STH 311: RESEARCH METHODS

MEANING OF RESEARCH
Research in common parlance refers to a search for knowledge. Once can also define research
as a scientific and systematic search for pertinent information on a specific topic. In fact,
research is an art of scientific investigation. The Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current
English lays down the meaning of research as “a careful investigation or inquiry especially
through search for new facts in any branch of knowledge.” Redman and Mory define
research as a “systematized effort to gain new knowledge.” Some people consider research as
a movement, a movement from the known to the unknown. It is actually a voyage of
discovery.

Research is an academic activity and as such the term should be used in a technical sense.
According to Clifford Woody research comprises defining and redefining problems,
formulating hypothesis or suggested solutions; collecting, organizing and evaluating data;
making deductions and reaching conclusions; and at last carefully testing the conclusions
to determine whether they fit the formulating hypothesis. As such the term ‘research’ refers
to the systematic method consisting of enunciating the problem, formulating a hypothesis,
collecting the facts or data, analysing the facts and reaching certain conclusions either in
the form of solutions(s) towards the concerned problem or in certain generalizations for
some theoretical formulation.

OBJECTIVES OF RESEARCH
The purpose of research is to discover answers to questions through the application of scientific
procedures. The main aim of research is to find out the truth which is hidden and which has
not been discovered as yet. Though each research study has its own specific purpose, we may
think of research objectives as falling into a number of following broad groupings:
 To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to achieve new insights into it (studies with
this object in view are termed as exploratory or formulative research studies);
 To portray accurately the characteristics of a particular individual, situation or a
group (studies with this object in view are known as descriptive research studies);

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  To determine the frequency with which something occurs or with which it is associated
with something else (studies with this object in view are known as diagnostic research
studies);
 To test a hypothesis of a causal relationship between variables (such studies are
known as hypothesis-testing research studies).

MOTIVATION IN RESEARCH

What makes people to undertake research? This is a question of fundamental importance.

The possible motives for doing research may be either one or more of the following:
 Desire to get a research degree along with its consequential benefits;
 Desire to face the challenge in solving the unsolved problems, i.e., concern over
practical problems initiates research;
 Desire to get intellectual joy of doing some creative work;
 Desire to be of service to society;
 Desire to get respectability.
However, this is not an exhaustive list of factors motivating people to undertake research
studies. Many more factors such as directives of government, employment conditions,
curiosity about new things, desire to understand causal relationships, social thinking and
awakening, and the like may as well motivate (or at times compel) people to perform
research operations.

TYPES OF RESEARCH
The basic types of research are as follows:
(i) Descriptive vs. Analytical: Descriptive research includes surveys and fact-finding
enquiries of different kinds. The major purpose of descriptive research is
description of the state of affairs as it exists at present. In analytical research, on
the other hand, the researcher has to use facts or information already available,
and analyze these to make a critical evaluation of the material.

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 (ii) Applied vs. Fundamental: Research can either be applied (or action) research or
fundamental (to basic or pure) research. Applied research aims at finding a
solution for an immediate problem facing a society or an industrial/business
organisation, whereas fundamental research is mainly concerned with
generalisations and with the formulation of a theory.

(iii) Quantitative vs. Qualitative: Quantitative research is based on the measurement

of quantity or amount. It is applicable to phenomena that can be expressed in terms
of quantity. Qualitative research, on the other hand, is concerned with qualitative
phenomenon, i.e., phenomena relating to or involving quality or kind.

(iv) Conceptual vs. Empirical: Conceptual research is that related to some abstract
idea(s) or theory. It is generally used by philosophers and thinkers to develop new
concepts or to reinterpret existing ones. On the other hand, empirical research
relies on experience or observation alone, often without due regard for system and
theory. It is data-based research, coming up with conclusions which are capable
of being verified by observation or experiment.

Significance of Research
Increased amounts of research make progress possible. Research inculcates scientific and
inductive thinking and it promotes the development of logical habits of thinking and
organisation.

The role of research in several fields of applied economics, whether related to business
or to the economy as a whole, has greatly increased in modern times. The increasingly
complex nature of business and government has focused attention on the use of research in
solving operational problems. Research, as an aid to economic policy, has gained added
importance, both for government and business.

Research provides the basis for nearly all government policies in our economic system.
For instance, government’s budgets rest in part on an analysis of the needs and desires of

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the people and on the availability of revenues to meet these needs. The cost of needs has
to be equated to probable revenues and this is a field where research is most needed.
Through research we can devise alternative policies and can as well examine the
consequences of each of these alternatives.

Decision-making may not be a part of research, but research certainly facilitates the
decisions of the policy maker. Government has also to chalk out programmes for dealing
with all facets of the country’s existence and most of these will be related directly or
indirectly to economic conditions. The plight of cultivators, the problems of big and small
business and industry, working conditions, trade union activities, the problems of
distribution, even the size and nature of defence services are matters requiring research.
Thus, research is considered necessary with regard to the allocation of nation’s resources.
Another area in government, where research is necessary, is collecting information on the
economic and social structure of the nation. Such information indicates what is happening
in the economy and what changes are taking place. Collecting such statistical information
is by no means a routine task, but it involves a variety of research problems. These day
nearly all governments maintain large staff of research technicians or experts to carry on
this work. Thus, in the context of government, research as a tool to economic policy has
three distinct phases of operation, viz., (i) investigation of economic structure through
continual compilation of facts; (ii) diagnosis of events that are taking place and the analysis
of the forces underlying them; and (iii) the prognosis, i.e., the prediction of future
developments.

Research has its special significance in solving various operational and planning
problems of business and industry. Operations research and market research, along with
motivational research, are considered crucial and their results assist, in more than one way,
in taking business decisions. Market research is the investigation of the structure and
development of a market for the purpose of formulating efficient policies for purchasing,
production and sales. Operations research refers to the application of mathematical, logical
and analytical techniques to the solution of business problems of cost minimisation or of
profit maximisation or what can be termed as optimisation problems. Motivational research

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of determining why people behave as they do is mainly concerned with market
characteristics. In other words, it is concerned with the determination of motivations
underlying the consumer (market) behaviour. All these are of great help to people in
business and industry who are responsible for taking business decisions. Research with
regard to demand and market factors has great utility in business. Given knowledge of
future demand, it is generally not difficult for a firm, or for an industry to adjust its supply
schedule within the limits of its projected capacity. Market analysis has become an integral
tool of business policy these days. Business budgeting, which ultimately results in a
projected profit and loss account, is based mainly on sales estimates which in turn depends
on business research. Once sales forecasting is done, efficient production and investment
programmes can be set up around which are grouped the purchasing and financing plans.
Research, thus, replaces intuitive business decisions by more logical and scientific
decisions.

Research is equally important for social scientists in studying social relationships and
in seeking answers to various social problems. It provides the intellectual satisfaction of
knowing a few things just for the sake of knowledge and also has practical utility for the
social scientist to know for the sake of being able to do something better or in a more
efficient manner. Research in social sciences is concerned both with knowledge for its own
sake and with knowledge for what it can contribute to practical concerns. “This double
emphasis is perhaps especially appropriate in the case of social science. On the one hand,
its responsibility as a science is to develop a body of principles that make possible the
understanding and prediction of the whole range of human interactions. On the other hand,
because of its social orientation, it is increasingly being looked to for practical guidance in
solving immediate problems of human relations.

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