beneficial to those plan to continue study

1. 1
INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH
(SOCIAL SCIENCE)
D

2. PART 1
CHALLENGES AND ETHICAL
ISSUES IN POSTGRADUATE
STUDIES
2

3. 3
Challenges in Postgrad Studies:
Individual Perspective
Time and stress management
Variety of commitment e.g work, family

4. 4
Challenges in Postgrad Studies:
Thesis Perspective
Too ambitious - too many research
questions/research objectives
Research problem not clearly defined
Thesis topic too common, over-researched –
topic needs to be current and of interest
Identifying and incorporating relevant theories
into our research
Getting the data and its reliability – especially
questionnaire based study

5. 5
Dealing with unexpected findings – very
common in social science studies in
Malaysia
Using the right data analysis techniques
Getting acquainted with the latest
statistical/econometric techniques
Presenting at conferences
Getting it published

6. What supervisors expect of their doctoral
students (Estelle et al., 2005)
Independent
Students to be
excited with their
work & fun to be
with
Follow the advice
Honest when
reporting research
progress
Regular meeting
Produce written
work not just a 1st
draft

7. What doctoral students expect of their
supervisors (Estelle et al., 2005)
support involvement
in research activities
guide with
encouragement
encourage open
discussion of ideas
be available for
meetings
ensure the final goal
is realistic and
identifiable
Interest in your
research
assess progress
objectively and
provide honest
feedback

8. conflict is common

9. Problems that students face – the
supervisors’ view
•Dependency
•Not admitting to problems
•Poor progress. Not understanding
the required standard of work and
showing insufficient initiative
•Supervisor not interested in topic
•Conceptual difficulties
•Differences between supervisors

10. Some Problems: the students views
•Loneliness
•Not enjoying the topic
•Not knowing what is expected
•Practical issues: money, lifestyle, getting hold
of the supervisor
•Ethical issues: are we being used?
•Stress (especially at transfer and viva)
•Supervisor being too prescriptive ‘my way is
the only way’
•Lack of confidence – is my work good
enough?

11. Behaviours that can cause relationship problems
Supervisor
• Not responding to questions
or giving feedback quickly
enough
• Giving poor responses or
feedback
• Not being available
• Not showing concern or
interest in the student or their
work
Student
• Not doing the work
• Not responding to feedback
or suggestions
• Hiding problems or lack of
progress
• Being too dependent and not
taking responsibility
11

12. Ethical Issues in Postgrad Studies
Plagiarism
Fabrication and falsification
Nonpublication of data
Faulty data-gathering procedures
Poor data storage and retention
Misleading authorship
Sneaky publication practices

13. PART 2
POSTGRADUATE RESEARCH
13

14. Four sources of knowledge or truth
Mythical
Authoritative
Logical
Scientific

15. Goal of Science:
Seek truth or create knowledge
Science is the pursuit of truth, of explanation, prediction,
and control a phenomenon.
Truth obtained from the scientific method contains both
logic and evidence that are consistent with each other.
Science is about the creation of knowledge, not the
application of knowledge
Science cannot settle debate about values (good or bad,
right or wrong, e.g. stem cell research) - objectivity
Ultimate goal of science is to better the human condition

16. 16
DEFINITION OF RESEARCH
Research – a process of finding
solutions to a problem after a thorough
study and analysis of the situational
factors
a systematic and organized effort to
investigate a specific problem
encountered in the work setting, that
needs a solution

17. 17
TYPES OF RESEARCH
Applied/action research –investigation of
an issue of immediate importance
Pure/basic/fundamental research –
investigation of questions that appear
interesting to the researcher, generally an
academician, but may have little or no
practical application at present time

18. Problem
discovery
Problem definition
(statement of
research objectives)
Secondary
(historical)
data
Experience
survey
Pilot
study
Case
study
Selection of
exploratory research
technique
Selection of
basic research
method
Experiment Survey
Observation
Secondary
Data Study
Laboratory Field Interview Questionnaire
Selection of
exploratory research
technique
Sampling
Probability Nonprobability
Collection of
data
(fieldwork)
Editing and
coding
data
Data
processing
Interpretation
of
findings
Report
Data
Gathering
Data
Processing
and Analysis
Conclusions
and Report
Research Design
Problem Discovery
and Definition

19. Two Types of Empirical Research
Theory testing empirical research
– Surveys (interview, mail, internet, phone)
– Experiments (university setting)
– Quasi experiments (university or company)
– Secondary data (financial, operational, personnel)
Theory building empirical research
– Qualitative research (interview, observation, text)
– Case methods (interviews, text, secondary data)

20. Deductive research
Inductive research
Theoretical research
A Simplified Scientific Research Process
and Types of Research
Descriptive research
1. Research
Question
3. Theory and
Hypotheses
4. The empirical
study
2. Literature
review

21. Elements of the Scientific
Process
Theories
Hypotheses
Observations
Empirical
Generalization
Accept or
reject Hs
Logical
Deduction
Research Design,
instrumentation,
scaling, sampling
Measurement,
sample summarization,
parameter estimation
Concept formation
Propositions
Induction
Logical Inference
Tests of
hypotheses
From W.L. Wallace, The Logic of Science in Sociology

22. The Scientific Process - Review
Curiosity
or puzzle
Research
Question
Literature
review
Theory?
Yes
No
Deductive
Design
Inductive
Design
Observation

23. 23
RESEARCH PROCESSES
Identify the issue/problem
Theoretical development
Collect evidence
Evaluate results and identify alternatives
Develop conclusion
Communicate results

24. 24
Identification of issue/problem
Need to know “why” and “what” about the issue
Refining the problem – problem distillation
Problem – does not imply something is
seriously wrong (but this could be the case)
Problem – exists a gap between the actual and
the desired ideal states

25. 25
Identification of issue/problem
Distinguish between symptoms and real
problem
– Symptoms are easily observable
Problem definition – a clear, precise, and
succinct statement of the question or
issue that is to be investigated with the
goal of finding an answer or solution

26. 26
Bear in mind, don’t reinvent the wheel!!
Improving the existing methods – previous
methods may be defective
Setting may play important roles – findings may
be influenced by cultural differences,
institutional settings
Previous studies produced conflicting results -
might have omitted intervening, moderating or
other independent variables

27. 27
Where Do Find A Researchable Topic?
Announcement of new regulations,
standards, policies
– For instance, recent announcement by the
government on specific issues
– Issues related to community of national
interest.

28. 28
Application of theories in other discipline
(e.g. information signaling theory, agency
theory and economic consequences) that
could explain financial reporting
compliance, or corporate governance
practices
Researcher’s personal experiences
Conjecture – “hunch” or “intuition”

29. 29
Theoretical Development
May or may not lead to hypothesis
Why needed?
– A conceptual model providing theory or logical
sense of relationships among variables (or factors)
found to be important for the study
– Enables the researcher to hypothesize or postulate
and test certain relationship using certain statistical
test(s)
– Formulate hypothesis to determine the validity of
the theory developed

30. 30
Requires an in-depth literature review
– Helps the researcher to come to a problem
statement that is precise and clear
– A careful and thorough literature review results
in the study being perceived as relevant and
significant by the scientific community
– Identifying all relevant sources from journals or
unpublished sources on the topic of interest
– Writing up of the literature review
• Clear and logical presentation of all relevant works
done so far in the topic of interest

31. 31
– Serves as the foundation in developing the theoretical
framework
– Important to show that the researcher is
knowledgeable about the problem and will develop the
theoretical framework on the basis of existing work
which adds to the body of knowledge
– Good literature survey leads to a logically good
problem statement
– All works properly presented in a coherent manner and
cited using various methods available (e.g. APA)

32. 32
Collect Evidence
Review of relevant accounting literature and
data gathering
Review of literature can be done through
internet
Data gathering
– Interviews
– Questionnaire
– Observation
– Secondary data

33. 33
Data Gathering
Interviews
– Structured and unstructured
• Structured – know at the outsets the information
to be obtained
• Researcher has a list of pre-determined
questions
• Unstructured – no plan of sequence of
questions
– Objective – to enable some preliminary issues to
surface and the researcher will then decide what to
ask for further investigation

34. 34
Data Gathering
Questionnaire
– Pre-formulated written set of questions
– Administered personally or mailed or
electronically distributed
– Questionnaire design
• Wording – subjective feeling or objective facts
– Subjective feelings– dimensions and elements of
the concept
– Objective facts – direct questions

35. 35
Data Gathering
o Open-ended vs Closed Questions
- Open-ended – allow respondents to answer in any way
they choose
- Closed – allow the respondents to answer in the way the
researcher wants
- Closed – help respondents to answer quickly and to
enable the researcher to code the responses easily

36. 36
Data Gathering
Observation
– Observing the behaviour of respondents in
their natural work setting or in the lab setting
– The researcher will record what they
observe objectively
– Non-participant vs participant observer

37. 37
Data Gathering
Secondary data
– Information gathered by someone other than
the researcher conducting the current study
– Internal or external to the organization and
can be accessed through the computer or
going through recorded or published
documents
– Various documents, annual reports etc

38. 38
Develop Conclusions
Well-reasoned and well supported
conclusions
Tie to theories/hypothesis and findings
Must be convincing enough

39. Enjoy your time as a graduate student!