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Basics of Research

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Basics of Research
Questions:

1. What is research?

Answer: Research is defined as the careful consideration of study

regarding a particular concern or problem using scientific methods.
According to the American sociologist Earl Robert Babbie, “research is a
systematic inquiry to describe, explain, predict, and control the observed
phenomenon. It involves inductive and deductive methods.”

2. What are the main characteristics of research?

Answer: Characteristics of research are as follows.

● The research follows a systematic approach to capture accurate

data.
● Researchers need to practice ethics and a code of conduct while
making observations or drawing conclusions.
● The analysis is based on logical reasoning and involves both
inductive and deductive methods.
● Real-time data and knowledge is derived from actual observations in
natural settings.
● There is an in-depth analysis of all data collected so that there are no
anomalies associated with it.
● It creates a path for generating new questions. Existing data helps
create more research opportunities.
● It is analytical and uses all the available data so that there is no
ambiguity in inference.
● Accuracy is one of the most critical aspects of research. The
information must be accurate and correct.
 3. What are the research objectives?

Answer: Research objectives describe concisely what the research is

trying to achieve. They summarize the accomplishments a researcher
wishes to achieve through the project and provide direction to the study. A
research objective must be achievable, i.e., it must be framed keeping in
mind the available time, infrastructure required for research, and other
resources. Before forming a research objective, we should read about all
the developments in our area of research and find gaps in knowledge that
need to be addressed. This will help us come up with suitable objectives for
our research project.

4. What are the general objectives of research?

Answer: Research objectives can be classified into two types:

1. Primary Objective and

2. Secondary Objective

Primary Objective: The primary objectives in research involve the tasks that
you must follow to achieve your goals.

Secondary Objective: The secondary objectives involve the tasks that are
desirable but not required to achieve your goals.

5. What are the types of research?

According to purpose, research is of two types:

1. Theoretical Research
2. Applied Research

According to the scope of depth, research is of four types:

 1. Exploratory Research
2. Descriptive Research
3. Explanatory Research
4. Correlational Research

According to the type of data being used, research is of two types:

1. Qualitative Research
2. Quantitative Research

According to the manipulations of variables, research is of three types:

1. Experimental research
2. Non-experimental research
3. Quasi-experimental research

According to the type of inference, research is of three types:

1. Deductive Research
2. Inductive Research
3. Hypothetical-Deductive Research

According to the time used, research is of two types:

1. Longitudinal Research
2. Cross-Sectional Research or Synchronous Research

According to the source of information, research is of two types:

1. Primary Research
2. Secondary Research.

According to the process of data collection, research is of four types:

 1. Documentary
2. Field research
3. Laboratory research
4. Mixed-method research.

6. What is social research?

Answer: Social Research is a method used by social scientists and

researchers to learn about people and societies so that they can design
products/services that cater to the various needs of the people. Different
socioeconomic groups belonging to different parts of a county think
differently. Various aspects of human behavior need to be addressed to
understand their thoughts and feedback about the social world, which can
be done using Social Research. Any topic can trigger social research – a
new feature, new market trend, or an upgrade in old technology.

7. What is a hypothesis?

Answer: A hypothesis is an assumption that is made on the basis of some

evidence. This is the initial point of any investigation that translates the
research questions into a prediction. It includes components like variables,
population, and the relation between the variables. A research hypothesis
is a hypothesis that is used to test the relationship between two or more
variables.

8. What are the characteristics of a reasonable usable

hypothesis?

Answer: Following are the characteristics of a usable hypothesis:

 ● The hypothesis should be clear and precise to consider it to be
reliable.
● If the hypothesis is a relational hypothesis, then it should be stating
the relationship between variables.
● The hypothesis must be specific and should have scope for
conducting more tests.
● The way of explanation of the hypothesis must be very simple and it
should also be understood that the simplicity of the hypothesis is not
related to its significance.

9. What is a variable?

Answer: A variable is any property, a characteristic, a number, or a quantity

that increases or decreases over time or can take on different values (as
opposed to constants, such as n, that do not vary) in different situations.
When conducting research, experiments often manipulate variables. For
example, an experimenter might compare the effectiveness of four types of
fertilizers.

10. What is educational research?

Answer: Education research is the scientific field of study that examines

education and learning processes and the human attributes, interactions,
organizations, and institutions that shape educational outcomes.
Scholarship in the field seeks to describe, understand, and explain how
learning takes place throughout a person’s life and how formal and informal
contexts of education affect all forms of learning. Education research
embraces the full spectrum of rigorous methods appropriate to the
questions being asked and also drives the development of new tools and
methods.

11. What are the objectives of educational research?

Answer: Educational research should have three objectives:

 1. to explore issues and find answers to questions for academics
2. to share policy e.g. relationships between education/work/training, for
policymakers and
3. to improve practice for practitioners.

12. What are the types of educational research?

Answer: Educational research can be broadly categorized into three types.

They are:

1. Descriptive Educational Research

2. Correlational Education Research
3. Experimental Educational Research

14. What is descriptive research?

Answer: Descriptive research is defined as a research method that

describes the characteristics of the population or phenomenon studied.
This methodology focuses more on the “what” of the research subject than
the “why” of the research subject.
The descriptive research method primarily focuses on describing the nature
of a demographic segment, without focusing on “why” a particular
phenomenon occurs. In other words, it “describes” the subject of the
research, without covering “why” it happens.

15. What is correlational research?

Answer: Correlational research is a type of research design commonly

used in the social and behavioral sciences. It measures the relationship
between two or more variables.
Researchers using correlational research design typically look at
associations or correlations in data without establishing that one event
causes another. To statistically analyze correlational data, researchers
must control variables that may affect the relationships found in the data.

15. What is experimental research?

Answer: Experimental research is research conducted with a scientific

approach using two sets of variables. The first set acts as a constant, which
we use to measure the differences of the second set. If you don’t have
enough data to support your decisions, you must first determine the facts.
Experimental research gathers the data necessary to help you make better
decisions. Any research conducted under scientifically acceptable
conditions uses experimental methods. The success of experimental
studies hinges on researchers confirming the change of a variable based
solely on the manipulation of the constant variable. The research should
establish a notable cause and effect.

16. How do you define a research problem?

Answer: A research problem is a specific issue, difficulty, contradiction, or

gap in knowledge that we will aim to address in our research. We might
look for practical problems aimed at contributing to change or theoretical
problems aimed at expanding knowledge. We should bear in mind that
some research will do both of these things, but usually, the research
problem focuses on one or the other. The type of research problem you
choose depends on your broad topic of interest and the type of research
you want to do.

17. What is sampling?

Answer: Sampling is the process whereby a researcher chooses her

sample. This might seem pretty straightforward. However, sampling is not
as straightforward as it initially seems. There is a set process to help
researchers choose a good sample.

18. What is the process of sampling?

Answer: To sample well, we should follow the following process.

1. Identify the population of interest.

2. Specify a sampling frame.
3. Specify a sampling method.
4. Determine the sampling method.
5. Implement the plan.

19. What are the types of sampling?

Answer: Sampling is of two types.

1. Probability sampling: Probability sampling is a sampling technique

where a researcher sets a selection of a few criteria and chooses
members of a population randomly.
2. Non-probability sampling: In non-probability sampling, the researcher
chooses members for research at random. This sampling method is
not a fixed or predefined selection process. This makes it difficult for
all elements of a population to have equal opportunities to be
included in a sample.

20. What are the characteristics of a good sample?

Answer: A good sample has the following traits:

1. Goal-oriented
2. Accurate representative of the universe from which it is taken
3. Proportional
4. Random selection
5. Economical
6. Practical
 7. Actual information provider

21. What are the merits of sampling?

Answer: Sampling has many merits.

1. It saves the cost of data collection.

2. Less time is consumed in sampling.
3. The scope of sampling is high.
4. The accuracy of data is high.
5. The convenience of organizing data
6. Intensive and exhaustive data can be collected.
7. Suitable when resources are limited.
8. Researchers and respondents have a better rapport.

22. What are the demerits of sampling?

Answer: Demerits of sampling are as follows:

1. Risk of bias
2. Difficulties in selecting truly a representative sample
3. Necessitates subject-specific knowledge for the researchers
4. The changeability of sampling units
5. Difficulty in a study where a high standard of accuracy is required.

23. What is data?

Answer: Data is a collection of facts, such as numbers, words,

measurements, observations, or just descriptions of things. Data can be
descriptive or qualitative and numeric or quantitative.
24. What is data processing?

Ans: Data processing is concerned with editing, coding, classifying,

tabulating, charting, and diagramming research data. The essence of data
processing in research is data reduction. Data reduction involves
winnowing out the irrelevant from the relevant data establishing order from
chaos and giving shape to a mass of data.

25. What is data analysis?

Answer: Analysis of data is a process of inspecting, cleansing,

transforming, and modeling data with the goal of discovering useful
information, suggesting conclusions, and supporting decision-making. Data
analysis has multiple facets and approaches, encompassing diverse
techniques under a variety of names, in different business, science, and
social science domains.

26. What is a questionnaire?

Answer: A questionnaire is a research instrument that consists of a set of

questions or other types of prompts that aims to collect information from a
respondent. A research questionnaire is typically a mix of close-ended
questions and open-ended questions. Open-ended, long-form questions
offer the respondent the ability to elaborate on their thoughts. A
questionnaire may or may not be delivered in the form of a survey, but a
survey always consists of a questionnaire.

27. What is an opinionaire?

Answer: A form containing a list of statements, each of which the members

of a selected group are asked to endorse or reject; the purpose is to gather
information for a survey.
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28. What are research methods?

Answer: Research methods are specific procedures for collecting and

analyzing data. Developing research methods is an integral part of
research design. When planning methods, there are two key decisions a
researcher will make: how to collect data and how to analyze data.

29. What is interpretation?

Answer: Interpretation is the establishment of some explanatory concepts.

In one sense, interpretation is concerned with relationships within the
collected data, partially overlapping analysis. Interpretation also extends
beyond the data of the study to include the results of other research, theory,
and hypotheses.

30. Mention the five best tools for researchers.

Answer: Five popular research tools are as follows:

● Google Scholar
● Trello
● Scrivener
● Mendeley
● Scanmaker