Research Methodology ඳර්යේණ ක්‍රමයේදය

Dr. Seetha Bandara

Dept. of Economics

ඳර්යේණයක් යනු කුමක්ද?

• “A careful, systematic , patient study and investigation in some field of knowledge, undertaken to establish facts or princilpes” (Grinnell, 1993:4)

• It is a discovery (Rediscovery); A voyage from the known to the unknown

• An effort to be closer to the truth

Cont,

• ඳර්යේණ යනු ඥාණ ගයේණයයි.

• වමාජීය විදයා ඳර්යේණ යනු “ නල අදශව්

ඉදිරිඳත් කිරීම, ඉදිරිඳත් කර ඇති මතලාද ල

ලංගුභාලය යවොයා බැලීම යශෝ කිසියම්

ක්‍රියාලලියක් වශා බඳාන වාධක අනුගත කිරීම, විග්‍රශ කිරීම, ඒලා අතර වබතාලය යවොයා බැලීම

වශ ඒලාට බඳාන නනවර්ගික වාධක යවොයා

බැලීයම් ක්‍රමානුකූ ප්‍රයේයකි”-P.V. Young (Scientific Social Surveys and Research).

Characteristics/නනවර්ගික ක්‍ෂණ

• It is controlled/ බාහිර වාධක ඳානය කිරීම .

– In real life for an outcome there could be many affecting factors. In a study of cause and effect relationships one has to link effects with causes and causes with effects. Establishment of this linkage is impossible unless it is a laboratory test. Therefore instead of controlling external factors we have to quantify the impact of such factors.

Contd.,

• It is rigorous/බරඳත/උග්‍ර. – Procedures followed to find answers to a problem

must be relevant, appropriate and justifiable. Researcher needs to be very careful about this.

• It is systematic/ක්‍රමානුකූ. – Procedures adopted for a research should follow a

logical sequence. Some procedures must follow others.

• It should be valid and verifiable/වප්‍රමාණ වශ වයතයක්ණය ක ශැකි – Your research conclusion based on findings should be

correct and can be verified by you as well as others.

Contd.,

• It is empirical ප්‍රතයක්මුක/.

– The conclusions of the research should be based on evidence gathered from information collected from real life experiences/ observations

• It is critical( විචාරාත්මක/ාව්ත්‍රීය).

– Research procedures and methods applied should withstand critical scrutiny. They must be fool proof (වි්ලාව කටයුතු) and free from drawbacks (අලාසි)

Research process- Steps

• 1. Formulation a of a research problem

• 2. Creation of a research design

• 3. Constructing instruments for data collection

• 4. Selecting a sample

• 5.Writing the research proposal

• 6. Collecting data

• 7. Processing data

• 8. Writing the report

Formulating research problem

ඳර්යේණ ගැටළුල වැකසීම • Tasks:

– Literature review/වාහිතයය විමර්නය

– Formulating the research problem

– Identifying variables/විචයයන් ශඳුනා ගැනීම

– Constructing hypotheses/කල්පිත වැකසීම

Literature review

• To make your research problem clear and bring focus into it

• Develop your methodology

• To know where you are

• To have a broader knowledge in your area of research

Contd.,

• Search and select literature pertaining to your area

• Review selected literature

• Develop a theoretical framework (theories and issues related your study)

• Develop a conceptual framework (aspects you select from theoretical framework that form the basis of your research)

Contd.,

• Sources:

– Books

– Journals

– Electronic resources: online and offline

How to write the literature review

• Write under themes

• Some may follow chronological order

• Highlight your arguments

• Provide references

Formulating research problem

• Any question that needs answer can be a research problem. However, not all questions can be transformed into research problems.

• What matters here:

– Your knowledge in research methodology

– Your knowledge of the subject area

– Your understanding of the issues to be examined

Contd.,

• Formation of a research problem is the first step in the research. Identify the destination before you start the journey. It is the foundation of your building.

Contd., • Sources of research problems:

– People (individuals, groups, organizations, communities)

– Problems (Issues, situations, associations,, needs, demographic)

– Programmes (contents, structure, outcomes, attributes, satisfaction, users, consumers)

– Phenomenon (cause and effect relationships, study of a phenomenon itself)

– Research problem is your topic.

Contd.,

• Consider the following when selecting a topic:

– Your interest

– Your level of expertise as well as of your supervisor

– Use concepts that can be measured

– Topic should be relevant to your profession/ subject area

– Availability of data

– Ethical issues

Formulation of objectives

– Objectives are goals of your study

– Main objectives

– Secondary or sub-objectives

– They must be clear, complete and specific

Identifying variables

• A concept or perception that takes on different values and that can be measured is a variable. It is something that varies.

• Types:

– Independent variables (they are responsible for bringing about change in a phenomenon, situation)

Contd.,

• Dependent variables (effects of a change variable, the outcome of the changes brought about by changes in an independent variable)

• Extraneous variables (other factors that affect the changes bring about by independent variables)

• Intervening variables (those that link the independent and dependent variables)

Constructing hypotheses

• It is an ‘anticipation of nature’ or a hunch, assumption, assertion

• “a tentative statement about something, the validity of which is usually unknown’ (Bailey, 1976:126)

• It may be right, partially right or wrong

• It should be simple, specific and conceptually clear

Research design

• It is the plan, structure and strategy of investigating the research problem

• It is an operational plan

• Procedures to be adopted

• Testing the design

Constructing an instrument for data collection

• Data collection methods:

• Primary sources

• Observation

• Interview

• Questionnaire

• Use of secondary sources

• Establish the validity of the selected instrument

Selecting a sample

• “Process of selecting a few from a bigger group”

• Bigger group is the population and the selected few is the sample

• Larger the sample size the more accurate will be the findings

Sampling types

• Sampling strategies are numerous. They can be categorized into three groups:

• Random/probability sampling

• Non-random/probability sampling

• Mixed sampling

Research proposal

• It is your plan of research

• It reveals what you are going to do, how you plan to do and why you have selected the proposed procedures

• It guides you as well as your supervisor

• It is an academic piece of writing

• It shows the strength of your proposed research

Elements

• Introduction (an overview of the main area under study, historical background, philosophical issues etc., trends, major theories, main issues under consideration etc.)

• Importance (Why you do it? What are the benefits?)

• Problem (Your research problem or the research questions)

• Literature review

Contd.,

• Objectives ( main and secondary)

• Hypotheses

• Study design (population, sample, data collection methods etc.)

• Setting (brief description of the community, organization or agency in which you are going to carry out the research)

• Analysis of data (methods you are going to use)

Contd.,

• Structure of the report or chapterization

• Limitations and problems you may encounter

• Work plan or schedule

• Budget (optional)

Collection data

• Ethical issues relating to research participants ( their consent, incentives, sensitive information, harm to participants etc.)

• Ethical issues relating to the researcher (avoiding bias, using appropriate research methodology, correct reporting etc.)

Processing data

• Editing data

• Coding data

• Verifying coded data

• Analyzing data

• Displaying data (charts, diagrams, tables)

Writing the report or thesis

• Follow standards (International standards or departmental guidelines)

• Use appropriate referencing/citation system

• Preparation of a bibliography

• Avoid plagiarism

• Sources:

• Kumar, Ranjit (1999). Research methodology : a step by step guide for beginners, 2nd. ed., Sage, London

• Kothari, C.R. (1990). Research methodology : methods and techniques, 2nd. Ed., Wishwa Prakashan, New Delhi

•Thank you!