WEEK THREE – FOUR
Main topics:
Types of research and research methods
I. TYPES OF RESEARCH AND RESEARCH METHODS
If one studies the literature on research, he/she will find a baffling list of types of research. Some of these types include:
•Pure, applied and strategic research
•Descriptive, explanatory, and evaluation research
•Market and academic research
•Exploratory, testing-out, and problem solving research
•Covert, adversarial and collaborative research
•Basic, applied, instrumental and action research
The basic characteristics shared by all of these different kinds or views of research is that they are or they aimed to me PLANNED, CAUTIOUS, SYSTEMATIC AND RELIABLE WAYS OF FINDING OUT OR DEEPENING UNDERSTANDING.
If we look at the types of research from various points of view, such as, considering its methodology, applicability, locality, and funding, we may have the following types of research:
1. METHODOLOGY: EMPIRICAL versus THEORETICAL research
EMRICAL INVESTIGATIONS involve OBSERVATIONAL and EXPERIMENTAL WORK including all kinds of instrumentation and laboratory equipment.
THEORETICAL INVESTIGATIONS are often conducted with the help of only paper, pencil, and computer in today’s working arena.
1. APPLICABILITY: BASIC versus APPLIED research and development
Whenever it is important to stress the GENERAL GOAL OF THE RESEARCH it may be referred to as BASIC or as APPLIED RESEARCH.
BASIC RESEARCH embraces research in which the scientists pursue their investigations with the main purpose of finding out how nature works.
In APPLIED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, the goal is to extend the findings from basic research into useful techniques that may be developed into products to cover needs in society.
3. LOCALITY: UNIVERSITY versus NON-UNIVERSITY / MARKET research
To a large degree, BASIC RESEARCH is the main theme at UNIVERSITIES, whereas NONUNIVERSITY RESEARCH tends to be more APPLIED.
4. FUNDING: PUBLIC versus PRIVATE funding of research
THERE ARE MANY WAYS OF THINKING ABOUT, AND CATEGORIZING, THE WIDE VARIETY OF RESEARCH METHODS AVAILABLE FOR DESIGNING, CARRYING OUT AND ANALYZING THE RESULTS OF RESEARCH.
ANY RESEARCH THAT HAS ALREADY BEEN COMPLETED IN THE PAST FOLLOWING A CERTAIN METHOD CAN AGAIN BE REPEATED USING AN ALTERNATIVE METHODOLOGY.
IN SOME CASES MORE THAN ONE METHOD CAN BE USED.
RESEARCH METHODS ARE LIKE DIFFERENT TOOLS IN THE RESEARCH TOOL BOX. DEPENDING ON YOUR RESEARCH TITLE, FIELD OF STUDY, ETC. YOU ARE TO CHOOSE AN APPROPRIATE TOOL FOR YOUR RESEARCH TASK.
EVERY RESEARCH METHOD HAS ITS ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES. AT THE BEGINNING OF YOUR RESEARCH PROCESS, IT IS SUGGESTED THAT YOU FIND OUT THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF THE RESEARCH METHODS YOU WANT TO USE AND ALSO DISCUSS YOUR PLANS FOR GATHERING DATA WITH YOUR SUPERVISOR AND/OR OTHER TUTORS.
ALL RESEARCH METHODS THAT RELY ON EVIDENCE FROM THE REAL WORLD RATHER THAN ABSTRACT OR THEORETICAL IDEAS ARE EMPIRICAL.
THERE ARE NUMEROUS TEXTS AVAILABLE WHICH, EITHER ATTEMPT TO PROVIDE A COMPREHENSIVE OVERVIEW OF THESE METHODS OR FOCUS ON A SMALLER SELECTION OR ON JUST ONE METHOD.
Blaxter, et.all, (1997, pp. 58-59) attempts to take a simpler and more straightforward way into the discussions of the methods. Thus, THEY LOOK AT METHODS AT THREE SUCCESSIVE LEVELS, in terms of:
• TWO RESEARCH FAMILIES – general strategies for doing research (two alternative formulations are offered)
- QUANTITATIVE OR QUALITATIVE
- DESKWORK OR FIELDWORK
• SIX RESEARCH APPROACHES to design your research project
- ACTION RESEARCH
- CASE STUDIES
- DOCUMENTARY RESEARCH
- ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH
- EXPERIMENTS
- SURVEYS
• FOUR RESEARCH TECHNIQUES for collecting data
- DOCUMENTS
- INTERVIEWS
- OBSERVATION
- QUESTIONNAIRES
Qualitative or Quantitative?
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH – Any social science research that produces results that are not obtained by statistical procedures or other methods of quantification.
In qualitative research some of the data can be quantified but the analysis is qualitative. It can refer to people’s lives, their stories, behavior, or can also be used to examine organizations, relationships, social movements, etc.
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH –
•- is associated with measuring,
•- measures large samples of items or people
•- not most common to focus on individuals,
•- interest with comparison of extensive data measured at the beginning and end of the period of time.
- results are presented by percentages, graphs etc.
Aspect of Research QUALITATIVE RESEARCH QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
Research strategy UNSTRUCTURED, INTUITIVE STRUCTURED
Character of researched features
DEAL WITH IMMEASURABLE FEATURES
ASSOCIATED WITH MEASURING
Character of samples TAKES SMALLER SAMPLES, ITEMS OR GROUPS OF PEOPLE AND LOOKS AT THE QUALITIES IN THEIR EXISTENCE
MEASURES LARGE SAMPLES OF ITEMS, PEOPLE, ETC.; NOT COMMON TO FOCUS ON INDIVIDUALS; COMPARISON OF EXTENDED DATA
Presentation of data RESULTS ANALYSED AND REPORTED
RESULTS PRESENTED IN TABLES, PERCENTAGES, GRAPHS, ETC.
Relationship between researcher and the subject
CLOSE - RESEARCHERS HAVE MORE PARTICIPANT ROLE, THROUGH INFORMAL DISCUSSIONS, SELF-DISCOVERY, ETC.
DISTANT - RESEARCHERS THEMSELVES ARE REMOVED FROM INVOLVEMENT IN AN PERSONAL WAY WITH THE PEOPLE RESEARCHED
Nature of data RICH, DEEP, SUBJECTIVE HARD, RELIABLE, OBJECTIVE
Relationship between theory and research
EMERGENT CONFIRMATION
CHARACTERISTICS OF QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE APPROACHES
QUESTION QUANTITATIVE QUALITATIVE
What is the purpose of the research?
To explain and predictTo confirm and validateTo test theoryOutcome-oriented
To describe and explainTo explore and interpretTo build theoryProcess-oriented
What is the nature of the research process?
FocusedKnown variablesEstablished guidelinesStatic designContext-freeDetached view
HolisticUnknown variablesFlexible guidelinesEmergent designContext-boundPersonal view
What are the methods of data collection?
RepresentativeLarge sample Standardized instruments
InformativeSmall sample, ObservationsInterviews
What is the form of reasoning used in analysis?
Deductive analysis Inductive analysis
How are the findings communicated?
NumbersStatisticsAggregated dataFormal voiceScientific style
WordsNarrativesIndividual quotes, Personal voiceLiterary style
WHICH APPROACH SHOULD I USE?
USE THIS APPROACH IF QUANTITATIVE QUALITATIVE
You believe that:
There is an objective reality that can be measured
There are multiple constructed realities
Your audience is: Familiar with/supportive of quantitative studies
Familiar with/supportive of qualitative studies
Your research question is:
Confirmatory, predictive Exploratory, interpretative
The available literature is: Relatively large Limited or missing
Your research focus: Covers a lot of breadth Involves in-depth study
Your time available is: Relatively short Relatively long
Your ability/desire to work with people is:
Medium to low High
Your desire for structure is:
High Low
You have skills in the area(s) of:
Statistics and deductive reasoning
Attention to detail and inductive reasoning
Your writing skills are strong in the area of:
Technical, scientific writing Literary, narrative writing
Fieldwork or Deskwork?
The distinction between fieldwork and deskwork offers an alternative thinking about basic research strategies.
FIELDWORK refers to the process of going out to collect research data. Such data may be described as original or empirical, and cannot be accessed without the researcher engaging in some kind of expedition. It might involve, fore example, visiting a company for interviewing member of staff, or standing on a street corner to give out questionnaires to passers-by, or going to a shopping area to make observations, take pictures, make sketches, etc. In some disciplines, like anthropology, architecture or sociology, fieldwork assumes particular importance.
DESKWORK, on the other hand, consists of those research processes which do not necessitate going into the field. It consists, literally, of those things can be done while sitting at a desk. These may include, for example, the analysis of data collected by others, literature searches in the libraries, and of course writing.
The fieldwork-deskwork distinction can be considered as a false dichotomy, since most, if not all, research projects will make use of both sets of approaches. No matter how much time researcher spends in the field, it is difficult to avoid some deskwork, even if it only consists of writing up the results.
But on the other hand, an appreciation of this distinction may help the researcher in planning and implementing her/his research project. The opportunities and preferences for either fieldwork or deskwork will help the researcher in choosing where this is possible, not just the topic of his/her research but the kinds of methods he or she will be using.
RESEARCH APPROACHES
The approaches which will be mentioned and explained in the following lines are not meant to be either definitive or exclusive. It simply recognizes the most common approaches used by those carrying out small-scale research projects. It is worth to keep in mind that, individual projects may involve more than one of these approaches: thus, a case study may be carried out through action research, while particular project may involve both experiments and surveys.
Action Research
IS THE STUDY OF A SOCIAL SITUATION WITH A VIEW TO IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF ACTION WITHIN IT.
THEORIES ARE NOT VALIDATED INDEPENDENTLY AND THEN APPLIED TO PRACTICE, BUT THEY ARE VALIDATED THROUGH PRACTICE.
FINDS OUT A GREAT DEAL OF PROFFESSIONAL PRACTICE.
•MAY CHANGE POLICIES, PEOPLE, INSTITUTIONS FOR THE BETTER.
•EVIDENCE IS GATHERED AS THE ACTION PLAN IS PUT INTO EFFECT AND BASED ON THIS A FURTHER PLAN IS FORMULATED.
•OFTEN INCLUDES HYPOTHESES IN THE DESIGN OF THE RESEARCH, AND IS “VERIFIABLE” AND RIGOROUS WHEN APPROPRIATE TECHNIQUES ARE USED.
•OUTPUTS GENERALLY INCREASE KNOWLEDGE, UNDERSTANDING AND IMPROVED PRACTICE.
•IS EDUCATIVE.
•DEALS WITH INDIVIDUALS AS MEMBERS OF SOCIAL GROUPS.
•IS PROBLEM-FOCUSED, CONTEXT-SPECIFIC, FUTURE-ORIENTED.
•INVOLVES A CHANGE INTERVENTION.
•AIMS AT IMPROVEMENT AND INVOLVEMENT.
•INVOLVES A CYCLIC PROCESS IN WHICH RESEARCH, ACTION AND EVALUATION ARE INTERLINKED.
•IS FOUNDED ON RESEARCH RELATIONSHIP IN WHICH THOSE INVOLVED ARE PARTICIPANTS IN THE CHANGE PROCESS.
•MOST LIKELY TO INVOLVE AN EXTENSIVE COMPONENT OF FIELDWORK.
Case Studies
•IS THE METHOD OF CHOICE WHEN THE PHENOMENON UNDER STUDY IS NOT READILY DISTINGUISHABLE FROM ITS CONTEXT.
•ALLOWS AND ENDORSES A FOCUS ON JUST ONE EXAMPLE OR PERHAPS TWO OR THREE: THIS MIGHT BE THE RESEARCHER’S PLACE OF WORK (for instance, for the study of the physical characteristics of public spaces, one might select ten cases from different cities as case study, and carry out research, observations in those spaces); A COMMUNITY GROUP OR A SMALL NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS.
•USES A MIXTURE OF METHODS: PERSONAL OBSERVATION, WHICH SOME PERIODS OR EVENTS MAY DEVELOP INTO PARTICIPATION; THE USE OF INFORMANTS FOR CURRENT HISTORICAL DATA; STRAIGHTFORWARD INTERVIEWING; AND THE TRACING AND THE STUDY OF RELEVANT DOCUMENTS AND RECORDS FROM LOCL AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENTS, TRAVELLERS, ETC.
•MIGHT BE PROGRESSED IN A VARIETY OF WAYS.
•Yin (1993) identifies six types of case study, defined along two dimensions, in terms of:
- THE NUMBER OF CASES: SINGLE OR MULTIPLE
- THE PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: EXPLORATORY, DESCRIPTIVE OR EXPLANATORY.
Thus we can talk in terms of single descriptive case studies,
multiple exploratory case studies, etc.
Experiments
•INVOLVES THE CREATION OF AN ARTIFICIAL SITUATION IN HICH EVENTS THAT GENERALLY GO TOGETHER ARE PULLED APART.
•THE PARTICIPANTS CALLED IN AN EXPERIEMENT ARE CALLED SUBJECTS.
•THE ELEMENTS OR FACTORS IN THE STUDY ARE NAMED AS VARIABLES.
•INDEPENDENT VARIABLES ARE THOSE THAT ARE SYTEMATICALLY ALTERED BY THE EXPERIMENTER. THOSE ITEMS THAT ARE AFFECTED BY THE EXPERIMENTAL TREATMENT ARE THE DEPENDENT VARIABLES.
Surveys
SURVEY RESEARCH IS THE METHOD OF COLLECTING INFORMATION BY ASKING A SET OF PREFORMULATED QUESTIONS IN A PREDETERMINED SEQUENCE IN A STRUCTURED QUESTIONNAIRE TO A SAMPLE OF INDIVIDUALS DRAWN SO AS TO BE REPRESENTATIVE OF A DEFINED POPULATION. (Hutton, 1990, p. 8)
MOST SURVEYS ARE BASED ON SAMPLES OF A SPECIFIED TARGET POPULATION – THE GROUP OF PERSONS IN WHOM INTEREST IS EXPRESSED.
THE AIM OF THE SURVEYS IS TO COLLECT INFORMATION DIRECTLY FROM PEOPLE.
QUESTIONNAIRES AND INTERVIEWS ARE THE TECHNIQUES WHICH ARE AT THE HEART OF ONE TYPE OF SURVEY RESEARCH. (THEY ALSO PLAY A PART IN ACTION RESEARCH, AS WELL AS CASE STUDIES AND EXPERIMENTAL APPROACHES). BESIDES, OBSERVATIONS AND DOCUMENTS ARE ALSO USED IN SURVEYS.
SURVEYS ARE USUALLY ASSOCIATED AS A RESEARCH APPROACH WITH THE IDEA OF ASKING GROUPS OF PEOPLE QUESTIONS. THERE IS HOWEVER, A RELATED MEANING OF SURVEY WHICH IS ALSO RELEVANT TO THE SOCIAL SCIENCES. THIS IS WHEN THE SUBJECTS WHICH ARE BEING QUESTIONED BY THE RESEARCHER ARE REALLY OBJECTS: MATERIALS OR ARTEFACTS RATHER THAN PEOPLE. THUS, MOST SMALL-SCALE RESEARCH PROJECTS WILL INVOLVE SOME KIND OF LITERATURE SURVEY; BUT IN SOME CASES, AS WHEN DOCUMENTARY ANALYSIS IS EXTENSIVELY USED, THIS MAY BE THE BASIS FOR THE WHOLE PROJECT.
Documentary Research
•DOES NOT SET UP EXPERIMENTS OR TRIALS.
•INCLUDES SEARCHING THROUGH DOCUMENTS ON A SELECTED TOPIC.
•HAS THE DISADVANTAGE OF RESEARCHING WITHOUT ANY THEORY AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK.
•FOR ANY KIND OF DOCUMENTATION, HAVING A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK, AND A THEORETICAL BACKGROUND WILL LEAD TO SUCCESSFUL RESEARCH.
•A SUFFICIENTLY INTERESTING AND RESEARCHABLE QUESTION SHOULD ALSO BE ASKED AT THE BEGINNING SO THAT ONE KNOWS WHAT DOCUMENTS WILL BE USEFUL TO EXAMINE AND FROM WHAT PERSPECTIVE TO READ THEM.
•ONE DISADVANTAGE IS THAT THE DOCUMENTS MAY BE MISSING, THUS GIVING AN INCOMPLETE PICTURE.
•QUESTIONS OF RELAIBILITY, VALIDITY AND PURPOSE ARE ON THE AGENDA.
AVAILABLE EVIDENCE, THUS, DOCUMENTS SHOULD BE STUDIED CAREFULLY.
Ethnographic Research
•LOOKING FROM THE INSIDE BY PARTICIPATING IN THE LIFE OF THOSE GROUPS OF PEOPLE BEING RESEARCHED.
•“PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION” IS THE CHARACTER OF THE RESEARCH
•DATA CAN NEVER BE GATHERED IN THE SAME WAY TWICE.
•TOO MUCH INVOLVING MAY CAUSE LOSING THE ORIGINAL PERSPECTIVE THAT WILL LEAD TO POOR QUALITY DATA RESULTS.
TO SUM IT UP:
WHEN YOU ARE WRITING YOUR DISSERTATION IT IS IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND THE LIMITATIONS OF YOUR CHOSEN METHODS / APPROACHES, COMPARED WITH OTHER ALTERNATIVES WHICH YOU REJECTED.
THE DATA YOU GATHER AND THE METHOD YOU CHOOSE SHOULD BE APPROPRIATE TO THE PURPOSE OF YOUR RESEARCH.
Eight issues to consider in choosing your research methods
1.What do you need or want to find-out?2.What skills do you have? (consider the everyday skills and grade yourself on a scale from 1 to 20 – which of these skills do you consider yourself to be best at?)3.Will your methodological preferences answer your questions?4.How will your methods affect the answers you get?5.How will you affect your research?6.Which methods are acceptable?7.Will using more that one method fit your aims?8.Can you allow for changes in direction?
RESEARCH TECHNIQUES
In everyday life, we all do research in a variety of ways, by using a variety of techniques. Thus, RESEARCHERS USE EVERYDAY SKILLS FOR THE COLLECTION, SELECTION, ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION OF DATA. However, researchers make use of these everyday (TAKEN-FOR-GRANTED) skills – READING, LISTENING, WATCHING, CHOOSING, QUESTIONING, SUMMARIZING, ORGANIZING, WRITING, PRESENTING (as put forward by Blaxter, et. Al, 1996, p. 55) – IN A CONSCIOUS, CONSIDERED AND SYTEMATIC FASHION, AND AIM TO BE RIGOROUS, CRITICAL AND ANALYTICAL.
RESEARCH INVOLVES THE PROFESSIONALIZATION OF EVERYDAY SKILLS.
IT ALSO REQUIRES THE RESEARCHER TO PAY PARTICULAR ATTENTION TO ALTERNATIVE VALUES, VIEWS, MEANINGS AND EXPLANATIONS, WHILE REMAINING ALERT TO BIASES AND DISTORTIONS.
YET, IN THE RPOCESS OF PROFESSIONALIZATION OF EVERYDAY SKILLS RESEARCHERS USE SEVERAL TECHNIQUES TO ACHIEVE THEIR AIMS.
Study of Documents
All research project involve, to a greater or lesser extent, THE USE AND ANALYSIS OF DOCUMENTS, often in conjunction with other research techniques such as interviews with key informants.
RESEARCHERS ARE EXPECTED TO READ, UNDERSTAND AND CRITICALLY ANALYSE THE WRITINGS OF OTHERS, WHETHER FELLOW RESEARCHERS, PRACTITIONERS, OR POLICY-MAKERS.
For some research projects, however, the FOCUS OF DATA COLLECTION IS ENTIRELY, OR ALMOST ENTIRELY, ON DOCUMENTS OF VARIOUS KINDS. As Blaxter, et.al. (1996, p. 151) explains, they might,
• BE LIBRARY-BASED, AIMED AT PRODUCING A CRITICAL SYNOPSIS OF AN EXISTING AREA OF RESEARCH WRITINGS,
•BE COMPUTER-BASED, CONSISTING LARGELY OF THE ANALYSIS PREVIOUSLY COLLECTED DAT SETS,
•HAVE A POLICY FOCUS, EXAMINING MATERIALS RELEVANT TO A PARTICULAR SET OF POLICY DECISIONS,
•HAVE A HISTORICAL ORIENTATION, MAKING USE OF AVAILABLE ARCHIVAL AND OTHER SURVIVING DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE.
RESEARCHERS WHO BASE THEIR STUDIES ON DOCUMENTS MAY MAKE CONSIDERABLE USE OF SECONDARY DATA, THAT IS THE DATA WHICH HAS ALREADY BEEN COLLECTED, AND POSSIBLY ALSO ANALYSED BY SOMEBODY ELSE.
PRIMARY DATA / INFORMATION
Data from primary sources collected for the first time
New and has never been published before
e.g. original research, new legislation and survey results like government statistics
Up-to-date, detailed, accurate and specialized
SECONDARY DATA / INFORMATION
Data that have been collected previously and reported by some individual other than the researcher
A scientist, a researcher, when describing new research results (primary information) may refer to and comment on work published by others (secondary information).
The primary data of previous research, when fond in books, periodical, journals, bulletins, and similar publications, are less valuable than a researcher’s own findings.
PRIMARY BOOK SOURCES SECONDARY BOOK SOURCES NON-BOOK SOURCES
Conference Proceedings Bibliographies Audio-visual material
Official Publications Current awareness publications General catalogues
Patents Current contents Subject catalogues
Periodicals / Journals Indexes Cd ROMs
Reports Abstracts Online searching
Research in progress Newspaper and press clippings Culture collections
Standards Reference books Museums
Statistics Encyclopaedias Information services
Theses Dictionaries Microforms
Trade literature Handbooks Maps
Memos, minutes, internal reports Directories Technical drawings
Letters, diaries Year books Photographs
Contemporary and classic works Textbooks Botanic gardens
Translations Zoos and nature reserves
Reviews Science parks
Popular media People
Edited collections and literature reviews
Organizations
Computer-based material
Following is a number of hints about the sources of information (White, 1991, p. 58):
- realize that information is either new or original (primary) or second-hand (secondary)
- note that information may be both book or non-book form
- be aware that information comes in many different sources and their number is increasing all the time
- list all the different sources present in the libraries near you, and learn how to use them
- know the uses and limitations of the sources you use
- use a number of different sources
- do not be dependent on one source (usually a textbook) – get a balanced view
When you try to work out and identify your information needs, first of all you should decide WHY YOU NEED THE INFORMATION.
Why you need information often determines WHAT TYPE OF DATA YOU SHOULD LOOK FOR.
Secondly, DEFINE YOUR INFORMATION NEEDS. Here you decide what you already now, what you need to know, and if your query is either specific or general. You may use BRAINSTORMING TECHNIQUE for general needs.
Then, you should CHOOSE SOURCES TO USE, AND SEARCH THEM OUT. Here you choose to search PRIMARY, SECONDARY, BOOK OR NON-BOOK MATERIAL. Library skills are important here.
Finally, you COLLECT INFORMATION. You work through the selected sources by making notes.
EXERCISE 6 (in class)
Give an example of a research case (possibly related to your research area) where you would need to carry out an interview survey.
EXERCISE 7 (in class)
Give an example of a research case (possibly related to your research area) where you would need to carry out a questionnaire survey.
To sum it up;
WHICH TECHNIQUES YOU WILL BE USING IN YOUR RESEARCH METHODOLOGY IS SURELY DEPENDENT UPON YOUR FIELD OF STUDY, YOUR RESEARCH TOPIC, THE DATA NEEDED AND THUS THE REQUIREMENTS OF YOUR RESEARCH. THESE SHOULD BE DISCUSSED WITH YOUR SUPERVISOR CAREFULLY.
EXERCISE 8 (take-home assignment 3)• 1. Library search: Please find a completed masters or phd
thesis in the library. Then;– define the title of the research & the owner of the
research;– briefly explain what the research is about (no more
than 300 words) – identify which research family & which research
approach the thesis falls into, and explain in which ways the research falls into those groups; and
– list the research techniques used in the thesis and explain for what purposes these techniques have been used.
2. Identify two examples of research projects / titles, each of which falls into one of the approaches / families. Then identify the possible techniques that can be used for the purpose of these research projects.
• Submisson date: 20.11.2006 (counts for % 25 of the total grade)