THE RESEARCH PROSES

DR. AHMAD SHAHRUL NIZAM ISHASHAHRUL.NIZAM@PETRONAS.COM.MY

Objective of this session:

To discuss research process

To identify the challenge in completing research

To share experience on research process

The Research Process

The research process is the step-by-step procedure of developing one's research — and research paper

Research Idea

What is research idea?

Identifying Your Research 'Problem' — the 'What' and 'Why'

Theoretical Formulation of the Research Problem

Advanced academic research is based on applying existing theory or a working hypothesis to a research problem.

At its simplest, a "theory" is simply a hypothesis (idea) which has been validated by testing, usually in a form similar to if condition X prevails, then result Y will occur.

Primary functions of theory:

To guide one's research. Theories help identify what the problem is, what the concepts or variables are, and what the results should be;

To reveal new insights into a topic, especially when using theories from quite different disciplines to show new analogies and ways of interpreting your research topic/focus.

Research Questions

“What is actually happening in this situation"?

"Would it still happen this way if ..."

"In this context, if X does this, would Y then ..."

"What causes X to react to Y in this way"

ANALYSE THE PROBLEM

What bothers you about a particular "problem"? What information seems to be unclear, or incomplete, or missing, or improbable as stated?

What are the essential concepts and issues relevant to the problem?

Does the description or implementation of the problem vary? If so, how and why?

Can you state a relationship between the variables of your problem?

Can you hypothesize an answer?

Can you collect primary and secondary data to test the hypothesis?

Can you collect original data to further test the hypothesis?

Is the problem you identify part of a larger problem?

I don’t have any

solution, but I

certainly admire the

problem

feasibility

timeliness

duplication

relevance

cost effectiveness

applicabilityethics

CRITERIA FOR PROBLEM

SELECTION

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Allows to clarify the problem.

Describes the importance of the problem, its priority in the country and the local area.

Important tool for discussion with relevant agencies/ministry .

Facilitates presentation of the project to the authorities.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Clarify the topic, WHO, WHAT , WHERE and HOW.

State its importance .Start with outline and ensure

logical and well organized structure.

Concise and readable not more than 2 pages.

PROBLEM STATEMENT.

Include list of definitions / abbreviations for special terms.

Write for the person expected to read the proposal and according to their familiarity.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Background or introduction. Explain why the problem is important. Description of important geographical,

cultural or socio economic factors affecting the problem.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Brief description of earlier studies on the problem.

Services already offered to reduce the problem .

How the results will be used.

A statement which briefly, logically and simply outlines the key problems with supporting clauses using unambiguous terms and words will stand out well among others.

SUMMARY

Problem identificationAnalysis of the problem

identified.Apply criteria for selection

of health related problem.Preparation of the

problem statement.

RESEARCH DESIGN

We need to understand what research design is and what it is not.

We need to know where design fits into the whole research process from framing a question to finally analyzing and reporting data.

Why research design?

A research design is not just a work plan. A work plan details what has to be done to complete the project but the work plan will flow from the project's research design.

Why research design?

The function of a research design is to ensure that the evidence obtained enables us to answer the initial question as unambiguously as possible.

when designing research we need to ask: given this research question (or theory), what type of evidence is needed to answer the question (or test the theory) in a convincing way?

What id research design??

Research design `deals with a logical problem and not a logistical problem' (Yin, 1989: 29).

e.g: Before a builder or architect can develop a work plan or order materials they must first establish the type of building required, its uses and the needs of the occupants. The work plan flows from this.

What id research design??

A research design is a systematic plan to study a scientific problem.

The design of a study defines the study type (descriptive, correlational, semi-experimental, experimental, review, meta-analytic) and sub-type (e.g., descriptive-longitudinal case study)

Social Science Research

In social research the issues of sampling, method of data collection (e.g. questionnaire, observation, document analysis), design of questions are all subsidiary to the matter of `What evidence do I need to collect?'

What is the different between research design &research & data collection methods?

So research design…..

Research design is not related to any particular method of collecting data or any particular type of data. Any research design can, in principle, use any type of data collection method and can use either quantitative or qualitative data. Research design refers to the structure of an enquiry: it is a logical matter rather than a logistical one.

DATA ANALYSIS

Analysis of data is a process of inspecting, cleaning, transforming, and modeling data with the goal of discovering useful information, suggesting conclusions, and supporting decision making.

Data analysis has multiple facets and approaches, encompassing diverse techniques under a variety of names, in different business, science, and social science domains.