What is research process ? write down various types of research process?
Answers
Dissertation markers expect the explanation of research process to be included in Methodology chapter. A typical research process comprises the following stages:
1. Selecting the research area. You are expected to state that you have selected the research area due to professional and personal interests in the area and this statement must be true. The importance of this first stage in the research process is often underestimated by many students. If you find research area and research problem that is genuinely interesting to you it is for sure that the whole process of writing your dissertation will be much easier. Therefore, it is never too early to start thinking about the research area for your dissertation.
2. Formulating research aim, objectives and research questions or developing hypotheses. The choice between the formulation of research questions and the development of hypotheses depends on your research approach as it is discussed further below in more details. Appropriate research aims and objectives or hypotheses usually result from several attempts and revisions and these need to be mentioned in Methodology chapter. It is critically important to get your research questions or hypotheses confirmed by your supervisor before moving forward with the work.
3. Conducting the literature review. Literature review is usually the longest stage in the research process. Actually, the literature review starts even before the formulation of research aims and objective; because you have to check if exactly the same research problem has been addressed before. Nevertheless, the main part of the literature review is conducted after the formulation of research aim and objectives. You have to use a wide range of secondary data sources such as books, newspapers, magazines, journals, online articles etc.
4. Selecting methods of data collection. Data collection method(s) need to be selected on the basis of critically analyzing advantages and disadvantages associated with several alternative data collection methods. In studies involving primary data collection, in-depth discussions of advantages and disadvantages of selected primary data collection method(s) need to be included in methodology.
5. Collecting the primary data. Primary data collection needs to be preceded by a great level of preparation and pilot data collection may be required in case of questionnaires. Primary data collection is not a compulsory stage for all dissertations and you will skip this stage if you are conducting a desk-based research.
6. Data analysis. Analysis of data plays an important role in the achievement of research aim and objectives. Data analysis methods vary between secondary and primary studies, as well as, between qualitative and quantitative studies.
7. Reaching conclusions. Conclusions relate to the level of achievement of research aims and objectives. In this final part of your dissertation you will have to justify why you think that research aims and objectives have been achieved. Conclusions also need to cover research limitations and suggestions for future research.
8. Completing the research. Following all of the stages described above, and organizing separate chapters into one file leads to the completion of the first draft. The first draft of your dissertation needs to be prepared at least one month before the submission deadline. This is because you will need to have sufficient amount of time to address feedback of your supervisor.
Answer:
The five steps in research can be as follows:
a. Stating your research problem: You need to provide a background as to why you consider the topic you have chosen as a problem area. (Problematise). There could be several reasons for this from the environment and you should be aware of these factors.
b. How can you solve this problem? (Proposal). Do you have some assumptions about the problem? Can you think of some possible ways in which you can solve this? (hypothesise). State your hypothesis and also state your research questions. The answer to your research questions should be the development of the thesis.
c. Review of literature: Are you the first person to explore this field? If there have been previous studies, are you aware of these works? How does your work progress from what has already happened earlier?
d. Methodology: How are you going to choose your sample? What factors will help you justify that your sample is a valid sample? What tools of research will you use? How do you test the reliability and validity of the tools you want to use? How do you plan to collect your data? What is your research methodology - quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-method?
e. Data analysis: How are you going to sort and present your data? What procedures will you adopt to analyse your data? Will you use some statistics to establish the significance of the results you have derived from the analysis?
f. Reporting your research: How will you organise your report - thesis? How many chapters and how is each chapter sub-divided into sections and sub-sections? How will you generate the report and submit it for adjudication?
g. Would you like to substantiate your claims and arguments in the thesis with some materials? How will you present them in appendices? How many appendices will you have and how will you organise these?
h. How do you propose to cite the references? Are the references primary or secondary? Are these from books or journals or the Net? Do you want to mix all these or indicate these separately?
i. Would you like to have a separate page to express your gratitude in the form of acknowledgments? Where will you place this, and how are you going to state it?
These are some of the factors you should have uppermost while doing research. It is for this reason, you have a supervisor who will guide you at each step.
Best wishes