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Research Methodology

Research Methodology. By Reaz Uddin , Ph. D. Dr. Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research, International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi. Course Contents. Course Contents ASR-1 Philosophy of Science- By Senior Teacher

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Research Methodology

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  1. Research Methodology By Reaz Uddin, Ph. D. Dr. Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research, International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi

  2. Course Contents • Course Contents ASR-1 • Philosophy of Science-By Senior Teacher • Literature Review-Library • Inventory Review Library • Inventory of Questions • Research Objectives- Dr. HinaSiddiqui • Research Hypothesis- Dr. HinaSiddiqui • Types of Research Methods • Research Phases- Dr. HinaSiddiqui • Research Design/Designing an investigation- Dr. HinaSiddiqui • Qualitative and quantitative Approaches • Design of Experiment • Identification of Available Technologies and Expertise • Research Proposal- Dr. HinaSiddiqui

  3. Research Terminology • Research Terminology • 'research methodology' •     The study of researchmethods • 'research technique' •     A specific means, approach or tool-and-its-use, whereby data is gathered and analysed, and inferences are drawn  • 'research method' •     The manner in which a particular project is undertaken •     It comprises one or more research techniques

  4. Fundamental Goals... • Of Science: • To Understand, To Predict, To Control • Of Scientists: • To communicate discoveries and findings to a community of peers

  5. Designing ResearchDimensions of Analysis • Research Purposes - theoretical or applied? • Research Problems - what questions are asked? • Research Settings - simulated or natural? • Research Investigators - background and training • Research Methods - a continuum • Experimental, Ethnography, Case study, Survey

  6. Quantitative and Qualitative • Quantitative research designs strive to identify and isolate specific variables within the context (seeking correlation, relationships, causality) of the study. • Qualitative design focuses on a holistic view of what is being studied (via documents, case histories, observations and interviews).

  7. Quantitative and Qualitative • Quantitative • The accumulation of facts and causes of behavior through careful isolation, measurement and evaluation of variables. • Predictability and Control over time. • Qualitative • Concerned with the changing and dynamic nature of reality. • Understanding a Point in time

  8. Qualitative Goal: To Understand, Predict Descriptive accounts Similarities and Contrasts Applied and Theoretical Research Questions Field study Natural conditions Quantitative Goal: To Predict and Control Measure and Evaluate Generalize to population, reproduction Basic and Theoretical Hypothesis testing Lab study Controlled, contrived Research MethodologiesA continuum rather than “either/or”

  9. Example • Academics promoted the use of both quantitative and qualitative measures to report on “quality” • QUANTITY OF: • Journal publications, conference presentations, books and book chapters, awards, grants, budget, and so on… • QUALITY OF: • Reputation of publication, reputation of granting agency, quality of conference, peer reviews of research programs,… • Quality of institutions that hire graduate students • Societal benefit of research

  10. Qualitative - Definition • A qualitative approach is one in which the inquirer often makes knowledge claims based primarily on constructivist perspectives (i.e. the multiple meanings of individual experiences, meanings socially and historically constructed, with an intent of developing a theory or pattern) or advocacy/participatory perspectives (i.e. political, issue-oriented, collaborative or change oriented) or both.

  11. Research Questions • Qualitative • In qualitative study inquirers state research questions, not objectives (i.e. specific goals for the research) or hypotheses (i.e. predictions that involve variables and statistical tests). • Example: How do students use program development tools?

  12. Characteristics of Qualitative Research • Takes place in the natural setting • Uses multiple methods that are interpretive • Is emergent rather than tightly prefigured • Fundamentally interpretive (role of researcher as interpreter) • Researcher views social phenomena holistically • Researcher systematically reflects on who he or she is in the inquiry and is sensitive to his or her personal biography and how it shapes the study • Researcher uses complex reasoning that is multifaceted, iterative, and simultaneous • Researcher adopts and uses one or more strategies of inquiry

  13. Evaluating Research • Validity • A concern for most social scientists is the complex nature of the phenomena under study: human behavior. • Multiple perspectives are required in order to adequately reflect the richness of these complexities. • Reliability • Consistency, Replicability • Usefulness or Value of Investigation • Contribution to knowledge • Advance THEORY and PRACTICE in discipline

  14. Validity and Reliability • Both Quantitative and Qualitative research designs seek reliable and valid results. For example: • Quantitative Reliability: Data that are consistent or stable as indicated by the researcher's ability to replicate the findings. • Qualitative: Validity of findings are paramount so that data are representative of a true and full picture of constructs under investigation.

  15. Data Collection • Quantitative • Emphasis on numerical data, measurable variables • Data is collected under controlled conditions in order to rule out the possibility that variables other than the one under study can account for the relationships identified • Qualitative • Emphasis on observation and interpretation. • Data are collected within the context of their natural occurrence.

  16. Range of Research Methods • Experimental design • Ethnography • Case study • Survey

  17. Research Methods • Interviews • Focusgroups • Participant observation (field notes) • Video • Text and Image analysis (documents, media data)

  18. Experimental Design • Hypothesis testing • Independent and Dependent Variables • For example - Predictor: method of instruction, Resulting differences: math performance • Sampling of Population • Experimental and Controlled Conditions • Random assignment

  19. Experimental Research • The researcher does something to the subjects or objects or research, and then attempts to determine the effects of these actions • Reporting • Careful description of sampling procedure • Inferential statistics, effect size, and so on.

  20. Ethnography • Defined: a picture of the “way of life” of some identifiable group of people • Anthropology - “doing fieldwork”, “going native” • Preoccupied with culture, and how people interact with each other • Qualitative Methodology - Both a research process and a product • Outcome: an ethnographic account

  21. Ethnographic Process • The ethnographer is the primary research instrument • One year or more in the field setting • long enough to see a full cycle of activity • For example, a full school year • Tension and balance between involvement and detachment • Outsider’s broad and analytical perspective on group studied • Insider view, familiarity, empathy, identification with group

  22. Field Research Techniques • An Inquiry Process of multiple methods: • Participant observation • privileged, active participant • passive observer • Interviewing • key informants, structured, unstructured • groups, surveys and questionnaires • Making and using records • historical documents, archives, written records

  23. Validity and Reliability of the Ethnographic Account • “The satisfactoriness of the explanation is what counts, not the power of the method for deriving it”. • Significance is derived socially, not statistically

  24. Case Study • Understanding the intricate complexity, idiosyncrasy of one particular case • investigation of a “bounded system” • Some entity deemed worthy of close watch • a single child, a single classroom, a single school, a single national program… • Goals • Understand and report the uniqueness of individual cases (both commonalities and differences) • Usually no attempt to represent case by single or multiple “scores”

  25. Case Study Methods • Similar to ethnographic field methods • ASKING - Interviews • Gather narrative and testimony • WATCHING - Observations • SEARCHING - Written records and artifacts • Reporting • Develop a conceptual structure, look for patterns, consistencies, repetitions, and manifestations pertinent to your research question(s)

  26. Validity and Reliability • There are many different stories to be told • Different researchers have different questions to answer, different conceptualizations of the situation, and set different boundaries for the case • Generalizability: What is true of one case is often true about other cases • Consistencies can be found - predictability • How many cases are needed before patterns emerge? It depends...

  27. Survey Research Methods • Purpose and Goal • Describe specific characteristics of a large group of persons, objects, or institutions • Understand present conditions, rather than the effects of particular intervention (as in experimental research) • Sample of Population • Groups of interest are well defined and chosen using well defined rules • Representativeness

  28. Survey Methods • Mail • postage and printing costs, participation rate • Telephone • sampling, wage and time costs, participation rates • Face-to-Face • wage and time costs, participation rates, like structured interview • Web-based • anytime, anywhere, cost effective

  29. Issues in Survey Construction • Item (question) and scale construction • Pilot Testing and revision • Sampling procedures • Analysis and reporting of results • Generalizability • Drawing conclusions about the conditions, attitudes, opinions, or status of a population of persons, objects, institutions, or other entities.

  30. Data Analysis • Organize and prepare the data for analysis • Read all data, get a sense of the whole • Begin detailed analysis with coding process • Generate a description of the setting/people as well as categories or themes for analysis • Represent themes (writing, visual, etc.) • Interpret and make meaning out of data • *iterative, non-linear process

  31. Inventory of Questions • Inventory means a list compiled for some formal purpose • Questions inventory:made up for keeping records of questions in your research proposal

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