Libyan Academy School of Basic Science Life

Science Department

Research Methodology

3- Structuring the Research Project

Spring 2024

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Research projects are set up in order to explain a phenomenon

or to test a theory.

Research methods are the practical techniques used to carry

out research. They are the ‘tools of the trade’ that make it

possible to collect information and to analyse it. What

information you collect and how you analyse it depends on

the nature of the

Research problem, the central generating point of a research

project. Hence the need for total clarity in defining the

problem and limiting its scope in order to enable a

practical research project with defined outcomes to be

devised.
 The Research Process
It is necessary to first define some kind of research
problem in order to provide a reason for doing the
research. The problem will generate the subject of
the research, its aims and objectives, and will
indicate what sort of data need to be collected in
order to investigate the issues raised and what kind
of analysis is suitable to enable you to come to
conclusions that provide answers to the questions raised
in the problem.

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The Research Process
The answers to four important questions underpin the
framework of any research project :
 What are you going to do? The subject of your research.
 Why are you going to do it? The reason for this
research being necessary or interesting.
 How are you going to do it? The research methods that
you will use to carry out the project.
 When are you going to do it? The programme of the
work.

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 THE RESEARCH PROBLEM
There is no shortage of problems throughout the world, but
for a problem to be researchable, it needs to have several
crucial features. It must be :

 stated clearly and concisely;

 significant i.e. not trivial or a repeat of previous work;
 delineated, in order to limit its scope to practical
investigation;
 possible to obtain the information required to explore
the problem;
 possible to draw conclusions related to the problem, as
the point of research is to find some answers.

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Structure of a typical research project

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 DEFINING THE RESEARCH PROBLEM
Here are several forms in which the research problem can be
expressed to indicate the method of investigation:
 QUESTION OR QUESTIONS : Probably the simplest way
to set up a research problem is to ask a question. This
might be quite abstract in nature, so will require to be
broken down into several sub-questions that can be
practically investigated.
Questions can then be used to break the main problem down
into questions to the define sub-problems. The different
things you can do to split up the main question are to:

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 PROPOSITIONS : Focusing a research study on

a set of propositions, rather than on a hypothesis,

allows the study to concentrate on particular
relationships between events, without having to
comply with the rigorous characteristics required
of hypotheses.

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The main research problem was formulated in the
form of three interrelated propositions:

1- Specifically designed public sector housing

provided for disabled people continues to be
designed according to the government
recommendations and standards for disabled
people’s housing.

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2- The recommendations and standards are not based
on an accurate perception of the needs of disabled
people.

3- Therefore there is a mismatch between the

specifically designed public sector housing provided
for disabled people and their accommodation
requirements.

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 THE USE OF ARGUMENT

The whole point of doing a research project is to

identify a particular question or problem, to
collect information and to present some
answers or solutions.
In order to convince the reader that you have
collected information relevant to the question
or problem and that you have based your
answers and conclusions on the correct
analysis of this information you will need to
use some logical argument.

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 THE USE OF ARGUMENT

Arguments are based on logical reasoning of

which, as explained in the previous chapter,
there are two basic types: inductive
reasoning, which entails moving from
particular repeated observations to a general
conclusion, and deductive reasoning, which
entails going from a general principal
(called a premise) to a conclusion about a
particular case.

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 RECOGNIZING AND TESTING ARGUMENTS

As well as constructing arguments to support

your research conclusions, it is also necessary
to recognize and scrutinize other people’s
arguments, particularly those on whose work
you are basing your research.

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RECOGNIZING AND TESTING ARGUMENTS.
 RECOGNIZING ARGUMENTS : In many types of
writing and other forms of discourse, e.g. conversation,
TV programmes, speeches, etc., the argument may be
poorly expressed or submerged within the content. In
order to recognize when an argument is being made,
look for words that indicate a premise such as:

Since therefore
Because this proves that
If that indicate that a conclusion follows then
assuming that consequently
given that, etc. thus, etc.

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 TESTING ARGUMENTS : There are techniques

that can be used to detect the valid from the fallacious

arguments, i.e. those whose logic follows the correct

rules and those that do not. Fallacies fall into two main

categories: formal and informal.

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 CONSTRUCTING AN ARGUMENT :
To argue in support of a concluding statement, you need to
demonstrate that the premises are true. This may not be
straightforward as truth is often difficult to pin down.

 Split it down into different aspects that can be

investigated separately, e.g. political, economic,
cultural, technical.
 Explore different personal or group perspectives, e.g.
employers, employees.
 Investigate different concepts used, e.g. health, wealth,
confidence, sustainability.
 Consider the question at different scales, e.g. the
individual, group, organization.

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In this case the sub-questions could concentrate on :
 What constitutes intelligence? (Investigating a concept, i.e.
‘intelligence’.)
 What ways of testing intelligence are there? (Exploring
different perspectives – i.e. other intelligence tests, and thus
investigating the concept ‘test’.)
 What sort of school exams are there and how are they
marked? (Investigating another concept – i.e. ‘exams’.)
 How do school exam criteria match those of the criteria of
other intelligence tests? (Split into aspects – in this case,

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criteria of exams and other intelligence tests.)
 Thank you
For your Attention

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