Introduction, Research Requirements, Applications, Steps, Difficulties, Bias & It’s Rectifications.

1. RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY
BY:
HASIFULARABI J
M.PHARM (3RD SEM)
DEPT. OF. PHARMACEUTICS
SBCP

2. CONTENTS :
 Introduction,
 Research Requirements,
 Applications,
 Steps,
 Difficulties,
 Bias & It’s Rectifications.

3. INTRODUCTION
RESEARCH PROCESS:
The process of gathering information for the
purpose of initiating, modifying or terminating
a particular investment or group of
investments.

4. RESEARCH
REQUIREMENTS

5. A TYPICAL RESEARCH PROCESS COMPRISES
THE FOLLOWING REQUIREMENTS :
Selecting the research area,
Formulating research aim, objectives and research
questions or developing hypotheses,
Conducting the literature review,
Selecting data collection methods,
Collecting the primary data,
Data analysis,
Reaching conclusions,
Completing the research.

6. 1. SELECTING THE RESEARCH AREA:
Your dissertation marker expects you to state that you have
selected the research area due to professional and personal interests
in the area and this statement must be true. Students often
underestimate the importance of this first stage in the research
process. If you find a research area and research problem that is
genuinely interesting to you it is for sure that the whole process of
writing your dissertation will be much easier. Therefore, it is never
too early to start thinking about the research area for your
dissertation.
2. FORMULATING RESEARCH AIM, OBJECTIVES AND
RESEARCH QUESTIONS OR DEVELOPING
HYPOTHESES.
The choice between the formulation of research questions and the
development of hypotheses depends on your research approach as
it is discussed further below in more details. Appropriate research
aims and objectives or hypotheses usually result from several
attempts and revisions.

7. 3. CONDUCTING THE LITERATURE REVIEW.
Literature review is usually the longest stage in the research
process. Actually, the literature review starts even before the
formulation of research aims and objective. This is because you
have to check if exactly the same research problem has been
addressed before and this task is a part of the literature review.
Nevertheless, you will conduct the main part of the literature review
after the formulation of research aim and objectives. You have to use
a wide range of secondary data sources such as books, newspapers,
magazines, journals, online articles etc.
4. SELECTING DATA COLLECTION METHODS.
Data collection method(s) need to be selected on the basis of
critically analyzing advantages and disadvantages associated with
several alternative methods. In studies involving primary data
collection, you need to write about advantages and disadvantages of
selected primary data collection method(s) in detailed manner in
methodology.

8. 5. COLLECTING THE PRIMARY DATA.
You will have to start primary data collection only after detailed
preparation. Sampling is an important element of this stage. You
may have to conduct pilot data collection if you chose questionnaire
primary data collection method. Primary data collection is not a
compulsory stage for all dissertations and you will skip this stage if
you are conducting a desk-based research.
6. DATAANALYSIS.
Analysis of data plays an important role in the achievement of
research aim and objectives. This stage involves an extensive editing
and coding of data. Data analysis methods vary between secondary
and primary studies, as well as, between qualitative and quantitative
studies. In data analysis coding of primary data plays an
instrumental role to reduce sample group responses to a more
manageable form for storage and future processing.

9. 7. REACHING CONCLUSIONS.
Conclusions relate to the level of achievement of research
aims and objectives. In this final part of your dissertation you
will have to justify why you think that research aims and
objectives have been achieved. Conclusions also need to
cover research limitations and suggestions for future research.
8. COMPLETING THE RESEARCH.
Following all of the stages described above, and organizing
separate chapters into one file leads to the completion of the
first draft. You need to prepare the first draft of your
dissertation at least one month before the submission deadline.
This is because you will need to have sufficient amount of
time to address feedback to be provided by your supervisor.

10. APPLICATIONS

11. APPLICATION OF RESEARCH:
 It is believe that if an organization is running smoothly with good
profits and an excellent team of professionals, it will continue to
function in the same capacity.
But sadly that is not the case.
 Constant enhancement and development of the business and the
team are essential to outshine others in the market and have a
competitive edge. This is largely possible through research.
The importance of research in an organization ,
 Management Decision Making
 New Product Development
 Employee Development
Professional Development
Personal Development
 Business Process Reengineering
 Business Diversification

12. Testing of new products:
 Research can help design a new product or service, figuring out
what is needed and ensure that the development of a product is
highly targeted towards demand.
Measuring advertising effectiveness:
 Companies use business research to determine the success of
their advertising.
Guaranteeing adequate distribution:
 Businesses can also use research to guarantee sufficient
distribution of their products.
In-house research is required for professional and self
development of the workers through training and mentoring:
 Performance Management,
 Process Reengineering,
 Departmental Assessment and
 Well-Being of Staff Members.

13. Studying the competition:
 Businesses frequently make use of research to study key rivals in
their markets.
 Research is important for any organization to remain competitive
in the market.
 The top function of research is to supply a business with an outlet
to correctly determine its customers. Furthermore, these studies
could also provide a business the chance to examine its
competitors in the industry and analyze.
Undertaking research can help the management to avoid future
failure:
 Carrying out research can also help a business determine whether
now is the right time to expand into another town or whether it
needs to apply for a new loan.
 It may also help the business to decide if a process should be
altered or if more needs to be done to meet the requirements of
the customer base.

14. It can also help in the recruitment of employees:
 It’s through proper research that human resource managers are
able to determine and recruit qualified manpower.
 Recruitment of workers with the right skills and attitudes aids the
company to improve its productivity levels.
 Research for the right staff members can be done via the internet,
consultancy firms and institutions of higher learning.
Research creates benchmarks:
 It helps you measure your progress – Unless you measure you
may not be able gauge how well your business is performing.
Research will help you better communicate:
 Your current stake holder’s experiences are valuable information
source, not only will they allow you to gauge how well you
currently meet their expectations they can also tell where you are
getting things and more importantly where you are getting things
wrong.

15. STEPS

16. 7 STEPS OF RESEARCH PROCESS
1. Step One: Define research problem
2. Step Two: Review of literature
3. Step Three: Formulate hypotheses
4. Step Four: Preparing the research design
5. Step Five: Data collection
6. Step Six: Data analysis
7. Step Seven: Interpretation and report writing

18. STEP ONE: Define Research
Problem
There are two types of research problem, viz.,
those
relate to states of nature
relationship between variables.
 Essentially two steps are involved in define
research problem, viz.,
understanding the problem thoroughly and
 rephrasing the same into meaningful terms from an
point of view.

19. STEP TWO: Review of Literature
Once the problem is define, a brief summary of it
should be written down. It is compulsory for a
research worker writing a thesis for a Ph.D. degree to
write a synopsis of topic and submit it to necessary
committee or the research board for approval.
STEP THREE: Formulate Hypothesis
Formulate hypothesis is tentative assumption made in
order to draw out and test its logical or empirical
consequences.
 Hypothesis should be very specific and limited to the
piece of research in hand because it has to be tested.
The role of the hypothesis is to guide the researcher
by delimiting the area of research and to keep him on
the right track.

20. STEP FOUR: Preparing the Research Design
 The function of research design is to provide for the
collection of relevant evidence with minimal
expenditure of effort, time and money.
Research purpose may be grouped into four categories,
viz.,
(1) Exploration,
(2) Description,
(3) Diagnosis, and
(4) Experimentation.
STEP FIVE: Data Collection
Primary data can be collected through: By Observation
Through personal interview Through telephone
interview By mailing of questionnaires Through
Schedules

21. STEP SIX: Data Analysis
The analysis of data requires a number of closely
related operations such as establishment of
categories. This stage mainly include :
1. Coding
2. Editing
3. Tabulation
STEP SEVEN: Interpretation and Report Writing
 Researcher has to prepare the report of what has
been done by him. Writing of report includes:
1. the preliminary pages;
2. the main text, and
3. the end matter.

22. DIFFICULTIES

23. RESEARCH PROBLEM / DIFFICULTIES
 A Research problem is a question that a
researcher wants to answer or a problem that a
researcher wants to solve.
 A research problem is an issues or a concern
that an investigator / researcher presents and
justifies in a research study.

25. • According to Kerlinger, ‘A problem is an
interrogative sentence or statement that asks
what relation exists between two or more
variable. The answer to question will provide
what is having sought in the research.
• R.S. Woodworth defines problem as ‘a situation
for which we have no ready & successful
response by instinct or by previous acquired
habit. We must find out what to do’, i.e. the
solution can be found out only after an
investigation.
• In other words, ‘a research problem is an area
of concern where there is a gap in the
knowledge base needed for professional
practices.

26. A RESEARCH PROBLEM MAY
COME FROM SEVERAL SOURCES

27. FORMULATION OF A RESEARCH
PROBLEM

28.  SELECTION OF A RESEARCH AREA:
Formulation of a research problem begins with selection of a
broad research topic from personal experience, literature,
previous research, & theories in which researcher is interested &
has significance for library profession. For example, a researcher
gets an idea to conduct a study on the Impact of library internship
on MLIS Student. Therefore, he or she initially begins with such
broad research topic.
 REVIEWING LITERATURE & THEORIES:
After getting a broad idea for research, he or she needs to review
the LISC. literature & theories. Literature is reviewed to know
what has already been done in this selected areas of research.
Review of library theories provides an opportunity for LISC
researcher to plan a research problem to contribute towards either
testing or development of a theory/conceptual model.
LISC : Laboratory for Intelligent Systems and Controls

29.  DELIMITING THE RESEARCH TOPIC:
In this step, researcher proceeds from a general area of
interest to more specific topic of research to conduct a study.
For example, initially a researcher decides to conduct a study
on Impact of library internship on MLIS Student; later in this
stage researcher limits it to specific research topic ‘a study on
perception of MLIS Students about impact on internship in
pondicherry university ’. In this stage, a researcher clearly
identifies variables, population, & setting of research study.
 EVALUATING THE RESEARCH PROBLEM:
Once researcher is clear about the specific research problem,
next the research problem must be carefully evaluated for its
significance, research ability, & feasibility. Feasibility of the
research problem should be evaluated for time, cost,
availability of subjects & resources, administrative & peer
support, ethical consideration, & researcher’s competence &
interest.

30.  FORMULATING FINAL STATEMENT OF
RESEARCH PROBLEM:
After establishing the significance, research ability, &
feasibility, then researcher finally formulates a final
statement of a research problem. A statement of research
problem could be in declarative or interrogative format
1.DECLARATIVE FORMAT:
In this format, a research problem is stated in
declarative statement. e.g.- impact of library internship on
PHARMA student of MGR University.
2. INTERROGATIVE FORMAT:
In interrogative format, a research problem is stated in
question form. e.g.- “What is the Impact of library
internship on PHARMA Student of MGR University ?”

31. The choice of either of these two types of format
formulation of a research problem depends on the
researcher’s preference & institutional policies.
Declarative format much popular among researchers.
For the formulation of a research problem it is
preferable it,
it fulfils the following features:
1. Research problem is clearly, precisely articulated.
2. It clearly states the variables, population, &
research setting under study.
3. Variable are expressed in measurable terms.
The type of study also may be included in the statement
of research problem.

32. BIAS & IT’S
RECTIFICATIONS

33. DEFINITION OF BIAS
 A process of any state inference trending to produce a
result that depart systematically from the true values
( Fletcher et al, 1988)
 The function research is usually to examine the
relationship between exposure and outcome. The effect
various studies are conducted by gathering data,
analyzing and interpreting the data.
Bias can happen during the collection, analysis,
interpretation, publication or review of data that can lead
to conclusions that are systematically different from the
truth.

34. CLASSIFICATION OF BIAS BY THE DIRECTION OF
THE CHANGE IN THE PARAMETER:
POSITIVE BIAS :
Observed effect is higher than the true value
NEGATIVE BIAS :
Observed effect is lower than true value
DESCRIPTION OF BIAS :
Bias can occur during any stage of a study:
 Literature review of the study question
 Selection of the study sample
 Measurement of exposure and outcome
 Analysis of data
 Interpretation of the analysis
 Publication of the results Various forms of bias had been
described and defined.

35. TYPE OF BIAS
Selection Bias
Response Bias
Non Response Bias
Voluntary Bias
Wording Bias
Sampling Bias
Information Bias
Confounding Bias

36. Most of them however can be categorized in one
of three general types:
 Selection bias
 Information bias
 Confounding bias
Some biases are specific to a particular type of
analytical study whereas others can be found
in all basic study designs (cross-sectional, case
control and cohort)

38. COMMON TYPES OF SELECTION BIAS
A)BIAS IN SELECTION OF SUBJECTS –
This occurs when the subjects included in the study are not
truly representative of the target population. This can
happen either because the sampling was not random, or
because sample size is too small to represent the entire
spectrum of subjects in the target population.
B)VOLUNTEER OR REFERRAL BIAS –
Volunteer or referral bias occurs because people who
volunteer to participate in a study (or who are referred to it)
are often different than non-volunteers/non referrals. This
bias usually, but not always, favors the treatment group, as
volunteers tend to be more motivated and concerned about
their health.

39. C)NON RESPONDENT BIAS-
Non respondent bias occurs when those who do not
respond to a survey, differ in important ways from
those who respond or participate. This bias can work in
either direction.
D) SELECTIVE SURVIVALAND LOSSES TO
FOLLOW-UP
After enrollment of subjects and collection of baseline
data there is usually some loss to follow-up, i.e. when
individuals leave the study before the end of follow-up.
This biases the study when the association between a
risk factor and a health outcome differs in dropouts
compared with study participants.

40. INFORMATION BIAS
Occurs when the results are distorted either by
measurement errors or by misclassifying the subjects
into wrong categories.
CONFOUNDING BIAS
Occurs when techniques are not used to control for
confounding (that is, when a particular factor is
associated with both the exposure and outcome of
interest)

41. FACTORS AFFECTING BIAS
 Including past experience (Juliusson, Karlsson, & Gӓrling,
2005)
 Cognitive biases (Stanovich & West, 2008)
Age and individual differences (Bruin, Parker, & Fischoff, 2007)
 Belief in personal relevance
HOW TO MINIMIZE BIAS
Prevention in design stage:
 Restriction: restrict to certain category of confounder
Matching: same value for confounding variable (in case- control
study)
Adjustment in analysis phase:
 Stratification: to adjust confounding (evaluate the association
between exposure and disease)
 Multivariate modeling: use advanced statistic method to adjust
several variables. Confounding bias

42. METHODS TO AVOID BIAS
 Randomization
 Matching
 Restriction
AVOIDING BIAS IN RESEARCH
1.Gather data from multiple sources: Be sure to collect data samples from
the different groups in your research population.
2.Verify your data: Before going ahead with the data analysis, try to
check in with other data sources, and confirm if you are on the right
track.
3.If possible, ask research participants to help you review your findings:
Ask the people who provided the data whether your interpretations
seem to be representative of their beliefs.
4.Check for alternative explanations: Try to identify and account for
alternative reasons why you may have collected data samples the way
you did.
5.Ask other members of your team to review your results: Ask others to
review your conclusions. This will help you see things that you missed
or identify gaps in your argument that need to be addressed

43. THANK YOU