Research Methodology

Answer 1:

The interview is an important data gathering technique involving verbal communication between
the researcher and the participant. They are usually used to explore a topic or topics in considerable
depth with a few people. Interviews are commonly used in survey designs and in exploratory and
descriptive studies. The quality of the data collected in an interview will depend on both the
interview design and on the skill of the interviewer. Although interviews are useful for eliciting in-
depth information, they do need careful planning.

Gathering information is the most fundamental and important aspect when it comes to research.
Interviews are an excellent way to gather detailed information. They also have an advantage over
surveys, as they can be adapted as you learn more information. Recall that survey data collection
methods do not allow researchers to change the questions that are administered, even if a
participant’s response sparks some follow-up question in your mind. Interviews are also useful
when your topic is rather complex, requires lengthy explanation, or needs a dialogue between two
people to thoroughly investigate. Additionally, interviews may be the best method to utilize if your
study involves describing the process by which a phenomenon occurs, like how a person makes a
decision.

Although there are different types of interview formats, the below focuses on the difference
between structured and unstructured interviews.

What is a Structured Interview?

Structured interviews are subject to close-ended questions and the candidates are required to follow
certain guidelines. These interviews are standard in nature and are used to collect data in numerical
values, which is further used for research, comparison and scoring candidates. A structured
interview is ideal when dealing with a large population or mass hiring.
Since the questions are fixed, these interviews are easy to replicate and easy to quantify, meaning
simplification in testing the reliability. However, this form of interview lacks detailed information
of the candidate, making it difficult to ascertain his/her behavioural inputs.

The advantages of structured interviews include:

• Easily compare multiple job candidates. Since you ask each person the same questions, you
can compare all the candidates’ answers across the board more easily.
• Prepare and avoid missed opportunities. You’re less likely to forget important questions
when you have a prepared list.
• Reduce biased opinions of potential candidates. In general, structured interviews are more
consistent, fair and effective. Focusing on questions and answers rather than whether you
“like” the candidate or not creates a more controlled environment and helps to remove the
influence of personal bias.
• Conduct faster job interviews. Once prepared, structured interviews tend to be faster to
complete than unstructured interviews.

The disadvantages of structured interviews are:

• Spend more of your time planning. Structured interviews take more time to plan and
prepare, compared to unstructured interviews.
 • Miss opportunities to go more in-depth. If you need more information, it’s more difficult to
stray from the format and ask more in-depth questions on any areas of interest.
• Present your organization in a more professional or cold manner. These interviews can feel
more impersonal – more like an interrogation than a conversation. And because they’re more
formal, you may not be able to gauge personality traits and characteristics that you might
observe in a more informal interview.

What is an Unstructured Interview?

With no systematic sequence involved, unstructured interviews are based on spontaneity and are
highly descriptive in nature. This form of interview is best suitable when hiring for limited or
specialized positions.
Unstructured interview is a qualitative research process, allowing the interviewer the freedom to ask
any kind of questions. He/she is not bound to any particular sequence or format.
However, the person in-charge must have in-depth knowledge of the subject being talked about and
skills associated with it. Such interviews are unplanned, lack uniformity but open room for
exploratory research data collection.
Here, the conversation is not time-bound and can last longer than usual. Such interviews give the
candidate a good chance to influence the interviewer. Qualities like politeness, mature behaviour
and social skills are of great significance during an unstructured interview.

The advantages of unstructured interviews include:

• Dive into deeper discussions. An unstructured interview model allows you to go more in-
depth on a particular topic or focus more time learning about a particular candidate’s
strengths or traits.
• Adapt to changing topics. Unstructured interviews are more flexible, allowing questions to
be adapted and changed depending on the candidate’s answers.
• Improvise relevant interview questions. If the interviewer is good at coming up with
questions on-the-spot and making the candidate feel comfortable, it can create a more
relaxed atmosphere.

The disadvantages of unstructured interviews are:

• Getting distracted during the interview. Without having questions prepared in advance, you
may forget something or miss learning about a trait or skill that’s critical for the job.
• Misjudging the interviewee. Because your questions may vary greatly from one candidate to
another, it’s much harder to “compare apples to apples” when reviewing answers. It may
also become easier to be affected by biases or snap judgments.
• Unpredictability of the candidate’s job performance. Depending on the person conducting
the interview, unstructured interviews can be less reliable at predicting job performance if
the right questions aren't asked. This can diminish the likelihood of the right candidates
being selected.

What is the purpose of having a research strategy? Discuss the various research strategies that you
know about.

Answer 2:

Each research study is unique in its own way. One cannot exercise the same procedure and approach
to every new research. Every time a new strategy or an approach is applied on the basis of the time
required to accomplish research, the main purpose of the research, surroundings in which research is
conducted or on the basis of some similar dimensions.
The main goal while conducting research is to adopt a way of which the research objectives can be
answered. While deciding that way, one should first identify the type and availability of the
information that is required to fulfil the objectives of the research.
A Research Strategy is a step-by-step plan of action that gives direction to your thoughts and efforts,
enabling you to conduct research systematically and on schedule to produce quality results and
detailed reporting. This enables one to stay focused, reduce frustration, enhance quality and most
importantly, save time and resources. The Research Strategy is the nuts and bolts of your application,
describing the rationale for your research and the experiments you will do to accomplish your desired
goals.
Types of research strategies

Research strategy helps a researcher choose the right data collection and the analysis procedure.
Thus, it is of utmost importance to choose the right strategy while conducting the research. The
following section will focus on the different types of strategies that can be used.

• Qualitative: This strategy is generally used when to understand the underlying reasons or
the opinion of the people on certain facts or a problem. Not every time research involves
numbers or calculations that you can analyse. Sometimes you need to understand the
underlying opinions and reasons for deeper knowledge of the problem. It gives insights into
the research problem and helps to achieve objectives of the research by various methods
such as interviews, observations, textual material, open-ended surveys, oral history and
focus groups.

• Quantitative: It involves the collection of primary or secondary data which is in numerical

form. Under this strategy, the researcher can collect the data by using questionnaires, polls
and the surveys or through secondary sources. This strategy mainly focuses on the when,
where, what and how often a specific phenomenon occurs.

• Descriptive: As the name suggests, a descriptive strategy is used when you want to describe
a particular situation. It observes and describes the behaviour of an individual, community,
group or a thing without affecting it in any way. The best part about descriptive strategy is
that the subject is being observed in an unchanged and completely natural environment. It
does not manipulate any condition; it just describes what already exists in surrounding and
can help to uncover the hidden facts and figures of the subject.

• Analytical: This involves the use of the already available information. Here the researcher
in an attempt to understand the complex problem set, studies and analyses the available data.
It majorly concerns with the cause-and-effect relationship. The scientifically based problem-
solving approaches mainly use this strategy.

• Action: This strategy aims at finding solutions to an immediate problem. It is generally

applied by an agency, company or by the government in order to address a particular
problem and find possible solutions to it. For example, finding which strategy could best
workout to motivate physically challenged students.

• Basic: According to this strategy no generalizations are made in order to understand the
subject in a better and precise way. Thus, it involves investigation and the analysis of a
phenomenon. Although their findings are not directly applicable in the real world, they work
towards enhancing the knowledge base.

• Critical: It works towards analyzing the claims regarding a particular society. For example,
a researcher can focus on any conclusion or the theory made regarding a particular society or
the culture and test it empirically through a survey or experiment.
 • Interpretive: this strategy is similar to the qualitative research strategy. However, rather
than using hypothesis testing, interpretation is done through the sense-making process. In
simple terms, this strategy uses human experience in order to understand the phenomena.

• Exploratory: It is mainly used to gain insights into the problem or regarding certain
situations but does works towards providing the solution to the research problem. This
research strategy is generally undertaken when there is very few or no earlier study on the
research topic.

• Predictive: It deals with developing an understanding of the future of the research problem
and has its foundation based on the probability. This is generally very popular among
companies and organizations.

Answer 3a)
There are certain variables that are given a particular name solely for the purposes of experimental
studies. Depending on the model parameter, the determinant variable is known as one, whereas the
independent variable is known as the other. If you are testing a variable, the dependent variable is the
variable that will be measured or tested. It is possible, for example, that the established variable might
be the results of the study, in which the members of the study examined how the tutoring influence
the study outcomes, as this is the measure.
There is the possibility that the experimenter will modify the independent variable by manipulating
it, therefore impeding the development of the dependent variable. In order to assess whether the
anxiety severity of the patients is altered by the use of either medicine or a placebo, for example, they
are testing both treatments simultaneously.
The variable depends on the testing and measurement variable and is 'depending on the variable. An
instance of a dependent variable is symptoms of depression depending on the individual variable.
Variables that depend absolutely on the independent variables are the type of variables which are (s).
The variable predicted is the alternative period for the dependent variable (s). The based variables are
termed such since the predictor/independent variables are expected or assumed values. For example,
a student's score is probably a based variable, as it would depend on several matters, including how
much he studied, how much he had had before the test nighttime, and how hungry he was when he
became taking the check. While one seeks a relationship between things, one usually tries to find out
what changes the dependent variable in its way.

In other words, the impartial variable is the mediator variable, and the mediator variable is basically
the dependent variable. The relationship between the hanging variable and the independent variable
is deduced, i.e. the causal relationship. The entire mediation method is defined because of the
complete mediatory variable intervention. The beginning variable does now not impact the result
variable anymore. The part-mediation system is characterized as a partial procedure. Mediation
caused by the variable mediator is designed as a model of mediation. A causal version is this version
that arises as a result of mediation. This mediation model is causal. This version is developed. In
different words, the mediator variable is supposed to provide an impact inside the result variable, not
vice versa. The mediator variable describes how exterior physical activities influence the mental
importance of the inner realm of psychology.
There is a complementary relationship between the independent variable and the variable based on it.
Those thoughts are commonly employed in the mathematical sense, and this means that the value of
a variable depends on the value of the independent one. Unbiased factors in looking at layout may be
manipulated by a researcher, whereas based variables are the solutions to the impact of independent
variables.
Answer 3b)
In the technical field of modeling, conceptual models are systematic representations of data. A
concept consists of the concepts, theories, and ideas that enable one to comprehend, understand, or
simulate a particular topic. As you can see, this is what the model looks like. On the other hand,
tangible models are tangible items; for example, a toy model could be built in such a way as to make
it function like the object in question. There is also more than one way in which the same thing can
be done.
It is possible for the conceptual model to include models developed through the process of
conceptualization or generalization. Conceptual models are frequently abstractions of physical and
social entities in the real world. For various phases of conceptual development, Semantic research is
extensive. Semantics often deals with notions that provide means to the different components of their
experience. The abstract pattern is a particular word. It could mean "a concept model," or it could
suggest "a conceptual model." There might be a difference between the models and the models. Most
models are ideas store for renowned models, consisting of the Winchester Cathedral scale model.
However, maximum of them are supposed to be representations of the real world. The usefulness of
a version is typically immediately dependent on how properly it suits past, present, future, current
and potential circumstances. Performance usage generally depends on how properly it fits past,
present, future, current and likely situations. A concept version is extensively distinctive given that
this actual world connection isn't always needed to be a great model. To improve expert structures
and know-how-based systems, concept models and conceptual graphs are employed in synthetic
intelligence; analysts reflect the opinion of specialists at the truth, no longer their perspectives about
what is the fact.

A conceptual model is capable of indicating the relevance of improvement goals/techniques, which

can be a pathway toward avoiding such systemic failures in well-designed systems and by complying
with those goals/techniques. The primary aim of a conceptual model is to explain the underlying
principles and the essential operation of the system. It is advisable to set up a conceptual model to
present an interpretation of the device for users who are easy to comprehend to present a device-
oriented interpretation.