POSTGRADUATE RESEARCH PROCESS – KEY POINTS (A)

RESEARCH:
action taken to investigate and identify problem issue, by searching for all the clues
related to the problem issue in order to be able to discover and collect facts that can
be interpreted to its finding a way to deal with or to solve the problem issue.

QUALITIES OF GOOD RESEARCH:

Systematic: reject the use of guessing and intuition BUT does not rule out
creative thinking
Controlled: variables are identified and controlled, wherever possible
Logical: guided by the rules of logical reasoning and logical process of induction
and deduction
Empirical: provide a basis for external validity to results (validity)
Replicable: verified by replicating the study (mostly quantitative research)
Self Correcting: built-in mechanism and open to public scrutiny by fellow
professionals

SITUATIONS THAT LEAD TO RESEARCH:

personal experience and practice (OR others experience and practice)
o could be aimed at / lead to solving existing practical problems
scientific literature (reading about certain findings one can notice that a certain
field was not covered)
o could be aimed at / lead to clarifying contradictory findings
o could be aimed at / lead to correcting the inadequate or unsuitable use of statistical
techniques
o could be aimed at / lead to reconciling conflicting opinions
theory (shortcomings in existing theory)
o could be aimed at / lead to clarifying or substantiating an existing theory

Thus: WE EXPLORE; WE THEORISE; WE CHANGE

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Through research we explore and then theorise and as a result of our theorising we
change

RESEARCH PROCESS:
The research process consists of integrated linked two components:
1. research procedural steps: research methodology / chronological steps
followed by the researcher in order to conduct the research
2. theorising and theory development: prepares the researcher for his / her
action in each procedural step – is realised via reflective learning in each
procedural step

THEORY:
a well substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world
a closely reasoned set of propositions, derived from and supported by
established evidence, and intended to explain certain phenomena
hypothesis: a tentative theory; a concept that is not yet verified but that if true
would explain certain facts of phenomena (a scientific hypothesis that survives
experimental testing becomes a scientific theory)

an organised set of ideas that serves as framework for interpreting facts and
findings and a guide for scientific research

WHAT MAKES GOOD THEORY:

validity: it fits the facts
generalisation: makes prediction about the future (mostly quantitative research)
replication: can be repeated with similar results (mostly quantitative research)

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WHY DO WE THEORISE:
To explain
To organise / systemise
To gain acceptance of evidence, and therefore to create knowledge via research
To tell the living theory of our own practice
To paint an abstract picture

HOW DO WE THEORISE:
By explaining
By developing organised systems of accepted knowledge
By hypothesising / formulating theses
By abstraction (abstract formulation)
By developing frameworks for interpretation
By formulating a closely reasoned set of propositions – derived from and
supported by established evidence and intended to explain a certain
phenomenon

STYLES OF THEORISING:
Inductive
– “Context of discovery.” Interested in how and what (idiographic – here,
specific), rather than why.
Deductive
– “Context of verification.” Interested in why (and in general principles / laws /
regulations – nomothetic).

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INDUCTIVE STYLE:
Collect information on events – episodes, happenings
Identify “family resemblances” (Wittgenstein, Philosophical investigations) –
similar features among events.
– Create categories, classes, ideas.
– Define each class by common, distinguishing features: e.g. “These events
have in common an individual’s effort to manage other persons’ impressions of
the individual as one of them, valuable, normal. “The concept is an empirical
(derived from experience) concept. Give it a name “normification”
Collect more events to determine the range of events in the concepts – the
limits.
– Perhaps create typologies: e.g. “There are seven kinds of normification”
Look for relationships. For example, women tend to normify using methods 1-3
(categorical).
– Generally the first method of normification is … or, the highest rates of resident
abuse occur during times when staff have a lot of tasks to accomplish in little time
and the ratio of staff to residents is low.
– State relationships as empirical generalizations.

DEDUCTIVE STYLE:
Assert causal / functional propositions / hypotheses to test / verify / falsify
– which could be empirical generalisations (step 4) from inductive research. e.g.
“social deviance varies inversely with social cohesion”
Define each conceptual variable (social deviance, social cohesion)
Deduce operational variables / definitions from the conceptual definitions
e.g. rates of suicide, homicide and mental illness (deviance) vs. percentage of
population regularly attending church, employment rate, rates of divorce
(examples of social cohesion). Assert expected relationships among
operationalised variables: e.g. the higher the unemployment rate (independent
variable), the higher the rates of mental illness, suicide, and homicide (dependent
variables). “these are operational hypotheses”
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 Collect data on operational variables (e.g. official statistics) and use methods of
inductive inference to verify / falsify hypothesised relationships among
operational variables
Suggest implications of findings for the original hypothesis and for further
research: e.g. replication

METHODOLOGY:
“the theory of how things are done”

EPISTEMOLOGY:
“the theory of knowledge”, term coined by Scottish JF Ferrier in 1856 from Greek
episteme “knowledge”
a branch of philosophy that investigates the origin, nature, methods, and limits of
human knowledge
epistemology:
o is concerned with how learning can be properly justified as knowledge
o knowledge is distinguished from true belief by the way it is justified and
validated as trustworthy
o therefore, the researcher needs to indicate how he/she will prove that what
he/she has learnt is knowledge
the quantitative researcher validates research findings by linking it to statistical
validity
in the case of qualitative researcher validity is a difficult issue as it is difficult to
make people a statistics, validity becomes an issue of trustworthiness of the
justification of learning as knowledge

(epistemological process) Research process is a movement from:

PROBLEM ISSUE -> PROPOSITION -> DATA -> EVIDENCE -> JUSTIFICATION
OF EVIDENCE -> LEARNING -> VALIDATION OF LEARNING -> TRUSTWORTHY
KNOWLEDGE

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 The researcher moves from DATA to KNOWLEDGE by starting with a PROBLEM
ISSUE which is linked to certain PROPOSITIONS.
These PROPOSITIONS form the field of data collection, within these fields DATA
will be collected by using various methods of data collection, e.g. interviews,
questionnaires, etc.
The DATA collected will generate the EVIDENCE which will be used via
theorising to formulate the researcher LEARNING.
Once the LEARNING has been generated, the LEARNING’s trustworthiness will
be demonstrated via the way the EVIDENCE is justified and the LEARNING is
validated.

RESEARCH PROCEDURAL STEPS:

Find a problem area
Find relevant literature related to the identified problem area
Use the literature to identify and flesh-out problems related to the problem area
Select the specific research problem
Formulate a research problem question OR focusing the research problem
Determine the sub-foci related to solving the research problem question
Determine the kinds of data needed to address the research problem / issue
Consider the ethical implications of the research problem and ways to deal with it
Select a relevant research design (methodologies)
o Develop the data collection tools
o Collect the data
o Organise the data
o Analyse and interpret the data
o Justify data as evidence
o Validate evidence as knowledge
Write up the research report / dissertation / thesis
Use knowledge to solve the problem OR to formulate and substantiate a theory
Communicate the outcome via papers / poster sessions / articles

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RESEARCH APPROACH / PARADIGM – QUALITATIVE OR QUANTITATIVE:
QUANTITATIVE QUALITATIVE
Deals with facts and figures Deals with opinions and attitudes
Observable measurements
How many (quantity) Why (quality)
Researcher uses tools, such as Researcher is the data gathering instrument
questionnaires or equipment to collect
numerical data
Data is in the form of numbers and statistics Data is in the form of words, pictures or
Objects
Researcher tends to remain objectively Researcher tends to become subjectively
separated immersed in the subject matter
from the subject matter
All aspects of the study are carefully The design emerges as the study unfolds
designed before data is collected
Researcher knows clearly in advance what Researcher may only know roughly in
he/she is advance
looking for what he/she is looking for

.RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES / DESIGNS:

A research method (design or methodology) is a systematic procedure
according to a previously set research plan
Action Research – a type of research that focuses on finding a solution to a
problem in a local setting.
Case and Field Study Research – a type of qualitative research in which data
are gathered directly from individuals (individual cases) or social or community
groups in their natural environment for the purpose of studying interactions,
attitudes, or characteristics of individual groups.
Co-relational Research – a statistical investigation of the relationship between
one factor and one or more other factors. Co relational research looks at surface
relationships but does not necessarily probe for causal reasons underlying them.
Descriptive Survey or Normative Survey – a common method used in
business, sociology, and government. The survey method is used to describe the
incidence, frequency, and distribution of certain characteristics of a population.
Ethnography – a type of qualitative enquiry that involves in-depth study of an
intact cultural group in a natural setting.
Ex Post Facto or Causal-Comparative Research – a subtype of the non-
experimental method. The method observes existing conditions and searches
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back through the data for plausible causal factors. It is the detective method, in
which the crime is discovered and then the cause or motivation for the crime is
sought.
Grounded Theory Research – qualitative research studies aimed at deriving
theory through the use of multiple stages of data collection and interpretation.
Historical Research – the attempt to solve certain problems arising out of a
historical context through gathering and examining relevant data.
Longitudinal Research – an observational-descriptive type of research that
usually stretches over a period of time and is frequently called the developmental
study. Trend studies and projections of future trends are sometimes considered
developmental research projects.
Non-Experimental Quantitative Research – a methodology that relies largely
on a statistical investigation of the data. Its prime aim is to determine how closely
the data of the study approach ideal data as established by the normal curve and
whether the divergence, if any, is significant within certain prescribed statistical
parameters.
Phenomenological Research – a qualitative research method that attempts to
understand participants’ perspectives and views of social realities.
Quasi-Experimental Research – experimental research that is not based on
randomization of subjects.
True Experimental Research – an experimental study based on random
assignment of subjects to groups and the administration of possibly different
treatments followed by observations or measurements to assess the effects of
the treatments
To select the most appropriate methodology the researcher needs to first answer
the following questions:
o What is the central question my research wishes to address?
o What is the purpose of my research?
o What will the nature of my research process be?
o What kinds of data do I need to collect? Will it be about people, theories, models,
frameworks, in the form of words or numbers?
o How will I have to collect my data? (What are the methods of data collection?)

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o How will I analyse and interpret my data? (What are the methods of data
analysis?)
o How will I communicate my findings?