CHAPTER TWO

Research Process
 PART ONE
Research Process
RESEARCH PROCESS
 A process consists of series of actions or steps
necessary to effectively carry out research.
 The desired sequencing of these steps.

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 Consists of a number of closely related activities.
 But such activities can overlap continuously rather
than following a strictly prescribed sequence.
 At times, the first step determines the nature
of the last step to be undertaken.
 The research process is a set of ordered steps a
researcher takes to ensure that all parts of an
investigation are completed to a high standard.
 Following the research process allows the
researcher to cover all angles and ensure that the
information they gather is reliable and effectively
presented.
3
CONT…
 Research involves the following process:
1. Selecting a broad area title of the study

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2. Problem definition
3. Literature review/survey
4. Developing objectives and hypothesis
research question formulation
5. Design of Research/Research Methodology
6. Execution of the research :
Data collection, analysis and
generalization and interpretation.
7. Report Writing

4
 1. SELECTING A RESEARCH AREA/TOPIC
 Look for a subject that interests you and will
maintain your interest throughout the various stages
of research that will help you to obtain the maximum

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self-development from the research.
 It should be related with your career.

 Some preliminary reading will help to determine

the extent of your interest.
 Keep in mind the time allotted to you and the
expected length of the research paper.
 The researcher must decide the general area of
interest or aspect of a subject matter that he/she
would like to inquire into/study.

5
 2. FORMULATING THE RESEARCH PROBLEM
 The task of formulating/defining a research problem
is the core point in the entire research process.
 The task of formulating, or defining a research

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problem is a step of greatest importance in the
entire research process.
 Because:

- It determines the data to be collected,

- It determines the characteristic of the data which
are relevant,
- It determines the type of techniques to be used,
- It determines the form of the final report.
 Therefore, the researcher must single out the
problem he/she wants to study.
6
 CONT…
 The best way of formulating the research problem is:
- To discuss it with colleagues.
- To discuss it with those that have some

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experience with the issue.
 Note:- Stating problem clearly is half of solving
the problem.
 Some general principles in problem formulation are:
 Be sure that the problem really exists.
 Learn as much as possible about how the
problem to be solve.
 Consider alternative formulations in case one
is not feasible.
 Be aware that the problem formulation may
influence the phenomena being studied. 7
3. LITERATURE SURVEY
 The researcher should also examine all available
literatures to get himself acquainted with the
selected problem.

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- May continue from beginning to end.
- It is important in defining problems and
hypotheses formulation as well as selection
of methods.
- Extensive review is required to know:
 What others have done in the area?
 How did they do it?
 What were the research variables?
 How were the variables measured?
 What were the constraints?
8
 What could possibly be modified?
 CONT…
 The Researcher may review two types of literature
 Conceptual literature
- Concerning the concepts and theories.

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 Empirical literature
- Consisting of studies made earlier which are
similar to the one proposed.
 Basic Outcomes of the Review

 To understand what data and other materials are

available for operational purposes which will
enable the researcher to specify his own research
problem in a meaningful context.

9
 4. DEVELOPING OBJECTIVES AND WORKING HYPOTHESIS:
 Objectives:
- Statements that indicate what a researcher

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intends/initiates to accomplish in a more
specific term.
 Some guidelines in developing objectives are:

 Objectives must be specific, concrete and

achievable statements.
 The objectives should clearly fit to the
statement of the problem.
 The objectives must propose to do things as per
the capability of the design of the study.
 Objectives should be in their approximate
order of importance.
10
 CONT…
 Hypothesis:
- An assertion about the relationship between two
or more concepts.

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- Important bridges between empirical
inquiry and theory.
 Developing research hypotheses is important since
they provide the focal point of the research.
 They indirectly determine the quality of data
which is required for the analysis.
 The role of the hypothesis is to guide the
researcher and keep him on the right track.
 Working hypotheses arise as a result of prior
thinking about the subject.
11
CONT…
 A hypothesis must be
 Specific.
 Limited to the piece of research in hand because it

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has to be tested.
 Conceptually clear in terms of common definitions.
 Testable (verification or rejection) by available
techniques and resources.
 Related to a body of theory;
 Stated to provide direction for the research;
 Formulated as causal relationships;

12
 CONT…
 Example of hypothesis
 Improved training provision will create a more
productive reliable and satisfied workforce.

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 Smoking and lung cancer are independent.
 As a general rule, working with hypothesis is
another basic step of the research process in most
research problems --- but may not be always
necessary.
 Eg. In Exploratory researches.

13
5. DESIGN OF THE RESEARCH
 Once the research problem is formulated and
working hypothesis are/is developed, the researcher
will be required to prepare a research

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Design/methodology.
 Research design refers to the arrangement of the
conditions for collection and analysis of data
in a manner that will satisfy or achieve the
objectives of a research undertaking.
 It is intended to enable the researcher to answer
questions as validly, objectively, accurately
and economically as much as possible;
 It provides for the collection of relevant data
with minimum effort, time and budget.
14
 CONT…
 Research Design:- Conceptual structure
within which research would be conducted.
It sets up the framework for adequate tests of

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

relationships among study variables.

 The research design tells us:
- What observations to be make?
- What variables to be measure?
- How to make/measure them?
- How to analyze the data?
- Sample Design
- Data collection tools/techniques
- It also suggests how many observations to make.
- The type of statistical analysis to be used.

15
 CONT…
 The research design preparation should consider:
The time available for research.
 The finance available for the purpose.

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 The availability and skills of the researcher and
his/her staff (if any).
 Identifying the study variables.
 Identifying study subjects /experimental units,
 The means of obtaining the information and
reasoning leading to selection.
 The function of research design is to provide for the
collection of relevant evidence with minimal
expenditure of effort, time and money.

16
6. EXECUTION OF THE RESEARCH.
 It is a very important step in the research
process.

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 If the execution of the research proceeds on
correct lines, the data to be collected would
be adequate and dependable.
 Under this phase the following tasks will be done:
 Data Collection
 Data Analysis
 Implement/Coding
 Generalizations and Interpretation of the results

17
CONT…
Data collection
 Data can be collected by any one or more of the data
collection techniques/tools ways.

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 It may involve:
 Field survey /experiments
 Laboratory
 Questionnaire
 Observation
 Document Analysis
 Interview, etc.
 The researcher should select one/more of these methods
of collecting data by taking into consideration the
nature of investigation, objective and scope of the
inquiry, financial resources, available time and
18
the desired degree of accuracy.
CONT…
 Data Analysis
 After the data have been collected, the researcher
turns to the task of analyzing them.

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 The analysis of data requires a number of closely
related operations.
 Before analyzing the data the following
operation are processed on collected data.
 Coding
 Editing
 Tabulation and then drawing
statistical inferences.
 Quantitative data analysis– quantitative figures
 Qualitative data analysis– analytical thinking
19
 Hypothesis testing
CONT…
 Generalizations and Interpretation of the
results
 If a hypothesis is tested and upheld several times,

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it may be possible for the researcher to arrive at
generalization, i.e., to build a theory.
 As a matter of fact, the real value of research
lies in its ability to arrive at certain
generalizations.
 If the researcher had no hypothesis to start with,
he might seek to explain his findings on the basis
of some theory. It is known as interpretation.
 The process of interpretation may quite
often trigger off new questions which in
turn may lead to further researches. 20
 7. REPORTING/WRITING RESEARCH REPORTS
Finally, the researcher has to prepare the report of
what has been done.
The result should be communicated to others.

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 Peers
 Policy makers/Developers
 Extension workers
 General public
 Report should be written in a concise and
objective style in simple language avoiding
vague expressions such as ‘it seems,’ ‘there may
be’, and the like.
The style and content varies depending on to whom
the research is written to.
 The mode of presentation depends on the target
audience. 21
 PART TWO
RESEARCH PROPOSAL AND
ITS COMPONENTS
WHAT IS RESEARCH PROPOSAL?
 A research proposal is a document written by a
researcher that describes in details the program
for a proposed research.

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 It is like an outline of the entire research
process that gives a reader a summary of the
information discussed in the research/project.
 Research proposals are written in future tense
and have different points of emphasis.
 A proposal should present a strict research plan
in order to distribute research time according to
tasks importance and their time consuming capacity.

23
CONT…
 A research proposal is a document of usually three to
seven pages that informs others about a proposed
piece of research idea/problem.

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 A research proposal can be reject if it is
unsuitable or poorly designed.
 The proposal is, therefore, an important
document; one that is worth spending some time
on to get right.
 If the proposal is well-designed, it can form an
outline of the research to follow, and ideally, can
be mapped onto various parts of the final research.
 Research Proposal:

 Where you express your intentions and plans

(Future). 24

 The detail plan of study.

COMPONENTS OF RESEARCH PROPOSAL
 The Research Topic or Title
 Introduction/background of the study
Statement of the problem & its justification

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
 Objectives of the study
 Research Question/hypothesis
 Literature Review (not detail)
 Scope of the Study
 Methodology of the study
 Significance/Benefits of the study
 Budget Schedule
 Time Schedule
 Team Work
 List of references used in preparing the proposal
25
THE RESEARCH TOPIC OR TITLE
 Defining the research problem is the first step and one
of the most difficult in research undertaking.
 Each problem that is proposed for research has to be judged

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according to certain guidelines or criteria.
 A good title should:
 Orient your readers to the idea/topic you will research.

 Indicate the type of study you will conduct.

 The following are some of the criteria's for selecting a research

problem/idea:
 Relevance/Significance
 Avoidance of duplication (should be new)
 Urgency of data needed (timeliness)
 Feasibility of study (feasibility of the idea)
 Applicability of results
 Interest to the researcher
26
 Ethical acceptability
 CONT…
 After selecting the research idea/problem we should
consider the following in formulating the research title or
topic:

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 Create a title that conveys the idea of your
investigation.
 The title of your research should state your topic/idea
exactly in the smallest possible number of words.
 All words in the title should be chosen with
great care, and association with one another
must be carefully managed.
 The topic should be explanatory of the research
problem/ the study.
 The topic/title should be clear and understandable.
USING DEEP LEARNING FRUIT DISEASE
DETECTION AND CLASSIFICATION APPROACH
27
To be corrected as:
FRUIT DISEASE DETECTION AND CLASSIFICATION
USING DEEP LEARNING APPROACH
INTRODUCTION & BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
 The introduction should be as brief as possible (a
paragraph or two).
 Whatever you do, don’t ramble on for pages;

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 you need to make this part of the proposal

clear and crisp.

 In the introduction, you need to give a sense of the
general field of research of which your area is a
part.
 You then need to narrow to the specific area of your
concern.
 This should lead logically to the gap in the research
that you intend to fill.
 When the gap is identified, a research question can
then be raised.
 The answer to this question is called the thesis 28
statement.
CONT…
 Brief overview of the general area.
 Introduce readers about the topic/problem area.

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 Provides readers with the background
information for the research proposal.
 Its purpose is to establish a framework for the
research, so that
 Readers can understand how it is related to
other research.

29
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
 A problem might be defined as the issue that exists
in the literature, theory, or practice that leads to a
need for the study.

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 The prospective researcher should think on
what caused the need to do the research
(problem identification).
 The question that he/she should ask him/herself is:

 Are there questions about this problem to which

answers have not been found up to the present?
 The research problem should be stated in such a way
that it would lead to analytical thinking on the part
of the researcher with the aim of possibly concluding
solutions to the stated problem.
30
CONT…
 Effective problem statements answer the question
“Why does this research need to be conducted.”

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 Generally, in the statement of the study should:

 Answer the question:

“What is the gap that needs to be filled?” and/or
“What is the problem that needs to be solved?”
 State the problem clearly early in a paragraph.
 Limit the variables you address in stating
your problem or question.
 Describe the problem & explain the severity of the
problem at hand.

31
CONT…
 Sources of research problems are:
 Observation.

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 Literature reviews.
 Professional conferences.
 Experts.
 People who has experience and knowledge in a

certain research area can be good source of

research topic.

32
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
 The objectives of a research delineate the ends or
aim which the inquirer seeks to bring about as a
result of completing the research undertaken.

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 An objective/aim of the research is:

 What is to be achieved by the study.

 A solution to a problem
 Objectives should be

 Closely related to the statement of the problem.

 Simple (not complex),
 Specific (not vague),
 Stated in advance (not after the research is
done), and
 Stated using “To followed with action verbs” 33
that are specific enough to be measured.
CONT…
 To discover……..
 To determine……

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 To establish…..

 To access….

 To identify……

 To compare……

 To analyze…….

 To evaluate…….

 etc

34
CONT…
 A good research objective to be SMART; which
means:

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 Specific: Make sure your objectives aren’t overly
vague.
 Measurable: Know how you’ll measure whether
your objectives have been achieved.
 Achievable: Your objectives may be challenging, but
they should be feasible.
 Relevant: Make sure that they directly address the
research problem you want to work on and that they
contribute to the current state of research in your
field.
 Time-based: Set clear deadlines for objectives to
ensure that the project stays on track. 35
CONT…
 Objectives are classified into general objective and
specific objectives.

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 General objective
 What generally and exactly will be studied?
 Is a general statement which specifies the
desired outcomes of the proposed research.
 They are broad /high level objectives
 Eg:
The overall goal of our research is to develop a fruit
disease detection and classification system based on a
deep learning approach.

36
CONT…
 True to the name, research aims/main objective
usually start with the wording “this research aims
to…”, “this research seeks to…”, and so on.

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For example:
 “This research aims to explore employee experiences of
digital transformation in retail HR.
 “This study sets out to assess the interaction between
student support and self-care on well-being in
engineering graduate students”

37
CONT…
 Specific objectives
 list of objectives to achieve the general objective

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 Specific statements summarizing the proposed
activities and including description of the outcomes and
their assessment in measurable terms.
 It identifies in greater detail the specific aims of the
research project, often breaking down what is to
be accomplished into smaller logical
components
 They should specify what you will do in your
study, where and for what purpose

38
CONT…
Ex:
 To detect fruit illnesses and categorize into its group

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using deep learning architecture.
 To evaluate the performance of an algorithm for fruit
disease detection and classification.
 To compare different deep learning architectures to
identify and categorize fruit illnesses.
 To determine the most appropriate deep learning
architecture for detecting and classifying fruit
diseases.

39
CONT…
 A clear statement of objective/purpose will:
 Explain the goals and research objectives of the
study (what do you hope to find?).

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 Show the original contributions of your study by
explaining how your research questions or
approach are different from previous research
(what will you add to the field of
knowledge?).
 Provide a more detailed account of the points
summarized in the introduction.
 Include a rationale for the study (why should we
study this?).
 Be clear about what your study will not
address. 40
CONT…
Research objectives are more important because
they:

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 Establish the scope and depth of your
project: This helps you avoid unnecessary research.
It also means that your research methods and
conclusions can easily be evaluated.
 Contribute to your research design: When you
know what your objectives are, you have a clearer
idea of what methods are most appropriate for your
research.
 Indicate how your project will contribute to
extant research: They allow you to display your
knowledge of up-to-date research, employ or build on
current research methods, and attempt to contribute 41
to recent debates.
RESEARCH QUESTION/ HYPOTHESIS
 Describe the research questions and/or
hypotheses of the study.
Include a subsection defining important terms, especially

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
if they will be new to some readers or if you will use them
in an unfamiliar way.
 State limitations of the research.
 Provide a rationale for the particular subjects of the study.

 Question- research focus to be answered

 Hypothesis- potential answer for the study
 A predicted answer to a research question

42
CONT…
Ex:
Research Questions

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 How fruit illnesses are detected and categorize into its
group using deep learning architecture?
 How to evaluate the performance of an algorithm for
fruit disease detection and classification?
 Which deep learning architectures are more available
for identifying and categorizing fruit diseases?
Hypothesis
From various fruit illness detection models (DenseNet121,
InceptionResnetV2, and EfficientNet B4 DenseNet121)
InceptionResnetV2 is the best one with a great accuracy.

43
CONT…
The Role of Research Questions
1. Organize the research project and give it direction
and coherence

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2. Delimit the research project – show the boundaries
3. Keep the researcher focused
4. Indicate the data that will be needed
5. Provide a framework for writing up the project
Note: the research question may not be a
question as such, but rather a statement of a
problem to be investigated.

44
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
 This is where you provide about what others have
done in the area, and what you propose to do.

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 The literature review is a critical look at the
existing research that is significant to the work
that you are carrying out.
 Obviously, at this point you are not likely to have
read everything related to your research questions,
but you should still be able to identify the key
texts with which you will be in conversation as
you write your dissertation.
 Literature reviews often include both the theoretical
approaches to your topic and research (empirical or
analytical) on your topic.
45
CONT…
 Writing the literature review allows you to
understand:
 How other scholars have written about your topic

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(in addition to what they have written).
 The range of theories scholars use to analyze their
primary materials or data
 How other scholars connect their specific research
topics to larger issues, questions, or practices
within the field.
 The best methodologies and research
techniques for your particular topic.

46
CONT…
 Effective literature reviews should:
 Flesh out the Introduction’s brief
description of the background of your study.

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 Critically assess important research trends or
areas of interest relevant to your study.
 Identify potential gaps in knowledge.
 Establish a need for current and/or future
research projects.

47
SCOPE/DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY
 Defining the research focus/concern
 Set the set of activities that will be done in
achieving the research objectives.

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 Limiting the research boundary: Activities
 Physical & Logical boundaries
Ex:
 The study focuses on creating and designing a deep
learning-based fruit disease detection and classification
system. In this research a deep convolutional neural
network sequential model will be use and implement with
fully connected (dense) layers.
 The scope of this suggested study is limited on twelve
different kinds of tomato and orange fruit , as well as
their leaves and ignores their flowers, roots, steam, and
other elements.
48
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
 Defining the ways/procedures to be followed in
conducting the study.

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 This section includes a description of the general
means through which the goals of the study
will be achieved: methods, materials,
procedures, tasks, etc.
 The method or procedure section is really the heart
of the research proposal.
 You must decide exactly how you are going to achieve
your stated objectives: i.e., what new data you need in
order to shed light on the problem you have selected and
how you are going to collect and process this data.

49
CONT…
 The activities should be described with as much
detail as possible, and the continuity between them
should be apparent.

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 Indicate the methodological steps you will take to
answer every question, to test every hypothesis
illustrated in the Questions/Hypotheses section or
address the objectives you set.
 Generally, in the research methodology the following
points should be included/considered:
Research Area
Research type
Data collection tools to be used
Sample design/ methods
Determine the sampling size
Description of study participants
Data collection procedure/tools 50
Data analysis and interpret tools & techniques
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESEARCH
 What are importance of the study/ Why is this
work important?

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 The importance of the research outcome(s)

 Potential beneficiaries at different levels

 Individual level
 Organizational level
 National level
 Plainly state the practical and/or theoretical
importance of the problem and/or objectives of your
study, given current knowledge and practices.
 Explain the usefulness or benefits of the study, if
possible (and especially for funding agencies), to both
the outside world and the research community.
51
BUDGET SCHEDULE
 Resources needed to conduct the research
 Money required for each activity

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TIME SCHEDULE
 Stating the predicted time for the individual
objectives/activities as well as elements of research
methodologies.
 It depends on the convenience of each task strength

 Have similar time measurement/unit

TEAM WORK
 An individual responsibilities of the researcher if it is
done in team.
 Have an effective arrangement/assignment of teams
either based on experience or other criteria's. 52
LIST OF REFERENCES
 This must be provided in the usual scholarly fashion.
 It helps to convince your reader that your proposal is

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worth pursuing if you can identify literature in the
field and demonstrate that you understand it.
 It makes a very strong impact if you can identify
where there is a research gap in the literature that
your proposal hopes to fill.
 This is your contribution to the scholarly
conversation.

53
WHAT IS CITATION?
 Citation is the act of citing/referring specific source that you
mention in the body of your paper.
 The basic elements of the citation that you need to include are:

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 Name of the author(s),Year of publication, Page number or page
range
 If you quote a source directly you must include the exact page
number in your citation.

When you cite the references in your report body, use the following
citation techniques
 Citation styles:
1. Author and date – Harvard, APA

one author:

Author name (year of edition)

two authors:

Author1 name & Author2 name (year of edition)

More than two authors:

Author1 name et al. (year of edition) [[Link]: means 54
and others]
2. Numbering which links to the reference list – Vancouver
WRITING A RESEARCH PROPOSAL AND RESEARCH REPORT
 Research Proposal: Where you express your
intentions and plans (Future)
It should be written in future tenses

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

 Research Report: Where you present what you

have done (past).
 It should be written in past tenses.

55
 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PROPOSAL AND FINAL REPORT

Research Proposal Research Report

1.1 Introduction/background of the study 1.1 Introduction/background of the study

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1.2 Statement of the problem 1.2 Statement of the problem
1.3 Objective 1.3 Objective
1.4 Research question/hypothesis 1.4 Research question/hypothesis

Habesha College
1.5 Scope of the study 1.5 Scope of the study
1.6 Related literature review (not in detail) 1.6 Significance/Application of the study
1.7 Methodology 1.7 Limitation of the study
1.8 Significance/Application of the study 2. Related Literature review (in detail) or
Existing System
1.9 Budget schedule 3. Methodology through Diagram
1.10 Time schedule 4. Data Analysis and Coding
1.11 Team work 5. Conclusions and Implications
References References 56

Appendices
LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature review is a summary of studies related
to a particular area of research.

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 It identifies and summarizes all the relevant
research conducted on a particular topic.
 It is important that your literature review is
focused.
 Therefore, you should choose a limited number
of studies that are central to your topic
rather than trying to collect a wide range of
studies that might not be closely connected.

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CONT…
 Literature reviews help you to accomplish the
following:

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 Evaluate past research
 Collecting relevant resources will help you see what
research has already been done.
 This will also help avoid duplication.

 Identify experts
 It is important to identify credible/reliable
researchers who have knowledge in a given field, in
order to seek their help if you get difficulty with
certain aspects of your research.

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CONT…
 Identify key questions
 Your ultimate aim is to bring something new to the
conversation.

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 Collecting resources will help you determine the important
questions that need to be addressed.
 Determine methodologies used in past studies
 Knowing how others have approached a particular topic
will give you the opportunity to identify problems and
find new ways to research and study a topic.
 If the reported methodology was successful, you can use
it and save time that you would otherwise be spending on
optimization.

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SOURCE OF LITERATURE
 Books and Journals
 Electronic Databases

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 Full-Text Databases
 Abstract Databases

 Government and Industry Reports

 Internet

 Research Dissertations / Thesis

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CONT…
Presenting Literature Review in the
Introduction section

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 The literature reviewed in the introduction should:

 Introduce the topic

 Establish the significance of the study
 Provide an overview of the relevant literature
 Establish a background for the study using the
literature
 Identify knowledge gaps
 Illustrate how the study will advance knowledge
on the topic

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CONT…
Presenting Literature Review in the Discussion
section

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 In discussion section, your findings should be the
focus, rather than those of other researchers.
 Therefore, you should only use the studies
mentioned in the literature review as support
and evidence for your study but not new
literature.
 There are three ways in which you can use literature
reviews in the discussion section:
 To provide context for your study
 To compare your findings to other studies
 To state the contribution of your study
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