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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

MB0050

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MB0050-Research Methodology

ASSIGNMENT

Subject code: MB0050

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Q1)a. Differentiate between nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio scales, with an example

of each. b. What are the purposes of measurement in social science research?

a. Types of scales:

Ans) There are four types of data that may be gathered in social research, each one adding

more to the next. Thus ordinal data is also nominal, and so on.

Nominal

The name 'Nominal' comes from the Latin nomen, meaning 'name' and nominal data areitems which are differentiated by a simple naming system.

The only thing a nominal scale does is to say that items being measured have something in

common, although this may not be described.

Nominal items may have numbers assigned to them. This may appear ordinal but is not --

these are used to simplify capture and referencing.

Nominal items are usually categorical, in that they belong to a definable category, such as

'employees'.

Example

The number pinned on a sports person.

A set of countries.

Ordinal

Items on an ordinal scale are set into some kind oforderby their position on the scale. This

may indicate such as temporal position, superiority, etc.

The order of items is often defined by assigning numbers to them to show their relative

position. Letters or other sequential symbols may also be used as appropriate.

Ordinal items are usually categorical, in that they belong to a definable category, such as

'1956 marathon runners'.

You cannot do arithmetic with ordinal numbers -- they show sequence only.

Example

The first, third and fifth person in a race.

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Pay bands in an organization, as denoted by A, B, C and D.

Interval

Interval data (also sometimes called integer) is measured along a scale in which eachposition is equidistant from one another. This allows for the distance between two pairs to

be equivalent in some way.

This is often used in psychological experiments that measure attributes along an arbitrary

scale between two extremes.

Interval data cannot be multiplied or divided.

Example

My level of happiness, rated from 1 to 10.

Temperature, in degrees Fahrenheit.

Ratio

In a ratio scale, numbers can be compared as multiples of one another. Thus one person can

be twice as tall as another person. Important also, the number zero has meaning.

Thus the difference between a person of 35 and a person 38 is the same as the differencebetween people who are 12 and 15. A person can also have an age of zero.

Ratio data can be multiplied and divided because not only is the difference between 1 and 2

the same as between 3 and 4, but also that 4 is twice as much as 2.

Interval and ratio data measure quantities and hence are quantitative. Because they can be

measured on a scale, they are also calledscale data.

Example

A person's weight

The number of pizzas I can eat before fainting

b. Purpose of measurement in social science.

One of the primary purposes of classifying variables according to their level or scale ofmeasurement is to facilitate the choice of a statistical test used to analyze the data. There are

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certain statistical analyses which are only meaningful for data which are measured at certain

measurement scales. For example, it is generally inappropriate to compute the mean for

Nominal variables. Suppose you had 20 subjects, 12 of which were male, and 8 of which

were female. If you assigned males a value of '1' and females a value of '2', could you

compute the mean sex of subjects in your sample? It is possible to compute a mean value, but

how meaningful would that be? How would you interpret a mean sex of 1.4? When you areexamining a Nominal variable such as sex, it is more appropriate to compute a statistic such

as a percentage (60% of the sample was male).

When a research wishes to examine the relationship or association between two variables,

there are also guidelines concerning which statistical tests are appropriate. For example, let's

say a University administrator was interested in the relationship between student gender (a

Nominal variable) and major field of study (another Nominal variable). In this case, the most

appropriate measure of association between gender and major would be a Chi-Square test.

Let's say our University administrator was interested in the relationship between

undergraduate major and starting salary of students' first job after graduation. In this case,

salary is not a Nominal variable; it is a ratio level variable. The appropriate test of associationbetween undergraduate major and salary would be a one-way Analysis of Variance

(ANOVA), to see if the mean starting salary is related to undergraduate major.

Finally, suppose we were interested in the relationship between undergraduate grade point

average and starting salary. In this case, both grade point average and starting salary are ratio

level variables. Now, neither Chi-square nor ANOVA would be appropriate; instead, we

would look at the relationship between these two variables using the Pearson correlation

coefficient.

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http://simon.cs.vt.edu/SoSci/converted/glossary.html#chi_squarehttp://simon.cs.vt.edu/SoSci/converted/glossary.html#analysis_of_variancehttp://simon.cs.vt.edu/SoSci/converted/glossary.html#pearson_correlation_coefficienthttp://simon.cs.vt.edu/SoSci/converted/glossary.html#pearson_correlation_coefficienthttp://simon.cs.vt.edu/SoSci/converted/glossary.html#chi_squarehttp://simon.cs.vt.edu/SoSci/converted/glossary.html#analysis_of_variancehttp://simon.cs.vt.edu/SoSci/converted/glossary.html#pearson_correlation_coefficienthttp://simon.cs.vt.edu/SoSci/converted/glossary.html#pearson_correlation_coefficient

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Q2) a. What are the sources from which one may be able to identify research problems?

b. Why literature survey is important in research?

Ans:

Identifying research Problem

This involves the identification of a general topic and formulating it into a specific research

problem. It requires thorough understanding of the problem and rephrasing it in meaningful

terms from an analytical point of view.

Types of Research Projects

those that relate to states of nature

those which relate to relationships between variables

In understanding the problem, it is helpful to discuss it with colleagues or experts in the field.

It is also necessary to examine conceptual and empirical literature on the subject. After the

literature review, the researcher is able to focus on the problem and phrase it in analytical or

operational terms. The task of defining the research problem is of greatest importance in the

entire research process. Being able to define the problem unambiguously helps the researcher

in discriminating relevant data from irrelevant ones.

Extensive literature review

Review of literature is a systematic process that requires careful and perceptive reading and

attention to detail. In the review of the literature, the researcher attempts to determine what

others have learned about similar research problems. It is important in the following ways:

specifically limiting and identifying the research problem and possible hypothesis or

research questions i.e. sharpening the focus of the research.

informing the researcher of what has already been done in the area. This helps to

avoid exact duplication.

If one had the literature and exercised enough patience and industry in reviewing available

literature, it may well be that his problem has already been solved by someone somewhere

some time ago and he will save himself the trouble. Nwana (1982).

Providing insights into possible research designs and methods of conducting the

research and interpreting the results.

Providing suggestions for possible modifications in the research to avoid

unanticipated difficulties.

The library is the most likely physical location for the research literature. Within the library

there is access to books, periodicals, technical reports and academic theses. Other sources are

the Education Index and the Educational Resources information centre (ERIC). Computer-

assisted searchers of literature have become very common today. They have the advantage of

comprehensiveness and speed. They are also very cost-effective in terms of time and effortalthough access to some of the databases requires payment. Irrespective of the sources of the

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literature, ethics of research require that the source is acknowledged through a clear system of

referencing.

b. Why Literature survey is important in research?

Doing a literature survey before you begin your investigation enables you to take advantage

of the unique human capacity to pass on detailed written information from one generation to

another. Reading all the knowledge that's accumulated so far on the problem you want to

study can be time-consuming and even tedious. But careful evaluation of that material helps

make your investigation worthwhile by alerting you to knowledge already gained and

problems already encountered in your areas of interest.

A literature survey amounts to reading available material on a given topic, analyzing and

organizing findings, and producing a summary. There are many sources for literature

reviews, including journals of general interest in each discipline, such as theAmerican

Political Science Review. There are also journals for specific topics such as theLeadershipand Organization Development Journal. Governments publish great quantities of data on

many topics. The United Nations and the United States Government Printing Office are two

major sources. In addition, businesses and private organizations gather and publish

information you might find useful. For certain problems you may want to search through

popular or non-scholarly periodicals as well. While it's customary to include only data from

sources that actually research the problem in a precise fashion, articles in more popular

sources may provide interesting insight or orientations. Talking to knowledgeable people may

also give you information that helps you formulate your problem.

Thoroughness is the key. Most libraries have staff trained in information retrieval who can

help find sources and suggest strategies to review the literature. The Internet, of course, now

allows easy access to limitless information on given topics. Thoroughness in your review

means not only finding all current publications on a topic but locating earlier writing as well.

There's no easy rule for how long ago literature was published on your topic. The time varies

from problem to problem. A useful way to locate past as well as current writing is to begin

with the most current sources likely to contain relevant material. Then, follow these authors'

footnotes and bibliographies. At some point in this search you'll find the material is beginning

to be only peripherally related to your current interest or that authors claim originality for

their work.

Of course, doing a goodliterature surveyis easier when you know a great deal about thesubject already. In such a case you'd probably be familiar with publications and even other

people who do research in your area of interest. But for the novice, efficient use of

library/Internet services and organizing how they check sources are especially important

skills.

Having located literature, keeping a checklist of useful information will help you read each

source. You might ask yourself, particularly for research articles:

1. What was the exact problem studied?

2. How were the topics of interest defined?

3. What did the authors expect to find?4. How were things measured?

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5. What research did this author cite? Have you read it?

6. Who were the subjects of study?

7. What do the results show?

8. Do the data presented agree with the written conclusions?

9. What were the limitations of the study?

A thorough literature survey should demonstrate that you've carefully read and evaluated

each article or book. Because research reports can be tedious and difficult to understand for

new researchers, many tend to read others' conclusions or summaries and take the author's

word that the data actually support the conclusions. Careful reading of both tables and text for

awhile will convince you they don't always agree. Sometimes data are grossly misinterpreted

in the text, but on other occasions authors are more subtle. Consider, for example, the

following statements:

Fully 30 percent of the sample said they did not vote.

Only 30 percent of the sample said they did not vote.

The percentage is the same, but the impression conveyed is decidedly different. Reading the

actual data before accepting the author's conclusions will help prevent some of these errors of

interpretation from creeping into your own research.

It's important that after you finish your reading, you're able to write your literature survey in a

way that's clear, organizing what you know about the content and methods used to study your

problem. You may find it helpful to record information about each source on a separate card

or piece of paper so that information can later be reshuffled, compared, and otherwise

reorganized. Note in most journal articles that what probably began as a long literature survey

is usually condensed on the first few pages of the research report, explaining previous

research on the problem and how the current study will contribute. You, too, want to add to

this growing body of knowledge we call social science by a creative summary of what's been

accomplished by others as well as by your own research.

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Q6). What are the differences between observation and interviewing as methods of

data collection? Give two specific examples of situations where either observation or

interviewing would be more appropriate.

Observation vs Interviewing as Methods of Data Collection

Collection of data is the most crucial part of any research project as the success or failure of

the project is dependent upon the accuracy of the data. Use of wrong methods of data

collection or any inaccuracy in collecting data can have significant impact on the results of a

study and may lead to results that are not valid. There are many techniques of data collection

along a continuum and observation and interviewing are two of the popular methods on this

continuum that has quantitative methods at one end while qualitative methods at the other

end. Though there are many similarities in these two methods and they serve the same basic

purpose, there are differences that will be highlighted in this article.

Observation

Observation, as the name implies refers to situations where participants are observed from a

safe distance and their activities are recorded minutely. It is a time consuming method of data

collection as you may not get the desired conditions that are required for your research and

you may have to wait till participants are in the situation you want them to be in. Classic

examples of observation are wild life researchers who wait for the animals ofbirds to be in a

natural habitat and behave in situations that they want to focus upon. As a method of data

collection, observation has limitations but produces accurate results as participants are

unaware of being closely inspected and behave naturally.

Interviewing

Interviewing is another great technique of data collection and it involves asking questions to

get direct answers. These interviews could be either one to one, in the form of questionnaires,

or the more recent form of asking opinions through internet. However, there are limitations of

interviewing as participants may not come up with true or honest answers depending upon

privacy level of the questions. Though they try to be honest, there is an element of lie in

answers that can distort results of the project.

Though both observation and interviewing are great techniques of data collection, they have

their own strengths and weaknesses. It is important to keep in mind which one of the two will

produce desired results before finalizing.

Observation vs Interviewing

Data collection is an integral part of any research and various techniques are employed

for this purpose.

Observation requires precise analysis by the researcher and often produces most

accurate results although it is very time consuming

Interviewing is easier but suffers from the fact that participants may not come up withhonest replies.

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http://www.differencebetween.com/category/science-nature/nature/animals/http://www.differencebetween.com/category/science-nature/nature/birds/http://www.differencebetween.com/category/technology/it/internet/http://www.differencebetween.com/category/science-nature/nature/animals/http://www.differencebetween.com/category/science-nature/nature/birds/http://www.differencebetween.com/category/technology/it/internet/

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Q3) a. What are the characteristics of a good research design? b. What are thecomponents of a research design?

Ans) Research Design Definition

A research design is the arrangement of conditions for collection and analysis of data in a

manner that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose witheconomy in procedureIsthe conceptual structure within which research is conducted; it constitutes theblueprint for the

collection, measurement and analysis of data more explicitly:

i.What is the study about?

ii.Why is the study being conducted?

iii.Where will the study be carried out?

iv.What type of data is required?

v.Where can the required data be found?

Components of research design

http://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=components%20of%20research

%20design&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CDIQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F

%2Fposta.marmara.edu.tr%2F~sozmen%2F2003-2004%2Fresearch_methodology

%2Fweek_4.doc&ei=KgOgTo-aEofqrAeFkbWNAw&usg=AFQjCNG1ctNqNjUq_ils-

O4muicz4Z2eBA&sig2=RFuXRcsnlsSIOe9zWHhr5A&cad=rja

4. a. Distinguish between Doubles sampling and multiphase sampling.

[ 5 marks]

b. What is replicated or interpenetrating sampling? [ 5 marks]

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_double_samplinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multistage_samplinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replication_(statistics)https://onlinecourses.science.psu.edu/stat506/node/54

5. a. How is secondary data useful to researcher? [ 5 marks]

b. What are the criteria used for evaluation of secondary data? [ 5 marks]

http://www.steppingstones.ca/artman/publish/article_60.shtml

http://www.change.freeuk.com/learning/resmeth/secondary.html

6. What are the differences between observation and interviewing as

methods of data collection? Give two specific examples of

situations where either observation or interviewing would be more

appropriate.

[10 marks].

http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-observation-and-vs-interviewing-as-

methods-of-data-collection/

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http://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=components%20of%20research%20design&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CDIQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fposta.marmara.edu.tr%2F~sozmen%2F2003-2004%2Fresearch_methodology%2Fweek_4.doc&ei=KgOgTo-aEofqrAeFkbWNAw&usg=AFQjCNG1ctNqNjUq_ils-O4muicz4Z2eBA&sig2=RFuXRcsnlsSIOe9zWHhr5A&cad=rjahttp://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=components%20of%20research%20design&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CDIQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fposta.marmara.edu.tr%2F~sozmen%2F2003-2004%2Fresearch_methodology%2Fweek_4.doc&ei=KgOgTo-aEofqrAeFkbWNAw&usg=AFQjCNG1ctNqNjUq_ils-O4muicz4Z2eBA&sig2=RFuXRcsnlsSIOe9zWHhr5A&cad=rjahttp://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=components%20of%20research%20design&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CDIQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fposta.marmara.edu.tr%2F~sozmen%2F2003-2004%2Fresearch_methodology%2Fweek_4.doc&ei=KgOgTo-aEofqrAeFkbWNAw&usg=AFQjCNG1ctNqNjUq_ils-O4muicz4Z2eBA&sig2=RFuXRcsnlsSIOe9zWHhr5A&cad=rjahttp://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=components%20of%20research%20design&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CDIQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fposta.marmara.edu.tr%2F~sozmen%2F2003-2004%2Fresearch_methodology%2Fweek_4.doc&ei=KgOgTo-aEofqrAeFkbWNAw&usg=AFQjCNG1ctNqNjUq_ils-O4muicz4Z2eBA&sig2=RFuXRcsnlsSIOe9zWHhr5A&cad=rjahttp://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=components%20of%20research%20design&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CDIQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fposta.marmara.edu.tr%2F~sozmen%2F2003-2004%2Fresearch_methodology%2Fweek_4.doc&ei=KgOgTo-aEofqrAeFkbWNAw&usg=AFQjCNG1ctNqNjUq_ils-O4muicz4Z2eBA&sig2=RFuXRcsnlsSIOe9zWHhr5A&cad=rjahttp://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_double_samplinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multistage_samplinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replication_(statistics)https://onlinecourses.science.psu.edu/stat506/node/54http://www.steppingstones.ca/artman/publish/article_60.shtmlhttp://www.change.freeuk.com/learning/resmeth/secondary.htmlhttp://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-observation-and-vs-interviewing-as-methods-of-data-collection/http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-observation-and-vs-interviewing-as-methods-of-data-collection/http://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=components%20of%20research%20design&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CDIQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fposta.marmara.edu.tr%2F~sozmen%2F2003-2004%2Fresearch_methodology%2Fweek_4.doc&ei=KgOgTo-aEofqrAeFkbWNAw&usg=AFQjCNG1ctNqNjUq_ils-O4muicz4Z2eBA&sig2=RFuXRcsnlsSIOe9zWHhr5A&cad=rjahttp://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=components%20of%20research%20design&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CDIQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fposta.marmara.edu.tr%2F~sozmen%2F2003-2004%2Fresearch_methodology%2Fweek_4.doc&ei=KgOgTo-aEofqrAeFkbWNAw&usg=AFQjCNG1ctNqNjUq_ils-O4muicz4Z2eBA&sig2=RFuXRcsnlsSIOe9zWHhr5A&cad=rjahttp://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=components%20of%20research%20design&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CDIQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fposta.marmara.edu.tr%2F~sozmen%2F2003-2004%2Fresearch_methodology%2Fweek_4.doc&ei=KgOgTo-aEofqrAeFkbWNAw&usg=AFQjCNG1ctNqNjUq_ils-O4muicz4Z2eBA&sig2=RFuXRcsnlsSIOe9zWHhr5A&cad=rjahttp://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_double_samplinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multistage_samplinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replication_(statistics)https://onlinecourses.science.psu.edu/stat506/node/54http://www.steppingstones.ca/artman/publish/article_60.shtmlhttp://www.change.freeuk.com/learning/resmeth/secondary.htmlhttp://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-observation-and-vs-interviewing-as-methods-of-data-collection/http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-observation-and-vs-interviewing-as-methods-of-data-collection/

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Observation vs Interviewing as Methods of Data Collection

Collection of data is the most crucial part of any research project as the success or failure of

the project is dependent upon the accuracy of the data. Use of wrong methods of datacollection or any inaccuracy in collecting data can have significant impact on the results of a

study and may lead to results that are not valid. There are many techniques of data collection

along a continuum and observation and interviewing are two of the popular methods on this

continuum that has quantitative methods at one end while qualitative methods at the other

end. Though there are many similarities in these two methods and they serve the same basic

purpose, there are differences that will be highlighted in this article.

Observation

Observation, as the name implies refers to situations where participants are observed from a

safe distance and their activities are recorded minutely. It is a time consuming method of datacollection as you may not get the desired conditions that are required for your research and

you may have to wait till participants are in the situation you want them to be in. Classic

examples of observation are wild life researchers who wait for the animals ofbirds to be in a

natural habitat and behave in situations that they want to focus upon. As a method of data

collection, observation has limitations but produces accurate results as participants are

unaware of being closely inspected and behave naturally.

Interviewing

Interviewing is another great technique of data collection and it involves asking questions toget direct answers. These interviews could be either one to one, in the form of questionnaires,

or the more recent form of asking opinions through internet. However, there are limitations of

interviewing as participants may not come up with true or honest answers depending upon

privacy level of the questions. Though they try to be honest, there is an element of lie in

answers that can distort results of the project.

Though both observation and interviewing are great techniques of data collection, they have

their own strengths and weaknesses. It is important to keep in mind which one of the two will

produce desired results before finalizing.

Observation vs Interviewing

Data collection is an integral part of any research and various techniques are employed

for this purpose.

Observation requires precise analysis by the researcher and often produces most

accurate results although it is very time consuming

Interviewing is easier but suffers from the fact that participants may not come up with

honest replies.

10
http://www.differencebetween.com/category/science-nature/nature/animals/http://www.differencebetween.com/category/science-nature/nature/birds/http://www.differencebetween.com/category/technology/it/internet/http://www.differencebetween.com/category/science-nature/nature/animals/http://www.differencebetween.com/category/science-nature/nature/birds/http://www.differencebetween.com/category/technology/it/internet/

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