INTRODUCTION
TO RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY
29 January 2026
Dr. Thomas Varghese
Dept. of Physics
Nirmala College,
Muvattupuzha
tv@[Link]
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Research?
➢ A careful investigation for new facts in any
branch of knowledge
➢ Redman and Mory: Research is a systematic
effort to gain new knowledge
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Research?
Clifford Woody: Research-
defining and redefining problems, formulating
hypothesis/objectives;
collecting, organizing and evaluating data;
making deductions and reaching
conclusions;
testing the conclusions to determine whether
they fit the formulating hypothesis/objectives
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Why do research?
➢ Desire to get a research degree along with its
consequential benefits
➢ Desire to face the challenge in solving the
unsolved problems
➢ Desire to get intellectual joy of doing some
creative work
➢ Desire to be of service to society
➢ Desire to get respectability
➢ Directives of government, employment conditions
etc.
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Why do research?...
Validate intuition
Improve methods
Demands of the Job
For publication/patent
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Choose a subject
Based on an idea
Based on your experience
Based on your reading
Originality
7/42
The important features of a research
design
➢ A plan
Specify the sources & types of information
relevant to the research problem
➢ A strategy
Which approach will be used for
gathering and analyzing the data
➢ The time and budgets
Most studies are done under these two
constraints
CHARACTERISTICS OF RESEARCH
➢Systematic- All steps must be inter
related- one to another
➢Logical- Agreeing with the
principles of logic
➢Empirical-Conclusions should be
based on evidences/observations
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CHARACTERISTICS OF RESEARCH…
➢ Objectivity-It must answer the
research questions
➢ Replicable- reproducible
➢ Transmittable
➢ Quality control- Accurate
measurements
➢ All well designed and conducted
research has potential application
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Define Your objectives
Try to keep these simple
The more variables the more difficult
Use the opportunity
Get help at this stage
Senior colleagues
Experienced researchers
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Literature search
Check to see if your idea is original
Get articles
Read articles and their references
Most of these will be vital when writing up
reports
Find gap areas
Find obsolete measurements and results
Define objectives of the study
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Steps involved in a research
Choose a subject
Literature survey
Defining and formulation of specific
objectives
Prepare Synopsis
Procuring of suitable apparatus/materials
Design of experimental set up
Preliminary experiments
Execution of the project
Accurate measurements/data collection
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Steps involved in a research…
Data analysis and error compounding
Hypothesis testing and verification
Results and discussion
Generalization, interpretation and drawing
conclusions
Preparation of the project report or writing thesis
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The Process of Research
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Research article writing
Find suitable/specified Novelty statements
journals Introduction
Get copy of Instructions to Materials and methods
authors Results and discussion
Prepare article as per Conclusions
instructions
Acknowledgements
Select suitable titles
References
Authors and affiliations
Abstract
Highlights
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Authorship/ethics
All authors should directly involved in
entire study
Article is free from plagiarism
Should follow ethics
A Research Report
A Research Report generally include:
Introduction and Statement of problem
Review of relevant literature
Statement of hypothesis or research objectives
Theoretical resume
Description of research design
Description Experimental design
Description of measurement and data analysis
Error compounding
Presentation of Results
Discussion
Conclusion, limitations, and implications
Suggestions for future work
Acknowledgements
References cited
Appendices
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Types of research
1. Application- Pure and Applied Research
Applied- Finding solutions for immediate problems
facing a society/industry
Pure- Concerned with generalization and
formulation of a theory
2. Inquiry Mode- Quantitative and qualitative
Quantitatative- Measurements of quantity or amount
Qualitative- Concerned with qualitative phenomena
(reasons for human behavior)
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Research Studies
Based on research objectives:
❖ Exploratory or formulative research- To
gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to
achieve new insights into it
❖ descriptive research- To study accurately
the characteristics of a particular
individual, situation or a group-includes
survey
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Research Studies
❖ Diagnostic research- To determine the
frequency with which something occurs or
with which it is associated with something
else
❖ hypothesis-testing research- To test a
hypothesis of a causal relationship
between variables
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“Science is not belief,
but the will to find out.”
Thank you