INTRODUCTION TO

RESEARCH
By: Ejalu David Livingstone

Uganda Martyrs University

(MPH-PRH, MPH-HP, MHSM)
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Email: dejalu@umu.ac.ug
 Content outline
1. Definition of research
2. Concept of research
3. Application of research
4. Characteristic of research
5. Types of research and Research design
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 What is research?
• Curiosity and inquisitiveness is a common characteristic of
every human being.
• All of us are curious to know about our selves, our
organizations, our institutions, our homes and families, our
wives, our husbands etc.
• There are a number of questions we always ask our selves.
• These questions bring in the need for research
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 What is a research?
• Research simply means a search for facts or answers to the questions
we ask.
• Re: means again and again
• Search: means to find out something
• Re-search means to find out something again and again.
• It means seeking solutions to the problems.
• Studious inquiry or examination; investigation or experimentation
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 What is research
• Another name for research is investigation
• Research is a process through which we attempt to achieve
systematically and with the support of data the answer to a
question, the resolution of a problem, or a greater understanding
of a phenomenon.

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 What is research?
1. Research is an organized and systematic way to find answers to questions
2. Research is a scientific inquiry aimed at learning new facts, testing ideas,
etc.

3. It is the systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of data to

generate new knowledge and answer a certain question or solve a
problem.
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 What Research Is Not
• Research is not mere information gathering.
• Research is not mere transportation of facts from one
location to another.
• Research is not merely rummaging for information.
• Research is not a catchword used to get attention

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 Why do we do research?
• Deal with problems, attitudes and opinions
• Attempt to seek answers to questions.
• Draw conclusions from data
• Become “research literate.”
• Because we live in a society that’s driven by research.
• purpose of research is to reduce the level of risk of a decision
• Aids in forecasting and planning
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 Why do we do research?
• Improve our critical thinking skills.
• Learn how to critically evaluate published research.
• Learn how to conduct research in case the need arises one day.
• To understand human behaviour and action.
• And others.

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 Characteristics of Research
• Research is Systematic; it starts with a question that needs an answer
or a problem to be solved
• Research is Logical; it needs a plan and a specific procedure to
follow.
• Research is Empirical; its findings must be based on or supported by
carefully collected and analyzed data.
• It demands a clear statement of the problem
• It builds on existing data, using both positive and negative findings
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 Characteristics of Research
• Research is Reductive; i.e. main research problem is broken down
into more specific and manageable sub-problems.
• Research is Replicable; it can be done again or repeated.
• Research is Transmittable; study findings can be applied in new
settings.
• Research is Cyclical; it does not end with finding solutions to an
identified problem
• It requires data collection and interpretation.
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 Application of research in healthcare
• Testing on the efficacy of new drugs/interventions
• Studying etiology and epidemiology of diseases
• Determining cost effective health interventions
• Assessing the quality of healthcare services
• Monitoring and evaluation of health programs
• Assessing uptake of healthcare services
• Evaluating public perceptions about health services
• Testing new technologies in health care
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 Application of Research in
Health care.
• Testing on the efficacy of new drugs/interventions
• Studying etiology and epidemiology of diseases
• Determining cost effective health interventions
• Assessing the quality of healthcare services
• Monitoring and evaluation of health programs
• Assessing uptake of healthcare services
• Evaluating public perceptions about health services
• Testing new technologies in health care
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 THE RESEARCH PROCESS

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 THE RESEARCH PROCESS
• Research process forms a cycle. It starts with a problem and ends
with a solution.
1. Formulation of a research problem
2. Extensive literature survey
3. Developing a research hypothesis/Objectives/Questions
4. Preparing the research design
5. Determining the sample.
6. Collecting the data and analysis
7. Hypothesis testing
8. Generalizations and interpretations
9. Preparation of the report or presentation of findings

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 THE RESEARCH PROCESS QUESTIONS
The research process can also be imbedded in the following logical questions:
1.What is the problem and why should it be studied?
2.What questions are we to answer?
3.How do we select an appropriate study type?
4. What information do we need?
5. What tools do we need to collect the data?
6. Where do we collect the data?
7.How can we determine whether our methods for data collection are correct
before implementation?
8.What will we do with the collected data?
9.Are we likely to harm anyone as a result of the study?
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 TYPES OF RESEARCH

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 TYPES OF RESEARCH
• Research can be classified according to:
❑Purpose
❑ Outcome
• Exploratory Research • Applied
• Description Research • Basic or pure
• Analytical Research • Action.
• Predictive Research
❑Process
• Quantitative
• Qualitative

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 TYPES OF RESEARCH BY PURPOSE
1.Exploratory research
• The aim is to look for patterns, ideas or hypotheses rather than testing
or confirming a hypothesis.
• The focus is on gaining insights and familiarity with the subject area
for more rigorous investigation later.
• An initial survey can be done to establish areas of concern
(exploratory research)
• It is often conducted because a problem has not been clearly defined as
yet, or its real scope is as yet unclear.
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 TYPES OF RESEARCH BY PURPOSE
1. Exploratory research
• Allows the researcher to familiarize him/her self with the problem or concept to
be studied, and perhaps generate hypotheses to be tested.
• It is the initial research, before more conclusive research undertaken.
• Exploratory research helps determine the best research design, data collection
method and selection of subjects, and sometimes it even concludes that the
problem does not exist!

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 TYPES OF RESEARCH BY PURPOSE
1. Exploratory research
• Exploratory research can use both informal and formal approaches
• Informal approaches such as
• Reviewing available literature and/or data,
• Informal conclusions (wolokoso) with consumers, employees, management or competitors,
• Formal approaches
• Indepth interviews,
• focus groups, and projective methods ,
• case studies or pilot studies.
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 TYPES OF RESEARCH BY PURPOSE
1.Exploratory research
• The results of exploratory research are not usually useful for decision
making by themselves, but they can provide significant insight into a
given situation.
• Although the results of qualitative research can give some indication as
to the “why”, “how” and “when” something occurs, it cannot tell us
“how often” or “how many”. In other words, the results can neither be
generalized

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 TYPES OF RESEARCH BY PURPOSE
2. Descriptive research
• Is method that describes the characteristics of the population or phenomenon
studied.
• This methodology focuses more on the “what” of the research subject than the
“why” of the research subject.
• The term descriptive research refers to the type of research question, design, and
data analysis that will be applied to a given topic.
• Generate hypotheses
• Descriptive research goes further than exploratory research in examining a problem since it is undertaken to ascertain and
describe the characteristics of issue.

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 TYPES OF RESEARCH BY PURPOSE
2. Descriptive research
• Descriptive Studies Characterize who, where, or when in relation to
what (outcome)
• Person: characteristics (age, sex, occupation) of the individuals affected by the
outcome
• Place: geography (residence, work, hospital) of the affected individuals
• Time: when events (diagnosis, reporting; testing) occurred
• The descriptive strategy is not concerned with relationships between
variables but rather with the description of individual variables.
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 TYPES OF RESEARCH BY PURPOSE
2. Descriptive research-Applications
• Define respondent characteristics
• Measure data trends
• Conduct comparisons
• Validate existing conditions

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 TYPES OF RESEARCH BY PURPOSE
Descriptive Methods Descriptive Designs
• Observational method
• Case study method
• Survey research

The description is presented

in frequencies, averages,
percentages or other
statistical calculations
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 TYPES OF RESEARCH BY PURPOSE
3. Analytical or explanatory research
• This is a continuation of descriptive research. The researcher goes
beyond merely describing the characteristics, to analyze and explain
why or how something is happening.
• Analytic studies test hypotheses about exposure-outcome relationships
• Measure the association (cause-effect relationships) between exposure and
outcome
• Analytical research is a specific type of research that involves critical
thinking skills and the evaluation of facts and information relative to the
research being conducted.
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 TYPES OF RESEARCH BY PURPOSE
3. Analytical or explanatory research Characteristics
• It allows for increased understanding about a specific topic. Although it does not
offer conclusive results, the researcher can find the reasons why a phenomenon
occurs.
• It allows the researcher to have a broad understanding of the topic and can refine
subsequent research questions to augment the conclusions of the study.
• Researchers can distinguish the causes why phenomena occured during the
research process, and anticipate changes.
• Explanatory research allows replication of studies to give greater depth and gain
new insights into the phenomenon.
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 TYPES OF RESEARCH BY PURPOSE
Analytic advantages Analytic designs
1. Analytical research is
fundamental because it
encompasses critical thinking
skills.
2. It introduces new ideas about
what is happening and helps
prove or disprove hypotheses.

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 TYPES OF RESEARCH BY PROCESS
4. Predictive research.
• Goes further by forecasting the likelihood of a similar situation
occurring elsewhere.
• It aims to generalize from the analysis by predicting certain phenomena
on the basis of hypothesized, general relationships.
• It may attempt to answer questions such as:
• Will the introduction of a co-lecturer increase students performance?
• What type of teaching method will increase students knowledge and skills?

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 TYPES OF RESEARCH BY PROCESS
4. Predictive research.
• Predictive research provides ‘how’, ‘why’, and ‘where’ answers to
current events as well as to similar events in the future.
• It is also helpful in situations where ‘what if ?’ questions are being
asked
• Predictive analytics is a broad term for using historical and
current data to make projections about what might happen in
the future

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 TYPES OF RESEARCH BY PROCESS
1. Quantitative research.
➢A type of research that describes phenomena in numbers and
measures instead of using words.
➢ Data is expressed in numbers and analyzed using statistical methods.
➢ Is the systematic empirical investigation of observable phenomena
via statistical or mathematical techniques.

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 TYPES OF RESEARCH BY PROCESS
1. Quantitative research.
➢The objective of quantitative research is to develop and employ
mathematical models, theories and hypotheses pertaining to
phenomena.
➢Measurement is central to quantitative research,
➢ Provides the fundamental connection between empirical
observation and mathematical expression of quantitative
relationships.
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 TYPES OF RESEARCH BY PROCESS
1. Quantitative research.
• It can be used to find patterns and averages, make predictions, test
causal relationships, and generalize results to wider populations.
Quantitative research methods can be used in:
• Descriptive research to simply seek an overall summary of study variables.
• Correlational research to investigate relationships between study variables.
• Experimental research to systematically examine whether there is a cause-
and-effect relationship between variables.

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 TYPES OF RESEARCH BY PROCESS
1. Quantitative research methods.
• Surveys: List of closed or multiple choice questions that is distributed to
a sample (online, in person, or over the phone).
• Experiments: Situation in which variables are controlled and manipulated to
establish cause-and-effect relationships.
• Observations: Observing subjects in a natural environment where variables can’t
be controlled.
• Secondary research: Collect data that has been gathered for other purposes e.g.,
national surveys or historical records.

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 TYPES OF RESEARCH BY PROCESS
2. Qualitative research methods.
• Involves collecting and analyzing non-numerical data.
• It is a type of research in which phenomena are described in words instead
of numbers.
• This method is not only about “what” people think but also “why” they
think so.
• Qualitative research is used to understand how people experience the world.
• Its used in a situation were the data to be collected may not be represented
numerically. Such data can not be analyzed statistically but descriptively.
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 TYPES OF RESEARCH BY PROCESS
2. Qualitative research Approaches.
Grounded theory Researchers collect rich data on a topic of interest and
develop theories inductively.
Ethnography Researchers immerse themselves in groups or
organizations to understand their cultures.
Action research Researchers and participants collaboratively link theory to
practice to drive social change.
Phenomenological Researchers investigate a phenomenon or event by
research describing and interpreting participants’ lived experiences.
Narrative research Researchers examine how stories are told to understand
how participants perceive and make sense of their
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experiences. 38
 TYPES OF RESEARCH BY PROCESS
2. Qualitative research Methods.
• Observations: recording what you have seen, heard, or encountered in detailed
field notes.
• Interviews: personally asking people questions in one-on-one conversations.
• Focus groups: asking questions and generating discussion among a group of
people.
• Surveys: distributing questionnaires with open-ended questions.
• Secondary research: collecting existing data in the form of texts, images, audio or
video recordings, etc.

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 TYPES OF RESEARCH BY OUTCOME
1. Basic research.
• Basic research is also called fundamental or pure research, and is conducted
primarily to improve our understanding of general issues, without any
emphasis on its immediate application.
• It is a type of research approach that is aimed at gaining a better
understanding of a subject
• It is regarded as the most academic form of research since the principal aim
is to make a contribution to knowledge, usually for the general good, rather
than to solve a specific problem for one organization.

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 TYPES OF RESEARCH BY OUTCOME
1. Basic research.
• It is the research for academicians.
• It is not intended to solve a problem but to extend a theory.
• It is undertaken out of intellectual curiosity.
• It is not problem oriented. It aims at extension of knowledge.
• The findings enrich the storehouse of knowledge.
• Basic research lays down the foundation for the applied science.

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 TYPES OF RESEARCH BY OUTCOME
1.Basic research methods
• Interviews
• Observation
• Experiment

• Basic science investigations probe for answers to questions such as:

• How did the universe begin?
• What are protons, neutrons, and electrons composed of ?

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 TYPES OF RESEARCH BY OUTCOME
2. Applied research
• Applied research is a methodology used to solve a specific, practical
issue affecting an individual or group.
• It is a scientific method of inquiry or contractual research because it
involves the practical application of scientific methods to everyday
problems.
• The researcher takes extra care to identify a problem, develop a
research hypothesis and goes ahead to test these hypotheses via an
experiment.
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 TYPES OF RESEARCH BY OUTCOME
2. Applied research
• Applied research is necessary to identify priority problems, design
and evaluate policies and programs that will deliver the greatest health
benefit, making optimal use of available resources.
• It is a non-systematic inquiry because of its direct approach
in seeking a solution to a problem.
• It is typically a follow-up research design that further investigates the
findings of pure or basic research in order to validate these findings
and apply them to create innovative solution
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 TYPES OF RESEARCH BY OUTCOME
2. Applied research
• It is widely used in varying contexts, ranging from applied behavior
analysis to city planning and public policy and to program evaluation.
• Applied research can be executed through a diverse range of research
strategies that can be solely quantitative, solely qualitative, or a mixed
method research design that combines quantitative and qualitative data
slices in the same project.

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 TYPES OF RESEARCH BY OUTCOME.
3. Action Research
• Action research is also known as Participatory Action Research (PAR), community-
based study, co-operative enquiry, action science and action learning
• Is a disciplined process of inquiry conducted by and for those taking the action.
• The primary reason for engaging in action research is to assist the “actor” in
improving and/or refining his or her actions
• It is an approach commonly used for improving conditions and practices in a
range healthcare environments (Lingard et al., 2008;).

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 TYPES OF RESEARCH BY OUTCOME.
3. Action Research
• It involves healthcare practitioners conducting systematic enquiries in
order to help them improve their own practices, which in turn can
enhance their working environment and the working environments of
those who are part of it – clients, patients, and users.
• The purpose of undertaking action research is to bring about change
in specific contexts, as Parkin (2009) describes it

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 TYPES OF RESEARCH BY OUTCOME.
3. Action Research
• It involves action, evaluation, and critical reflection and – based on the evidence
gathered – changes in practice are then implemented.
• Action research is participative and collaborative; it is undertaken by individuals
with a common purpose.
• It develops reflection based on interpretations made by the participants.
• Knowledge is created through action and at the point of application.
• Action research can involve problem solving, if the solution to the problem leads
to the improvement of practice.
• In action research findings will emerge as action develops, but these are not
conclusive or absolute
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 TYPES OF RESEARCH BY OUTCOME.
Applied research Action research
The researcher attempts to control variables to The study is done in a natural setting without any
identify possible relationships between the treatment attempt to control variables.
and the outcomes
The purpose is to improve a product or process, testing Action Research is applying scientific thinking to
hypotheses in actual problem situations. real-life problems
Concerned with the development and testing of Focused on immediate application, not on the
theories. development of the theory or on generalisation of
application.
The researcher applies a structured and controlled set
of methods, using control and experimental groups and The study is focussed on the present problem in the
guarding against threats to validity through pre-and current time and in the local setting.
post-testing.
Attempts to develop generalization and that The findings of action research are to be evaluated in
generalization have broad applicability. terms of local applicability instead of universal validity.
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 Questions???
Thank you for listening

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