Research Methodology Part I: Introduction Dr. Tarek A. Tutunji

Mechatronics Engineering Department

Philadelphia University - Jordan

Outline

• What is Research?

• Research Methodology

• Research Types

• Research Flow

• Research Phases

• Problem Formulation

• Academic Honesty Dr.

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What is Research?

• Research is the search of knowledge

• Research is a careful investigation or inquiry specially through search for new facts in any branch of knowledge

• Research is the scientific and systematic process of collecting and analyzing information on a specific issue in order to increase our understanding

• Research is the investigation or experimentation aimed at the discovery and interpretation of facts, revision of accepted theories or laws in the light of new facts, or practical application of such new or revised theories or laws.

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Research Objectives

• Generate new knowledge

• Gain familiarity with new insights into a phenomenon

• Interpret the characteristics of a particular situation

• Examine hypothesis between variables Dr.

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Research and Development (R&D)

• Research and Development (R&D) is any creative systematic activity undertaken in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this knowledge to devise new applications.

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Research Philosophy

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Research Methods vs. Methodology

• Methods are the techniques or procedures used to gather and analyze data for conducting the research.

• Methodology is the strategy, plan of action, process, or design lying behind the choice and use of methods to the desired outcomes.

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Research Methods

• Research methods can be put into the following three groups:

1. Methods concerned with the collection of data. These methods will be used where the data already available are not sufficient to arrive at the required solution;

2. Methods used for establishing relationships between the data and the unknowns

3. Methods used to evaluate the accuracy of the results obtained.

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Research Methodology

• Research methodology is a systematic way for solving the research problem. It includes the various steps that are generally adopted by a researcher in studying his research problem along with the logic behind them.

• Researchers need to know which methods are relevant and which are not, and what would they mean and indicate and why.

• Researchers also need to understand the assumptions underlying various methods and they need to know the criteria by which they can decide that certain methods and procedures will be applicable to certain problems and others will not.

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Research Methodology Example

• A civil engineer has to consciously evaluate the basis of his decisions: He has to evaluate why and on what basis he selects particular structure, size, and uses particular materials and not others.

• A scientist has to expose the research decisions to evaluation before they are implemented. He has to specify very clearly and precisely what decisions he selects and why he selects them

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Research Methodology

• Research methodology should answer the following: • Why the researcher chose that focus? • How will the study be designed and why? • What is the scientific approach? • What methods will be used? • How will the research be conducted scientifically? • What steps will be carried out? • Why the alternative was rejected?

• Methodology should specify: • Purpose of the study • The models to be used • Type of data to be acquired • The technique of data collection • The methods of data analysis and validation

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Research Types

• Research can be categorized in term of

• Application

• Objectives

• Inquiries Dr.

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Research Application Types

• Pure basic research

• Experimental and theoretical work undertaken to acquire new knowledge, but might not apply to real problems

• Involves development and testing theories and hypothesis that are intellectually challenging to the researcher but may or may not have practical application at the present time or in the future

• Involve very abstract and specialized concepts

• Applied research

• Designed to solve practical problems of the real world

• Original work to acquire new knowledge with for specific application

• Use of technology in the development of new processes or systems

• Determine possible uses for the findings of basic research or to determine new ways of achieving some specific objectives

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Research Objectives Types

• Descriptive

• Describe systematically a situation, problem, or phenomenon

• Example: Structure of a system or organization

• Correlational

• Discover or establish the existence of a relationship between two or more aspects of a situation.

• Example: What is the impact of voltage change to motor speed

• Explanatory

• Explain why and how there is a relationship between two aspects of a situation or phenomenon.

• Exploratory

• Explore an area where little is known or to investigate the possibility of launching a particular research study.

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Research Inquiries Types

• Quantitative research • Concerned with identifying relationship between variables and generalizing

those results to the world at large • Involves the generation of data in quantitative form which can be subjected

to rigorous quantitative analysis in a formal and rigid fashion • Subdivided into: Inferential, experimental work , and simulation

• Qualitative research

• Seeks to understand phenomena in depth and within context. • Concerned with subjective assessment of attitudes, opinions and behavior • Subdivided into:

• Case study: In-depth study of a bounded system • Grounded theory: A general-abstract theory of a process, action, or interaction

grounded in the views of participants • Ethnography: Description and interpretation of cultural behavior of a group • Phenomenology: Seeks to identify the single, invariant essence of the lived

experience • Narrative Analysis: Describes a single person’s experience in order to identify and

understand larger meanings.

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Designing Scientific Research

• Research problem investigation • Research design • Research design validation • Do the research • Evaluate the research D

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Research Management

• Research Proposal

• Research Plan

• Research Execution

• Research Report Dr.

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Research Flow

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Research Phases

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Research Flow

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Research Flow

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[Hong 2005]

Research Formulation

• Do a comprehensive theory and research review

• Begin with a statement of the problem, then move on to a review of theory and past research, and conclude with a defining of the research methodology

• Focus your research very specifically

• Organize your research around a set of questions that can guide your research

• Choose your methodology wisely

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Search for Problems

• Search for something that you are really interested in

• Write down your ideas and discuss them with friends, colleagues, and supervisors

• Be comprehensive and try to identify many different research projects

• Know the steps that need to be taken for your work

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Focusing the Problem

• Focus the research problem on a particular aspect of the design, development, or evaluation process

• Research in developing new methods or applying existing methods to new applications

• Establish research parameters

• Identify limitations

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Search for Problems

• Is it a common problem?

• Is it critical?

• Is there any realistic constraints?

• Is it related to cutting-edge technology?

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Steps for Defining Problems

1. Statement of the problem in a general way

2. Understand the nature of the problem

3. Survey the available literature

4. Develop the ideas through discussions

5. Rephrase the research problem into a working proposition

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Defining a Problem: Example

• Initial Problem: Why is productivity in Japan so much higher than in India?

• In this form the question has a number of ambiguities such as:

• What sort of productivity is being referred to?

• With what industries the same is related?

• With what period of time the productivity is being talked about?

• Focus: What factors were responsible for the higher labor productivity of Japan’s manufacturing industries during the decade 1971 to 1980 relative to India’s manufacturing industries?

• More Focus: To what extent did labor productivity in 1971 to 1980 in Japan exceed that of India in respect of 15 selected manufacturing industries? What factors were responsible for the productivity differentials between the two countries by industries?

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Problem Statement

• Formulate the research problem in one statement

• Give clear and complete description of the research questions

• Describe the research objectives

• Give clear and complete description of the research propositions

• Indicate the importance of the problem

• Describe the limitations and assumptions

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Questions

• Are the labs equipped to do the research?

• Do we have the expertise?

• How long will it take?

• How much will it cost?

• Is it interesting to me?

• Does it solve a real issue?

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Research Proposal

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Expected Contributions

• What would the contributions of the research be?

• Who will benefit from the research?

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Academic Honesty

• Compliance means the researcher follows the rules set out by the government, funding agencies and the researcher’s institution.

• Ethics refers to a responsible behavior towards humans, sentient beings, society and ecosystems.

• Both compliance and ethics are required for the Responsible Conduct in Research.

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Academic Honesty

• Plagiarism is committed when someone uses another person’s words, ideas or opinions without acknowledging them as being from that other person. Special care should be taken with information taken from web sites and other electronic sources.

• Do not copy/paste from the internet

• Always give credit to others work that you have used

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Academic Honesty and Internet

• Not everything on the net is true!

• Do not copy/paste from internet sources

• Do the following steps:

• Read Understand Select Copy Paste Modify Summarize Organize

• Most Important Give Credit and Reference other peoples work

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Academic Honesty

• Fabrication is the making up of data or results and then documenting them in report

• Falsification is the practice of omitting or altering research materials, equipment, data, or processes in such a way that the results of the research are no longer accurately reflected in the research record.

• Fabrication and Falsification are unethical

• You would be misleading others who might read and refer to your work

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Other Forms of Misconduct

• Letting other people do your work

• Working with unauthorized collaboration

• Publishing the same paper in two different journals

• Adding a colleague as an author on a paper without him making serious contributions

• Stealing supplies, books, or data

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Conclusion

• Research is an essential task for acquiring knowledge in order to develop science and engineering

• Research methodology is a scientific and systematic plan to conduct the proposed research

• Research types can be categorized according to their application, objective, and inquiry

• Research involves several phases that starts with Problem formulation

• Researchers should abide by academic honesty

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References

1. Research Methodology: Methods and Techniques by Kothari 2nd edition 2004

2. Research Guide for Post-Graduate Students by Andre Buys. University of Pretoria 2007

3. Emerging Methodologies in Engineering Education Research by Case and Light, Journal of Engineering Education 2011

4. Designing Requirements Engineering by Wieringa and Heerkens

5. Development Research Methods: Creating Knowledge from Instructional Design and Development Practice by Richey and Klein. Journal of Computing in Higher Education 2005

6. Scientific Research Methodologies and Techniques by Luis Camarinha-Matos

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