Research Philosophy

Research Approach

Research Strategies

Time Horizons

Data Collection

Research Onion

Research Philosophy

• Your research philosophy depends on the way that you think about knowledge is developed or created, how we gain understanding of things (“epistemology”). • Your way of thinking will affect the way you go about doing research.

• Generally, there are two key research philosophies, the positivism and phenomenology.

Research Philosophy

Research Approach

Research Strategies

Time Horizons

Data Collection

Phenomenology

Positivism

• You are working with an observable reality. Research can produce laws. Results can be generalised, similar to those produced by natural scientists.

• You are working objectively, with little or no personal interpretation of the data.

• You need a structured methodology to gain quantitative data which is replicable and can be analysed using stats.

Philosophy - Positivism

•You are researching human behaviour. This may be too complex to follow a definite law in the same way as the natural sciences.

•Generalisability is not of crucial importance, since we are focussing on a particular problem or situation

•Phenomenology highlights the details of the situation to understand a reality working behind them.

Philosophy - Phenomenology

Research Philosophy

Research Approach

Research Strategies

Time Horizons

Data Collection

Phenomenology

Positivism

Theory

Hypotheses

Data

Confirmation

Theory

PatternsData

Tentative Hypotheses

Data

Deductive Inductive

The Research Approach

Deductive approach: testing theory

Inductive approach: building theory

Deductive Approach Inductive Approach

Scientific principles Moving from theory to data The need to explain causal

relationships between variables The collection of quantitative

data The application of controls to

ensure data validity A highly structured approach Researcher independence of

what is being researched The necessity to select samples

of sufficient size in order to generalise conclusions

Gaining an understanding of the meaning humans attach to events

A close understanding of the research context

The collection of qualitative data A more flexible structure to

permit changes of research emphasis as the research progresses

A realisation that the researcher is part of the research process

Less concern with the need to generalise

Deductive vs. Inductive

Research Philosophy

Research Approach

Research Strategies

Time Horizons

Data Collection

Phenomenology

Positivism

Deductive

Inductive

Rese

arch

Stra

teg

ies

• The survey method is usually associated with the deductive approach – surveys are “experiments”.

• It allows the collection of a large amount of data from a sizeable population in a highly economical way.

• It is often conducted on questionnaire to answer those ‘What’ and ‘How’ questions. Its data are standardised and so allow easy comparison.

• It gives you more control over the research process, however, it takes time to design and pilot a good questionnaire.

Survey Method

The Experimental Method is a classical form of research that comes from the natural science. The process usually involves: 1.The definition of a theoretical hypothesis.2.Select a sample of a population.3.Allocate samples to different experimental

conditions.4.Introduce planned change on one variable (the

“independent” variable).5.Measure the change of an associated

“dependent” variable.6.Control of other variables.

Experimental Method

Research Philosophy

Research Approach

Research Strategies

Time Horizons

Data Collection

Phenomenology

Deductive

Inductive

Experiment

Survey

Case Study

Focus Group

Ethnography

Grounded Research

Positivism

Time Horizons

• Consider the amount of time you have, do you want your research to be a ‘snapshot’ or a ‘diary’?

• The snapshot reflects the cross-sectional studies.

• The diary reflects the longitudinal studies

Research Philosophy

Research Approach

Research Strategies

Time Horizons

Data Collection

Positivism

Phenomenology

Deductive

Inductive

Longitudinal

Cross Sectional

Experiment

Survey

Case Study

Focus Group

Ethnography

Grounded Research

Types of Data

• Quantitative

• Qualitative

Research Philosophy

Research Approach

Research Strategies

Time Horizons

Data Collection

Positivism

Phenomenology

Deductive

Inductive

Longitudinal

Cross SectionalQuantitativeQualitative

Experiment

Survey

Case Study

Focus Group

Ethnography

Grounded Research

Wish to do Research

Research Topic,

Questions

Literature Review

Design Research

Approaches

Data Collection

Negotiate Access

Data Analysis

ReportWriting

Report Submitting

Stages in a Research

Research ProposalWriting guideline

Title •Give a clear and succinct title, indicating

the problem area around which the research will be undertaken.

Word guide•Title…………………………10-20 •Abstract------------------words guide 50-100 •Key words ........15-20

Please note following instructions. The proposal should include a list of references and a timeframe. The word count excluding references is 1500 – 2000

Background• Include a description of the background to your

topic. Explain ▫ Why you have chosen the topic ▫ Why you selected this particular industry for research ▫ Research Gap, mention at least 3 references who

suggested this kind of work to be done in future. • Research Questions Here you should write your

research questions as they emerge from the background and critical literature review.

• Research Objectives Here you outline your main objectives of your research? Develop these into 3-5 specific research objectives that begin with “To…” and use higher level verbs

Word Guide 500-750

Preliminary Review of the Literature

•Give a brief critical review of the literature that you have read in writing the proposal. This should include current sources. Don’t forget to give a list of sources used (a minimum of 20 for proposal and 100 for thesis) - use the APA style, you are encouraged to use endnote for referencing. Justify the need for the research.

Word Guide 800-1000

Research Plan / Methodology

• This is the most important section• Data Collection Methods • Have you a conceptual framework? • If so, include. Propositions What is the access and

sampling strategy (including sample numbers)? • Population, sample, element………….use NQuery

Advisor • How will the data be analyzed and presented? • What are the delimitations of your research -

comment briefly on validity, reliability and generalizability

Word Guide 500-750

Ethical Considerations •Plagiarism is acceptable up to only 15

percent excluding referencing. Before review and presentation

•Proposal will be tested for plagiarism •Time frame Include a Gantt chart. Time

line for each important task Alert us to any particular problems you are likely to face.

Word Guide 150-200

•Referencing ▫5 books and 20 research articles Using

endnote software and in APA style

•Annexure ▫Questionnaire, web information or any

other report.

Note: you can skip any of the options if not applicable.

DATA

Quantitative

Categorical

Numerical

Numeric Non-

numeric

R I O N O N

Nominal………category……… No Order or Rank, just name Eg ; country name ,company name etc.

Ordinal ……..Ranked categories but we don’t know the differenceEg ; good , bad , excellent

SA A Avg D SD3 4 3 2 1

Interval ………. We ranked them with fixed distance between each data category ranked/order/zero is scale if comes in data ..does not nothing exist.

Ratio ……….numeric zero mean nothing exists,Ranked

F Allow to do ratio

0 10

10 20

20 30

Excel For Research

CHI SQUARE

Values must be mutually exclusive

Sample drawn from population

Minimum expecting of five currencies in

each category

Do you work ? Y/N

Students: Lot of us work– students are saying (Alternate Hypothesis)

Professor : Equal people work (Null Hypothesis)

Observed No

Expected No

Residual

Y 16 10 6

N 14 10 -6

T 20 20 0

Descriptive Statics

Chi square x2 7.2

Df 0.1

Significance 0.007

X2 (1)=7.20, P ≤0.05

We sampled 20 students and evaluated whether those of the students who worked was equal to the students who don’t work.

Data was analyzed choosing Chi Square of fitness test.

NULL hypothesis was rejected

X2(1)=7.2,P ≤ 0.05

More than half of the students work

T-Test

It detects the defenses between the means of two dependent variables.

Requirements

1. Sample from population.2. Two scale measurement per participant.3. Distribution of differences scores is quality

normal.

1. People spend more time on watching movies (AH)

2. People spend more time reading books.(NH)

One laid testTest Anova

Tests of data

1.Count2.Average 3.Standard

dev4.T-Test

Average of two means are statistically different from each otherSD,AVG,X does not tell us full story either two numbers are different