LEAD CITY UNIVERSITY, IBADAN

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING
SEMESTER/SESSION: 1st SEMESTER, 2024/2025

COURSE PARTICULARS
Course Code: FET 401
Course Title: Research Methodology
Course Units: 2 units
Course Status: Compulsory

LECTURER’S DETAILS
Name: Idowu Ezekiel, OLORUNFEMI
Phone Number: +234-7037986945
Email: [email protected]

AREA OF SPECIALIZATIONS
Soil Management, Water Resources and Environmental Engineering, Hydrological Modeling,
Remote Sensing and GIS

COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course will provide an overview of research methodology as well as the fundamental
principles of research abilities for beginners. This course presents the fundamental concepts of
research methodology, such as project proposal, main research investigation, data/results
analysis, and documentation. This course will also help students develop skills related to
developing research proposals and conducting scientific investigations, such as framing research
questions, reviewing the literature, selecting appropriate research designs for various types of
studies, statistics and data analysis, report writing, and presentation.

COURSE OBJECTIVES
• Understand research methodology and demonstrate knowledge of research processes
• Critically analyze research articles and papers and prepare a literature review
• Identify research gaps, formulate research questions and statement of purpose
• Acquire abilities in research proposal development
• Develop and apply general research and experimental designs
• Conduct statistical analysis of data and present the results of the analysis
• Prepare research reports, discuss findings, and present implications

COURSE MODULES
Module 1: Introduction and Overview of Research and Research
Module 2: Desk Research Work/Literature Review and Databases
Module 3: Research Proposal
Module 4: Research Design
Module 5: Data Analysis and Results Presentation
Module 6: Interpretation of Data and Report Writing

COURSE OUTLINE AND SCHEDULE

Module 1: Introduction and Overview of Research
Lecture Topic Contents
Week 1 Fundamentals of Meaning and objective of Research, Significance of
Research Research, Types of Research, Research process, and steps
involved in Research Process. Research Methodology vs.
Research Methods

Module 2: Research Proposal

Lecture Topic Contents
Week 2 Topic Selection Aims, objectives, scope, and methodology of a project
and Elements of a proposal.
Research Proposal Identification and formulation of research problem,
objectives, and purpose statement.
Week 3 Evaluation of Research Question, Research Alignment. Qualities of a
research questions good Hypothesis, Null Hypothesis, Alternate Hypothesis,
and hypotheses Hypothesis Testing – Logic & Importance

Module 3: Desk Research Work/Literature Review and Databases

Lecture Topic Contents
Week 4 Literature Review Review Concepts and Theories, how to read journal
papers, Literature review process, Information sources,
Database searching and
Search strategy

Module 4: Research Design

Lecture Topic Contents
Week 5 Choosing a Functions of a Research Design, Causal Versus
Research Design Correlational Relationships, Descriptive Research –
concept, and uses. Correlational Research – concept, and
uses. Experimental Research - concept, and uses.
Research Settings - Experimental and Field Works
Week 6 Data Collection and Sources of Data Collection: Primary and Secondary.
Designs.

Measurements and Scales of measurements - nominal, ordinal, interval, and

Scaling Techniques. ratio scales. Errors in measurements.
Week 7 Sampling Concepts Concepts of Statistical Population, Sample, Sampling
and Techniques. Frame, Sampling Error, and Sample Size. Probability
Methods of data sampling and non-probability sampling. Determining the
collection. size of the sample – Practical considerations in sampling
 and sample size.

Module 5: Data Analysis and Results Presentation

Lecture Topic Contents
Week 8 Data Preparation Use of statistical software/
Descriptive packages in data analysis (MS Excel, SPSS, and Minitab).
Statistics and Variables, and Measurement. Data processing and graphical
Interpretation of representation of data/ Univariate Analysis (Bar chart, Pie
Results Chart, and Histogram). Central Tendency and Variability.
Confidence Intervals (CI).
Week 9 Inferential Statistical Significance and Meaningfulness. Bivariate and
Statistics and Multivariate Analysis (Simple Correlation and, Regression
Interpretation of Analysis). Trend Analysis/Time Series.
Results
Week 10 Inferential T-tests (Paired T-test, One Sample (Dependent) T-test, Two
Statistics and Samples (Independent) T-test).
Interpretation of
Results (Contd.)
Week 11 Inferential Analysis of Variance (One Way ANOVA,
Statistics and
Interpretation of
Results (Contd.)
Week 12 Inferential Two Way Analysis of Variance (Two-way ANOVA)
Statistics and
Interpretation of
Results (Contd.)

Module 6: Interpretation of Data and Report Writing

Lecture Topic Contents
Week 13 Technical writing Collation of Findings, Types of research report:
and reporting of Dissertation and thesis, Journal Manuscript (research
research paper, review article, case studies, and short
communication etc), conference presentation, meeting
report etc.

Structure and organization

of research write-up: Title, abstract, introduction,
Literature review, methodology, results, discussion,
conclusion, acknowledgment, references,
footnotes, tables, Figures, and Plate.

Documentation - Format of write-up, major headings,

and sub-headings. Referencing and various formats for
reference writing, appendices etc.
Revision
Number of Lecture Hours: 4
Lecture Topic Contents
Week 14 Any portions of the Modules 1- 6
Lecture Notes that
require explanation
Week 15 Revisiting the Tutorial questions in Modules 1 - 6
tutorial questions
that require
clarification

Grading/Assessments
Attendance - 5marks
Assignment - 5marks
Continuous assessment - 10marks
Mid-Semester Test - 20marks
Examination - 60marks
References
Bordens, K. S., & Abbott, B. B. (2022). Research design and methods: A process approach. 11th
Edition. McGraw-Hill.
Mertens, D. M. (2020). Chapter 3 - Literature Review and Focusing the Research. In Research
and Evaluation in Education and Psychology integrating diversity with quantitative, quali-
tative, and mixed methods (5th Edition, pp. 89–121). essay, SAGE.
Salkind, N. J. (2010). Encyclopedia of Research Design. SAGE.
Frankfort-Nachmias, C., Leon-Guerrero, A., & Davis, G. (2020). Social statistics for a diverse
society (9th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications
Hair, J. F., Anderson, R. E., Tatham, R.L. & Black, W.C. (1998), Multivariate Data Analysis,
5th ed., Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Daniel, J. (2012). Sampling Essentials: Practical guidelines for making sampling choices. 5th
ed., Sage.
George, D., & Mallery, P. (2022). IBM SPSS statistics 27 step by step: A simple guide and refer-
ence (17th Edition). Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

TUTORIAL QUESTIONS
1. (a) Define Research and Explain its Significance (2 marks)
(b) Itemize four (4) reasons for conducting literature review in research (2 marks)
(c) Using a classification chart, classify the types of research. (1 mark)
(d) Explain briefly different types of Research (8 marks)
(e)Differentiate between qualitative and quantitative research (2 marks)

2. (a) What do you mean by Research Methodology? (2 marks)

(b) Itemize the steps in research process (10 marks)
 (c) Differentiate between research methods and research methodology (3 marks)

3. Briefly explain the following:

(a) Abstract (2 mark)
(b) Introduction (2 marks)
(c) Literature Review (2 marks)
(d) Methods (2 marks)
(e) Results and Discussion (3 marks)
(f) Conclusion and Recommendation (2 marks)
(g) References/Bibliography (2 marks)

4. (a) List and explain the components of research proposal (5 marks)

(b) Mention the characteristics of good research question (3 marks)
(c) Explain the steps to develop a research question (7 marks)

5. (a) List the headings that made up the preliminary pages of a research report and give ex-
ample of any two of the headings (5 marks)
(b) Itemize the characteristics of title page and give a typical example of how to write a
title page (5 marks)
(c) Mention five importance of a research report (5 marks)

6. Explain the following sampling terms:

(a) Sample (3 marks)
(b) Sampling Error (3 marks)
(c) Sampling Frame (3 marks)
(d) Sampling Bias (3 marks)
(e) Sampling Size (3 marks)

7. (a) Differentiate between probability sampling and non-probability sampling

(8 marks)
(b) Define Data Analysis (2 marks)
(c) List the steps involved in data analysis in research (5 marks)

8. What is Statistics? (2 mark)

(a) Differentiate between categorical and quantitative variables (3 marks)
(b) Discuss the difference between descriptive and inferential statistics (3 marks)
(c) Identify the independent and dependent variable in the following research question: A
production manager is interested in knowing if employees are effective if they work a
shorter work week. To answer this question, he proposes the following research question:
Do more widgets get made if employees work 4 days a week or 5 days a week?
(2 marks)
(d) Interpret the following correlation coefficient in terms of strength and direction: 0.843
(3 marks)
(e) A simple random sample of 10 people from a certain population has a mean age of 27.
Can we conclude that the mean age of the population is not 30? The variance is 20. Test
at the 0.05 level. Is this a one or two tail test? (2 marks)
9. A research chemist wants to understand how several predictors are associated with the
wrinkle resistance of cotton cloth. The chemist examines 32 pieces of cotton cellulose
produced at different settings of curing time (Time), curing temperature (Temp), formal-
dehyde concentration (Conc), and catalyst ratio (Ratio). The durable press rating (Rat-
ing), a measure of wrinkle resistance, is recorded for each piece of cotton. The chemist
performs a multiple regression analysis to fit a model with the predictors using the Enter
method in SPSS and obtained the following results.
The model should be of the form:

Rating = βo + β1*Conc + β2*Ratio + β3*Temp + β4*Time

(a) Write out from your result printout, the above model indicating the appropriate values of
the model parameters (2 marks)
(b) From the result printout, what proportion of the wrinkle resistance is explained by the in-
dependent predictors and state the model statistics from which you arrived at your an-
swer? (3 marks)
(c) Write out from the result printout, the overall level of significance by F-test and what can
you infer from the degree of freedom (df) and the overall level of significance?
(5 marks)
(d) Enumerate the level of significance for the individual student t-test for the model parame-
ters (Coefficients Table); and use this in conjunction with the magnitude of the respective
coefficients to indicate the order of importance of the predictor variables (5 marks)
 10. (a) How does the literature review support a research study? (2 marks)
(b) What does it mean for the problem, purpose, and research questions to be
aligned? (2 marks)
(c) Discuss the different types of research reports (8 marks)
(d) Mention some important principles for writing a good research report (3 marks)

11. What is a variable? (2 marks)

(a) Briefly describe with examples the difference between one-way ANOVA and two-
way ANOVA (3 marks)
(b) Discuss the application of the following statistical tests:
i. One sample T-test (2 marks)
ii. Paired sample T-test (2 marks)
iii. Two samples T-test (2 marks)
(c) Explain the concept of correlation and regression. Articulate the difference between
correlation and simple linear regression (4 marks)

12. (a) Differentiate between references and bibliography (3 marks)

(b) What are some of the features of Acknowledgement? (3 marks)
(c) What are the features of an abstract? (5 marks)
(d) Discuss the different types of Research Designs (4 marks)

13. (a) What is Research Problem? (2 marks)

(b) What should be the criteria of a good Research Problem? (5 marks)
(c) Discuss the various sources of Research Problem (8 marks)

14. (a) Explain three methods of qualitative data collection (6 marks)

(b) List the different styles of referencing and identify the one used by the institution
(3 marks)
(c) Give samples of presenting the List of Tables, and List of Figures (2 marks)
(d) What is primary data? Discuss the various methods of collecting primary data
(4 marks)
.
15. (a) Define the term sampling. What should be the qualities of good sampling?
(4 marks)
(b) What are the merits and limitations of secondary data? Explain various sources of
secondary data. (6 marks)
(c) A survey was conducted to find out if the average time required by 200 level
engineering students, from four departments (A, B, C & D) in a university to complete a
drawing task is similar or varied. For a sample of 20 students, the course lecturer has
collected and analyzed the data on time used by different students. Interpret and
Comment on the means separation table below (5 marks)