CHAPTER 1:

INTRODUCTION TO
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
By
Dr. Beteley Tekola (Assi Professor)
School of Chemical and Bio Engineering
Addis Ababa Institute of Technology

Delivered to: 2nd Year Graduate Students

Outline
Definition of Research
Types of Research
Research Approaches
Research Method and Research Methodology
Selecting an appropriate research methodology
Research proposal development and management
techniques
Research outcome presentation and analysis
Definition of Research
• Research in common parlance refers to a search for
knowledge.

• One 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,

“an inquiry into the nature of, the reasons for, and the
consequences of any particular set of circumstances, whether
these circumstances are experimentally controlled or recorded
just as they occur.
Further, research implies the researcher is interested in more
than particular results; he is interested in the repeatability of the
results and in their extension to more complicated and general
situations.”
Definition of Research
• For the purpose of illustrating how research can be
classified we can do it in terms of:
• goal of research, g , (building a theory or immediate solution to the
problems)
• specific objectives of research,(descriptive, explanatory, or
exploratory research)
• approaches of research,(qualitative and quantitative research)
• designs,(experimental, quasi‐experimental, and non experimental)
• the type of data used in research, (Primary or field research) and
Secondary or desk research)
• fields of study (natural science research, ( social science,
educational, behavioral science, health science, and etc
researches)
Significance of Research
• “All progress is born of inquiry. Doubt is often better than
overconfidence, for it leads to inquiry, and inquiry leads to
invention” is a famous Hudson Maxim in context of which
the significance of research can well be understood.

• Increased amounts of research make progress possible.

• Research inculcates scientific and inductive thinking and it

promotes the development of logical habits of thinking
and organization.
Research Process
• Research process consists of series of actions or steps
necessary to effectively carry out research and the desired
sequencing of these steps
Research Method and Research
Methodology
• Research methods: may be understood as all those
methods/techniques that are used for conduction of
research.
• Research methods or techniques: thus, refer to the
methods the researchers use in performing research
operations.
• Research methods can be put into the following three
groups:
• Methods which are concerned with the collection of data.
• Statistical techniques which are used for establishing relationships
between the data and the unknowns;
• Methods which are used to evaluate the accuracy of the results
obtained.
Research Method and Research
Methodology
• Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the
research problem.
It may be understood as a science of studying how research is
done scientifically.
• In it we study the various steps that are generally adopted by a
researcher in studying his research problem along with the
logic behind them.
• Researchers not only need to know how to develop certain
indices or tests, how to calculate the mean, the mode, the
median or the standard deviation or chi-square, how to apply
particular research techniques, but they also need to know
which of these methods or techniques, are relevant and which
are not, and what would they mean and indicate and why.
Research Method and Research
Methodology
• Research methodology has many dimensions and
research methods do constitute a part of the research
methodology.
• The scope of research methodology is wider than that of
research methods.
• Thus, when we talk of research methodology we not only
talk of the research methods but also consider the logic
behind the methods we use in the context of our research
study and explain why we are using a particular method
or technique and why we are not using others so that
research results are capable of being evaluated either by
the researcher himself or by others.
CONCEPTS RELATING TO RESEARCH
DESIGN
• Experiment: The process of examining the truth of a
statistical hypothesis, relating to some research problem,
is known as an experiment.

Experiments can be of two types viz.,absolute experiment

and comparative experiment.

• Treatments: The different conditions under which

experimental and control groups are put
CONCEPTS RELATING TO RESEARCH
DESIGN
Variable: A concept which can take on different quantitative
values is called a variable.
• Continuous Variables: Phenomena which can take on
quantitatively different values even in decimal points are called
‘continuous variables. Eg. weight, height, income
• Discrete Variables: Age is an example of continuous variable, but
the number of children is an example of non-continuous variable.
Dependent and independent variables
If one variable depends upon or is a consequence of the
other variable, it is termed as a dependent variable, and the
variable that is antecedent to the dependent variable is
termed as an independent variable.
CONCEPTS RELATING TO RESEARCH
DESIGN
• Extraneous variable: Independent variables that are
not related to the purpose of the study, but may affect the
dependent variable
• Technically described as an ‘experimental error’.

A study must always be so designed that the effect upon

the dependent variable is attributed entirely to the
independent variable(s), and not to some extraneous
variable or variables.
CONCEPTS RELATING TO RESEARCH
DESIGN
• Control: One important characteristic of a good research
design is to minimize the influence or effect of extraneous
variable(s).
The technical term ‘control’ is used when we design the
study minimizing the effects of extraneous independent
variables.

• Confounded relationship: When the dependent variable

is not free from the influence of extraneous variable(s),
the relationship between the dependent and independent
variables is said to be confounded by an extraneous
variable(s).
CONCEPTS RELATING TO RESEARCH
DESIGN
• Research hypothesis: When a prediction or a
hypothesized relationship is to be tested by scientific
methods.
The research hypothesis is a predictive statement that relates an
independent variable to a dependent variable.
• Usually a research hypothesis must contain, at least, one
independent and one dependent variable.

• Note: Predictive statements which are not to be

objectively verified or the relationships that are assumed
but not to be tested, are not termed research hypotheses.
CONCEPTS RELATING TO RESEARCH
DESIGN
• Experimental and non-experimental hypothesis-testing
research:
When the purpose of research is to test a research
hypothesis, it is termed as hypothesis-testing research.
It can be of the experimental design or of the non-
experimental design
• Research in which the independent variable is manipulated
is termed ‘experimental hypothesis-testing research’
and
• Research in which an independent variable is not
manipulated is called ‘non-experimental hypothesis-
testing research’.
CONCEPTS RELATING TO RESEARCH
DESIGN
• Design Space: range of values over which factors are to
be varied
• Design Points: the values of the factors at which the
experiment is conducted
• One design point = one treatment
• Usually, points are coded to more convenient values
ex. 1 factor with 2 levels – levels coded as (-1) for low level and (+1)
for high level
CONCEPTS RELATING TO RESEARCH
DESIGN
• Response Surface: unknown; represents the mean
response at any given level of the factors in the design
space.

• Center Point: used to measure process

stability/variability, as well as check for curvature of the
response surface.
• Not necessary, but highly recommended.
• Level coded as 0 .