Engineering Research &

Development Methodology
Lecture 2

2025
Basics of Research
Basics of Research

• Research
• Scientific Knowledge
• Characteristics of Scientific Research
• Types of Research
• Reflective Thinking
Research?
 Research
The term ‘Research’ consists of two words:
• Research= Re + Search
• Re means again & again
• Search means to find out something
The process is :

• Research is a process of which a person observes the phenomena again &

again, collects data & on the basis of data draws some conclusions.
 Research
• Research – definitions

• A scientific & systematic search for pertinent information on a

specific topic.
• “a careful investigation or inquiry especially through search for
new facts in any branch of knowledge.”(The Advanced Learner’s
Dictionary of Current English)

• a “systematized effort to gain new knowledge.”

• considered as a movement from the known to the unknown.
• considered an activity which aims to make an original contribution
to knowledge.
 Research
 Originality in research indicates:
doing something that has not been done before.
You can be original in two ways:
1. In the way you do things
Example: doing something someone has done
before but using a different technique or approach.
• 2. Producing or developing something that has
not been produced before.

• Thus, original outcomes might include a new

product, a new theory, a new model or method.
 Significance of Research

• Research promotes the development of logical habits of

thinking, knowledge & better approaches.
• Research provides guidelines for solving different problems.

• It is a sort of formal training which enables one to understand

the new developments in one’s field in a better way.
 Purpose of Research
Though each research has its own specific purpose,
generally its purpose include
To discover answers to questions through the application of scientific procedures.
 To find out the truth which is hidden & which has not been discovered yet
 To solve a problem
 To predict , plan & control
 To test or disprove a theory
To come up with a better way
 Why We Do Research? This can also be a purpose
• Description—A goal of science in which behaviors are systematically &
accurately characterized.
• Explanation—A goal of science in which a researcher achieves awareness of
why behaviors occur as they do.
• Prediction—A goal of science in which a researcher can specify in advance
those situations in which a particular behavior will occur.
• Control—A goal of science in which a researcher can manipulate variables in
order to produce specific behaviors.
Scientific Knowledge and scientific method
Scientific Knowledge

• There are different paths to factual knowledge in our lives.

• We will see that not all roads to knowledge are equally useful.
• The American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce (1877) identified several
ways of knowing,
tenacity, authority, the a priori method, & the scientific approach.

• He concluded that the best approach was the scientific one.

 Tenacity
• The mode of accepting knowledge because one is comfortable with it &
simply wants to hold onto it
• Involves simply believing something because, based on your view of the
world & your assumptions, you don’t want to give up your belief
• People do this all the time; you have probably discovered that it can be
difficult to convince people to change their minds.
• However, if two people hold mutually contradictory beliefs, both cannot be
true.
 Authority
• The mode of accepting knowledge because a person in a position of authority
claims that something is true or valid.

• This approach removes the burden from any single person to make decisions;
instead, one would rely on an expert of some kind.

• Peirce talked about authorities who would force beliefs under threat of some
kind of penalty, but we can generalize to any acceptance of knowledge because
somebody whom we trust says something is true.
 A priori method
• The mode of accepting knowledge based on a premise that people have agreed on, followed by
reasoned argument.

• As Peirce noted, though, experts with different perspectives will hold different beliefs. How is one to
know which expert is actually right?

• He then suggested that people might fix their knowledge based on consensus & reasoned
argument, the a priori approach.

• The problem here, he wrote, was that reasons for believing something may change over time.
• so what was seen as true in the past may change.
 Scientific approach
• The mode of accepting knowledge based on empirically derived data.

• To know universal truths, he reasoned, the most valid approach is

through science, which is objective & self-correcting.
Gradually, we can accumulate knowledge that is valid & discard ideas
that prove to be wrong.

• One of the major differences between scientific knowledge & other kinds
of knowledge is that scientific work is much more systematic than casual
observation.

Scientific knowledge relies on the fact that our observations are

objective, data-driven, public, & potentially replicable.
 Characteristics of Scientific Research
Scientific research is public

• Scientific research information must be freely communicated from one

researcher to another.
• Scientific research is for the accuracy of ones findings:
Researchers must take great care in published reports to include
information on their use of sampling methods, measurements, & data-
gathering procedures.
Such information allows other researchers to verify independently a
given study & to support or refute the initial research findings.
 Science is objective
• Science tries to rule out eccentricities of judgment by researchers.
• When a study is undertaken, explicit rules & procedures are
constructed & the researcher is bound to follow them.
• Scientific research deal with facts rather than interpretations of facts.
- Science rejects its own authorities if their statements are in conflict
with direct observation.

Note: "eccentricities" refer to systematic deviations from rational

decision-making
 Science is empirical
• Concerned with a world that is knowledgeable & potentially measurable.
• Researchers must be able to perceive & classify what they study & to reject
metaphysical & nonsensical explanations of events.

-This does not mean that scientists evade abstract ideas & notions they
encounter them every day.
-But they recognize that concepts must be strictly defined [operational
definitions ] to allow for observation & measurement.
The term "metaphysical" refers to the branch of philosophy concerned with the
fundamental nature of reality, existence, and being—beyond the physical or
empirical.
 Science is systematic & cumulative
• No single research study stands alone, nor does it rise or fall by itself.
--- Researchers are systematic & always utilize previous studies as building
blocks for their own work.

• Moreover, scientists attempt to search for order & consistency among

their findings.
• In its ideal form, scientific research begins with a single, carefully observed
event & progresses ultimately to the formulation of theories & laws.
 Science is predictive
• Science is concerned with relating the present to the future.

• A theory's adequacy lies in its ability to predict a phenomenon or event

successfully.
• If a theory suggests predictions that are not borne out by data analysis, that
theory must be carefully reexamined & perhaps discarded.
• Conversely, if a theory generates predictions that are supported by the data,
that theory can be used to make predictions in other situations.
Science is replicable & verifiable
• Too often, researchers conduct one study & report the results as if they are providing
the basis for a theory or law. However the results of any single study are only
indications of what might exist.

• This means that others should have the opportunity to repeat a research project to
see if the same results occur each time.

• Replicable—When scientists can recreate a previous research study, that study is

replicable.

• Verifiable—When scientists can reproduce a previous research study & generate the
same results, it is verifiable.
 Types of Research
Descriptive vs. Analytical
• Descriptive Research: Includes surveys & fact-finding
enquiries of different kinds.
Purpose : description of the state of affairs as it exists at
present.
Characteristic :
The researcher has no control over the variables; he
can only report what has happened or what is happening.
Uses description, classification, measurement, &
comparison to describe what phenomena are.

Methods: survey methods

 Descriptive vs. Analytical
• Analytical research:
The researcher has to use facts or information already available, & analyze
these to make a critical evaluation of the material.
Usually concerns itself with cause-effect relationships.

Based on the questions raised:

Descriptive research attempts to determine, describe, or identify what is
Analytical research attempts to establish why it is that way or how it came to
be.
 Applied vs. Fundamental(Basic/Pure)
Applied research :
• Purpose: finding a solution for an immediate problem facing a society or an organization
• The central aim of applied research is to discover a solution for some pressing practical
problem.

Fundamental research :

Purpose: generalizations & with the formulation of a theory.

Gathering knowledge for knowledge’s sake
Directed towards finding information that has a broad base of applications to add the already
existing organized body of scientific knowledge
 Quantitative vs. Qualitative
Quantitative research

Based on the measurement of quantity or amount

Applicable to phenomena that can be expressed in terms of quantity
Usually involves collecting & converting data into numerical form so that
statistical calculations can be made & conclusions drawn
Qualitative research
concerned with qualitative phenomenon
Aims at discovering the underlying motives & desires using in depth interviews for
the purpose
Specially important in the behavioral sciences
Quantitative vs. Qualitative
 Conceptual vs. Empirical
Conceptual research
• focuses on the concept or theory that explains or describes the phenomenon being studied.
• doesn’t involve conducting practical experiments.
• Philosophers have long used conceptual research to develop new theories or interpret
existing theories in a different light.
• The most famous example of a conceptual research is Sir Issac Newton.
He observed his surroundings to conceptualize & develop theories about gravitation &
motion.

• Nowadays, conceptual research is used to answer business questions & solve real-world problems.
 Empirical/ Experimental research
• relies on experience or observation alone, often without due regard for system &
theory.
• data-based research- coming up with conclusions which are capable of being
verified by observation or experiment.
• Evidence gathered through experiments or empirical studies is considered to be
the most powerful support possible for a given hypothesis.

• appropriate when proof is sought

Aristotle taught that large cannonballs fell to earth faster than small ones, &
many generations of professors repeated his teachings until Galileo proved them
wrong.
Conceptual vs. Empirical
 Other types of research
• All other types of research are variations of one or more of the above stated
approaches
• Based on time
one-time research - the research is confined to a single time-period
longitudinal research-the research is carried on over several time-periods.

Based on Environment

field-setting research or
laboratory research or simulation research.
 Other types of research
• Research can as well be understood as clinical or diagnostic research.
Such research follows case-study methods or in depth approaches to reach the
basic causal relations.

• The research may be exploratory or it may be formalized.

The objective of exploratory research is the development of hypotheses rather
than their testing, whereas formalized research studies are those with substantial
structure & with specific hypotheses to be tested.

• Historical research : utilizes historical sources to study events or ideas of the

past.
 Reflective Thinking
• What is research?
• Why we need to do a research?
• The various modes of accepting something as knowledge.
• What are the characteristics of scientific research?
• Mention the significance of research generally.
• Check your understanding about different types of research such as
descriptive , analytical, qualitative , quantitative, conceptual, empirical &
so on.
 Quiz
1. Discuss the difference between analytical and emperical
research
2. Describe three characteristics of research
3. What is the purpose of qualitative research