Ok

1. Contd…
• In the APA these principles are preceded by a
statement to the effect that research should be
conducted”… with respect and concern for the
dignity and welfare of the people who participate
and with cognizance of federal and state
regulations and professional standards
governing the conduct of research with human
participants”.

2. Contd…
• Above all, the researcher must have personal
integrity.
• The reader of a research report must be able to
believe that what the researcher says happened,
really happened: otherwise it is all for nothing.
• Falsifying data in order to make findings agree
with a hypothesis is unprofessional, unethical,
and unforgivable.

3. Why does Research with Human and
Animal Participants Require Ethical
Approval?
• To protect the rights and welfare of participants
and minimise the risk of physical and mental
discomfort, harm and/or danger from research
procedures
• To protect the rights of the researcher to carry
out any legitimate investigation as well as the
reputation of the University for research
conducted and/or sponsored by it.

4. Contd…
• To minimise the likelihood of claims of
negligence against individual researchers, the
University and any collaborating persons or
organisations.
• Because Research Funding bodies and refereed
journals increasingly require a statement of
ethical practices in applications for research
funds and/or as a condition for publication.

5. Participant-Centred Perspective
• To ensure that these principles are adhered to it
is essential that a participant-centred approach
is adopted. It must not be forgotten that research
participants make a significant contribution to the
progress and promise of research in advancing
knowledge.

6. Contd…
• Collaboration between participants and
researchers is important and helps to ensure
that the interests of the participants are central
to the work, that they will not be treated simply
as objects and that their concerns will be
listened to.

7. Contd…
• However, a participant-centred approach must
also acknowledge that researchers and research
participants may not always see the harms and
benefits of a research project in the same way.
• Indeed, individual participants within the same
study may respond very differently to the
information provided in the free and informed
consent process; this can be important and
these individual perspectives must be
considered.

8. Ethical Issues Within the Research
Process itself
• When considering research involving human
participants issues to be taken into account will
include consideration of whether the research
has been done before and whether there are
consistent results in this area.
• This will be based on examination of the
literature review and the justification of the need
for the study.

9. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.
MA English: Semester III
CODE: ENGL 4145
Session: 43-45

10. Area/s to be discussed.
• (Parts of Report, Review & Referencing).

11. Research Process
• Formulating the research problem
• Extensive literature survey
• Development of working hypotheses
How does one go about developing working
hypotheses? The answer is by using the following
approach:
a) Discussions with colleagues and experts about the
problem, its origin and the objectives in seeking a
solution;
b) Examination of data and records, if available, concerning
the problem for possible trends, peculiarities and other
clues;

12. Contd…
a)Review of similar studies in the area or of the
studies on similar problems; and
b)Exploratory personal investigation which
involves original field interviews on a limited
scale with interested parties and individuals with
a view to secure greater insight into the practical
aspects of the problem.

13. • Preparing the research design
The preparation of the research design, appropriate for a
particular research problem, involves usually the
consideration of the following:
1. the means of obtaining the information;
2. the availability and skills of the researcher and his staff
(if any);
3. .

14. Contd…
1.explanation of the way in which selected means
of obtaining information will be organised and
the reasoning leading to the selection;
2.the time available for research; and
3.the cost factor relating to research, i.e., the
finance available for the purpose

15. • Collecting the data
• By observation
• Through personal interview
• Through telephone interviews
• By mailing of questionnaires
• Through schedules
• The researcher should select one of these
methods of collecting the data taking into
consideration the nature of investigation,
objective and scope of the inquiry, finanicial
resources, available time and the desired
degree of accuracy.

16. Contd…
• Though he should pay attention to all these
factors but much depends upon the ability and
experience of the researcher. In this context Dr
A.L. Bowley very aptly remarks that in collection
of statistical data commonsense is the chief
requisite and experience the chief teacher.

17. Execution of the project
Analysis of data
Hypothesis-testing
Generalisations and interpretation
Preparation of the report or the thesis
Finally, the researcher has to prepare the report of
what has been done by him. Writing of report must be
done with great care keeping in view the following:
1. The layout of the report should be as follows: (i) the
preliminary pages; (ii) the main text, and (iii) the end
matter. In its preliminary pages the report should carry
title and date followed by acknowledgements and
foreword. Then there should be a table of contents
followed by a list of tables and list of graphs and
charts, if any, given in the report.

18. Contd…
• The main text of the report should have the
following parts:
(a) Introduction: It should contain a clear statement
of the objective of the research and
an explanation of the methodology adopted in
accomplishing the research. The scope of the
study along with various limitations should as well
be stated in this part.

19. Contd…
(b) Summary of findings: After introduction there
would appear a statement of findings and
recommendations in non-technical language. If the
findings are extensive, they should be
summarised.
(c) Main report: The main body of the report should
be presented in logical sequence and
broken-down into readily identifiable sections.

20. Contd…
• (d) Conclusion: Towards the end of the
main text, researcher should again put
down the results of his research clearly
and precisely.
• In fact, it is the final summing up.

21. Criteria of Good Research
Whatever may be the types of research works and
studies, one thing that is important is that they all
meet on the common ground of scientific method
employed by them. One expects scientific
research
to satisfy the following criteria:
1.The purpose of the research should be clearly
defined and common concepts be used.

22. Contd…
1.The research procedure used should be
described in sufficient detail to permit another
researcher to repeat the research for further
advancement, keeping the continuity of what has
already been attained.
2.The procedural design of the research should be
carefully planned to yield results that are as
objective as possible.

23. 1. The researcher should report with complete
frankness, flaws in procedural design and
estimate their effects upon the findings.
2. The analysis of data should be sufficiently
adequate to reveal its significance and the
methods of analysis used should be
appropriate. The validity and reliability of the
data should be checked carefully.

24. Contd…
1. Conclusions should be confined to those
justified by the data of the research and limited
to those for which the data provide an adequate
basis.
2. Greater confidence in research is warranted if
the researcher is experienced, has a good
reputation in research and is a person of
integrity.

25. In other words, we can state the qualities of a
good research as under:
• Good research is systematic:
• It means that research is structured with
specified steps to be taken in a specified
sequence in accordance with the well defined
set of rules.
• Systematic characteristic of the research does
not rule out creative thinking but it certainly does
reject the use of guessing and intuition in
arriving at conclusions.

26. Contd…
• Good research is logical: This implies that
research is guided by the rules of logical
reasoning and the logical process of induction
and deduction are of great value in carrying out
research.
• Induction is the process of reasoning from a part
to the whole whereas deduction is the process of
reasoning from some premise to a conclusion
which follows from that very premise. In fact,
logical reasoning makes research more
meaningful in the context of decision making.

27. Contd…
• Good research is empirical: It implies that
research is related basically to one or more
aspects of a real situation and deals with
concrete data that provides a basis for external
validity to research results.
• Good research is replicable: This characteristic
allows research results to be verified by
replicating the study and thereby building a
sound basis for decisions.

28. The purpose of research is to…
• Review or synthesize existing knowledge
• Investigate existing situations or problems
• Provide solutions to problems
• Explore and analyse more general issues
• Construct or create new procedures or systems
• Explain new phenomenon
• Generate new knowledge
• …or a combination of any of the above! (Collis &
Hussey, 2003)

29. DIFFERENT TYPES OF RESEARCH
Exploratory Descriptive Analytical Predictive
Exploratory
research
is undertaken when
few or no previous
studies exist. The
aim is to look for
patterns,
hypotheses
or ideas that can be
tested and will form
the basis for
further
research. Typical
research
techniques would
include case
studies,
observation and
reviews of previous
related studies and
data.
Descriptive
research
can be used to
identify and
classify
the elements or
characteristics of
the subject, e.g.
number of days
lost because of
industrial action.
Quantitative
techniques are
most
often used to
collect, analyse
and summarise
data.
Analytical
research
often extends the
Descriptive
approach to
suggest or explain
why or how
something is
happening, e.g.
underlying causes
of industrial
action.
An important
feature of this
type of research is
in locating and
identifying the
different factors
(or variable
The aim of
Predictive
research
is to speculate
intelligently on
future
possibilities,
based on close
analysis of
available evidence
of cause and
effect, e.g.
predicting when
and where future
industrial action
might take place

30. Research Approaches
Research can be approached in the following
ways:
• Quantitative/Qualitative
• Applied/Basic
• Deductive/Inductive

31. QUANTITATIVE/QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Quantitative Qualitative
The emphasis of Quantitative
research is on collecting and
analysing numerical data; it
concentrates on measuring the
scale, range, frequency etc. of
phenomena.
This type of research, although
harder to design initially, is
usually
highly detailed and structured
and
results can be easily collated and
presented statistically.
Qualitative research is more
subjective in nature than
Quantitative research and
involves examining and
reflecting on the less tangible
aspects of a research subject,
e.g. values, attitudes,
perceptions. Although this type
of research can be easier to
start, it can be often difficult to
interpret and present the
findings; the findings can also
be challenged more easily.

32. BASIC/APPLIED RESEARCH
Deductive Inductive
General ideas
Particular
Situation
Deductive research moves
from general ideas/theories to
specific particular &
situations: the particular is
deduced from the general,
e.g. broad theories.
Particular
Situation
General ideas
Inductive research moves
from
particular situations to make
or infer
broad general
ideas/theories.

33. Examples of Deductive/Inductive
Research in Action
• Imagine you wanted to learn what the word
‘professional’ meant to a range of people.
• Deductive Approach:
It is clear that you would want to have a clear
theoretical position prior to collection of data. You
might therefore research the subject and discover
a number of definitions of ‘professional’ from, for
example, a number of professional associations.

34. Contd…
• You could then test this definition on a range of
people, using a questionnaire, structured
interviews or group discussion. You could
carefully select a sample of people on the basis
of age, gender, occupation etc. The data
gathered could then be collated and the results
analysed and presented. This approach offers
researchers a relatively easy and systematic
way of testing established ideas on a range of
people.

35. Inductive Approach
If you adopted this approach you might start by
talking to a range of people asking for their ideas
and definitions of ‘professional’.
From these discussions you could start to
assemble the common elements and then start to
compare these with definitions gained from
professional associations.

36. Contd…
• The data gathered could then be collated and
the results analysed and presented. This
approach might lead you to arrive at a new
definition of the word – or it might not! This
approach can be very time-consuming, but the
reward might be in terms of arriving at a fresh
way of looking at the subject.

37. RESEARCH PHILIOSOPHIES
Research is not ‘neutral’, but reflects a range of the researcher’s
personal interests, values, abilities, assumptions, aims and ambitions.
In the case of your own proposed research, your own mixtures of these
elements will not only determine the subject of the research, but will
influence your approach to it. It is important to consider in advance
what approach you to take with your research – and why.

38. Contd…
There are essential two main research philosophies (or positions)
although there can be overlap between the two – and both
positions may be identifiable in any research project.
POSITIVISTIC PHENOMENOLOGICAL
(can also be referred to (can also be referred to as
‘Quantitative’, ‘Objectivist’, Qualitative’, ‘Subjectivist’,
‘Scientific’, ‘Experimentalist’ or ‘Humanistic’ or ‘Traditionalist’)
‘Interpretative’
The research philosophy can impact on the methodology
adopted for the research project.

39. RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES
Positivistic Inductive
• Surveys
• Experimental Studies
• Longitudinal Studies
• Cross-sectional Studies
• Case Studies
• Action Research
• Ethnography (participant
• observation)
• Participative Enquiry
• Feminist Perspectives
• Grounded Theory

40. How to give references?
Audio-Visual Media
References to audio-visual media must include the
following elements: name and function of the
primary contributors (e.g., producer, director), date,
title, the medium in brackets, location or place of
production, and name of the distributor. If the
medium in indicated as part of the retrieval ID,
brackets are not needed.