation, cultural assimilation etc. but

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we can’t measure quantitatively. We may talk of growing indiscipline, but unless we can
measure it, unless we can ascertain the degree of indiscipline, we cannot find a perfect cure.”
According to Mitchell, “Even in the work of the most statistically minded, qualitative
analysis will have a place. Always our measurements, the pre-conceptions shape our ends,
our first glimpses of new problems, our widest generalisations will remain qualitative in
form.”

11. Research is based on inter dependence of causes and effect

In case of a social phenomenon the cause and the effect are inter dependent and one
stimulates the other. It becomes, therefore, very difficult to find as to what is the cause and
what is the fore effect. MacIver rightly points out, “Social science has hitherto suffered
greatly from the attempt to make it conform to method derived from the order and more
abstract sciences. It has led us to look for impossible results and to be disappointed at not
getting them. We enquire, for example, after the manner of physical sciences which of the
two related social phenomena is cause and which the effect. It usually turns out in the social
sphere, that both are cause and both are effect.
12. Research cannot be a mechanical process

Symonds concludes that research is ... “not something that can be ground out as by a
machine. Research can never be made a mechanical process. There is no problem worthy of
study that does not include unknown elements and does not require a fresh approach and
attack. Too much of the research done by students in recent years has smaked of the
mechanical or merely following the methods and procedures of some predecessors without
clear insight, into the problem itself or the methods to be used in attacking it. Much of the
research in social studies that is being published fails to receive recognition because it lacks
that spark of originality that must accompany an attack on a new problem.

Research methods and techniques can be taught, but after they are mastered there is still the
problem of attacking a new problem and genuine contribution to social studies cannot be
made without the willingness to pioneer into new fields or to work out new procedures.
Genuine research must be an exploration. Any student who wishes to undertake research in
social studies must be willing to take venture into the unknown and only by doing so he will
bring back the fruit of genuine discovery.”

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