The document outlines the key steps in the research process, including exploration, literature review, developing research questions and hypotheses, research design, data collection and analysis, hypothesis testing, and preparing the final research report. It provides details on each step, such as how to conduct an effective literature review by using keywords and reviewing a variety of sources. The document also defines important terms and concepts used in research.

1. Research Process
Dr. Kshitija Gandhi
PHD, MPHIL, MCOM,MBA,UGC NET
Vice Principal
Pratibha College of
Commerce and Computer studies

2. Research
Re + Search
It is a process of enquiry and
Investigation
Systematic and methodical
Increase knowledge

3. Research Objectives
Gain familiarity
with a new
phenomenon or
develop new
insight into a
phenomenon
Review and
synthesize the
existing
knowledge
To portray
accurately the
characteristics of
a particular
individual,
situation or group
Generate new
knowledge
Explore and
analyses more
general issues.

4. Abstract
A brief summary of a
research project and its
findings. A summary of a
study that describes its
most important aspects,
including major results
and conclusions.
Action Plan
A plan to implement
change as a result of an
action research study.
Action Research
A type of research
focused on a specific
local problem and
resulting in an action
plan to address the
problem.

5. Introduction
• Research process consists of series of actions or steps necessary to
effectively carry out research and the desired sequencing of these
steps.

6. Scientific research
.
Focuses on
being
objective
Gathering a
multitude of
information
for analysis
Come to a
conclusion

7. Scientific research
Steps
are
interlinked
A multiple-step
process
Changes
are
made
in
one
step
Review all the other
steps to ensure that
the changes are
reflected throughout
the process

8. Research Process
A natural or social phenomenon, event, or
behaviour that interests us.
Observation
Phase
A natural or social phenomenon, event, or
behaviour that interests us.
Rationalization
Phase
 Test theories using a scientific method through a
process of data collection and analysis, and possibly
modify or extend initial theory.
Validation
Phase

9. Research Process
Social Science Research: Principles, Methods, and Practices Anol Bhattacherjee University of South Florida,
abhatt@usf.edu

10. Exploration
Exploring and selecting research
questions for further investigation,
Examining the published literature
in the area of inquiry to understand
the current state of knowledge in
that area
Identifying theories that may help
answer the research questions of
interest.

11. Research Question
First step in the exploration phase
It is identifying one or more research questions dealing with a specific behaviour,
event, or phenomena of interest.
Research questions can delve into issues of what, why, how, when
The task of formulating, or defining, a research problem is a step of greatest
importance in the entire research process

12. Research Question
The problem to be
investigated must be defined
unambiguously for that will
help discriminating relevant
data from irrelevant ones.
Care must, however, be
taken to verify the
objectivity and validity of
the background facts
concerning the problem.

13. Glossary
• Objectivity A lack of bias or prejudice.
• Validity The degree to which data and results are
accurate reflections of reality. Validity refers to the
concepts that are investigated, the people or objects
that are studied; the methods by which data are
collected; and the findings that are produced.

14. • An Introduction 13 the statement of the objective is of basic importance because it determines
the data which are to be collected, the characteristics of the data which are relevant, relations
which are to be explored, the choice of techniques to be used in these explorations and the form
of the final report. If there are certain pertinent terms, the same should be clearly defined along
with the task of formulating the problem. In fact, formulation of the problem often follows a
sequential pattern where a number of formulations are set up, each formulation more specific
than the preceding one, each one phrased in more analytical terms, and each more realistic in
terms of the available data and resources.

15. Glossary
• Citation: The act of acknowledging or documenting a reference
source used in preparing an assignment, report or project. It is
also described as documentation. A full citation lists accurate
information about author, title, publication date and related facts.
There are a number of different citation styles.
• Construct A concept. A theoretical creation that cannot be directly
observed.

16. 2. Literature Review
• To survey the current state of
knowledge in the area of inquiry
• To identify key authors, articles,
theories, and findings in that area
• To identify gaps in knowledge in
that research area.

17. Tips for Literature Review
Keywords can be combined using “and” and “or” operations to narrow down or expand
the search results.
Once a shortlist of relevant articles is generated from the keyword search, the researcher
must then manually browse through each article, or at least its abstract section, to
determine the suitability of that article for a detailed review.
Literature reviews should be reasonably complete, and not restricted to a few journals, a
few years, or a specific methodology.

18. Tips for literature review
Reviewed articles may be summarized in the form of tables, and can be further
structured using organizing frameworks such as a concept matrix.
A well-conducted literature review should indicate
whether the initial research questions have already been addressed in the literature
(which would obviate the need to study them again)
whether there are newer or more interesting research questions available,
whether the original research questions should be modified or changed in light of
findings of the literature review.

19. Tips for Literature Review
The review can also provide some intuitions or potential
answers to the questions of interest and/or help identify
theories that have previously been used to address similar
questions.

20. Extensive literature review
Abstracting
and
indexing
journals
Published or
unpublished
bibliographies
Academic
journals
Conference
proceedings
Government
Reports
Books

21. Development of working Hypothesis
Working hypothesis is tentative assumption made in order to draw out and
test its logical or empirical consequences.
Development of research hypotheses provides the focal point for research.
They affect the manner in which tests must be conducted in the analysis of
data and indirectly the quality of data which is required for the analysis.

22. Development of working Hypothesis
The role of the hypothesis is to guide the researcher by delimiting the
area of research and to keep him on the right track.
It sharpens his thinking and focuses attention on the more important
facets of the problem.
It also indicates the type of data required and the type of methods of
data analysis to be used.

23. Research Design
A research is valid when a
conclusion is accurate or
true.
It is the conceptual
blueprint within which
research is conducted.
It is an action plan, it
constitutes the outline of
collection, measurement
and analysis of data.

24. Research Design
Research design is not associated to
any particular technique of data
collection or any particular type of
data.
When designing research it is
necessary that we recognize the type
of evidence required to answer the
research question in a reasonable
way.

25. Definition
Research design is
the plan, structure
and strategy and
investigation
concaved so as to
obtain ensured to
search question and
control variance

26. The research design should be able to provide
answers of the following reserve queries:
• What is the study about ?
• What type of data is required?
• What is the purpose of study?
• What are the sources of needed data?
• What should be the place or area of the study?
• What time, approximately, is required for the study?

27. The research design should be able to provide
answers of the following reserve queries:
• What should be the amount of materials or number of
cases for the study?
• What type of sampling should be used?
• What method of data collection would be appropriate?
• How will data be analysed?
• What should be the approximate expenditure?
• What should be the specific nature of the study?

28. Features
1. It is a plan that specifies the sources and type of information
relevant to the research problem.
2. It is a strategy specifying which approach distill be used
gathering and analyzing data.
3. It also includes the time and cost budgets since most studies
are done under these two constraints.

29. Research Design contains
• A clear statement of research problem.
• Procedures and technique to be used for gathering data
or information.
• The population to be studied.
• Methods to be used in processing & analysis data.

30. Determining Sample Design
• All the items under consideration in any field of inquiry constitute a ‘universe’ or ‘population’. A complete enumeration of all the items in the
‘population’ is known as a census inquiry. It can be presumed that in such an inquiry when all the items are covered no element of chance is left
and highest accuracy is obtained. But in practice this may not be true.
• census inquiry is not possible in practice under many circumstances. For instance, blood testing is done only on sample basis. Hence, quite often
we select only a few items from the universe for our study purposes. The items so selected constitute what is technically called a sample. The
researcher must decide the way of selecting a sample or what is popularly known as the sample design
• Samples can be either probability samples or non-probability samples. With probability samples each element has a known probability of being
included in the sample but the non-probability samples do not allow the researcher to determine this probability. Probability samples are those
based on simple random sampling, systematic sampling, stratified sampling, cluster/area sampling whereas non-probability samples are those
based on convenience sampling, judgement sampling and quota sampling techniques
• Researchers must also carefully choose the target population from which they wish to collect data, and a sampling strategy to select a sample
from that population. For instance, should they survey individuals or firms or workgroups within firms? What types of individuals or firms they
wish to target? Sampling strategy is closely related to the unit of analysis in a research problem. While selecting a sample, reasonable care
should be taken to avoid a biased sample (e.g., sample based on convenience) that may generate biased observations

31. Collection of Data
• Having decided who to study (subjects), what to measure (concepts), and how to collect data (research method), the researcher is now
ready to proceed to the research execution phase. This includes pilot testing the measurement instruments, data collection, and data
analysis. Pilot testing is an often overlooked but extremely important part of the research process. It helps detect potential problems in
your research design and/or instrumentation (e.g., whether the questions asked is intelligible to the targeted sample), and to ensure that
the measurement instruments used in the study are reliable and valid measures of the constructs of interest. The pilot sample is usually a
small subset of the target population. After a successful pilot testing, the researcher may then proceed with data collection using the
sampled population. The data collected may be quantitative or qualitative, depending on the research method employed.

32. Analysis of Data
• After the data have been collected, the researcher turns to the task of analysing them. The analysis of data requires a number of closely
related operations such as establishment of categories, the application of these categories to raw data through coding, tabulation and then
drawing statistical inferences. The unwieldy data should necessarily be condensed into a few manageable groups and tables for further
analysis. Thus, researcher should classify the raw data into some purposeful and usable categories. Coding operation is usually done at
this stage through which the categories of data are transformed into symbols that may be tabulated and counted. Editing is the procedure
that improves the quality of the data for coding. With coding the stage is ready for tabulation. Tabulation is a part of the technical
procedure wherein the classified data are put in the form of tables. The mechanical devices can be made use of at this juncture. A great
deal of data, specially in large inquiries, is tabulated by computers. Computers not only save time but also make it possible to study large
number of variables affecting a problem simultaneously. Analysis work after tabulation is generally based on the computation of various
percentages, coefficients, etc., by applying various well defined statistical formulae. In the process of analysis, relationships or
differences supporting or conflicting with original or new hypotheses should be subjected to tests of significance to determine with what
validity data can be said to indicate any conclusion(s). For instance, if there are two samples of weekly wages, each sample being drawn
from factories in different parts of the same city, giving two different mean values, then our problem may be whether the two mean
values are significantly different or the difference is just a matter of chance. Through the use of statistical tests we can establish whether
such a difference is a real one or is the result of random fluctuations. If the difference happens to be real, the inference will be that the
two samples Research Methodology: An Introduction 19 come from different universes and if the difference is due to chance, the
conclusion would be that the two samples belong to the same universe. Similarly, the technique of analysis of variance can help us in
analysing whether three or more varieties of seeds grown on certain fields yield significantly different results or not. In brief, the
researcher can analyse the collected data with the help of various statistical measures.

33. Hypothesis Testing
• After analysing the data as stated above, the researcher is in a position to test the hypotheses, if any, he had formulated earlier. Do the
facts support the hypotheses or they happen to be contrary? This is the usual question which should be answered while testing
hypotheses. Various tests, such as Chi square test, t-test, F-test, have been developed by statisticians for the purpose. The hypotheses
may be tested through the use of one or more of such tests, depending upon the nature and object of research inquiry
• Hypothesis-testing will result in either accepting the hypothesis or in rejecting it. If the researcher had no hypotheses to start with,
generalisations established on the basis of data may be stated as hypotheses to be tested by subsequent researches in times to come

34. Research Proposal
• The final phase of research involves preparing the final research report documenting the entire research process and its findings in the
form of a research paper, dissertation, or monograph. This report should outline in detail all the choices made during the research process
(e.g., theory used, constructs selected, measures used, research methods, sampling, etc.) and why, as well as the outcomes of each phase
of the research process. The research process must be described in sufficient detail so as to allow other researchers to replicate your
study, test the findings, or assess whether the inferences derived are scientifically acceptable. Of course, having a ready research
proposal will greatly simplify and quicken the process of writing the finished report. Note that research is of no value unless the research
process and outcomes are documented for future generations; such documentation is essential for the incremental progress of science