ARDHI UNIVERSITY

SACEM
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
ASSIGNMENT 2

NAME: RASHID KHALID M

REG NO: 22700/T.2018

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 1. Research Methodology
Research methodology simply refers to how a researcher systematically designs a study to
ensure valid and reliable results that address the research aims and objectives.
For example, how did the researcher go about deciding:
• What data to collect
• Who to collect it from
• How to collect it
• How to analyse it

2. Quantitative Research
Quantitative research focuses on measurement and testing using numerical data.
Contrasted to this, a quantitative research is typically used when the research aims and objectives
are confirmatory in nature.
It involves the use of graphs, pie charts, etc.

3. Qualitative research
Qualitative Research refers to research which focuses on collecting and analysing words (written
or spoken) and textual data, Qualitative analysis can also focus on other “softer” data points, such
as body language or visual elements.
It’s quite common for a qualitative methodology to be used when the research aims and objectives
are exploratory in nature.
For example, a qualitative methodology might be used to understand peoples’ perceptions about
an event that took place.

4. Data Collection Tools

There are many different options in terms of how you go about collecting data for your study.
However, these options can be grouped into the following types:
• Interviews (which can be unstructured, semi-structured or structured)
• Focus groups and group interviews
• Surveys (online or physical surveys)
• Observations
• Documents and records
• Case studies
The choice of which data collection method to use depends on your overall research aims and
objectives, as well as practicalities and resource constraints. For example, if your research is
exploratory in nature, qualitative methods such as interviews and focus groups would likely be a
good fit. Conversely, if your research aims to measure specific variables or test hypotheses, large-
scale surveys that produce large volumes of numerical data would likely be a better fit.

5. Research Proposal
A research proposal describes what you will investigate, why it’s important, and how you will do
the research. The format of a research proposal varies between fields, but most proposals should
contain these elements:

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 • Topic or tittle
• Research Issue
• Problem Statement
• Research Objectives
• Research Questions and or Hypothesis
• Research Strategies
• Schedule of Activities
• References
• Appendices

6. Research tittle
The title summarizes the main idea or ideas of your study. A good title contains the fewest
possible words needed to adequately describe the content and/or purpose of your research paper.
Example: Low cost housing

7. Research Issue
Is a specific issue, difficulty, contradiction, or gap in knowledge that you will aim to address in
your research. The issue under investigation offers us an occasion for writing and a focus that
governs what we want to say. Research issues can be identified by reviewing recent literature,
reports, or databases in your field.

8. Problem statement
Is an interrogative sentence or statement that asks what relationship exists between two or more
variables.
A problem statement is an evaluation of an issue expected to be addressed or a specific condition
that can be improved upon in a timely manner.
How to write a problem statement
• Describe how things should work. To begin, you'll want to provide some context that will
make it easier to understand the problem. ...
• Explain the problem and state why it matters. The problem statement should address not
only what the problem is, but why it's a problem and why it's important to ...
• Explain your problem's financial costs.

9. Research Main Objectives

The main objective of research is to explore the unknown and unlock new possibilities.
What is that what you want to achieve?
.Research objectives formation
• Research objectives are derived from research problems
• To develop achievable research objectives in terms of science, time and budget.
• Research objectives should be the ground of research conclusion and recommendations.

10. Research Questions

Is a specific inquiry which the research seeks to provide a response to.
Characteristics
• It must emerge from research objectives
• it should be able to define the scope of the research.
• They are the stepping stones to carry out the research

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 • It highlights the required data to be collected
Types of research questions
• What research question
• How research question
• Why research question

11. Research Strategies

Is a systematic process of how a research is conducted to solve an inquiry problem.
It involves:

• experiments
• surveys
• case studies

12. References
The use of a source of information in order to ascertain something (from a work containing useful
information).
References provide the information necessary for readers to identify and retrieve each work cited
in the text.
Referencing is an important part of academic writing. It tells your readers what sources you’ve
used and how to find them
There should be no more than 3 quotation’s in one reference

13. Appendices
Is an attachment of materials used in research findings. An appendix contains supplementary
material that is not an essential part of the text itself but which may be helpful in providing a
more comprehensive understanding of the research problem or it is information that is too
cumbersome to be included in the body of the paper. A separate appendix should be used
for each distinct topic or set of data and always have a title descriptive of its contents.

Tables, Appendices, Footnotes and Endnotes.

14. Bibliography
This includes
• The authors name (in capitals) if its unknown indicate
• Year of publication, if unknown indicate sd (sine dato)
• Tittle of the book (italic or underlined)
• Name of publisher (as short as possible), if unknown indicate sn (sine nomine)
• Place of publication, if unknown indicate sl (sine loco)

Example: Wyse, Dominic and Kate Cowan. The Good Writing Guide for Education Students.
4th edition. London: Sage, 2017.

15. Research Hypothesis

Hypothesis is an assumption to be approved or disapproved.

Functions of hypothesis
• To guide social science research by offering direction of operation
• To offer temporary answer to the research question

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 • To facilitate statistical analysis of the variable in a contest of hypothesis testing

16. Research Design

Is a logic that links the data to be collected and conclusion to be drawn to the initial question of
the study. It is about decisions regarding to what, where, whom and how to collect research
information.
Explicit questions of research designs
• What is the study about?
• How should the study be made?
• Where will the study be carried?
• What type of data is required?
• What periods of time will the study include?
• What will be the sample designs?
• What techniques will be used in data collection?
• How will the data be analyzed?
• What reporting style will be used?

17. Harvard Referencing Style

In Harvard style, the author and year are cited in-text, and full details of the source are given in
a reference list.
A Harvard in-text citation appears in brackets beside any quotation or paraphrase of a source. It
gives the last name of the author(s) and the year of publication, as well as a page number or
range locating the passage referenced, if applicable.
In text citation, referencing is an essential academic skill (pears and shields, 2019).
Reference list entry Pears, R and Shields, G. (2019) Cite them right: The essential referencing
guide. 11th ed. London: MacMillan.
If you cite multiple sources by the same author which were published in the same year, it’s
important to distinguish between them in your citations. To do this, insert an ‘a’ after the year in
the first one you reference, a ‘b’ in the second, and so on.

18. Chicago Referencing style

Chicago style is an "author-date" style, so the citation in the text consists of the author(s) name and
year of publication given wholly or partly in round brackets.
Use only the surname of the author(s) and the year of publication. Include page, chapter or section
numbers, preceded by a comma, if you need to be specific

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When citing in the text, no distinction is made between books, journal articles, internet documents
or other formats, except for electronic documents that do not provide page numbers. In this case,
use the paragraph number, if available, with the abbreviation para.
The full details of the source are given in a reference list at the end of the document:

Reference lists in Chicago are arranged alphabetically by the primary author's surname.

19. End notes

Endnotes are references or explanations that are placed at the end of a text, such as an article,
research paper, or book

They’re indicated in the text with numbers (or occasionally other symbols). Endnotes are used:

• For citations in certain styles

• To add extra information that doesn’t fit smoothly into the main text

Endnote numbers appear at the end of the clause or sentence the endnote relates to. The number
appears after any punctuation, unless the clause ends with an em dash, in which case it appears
before it. There’s no space added after the number.

Example: ….is that this experiment was simply too methodologically flawed to produce valid
results.2

20. Foot notes

Footnotes are notes that are placed at the end of a page and used to reference parts of the text
(generally using superscript numbers). Writers use footnotes for several purposes,
including citations, parenthetical information, outside sources, copyright permissions, background
information, and more.

long explanatory notes can be difficult for readers to trudge through (especially when they occur
in the middle of a paper). Providing this information is necessary, but doing so in the main text
can disrupt the flow of the writing.

Imagine if every time an author wanted to provide a citation, the entire citation had to be written
out at the end of the sentence, like this (Anthony Grafton, The Footnote: A Curious
History [Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999] 221). Books would become much
longer and reading would be much more tedious. That's why footnotes are so useful: they let
authors provide the required information without disrupting the flow of ideas.

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References
1. Google terms available at: https://gradcoach.com
2. Google terms available at: www.scribbr.com
3. Google terms available at: libguides.usc.edu
4. Google terms available at: libguides.murdoch.edu.au
5. Google terms available at: www.scribendi.com
6. Creswell, J.W. (2003). Research design. Qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods
approach. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

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