Research Methodology?

It is the overall strategy or approach used by researchers to conduct research. It

encompasses the theoretical and philosophical underpinnings of the research, the
research design, data collection methods, data analysis techniques, and the overall
framework within which the research is conducted.
Methodology of research provides a framework for how research is planned, conducted,
and analyzed, and it guides researchers in making decisions about the most appropriate
methods to use in their research.
 Research methodology is the specific procedures or techniques used to identify,
select, process, and analyze information about a topic.
 It’s about how a researcher systematically designs a study to ensure valid and
reliable results that address the research aims, objectives and research
questions. Specifically, how the researcher went about deciding:
 What type of data to collect (e.g., qualitative or quantitative data)
 Who to collect it from (i.e., the sampling strategy)
 How to collect it (i.e., the data collection method)
 How to analyse it (i.e., the data analysis methods)
 The methodology chapter should justify the design choices, by showing that the
chosen methods and techniques are the best fit for the research aims, objectives
and research questions.

RESEARCH METHOD
Research methods are the strategies, processes or techniques utilized in the collection of
data or evidence for analysis in order to uncover new information or create better
understanding of a topic. There are different types of research methods which use
different tools for data collection.

WHAT ARE RESEARCH METHODS?

Research methods are different from research methodologies because they are the ways
in which you will collect the data for your research project. The best method for your
project largely depends on your topic, the type of data you will need, and the people or
items from which you will be collecting data. The following contain a list of quantitative,
qualitative, and mixed research methods.
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS
Closed-ended questionnaires/survey: These types of questionnaires or surveys are like
"multiple choice" tests, where participants must select from a list of premade answers.
According to the content of the question, they must select the one that they agree with
the most. This approach is the simplest form of quantitative research because the data
is easy to combine and quantify.
Structured interviews: These are a common research method in market research
because the data can be quantified. They are strictly designed for little "wiggle room" in
the interview process so that the data will not be skewed. You can conduct structured
interviews in-person, online, or over the phone (Dawson, 2019).
Constructing Questionnaires
When constructing your questions for a survey or questionnaire, there are things you can
do to ensure that your questions are accurate and easy to understand (Dawson, 2019):
 Keep the questions brief and simple.
 Eliminate any potential bias from your questions. Make sure that they do not word
things in a way that favor one perspective over another.
 If your topic is very sensitive, you may want to ask indirect questions rather than
direct ones. This prevents participants from being intimidated and becoming
unwilling to share their true responses.
 If you are using a closed-ended question, try to offer every possible answer that a
participant could give to that question.
  Do not ask questions that assume something of the participant. The question
"How often do you exercise?" assumes that the participant exercises (when they
may not), so you would want to include a question that asks if they exercise at all
before asking them how often.
 Try and keep the questionnaire as short as possible. The longer a questionnaire
takes, the more likely the participant will not complete it or get too tired to put
truthful answers.
 Promise confidentiality to your participants at the beginning of the questionnaire.
Quantitative Research Measures
When you are considering a quantitative approach to your research, you need to identify
why types of measures you will use in your study. This will determine what type of
numbers you will be using to collect your data. There are four levels of measurement:
Nominal: These are numbers where the order of the numbers do not matter. They aim to
identify separate information. One example is collecting zip codes from research
participants. The order of the numbers does not matter, but the series of numbers in
each zip code indicate different information (Adamson and Prion, 2013).
Ordinal: Also known as rankings because the order of these numbers matter. This is
when items are given a specific rank according to specific criteria. A common example
of ordinal measurements include ranking-based questionnaires, where participants are
asked to rank items from least favorite to most favorite. Another common example is a
pain scale, where a patient is asked to rank their pain on a scale from 1 to 10 (Adamson
and Prion, 2013).
Interval: This is when the data are ordered and the distance between the numbers
matters to the researcher (Adamson and Prion, 2013). The distance between each
number is the same. An example of interval data is test grades.
Ratio: This is when the data are ordered and have a consistent distance between
numbers, but has a "zero point." This means that there could be a measurement of zero
of whatever you are measuring in your study (Adamson and Prion, 2013). An example of
ratio data is measuring the height of something because the "zero point" remains
constant in all measurements. The height of something could also be zero.
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS
Focus Groups
This is when a select group of people gather to talk about a particular topic. They can
also be called discussion groups or group interviews (Dawson, 2019). They are usually
lead by a moderator to help guide the discussion and ask certain questions. It is critical
that a moderator allows everyone in the group to get a chance to speak so that no one
dominates the discussion. The data that are gathered from focus groups tend to be
thoughts, opinions, and perspectives about an issue.
Advantages of Focus Groups:
 Only requires one meeting to get different types of responses.
 Less researcher bias due to participants being able to speak openly.
 Helps participants overcome insecurities or fears about a topic.
 The researcher can also consider the impact of participant interaction.
 Disadvantages of Focus Groups
Participants may feel uncomfortable to speak in front of an audience, especially if the
topic is sensitive or controversial.
Since participation is voluntary, not every participant may contribute equally to the
discussion.
Participants may impact what others say or think.
A researcher may feel intimidated by running a focus group on their own.
A researcher may need extra funds/resources to provide a safe space to host the focus
group.
Because the data is collective, it may be difficult to determine a participant's individual
thoughts about the research topic.

Observation
There are two ways to conduct research observations:
Direct Observation: The researcher observes a participant in an environment. The
researcher often takes notes or uses technology to gather data, such as a voice recorder
or video camera. The researcher does not interact or interfere with the participants.
This approach is often used in psychology and health studies (Dawson, 2019).
Participant Observation: The researcher interacts directly with the participants to get a
better understanding of the research topic. This is a common research method when
trying to understand another culture or community. It is important to decide if you will
conduct a covert (participants do not know they are part of the research) or overt
(participants know the researcher is observing them) observation because it can be
unethical in some situations (Dawson, 2019).
Open-Ended Questionnaires
These types of questionnaires are the opposite of "multiple choice" questionnaires
because the answer boxes are left open for the participant to complete. This means that
participants can write short or extended answers to the questions. Upon gathering the
responses, researchers will often "quantify" the data by organizing the responses into
different categories. This can be time consuming because the researcher needs to read
all responses carefully.
Semi-structured Interviews
This is the most common type of interview where researchers aim to get specific
information so they can compare it to other interview data. This requires asking the
same questions for each interview, but keeping their responses flexible. This means
including follow-up questions if a subject answers a certain way. Interview schedules are
commonly used to aid the interviewers, which list topics or questions that will be
discussed at each interview (Dawson, 2019).
Theoretical Analysis
Often used for nonhuman research, theoretical analysis is a qualitative approach where
the researcher applies a theoretical framework to analyze something about their topic. A
theoretical framework gives the researcher a specific "lens" to view the topic and think
about it critically. it also serves as context to guide the entire study. This is a popular
research method for analyzing works of literature, films, and other forms of media. You
can implement more than one theoretical framework with this method, as many theories
complement one another.

 Common theoretical frameworks for qualitative research are (Grant and Osanloo,
2014):
 Behavioral theory
 Change theory
 Cognitive theory
 Content analysis
 Cross-sectional analysis
 Developmental theory
 Feminist theory
 Gender theory
 Marxist theory
 Queer theory
 Systems theory
 Transformational theory
Unstructured Interviews
These are in-depth interviews where the researcher tries to understand an interviewee's
perspective on a situation or issue. They are sometimes called life history interviews. It
is important not to bombard the interviewee with too many questions so they can freely
disclose their thoughts (Dawson, 2019).

MIXED METHOD APPROACH

Open-ended and closed-ended questionnaires: This approach means implementing
elements of both questionnaire types into your data collection. Participants may answer
some questions with premade answers and write their own answers to other questions.
The advantage to this method is that you benefit from both types of data collection to
get a broader understanding of you participants. However, you must think carefully
about how you will analyze this data to arrive at a conclusion.
Other mixed method approaches that incorporate quantitative and qualitative research
methods depend heavily on the research topic. It is strongly recommended that you
collaborate with your academic advisor before finalizing a mixed method approach.

SELECTING THE BEST RESEARCH METHOD

How do you determine which research method would be best for your proposal? This
heavily depends on your research objective. According to Dawson (2019), there are
several questions to ask yourself when determining the best research method for your
project:

 Are you good with numbers and mathematics?

 Would you be interested in conducting interviews with human subjects?
 Would you enjoy creating a questionnaire for participants to complete?
 Do you prefer written communication or face-to-face interaction?
 What skills or experiences do you have that might help you with your research?
Do you have any experiences from past research projects that can help with this
one?
 How much time do you have to complete the research? Some methods take
longer to collect data than others.
 What is your budget? Do you have adequate funding to conduct the research in
the method you want?
 How much data do you need? Some research topics need only a small amount of
data while others may need significantly larger amounts.
 What is the purpose of your research? This can provide a good indicator as to what
research method will be most appropriate.

Research Methods Guide: Research Design & Method

What is the difference between Research Design and Research Method?

Research design is a plan to answer your research question. A research method is a

strategy used to implement that plan. Research design and methods are different but
closely related, because good research design ensures that the data you obtain will help
you answer your research question more effectively.

Which research method should I choose?

It depends on your research goal. It depends on what subjects (and who) you want to
study. Let's say you are interested in studying what makes people happy, or why some
students are more conscious about recycling on campus. To answer these questions,
you need to make a decision about how to collect your data. Most frequently used
methods include:

 Observation / Participant Observation

  Surveys
 Interviews
 Focus Groups
 Experiments
 Secondary Data Analysis / Archival Study
 Mixed Methods (combination of some of the above)
One particular method could be better suited to your research goal than others, because
the data you collect from different methods will be different in quality and quantity. For
instance, surveys are usually designed to produce relatively short answers, rather than
the extensive responses expected in qualitative interviews.

What other factors should I consider when choosing one method over another?

Time for data collection and analysis is something you want to consider. An observation
or interview method, so-called qualitative approach, helps you collect richer information,
but it takes time. Using a survey helps you collect more data quickly, yet it may lack
details. So, you will need to consider the time you have for research and the balance
between strengths and weaknesses associated with each method (e.g., qualitative vs.
quantitative).