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MODULE 1 LESSON 2 WEEK 2
INQUIRY, INVESTIGATION & IMMERSION
QUARTER 3
BY: SALVADOR DOMONA
INQUIRY, INVESTIGATION & IMMERSION MR. S.O. DOMONA
GFYSHS FACULTY
2
Q3MODULE 1 LESSON 1 WEEK 1
What I need to know?
Research methodology is the specific procedures or techniques used to identify,
select, process, and analyze information about a topic. In a research paper,
the methodology section allows the reader to critically evaluate a study's overall
validity and reliability.
ACTIVITY A
QUESTION:
What is research methodology?
Note: Your answer will be on a separate sheet of paper, either 1 whole yellow
pad or 1 whole bond paper, to be attached in module when submitted.
For online class upload your answer in google class in pdf form
What I know?
According to Goddard and Melville (2001), research goes beyond the process of
gathering information; rather, it is also about finding answers to unanswered
questions as part of discovering and/or creating new knowledge. And in order for
this newly discovered or created knowledge to be recognized or noticed, you
have to prove that it is valid.
ACTIVITY B
QUESTION: How Goddard and Melville view research?
Note: Your answer will be on a separate sheet of paper, either 1 whole yellow
pad or 1 whole bond paper, to be attached in module when submitted.
For online class upload your answer in google class in pdf form
INQUIRY, INVESTIGATION & IMMERSION MR. S.O. DOMONA
GFYSHS FACULTY
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What’s New?
It seems appropriate at this juncture to explain the difference between research
methods and research methodology. Research methods may be understood as all
those methods/techniques that are used for conduction of research. Research
methods or techniques*, thus, refer to the methods the researchers
Type Methods techniques
1. Library Analysis of historical records Recording of notes, Content
research analysis, Tape and Film
listening and analysis
Analysis of documents Statistical compilations and
manipulations, reference and
abstract guides, contents
analysis
2. Field 1. Non- participant direct 1. Observational behavioural
research observation scales, use of score cards, etc.
2. Participant observation 2. Interactional recording,
3. Mass observation possible use of tape
4. Mail questionnaire recorders, photo graphic
5. Opinionnaire techniques.
6. Personal interview
7. Focused interview 3. Recording mass behaviour,
8. Group interview interview using independent
9. Telephone survey observers in public places
10. Case study and life history 4. Identification of social and
economic background of
respondents.
5. Use of attitude scales,
projective techniques, use of
sociometric scales.
6. Interviewer uses a detailed
schedule with open and
closed questions
7. Interviewer focuses
attention upon a given
experience and its effects.
8. Small groups of
respondents are interviewed
simultaneously
INQUIRY, INVESTIGATION & IMMERSION MR. S.O. DOMONA
GFYSHS FACULTY
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9. Used as a survey technique
for information and for
discerning opinion; may also
be used as a follow up of
questionnaire.
10. Cross sectional collection
of data for intensive analysis,
longitudinal collection of
data of intensive character.
Laboratory Small group study of random Use of audio-visual recording
research behaviour, play and role analysis devices, use of observers, etc.
use in performing research operations. In other words, all those methods which
are used by the researcher during the course of studying his research problem are
termed as research methods. Since the object of research, particularly the applied
research, it to arrive at a solution for a given problem, the available data and the
unknown aspects of the problem have to be related to each other to make a
solution possible. Keeping this in view, research methods can be put into the
following three groups:
1. In the first group we include those methods which are concerned with the
collection of data. These methods will be used where the data already available
are not sufficient to arrive at the required solution;
2. The second group consists of those statistical techniques which are used for
establishing relationships between the data and the unknowns;
3. The third group consists of those methods which are used to evaluate the
accuracy of the results obtained.
Research methods falling in the above stated last two groups are generally taken
as the analytical tools of research.
Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem. It
may be understood as a science of studying how research is done scientifically. In
it we study the various steps that are generally adopted by a researcher in studying
his research problem along with the logic behind them. It is necessary for the
researcher to know not only the research methods/techniques but also the
methodology. Researchers not only need to know how to develop certain indices
or tests, how to calculate the mean, the mode, the median or the standard
deviation or chi-square, how to apply particular research techniques, but they also
need to know which of these methods or techniques, are relevant and which are
not, and what would they mean and indicate and why. Researchers also need to
understand the assumptions underlying various techniques and they need to know
the criteria by which they can decide that certain techniques and procedures will
INQUIRY, INVESTIGATION & IMMERSION MR. S.O. DOMONA
GFYSHS FACULTY
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be applicable to certain problems and others will not. All this means that it is
necessary for the researcher to design his methodology for his problem as the
same may differ from problem to problem. For example, an architect, who
designs a building, has to consciously evaluate the basis of his decisions, i.e., he has
to evaluate why and on what basis he selects particular size, number and location
of doors, windows and ventilators, uses particular materials and not others and
the like. Similarly, in research the scientist has to expose the research decisions to
evaluation before they are implemented. He has to specify very clearly and
precisely what decisions he selects and why he selects them so that they can be
evaluated by others also. From what has been stated above, we can say that
research methodology has many dimensions and research methods do constitute a
part of the research methodology. The scope of research methodology is wider
than that of research methods. Thus, when we talk of research methodology we
not only talk of the research methods but also consider the logic behind the
methods we use in the context of our research study and explain why we are
using a particular method or technique and why we are not using others so that
research results are capable of being evaluated either by the researcher himself or
by others. Why a research study has been undertaken, how the research problem
has been defined, in what way and why the hypothesis has been formulated,
what data have been collected and what particular method has been adopted,
why particular technique of analysing data has been used and a host of similar
other questions are usually answered when we talk of research methodology
concerning a research problem or study.
Research and Scientific Method
For a clear perception of the term research, one should know the meaning of
scientific method.
The two terms, research and scientific method, are closely related. Research, as we
have already stated, can be termed as “an inquiry into the nature of, the reasons
for, and the consequences of any particular set of circumstances, whether these
circumstances are experimentally controlled or recorded just as they occur.
Further, research implies the researcher is interested in more than particular
results; he is interested in the repeatability of the results and in their extension to
more complicated and general situations.”
On the other hand, the philosophy common to all research methods and
techniques, although they may vary considerably from one science to another, is
usually given the name of scientific method. In this context, Karl Pearson writes,
“The scientific method is one and same in the branches (of science) and that
method is the method of all logically trained minds … the unity of all sciences
consists alone in its methods, not its material ; the man who classifies facts of any
kind whatever, who sees their mutual relation and describes their sequences, is
INQUIRY, INVESTIGATION & IMMERSION MR. S.O. DOMONA
GFYSHS FACULTY
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applying the Scientific Method and is a man of science.”8 Scientific method is the
pursuit of truth as determined by logical considerations.
The ideal of science is to achieve a systematic interrelation of facts. Scientific
method attempts to achieve “this ideal by experimentation, observation, logical
arguments from accepted postulates and a combination of these three in varying
proportions.”9 In scientific method, logic aids in formulating propositions
explicitly and accurately so that their possible alternatives become clear. Further,
logic develops the consequences of such alternatives, and when these are
compared with observable phenomena, it becomes possible for the researcher or
the scientist to state which alternative is most in harmony with the observed facts.
All this is done through experimentation and survey investigations which
constitute the integral parts of scientific method.
Experimentation is done to test hypotheses and to discover new relationships. If
any, among variables. But the conclusions drawn on the basis of experimental
data are generally criticized for either faulty assumptions, poorly designed
experiments, badly executed experiments or faulty interpretations. As such the
researcher must pay all possible attention while developing the experimental
design and must state only probable inferences. The purpose of survey
investigations may also be to provide scientifically gathered information to work
as a basis for the researchers for their conclusions.
The scientific method is, thus, based on certain basic postulates which can be
stated as under:
1. It relies on empirical evidence;
2. It utilizes relevant concepts;
3. It is committed to only objective considerations;
4. It presupposes ethical neutrality, i.e., it aims at nothing but making only
adequate and correct statements about population objects;
5. It results into probabilistic predictions;
6. Its methodology is made known to all concerned for critical scrutiny are for use
in testing the conclusions through replication;
7. It aims at formulating most general axioms or what can be termed as scientific
theories
Thus, “the scientific method encourages a rigorous, impersonal mode of procedure
dictated by the demands of logic and objective procedure.”10 Accordingly,
scientific method implies an objective, logical and systematic method, i.e., a
method free from personal bias or prejudice, a method to ascertain demonstrable
qualities of a phenomenon capable of being verified, a method wherein the
researcher is guided by the rules of logical reasoning, a method wherein the
investigation proceeds in an orderly manner and a method that implies internal
consistency.
INQUIRY, INVESTIGATION & IMMERSION MR. S.O. DOMONA
GFYSHS FACULTY
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What I have learned?
ACTIVITY C
QUESTION
Discuss library research?
Note: Your answer will be on a separate sheet of paper, either 1 whole yellow
pad or 1 whole bond paper, to be attached in module when submitted.
For online class upload your answer in google class in pdf form
What’s more?
ACTIVITY D
QUESTION
Differentiate library research from field research?
Note: Your answer will be on a separate sheet of paper, either 1 whole yellow
pad or 1 whole bond paper, to be attached in module when submitted.
For online class upload your answer in google class in pdf form
ACTIVITY E
QUESTION
Differentiate field research from laboratory research?
Note: Your answer will be on a separate sheet of paper, either 1 whole yellow
pad or 1 whole bond paper, to be attached in module when submitted.
For online class upload your answer in google class in pdf form
ACTIVITY F
QUESTION
What is scientific method and its basic postulates?
INQUIRY, INVESTIGATION & IMMERSION MR. S.O. DOMONA
GFYSHS FACULTY
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Note: Your answer will be on a separate sheet of paper, either 1 whole yellow
pad or 1 whole bond paper, to be attached in module when submitted.
For online class upload your answer in google class in pdf form
REFERENCE: Research methodology by C.R. Kothari, second edition, New Age
International Publishers. India
INQUIRY, INVESTIGATION & IMMERSION MR. S.O. DOMONA
GFYSHS FACULTY