RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

TUSHAR SAWANT
ROHIT SINGHANIA
NITIN BHANUSHALI
DAVID RAO
Search for knowledge
Scientific and
Systematic search for
pertinent information on
a specific topic
It is an art of scientific
investigation
It is a careful
investigation or enquiry
specially through search
for new facts in any
branch of knowledge
Instinct of inquisitiveness
Method which a person
employs for obtaining
the knowledge of
whatever the unknown,
can be termed as
research
Clifford Woody
Research comprises defining and redefining
problems, formulating hypothesis or suggested
solutions; collecting, organising and evaluating
data ; making deductions and reaching
conclusions ; and at last carefully testing the
conclusions to determine whether they fit the
formulated hypothesis.
A scale is a technique to measure some thing.
Scaling is used in ordering a series of items
along sort of continuum.
they are methods of turning a series of
qualitative facts into a
quantitative series


Measurements are yardsticks
Measurement is a process of assigning
numbers to objects or observations
Measurement in research consists of
assigning numbers to empirical events in
compliance with a set of rules



1. Selecting observable empirical events
2. Developing a set of mapping rules i.e. a
scheme for assigning numbers
3. Applying mapping rule to each observation
of that event. Example of studying people
who attend a auto show

1. Validity
The extent which an instrument measures
what it intended to measure
The extent which differences found with a
measuring instrument reflect true
differences among those being measured.
Validity can also be thought of as utility
A. Predictive validity: usefulness of a test in
predicting some future performance

B. Concurrent validity : usefulness of a test in
closely relating to other measures of known
validity

C. Face Validity : refers to the subjective
agreement among professionals that a scale
logically appears to reflect accurately what it
purports to measure.


D. Content Validity: the content of the scale
appears to be adequate.



Instrument should provide consistent results
Contributes to validity
Take care of non interference of transient &
situational factors
I. Stability : securing consistent results with
repeated measurements of the same person &
with the same instrument
II. Equivalence : how much error may get
introduced by different investigators or
different samples of the items
I. Economy : Data collection methods should be
practicable. A trade off between ideal research
& affordable cost or available budget is
necessary. E.g: length of measuring instrument.
II. Convenience : Easy to administer. E.g: proper
layout of instrument
III. Interpretability : give detailed instructions for
administering scorings keys. also give
guidelines for using the test & interpreting the
result.
Precise
Unambiguous
Free from errors
Valid
Reliable
Practical

Concept of development
Understanding of the major studies
More apparent in theoretical studies
Specification of concept dimension
By deduction (more or less intuitive)
By empirical correlation of individual dimension with the
total concept and/or the other concepts
Selection & development of indicators
For measuring each concept element
Ex. Questions, scales, etc.
Formation of index
Combining various indicator into an index
Index provide better measurement than a single indicator
Types of scale
It is simply a system of assigning number
symbols to events in order to label them
example: assigning numbers to football players
in order to identify them just for convenience
no quantitative value can not come out with
a meaningful value
We use Mode as the measure of Central
Tendency
eg. classifying the residents of a city according
to religious preferences.
The lowest level of the ordered scale that is
commonly used is the ordinal scale
This scale places events in order
E.g. Rank orders represent ordinal scales a
students rank in his graduation class involves
the use of ordinal scale
these scales have no absolute values
all that we can say is that one person is higher
or lower in rank on the scale

It has the power of nominal and ordinal scale plus one
additional strength, the concept of equality of
intervals
E.g. the interval between 1 and 2 equals the difference
between 2 and 3. In this case the intervals are
adjusted in terms of some rule that has been
established as a basis for making the units equal
These scales can have an arbitrary zero it lacks a
true zero
The Fahrenheit scale is an example of an interval scale
Mean is the appropriate measure of central
tendency


It incorporates all the powers of previous
three Scales
They have an absolute or true zero of
measurement
Eg measurement of physical dimensions like
height, weight, distance and area- geometric
mean or harmonic mean are the measures of
central tendency

7 3 8

Scale
Nominal Numbers
Assigned
to Runners

Ordinal Rank Order
of Winners


Interval Performance
Rating on a
0 to 10 Scale

Ratio Time to
Finish, in
Seconds
Third
place
Second
place
First
place
Finish
Finish
8.2 9.1 9.6
15.2 14.1 13.4
Scaling : It is defined as the procedure for the
assignment of numbers ( or symbols) to a property of
objects in order to impart some of the characteristics
of numbers to the properties in question.
It describes the procedure of assigning numbers to
various degrees of opinion, attitudes and other
concepts a scale is a continuum, consisting of the
highest point and the lowest point
Scaling is a method of changing attributes into
variables
It is easier to measure variable than attributes
It involves qualitative description of a limited
number of aspects of a thing or of traits of a
person
we judge properties of objects without
reference to other similar objects
these ratings are in the form of like
dislike, excellent-good-average-below
average-poor.
In practice three to seven point scales are
generally used
1. The Graphic Rating Scale : various points are
usually put along the line to form a
continuum and the rater indicates his rating.

E.g.How do you like the product




2. The Itemized rating scale ( Numerical Scale) :
It presents a series of statements from which a
respondent
Selects one as best reflecting his evaluation.
Eg. suppose we want to enquire as to how well does a
worker get along with his fellow workers:
He is almost always involved in some friction with fellow
worker
He is often at odds with one or more of his fellow workers
He some times gets involved in friction
He frequently becomes involved in friction with others
He almost never gets involved in friction with fellow
workers
The degree of positive or negative feeling associated with some
psychological object like symbol, phrase, slogan, person, institution,
ideal or ideas towards which people can differ in varying degrees.
While measuring the attitudes of the people, we generally follow the
technique of preparing the opinionnaire ( attitude scale) in such a way
that the score of the individual responses assigns him a place on a scale.
People may conceal their attitudes and express socially acceptable
opinions
They may not really know how they feel about a social issue
People may be unaware of their attitude about an abstract situation
until confronted with real situation
even behaviour itself is at times not a true indication of attitude.
Eg- Politicians kissing babies
Is this bevaviour a true expression of affection towards infants? No
Hence there is no sure method of measuring attitude.
Respondent
Situation
Measurer behaviour, style and looks of
investigator may encourage or discourage
certain replies from the respondent
Instrument eg. use of complex words,
ambiguous meaning etc.