Basic Research Methodology

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 What is a research?

 A research is a performing methodical study in

order to prove a hypothesis or answer a
specific question
 A research is the central goal of any 
experimental process.
 Research is an organized and systematic way
of finding answers to questions.
 Research is diligent and systematic process of
inquiry in order to discover, interpret or revise
facts, events, behaviours and theories
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 The purposes of conducting a research

 Review or synthesize existing knowledge

 Investigate existing situations or
problems
 Provide solutions to problems
 Explore and analyse more general issues
 Construct or create new procedures or
systems
 Explain new phenomenon
 Generate new knowledge
 …or a combination of any of the above!
 How to write a research

Problems statement Conclusion & recommendation

Objective of the study

Finding & interpretation

topic
Significance of the study
Methodology
(sample group, tool,
formulation, procedure)

Literature review
Expected outcome
 The types of research

 Applied research
 Action research
Quantitative
 Survey research research
 Causal research
 Correlational research Qualitative
research
 Descriptive research
 Experimental research
 Some strategies for selecting a
research topic

 aware of existing problem at the area

 Interest or curiosity
 Worthwhile
 Having literatures and related studies
 Do-able (feasible)
 Know language acquisition
 Topic should not too narrow or wide
 A research topic must cover:
-independent variable
-dependent variable
Ex: the attitudes of the students toward
using Unitel 3G
-using Unitel 3G is independent variable
-the attitude of the students is dependent
variable
 Class activities

 the satisfaction of customers toward

service section at Grant Hotel in LPB
what is independent variable?
What is dependent variable?
1. the improvement ss’ learning English
vocabulary through puzzle word game
what is independent variable?
What is dependent variable?
2. The investigation SU students’ problems in
learning English speaking
 A research format of SU

Chapter I
Introduction
1. Rationale and background of the study
2. Objectives of the study
3. Research question(s)
4. Scope of the study
5. Significance of the study
6. Definition of key terms
7. Expected outcome
 Chapter I
Introduction

1. Rationale and background of the study

IPESA techniuqe:
 Ideal with the real situation
 Present condition
 Existing problem
 Solution
 Aims
 Chapter I
Introduction

1. Rationale and background of the study

IPESA technique:

 Ideal with the real situation

 Present condition

 Existing problem

 Solution

 Aims
 A research format of SU

Chapter I
Introduction (conti)
1. Research question(s)
A research question is a clear, focused, concise, complex
and arguable question around which you center your
research. You should ask a question about an issue that
you are genuinely curious about.
 A research format of SU

Chapter I
Introduction (conti)
1. How do you develop a usable research
question?
-Choose an appropriate topic or issue for your research
-Then list all of the questions that you'd like answered
yourself
-Choose the best question, one that is neither too broad
nor too narrow
-Sometimes the number of sources you find will help you
discover whether your research question is too broad,
too narrow, or okay?
 A research format of SU

Chapter I
Introduction (conti)

AN INVESTIGATION OF THAI STUDENTS’ ENGLISH LANGUAGE

PROBLEMS AND THEIR LEARNING STRATEGIES
IN THE INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM
AT MAHIDOL UNIVERSITY
 Research Question I : What are the English problems
perceived by Thai students at MU?
 Research Question II : How do they use learning strategies
to achieve the target goal?
 A research format of SU

Chapter I
Introduction (conti)

Scope of the study:

 Who
 Where
 When
Objective(s) of the study
Objective(s) of the study
Objective(s) of the study
Objective(s) of the study
 Types of research objective

 Macro-objective (macro-goal)
 Macro-objectives are broad goals to be achieved
 Macro-objectives of the study state what the
researcher expects to achieve by the study in
general terms
 Macro-objectives are usually less in number
 Micro-objectives (micro-goal)
 A research format of SU

Chapter I
Introduction (conti)

Significance of the study:

How the present study important is? (for

the researcher)
How the present study important for the
area that the study take place? (School,
university, institution or organization)
 A research format of SU

Chapter I
Introduction (conti)

Definition of key terms:

-Look at the key words exist on the topic

Example: the factors influenced students on learning English

achievement

 Factor refers to ……………..

 Influenced refers to …………….
 Learning English achievement refers to …………………..
 A research format of SU

Chapter I
Introduction (conti)
Expected outcome:
- the expected outcome strongly need to
consistent with the objective of the study.

( ປູກໝາກເພັດ ຄວາມຫວັງ ແມ່ ນເພື່ອຢາກໄດ້ໝາກເພັດ ບໍ່ແມ່ ນໝາກເຂືອ)

 Chapter II
Literature Review

What is a literature review?

The ability to review, and to report on
relevant literature is a key academic skill.
A literature review:
1. situates your research focus within the
context of the wider academic
2. community in your field; reports your
critical review of the relevant literature;
and
3. identifies a gap within that literature that
your research will attempt to address.
 A research format of SU(cont)

Chapter II
Literature Review

1. Related literatures of the topic (key

words)
2. Previous or related studies
 Chapter II
Literature Review
The purpose of a literature review is to:

 Place each work in the context of its contribution to

understanding the research problem being studied.
 Describe the relationship of each work to the others under
consideration.
 Identify new ways to interpret prior research.
 Reveal any gaps that exist in the literature.
 Resolve conflicts amongst seemingly contradictory previous
studies.
 Identify areas of prior scholarship to prevent duplication of
effort.
 Point the way in fulfilling a need for additional research.
 Locate your own research within the context of existing
literature [very important].
 Chapter II
Literature Review

•Development of the Literature Review

Four Stages

1.  Problem formulation -- which topic or field is being examined

and what are its component issues?
2.  Literature search -- finding materials relevant to the subject
being explored.
3.  Data evaluation -- determining which literature makes a
significant contribution to the understanding of the topic.
4.  Analysis and interpretation -- discussing the findings and
conclusions of pertinent literature.
 Chapter II
Literature Review
 Consider the following issues before writing the literature review:
Clarify

If your assignment is not very specific about what form your literature
review should take, seek clarification from your professor by asking
these questions:

1.  Roughly how many sources should I include?

2.  What types of sources should I review (books, journal articles,
websites; scholarly versus popular sources)?
3.  Should I summarize, synthesize, or critique sources by discussing a
common theme or issue?
4.  Should I evaluate the sources?
5.  Should I provide subheadings and other background information,
such as definitions and/or a history?
 When to review the literature ?

There are three stages at which a review of the literature is

needed:
 an early review is needed to establish the context and
rationale for your study and to confirm your choice of
research focus/question;
 as the study period gets longer, you need to make sure
that you keep in touch with current, relevant research in
your field, which is published during the period of your
research;
 as you prepare your final report or thesis, you need to
relate your findings to the findings of others, and to
identify their implications for theory, practice, and
research. This can involve further review with perhaps a
slightly different focus from that of your initial review.
 Plagiarism

Plagiarism is regarded as a serious offence by all

Universities, and you need to make sure that you
do not, even accidentally, commit plagiarism.
Plagiarism is the using of someone else’s words
or ideas, and passing them off as your own. It can
happen accidentally, for example, if you are
careless in your note-taking. This can mean that
you get mixed up over what is an exact quote,
and what you have written in your own words; or
over what was an idea of your own that you
jotted down, or an idea from some texts. Company Logo
 How to avoid Plagiarism

to use the exact quote in inverted commas, with

the reference and page number; or
 to describe it in your own words, and use the
standard reference format, without the page
number, to acknowledge that it was someone
else’s idea. (paraphrase)

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 How to develop quotations

When you quote, you use the author’s exact

words in your paper. You quote because the
author:
Wrote clear and exact words that you think are
valuable
Is an authority you trust and you want to use his
or her authority to explain your idea or opinion
Wrote unique words that will add interest

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 Example of quotations

There are two approaches of developing quotation:

For short quotation ( fewer than 40 words)
Put quotation marks around the exact words
you take from another author
Write the quotation within the paragraph
Ex: “the main aim of translation is to serve as a
cross-cultural bilingual communication vehicle
among peoples” (Adam, 1994,p.5).

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 Example of quotations

For long quotation (40 words or more)

Do not use quotation marks. Instead, indent all
lines five spaces from the left margin
Double space the quoted lines
Put the period at the end of the quotation
Then put the citation at the end of the sentence
Use very few long quotation in a paragraph

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 Example of quotations

Ex:
since the environment seems to be in need of protecting, one of the key
ways is to recycle anything that can be used again. This will prevent the
rapid decline of our nation’s natural resources. To support this claim, Jones
said,

recycled materials can be substituted for virgin materials and would

reduce such problems as strip-mining and deforestation. Production of

virgin materials also uses more fossil fuels and other resources which

could be saved by recycling. (1999,p.9)

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 Examples of paraphrasing

According to
Stated that
As reported by Reported that
Endorsed that

Author(1992)
Confirming to Claimed that
Confirm that
In agreement with Noted that
Approved that
In consonance with Affirm
Recommend
In line with Asserted

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 Examples of paraphrasing

Idea, opinion or claim (author’s name, year of published)

Ex: So far, studies in second and/or

foreign language acquisition
research have shown that beliefs
are quite stable within the learner,
strongly held, and resistant to
change (Kern, 1995; Weinstein,
1994, Peacock, 2001).
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 Chapter III
Research Methodology

1. Population and sample group

1.1 population
1.2 sample group
2. Research Instrument (tool)
3. Data Collection
4. Data Analysis
 Population

population is a complete set of elements

(persons or objects) that possess some
common characteristic defined by the
sampling criteria established by the
researcher
Population composed of two groups: target
population & accessible population
1. Target population
The entire group of people or objects to
which the researcher wishes to generalize
the study findings
Ex: All people with AIDS, All pregnant teens..
 Population

2. Accessible population
the portion of the population to which the
researcher has reasonable access; may be
a subset of the target population. May be
limited to region, state, city, county, or
institution

Ex: - All people with AIDS in LPB

- All pregnant teens in English Department,
FOE, SU
- 50 freshmen students who are in class
1E2….
 sample group

1. Sample group is the selected

elements (people or objects) chosen
for participation in a study; people
are referred to as subjects or
participants
2. Sampling is the process of selecting a
group of people, events, behaviors,
or other elements with which to
conduct a study
the effectiveness of sample size

max

error

min sample size max

 the specification of sample size

1. Percentile criteria
Amount of population Percentile criteria

100 15-30 %
1000 10-15%
10. 000 5-10%
100.000 or more 1-5%
 the specification of sample size

2. Formulation of Taro Yamane

N
n=
2
1+ Ne
 N refers to population
 e refers to error
 n refers to the sample size
 the specification of sample size

3. Krecie & Mogan (p=population,s=sample)

p S p s p s p s
10 10 45 40 80 66 130 97
15 14 50 44 85 70 140 103
20 19 55 48 90 73 150 108
25 24 60 52 95 76 160 113
30 28 65 56 100 80 170 118
35 32 70 59 110 86 180 123
40 36 75 63 120 92 190 127
 some techniques of sample selection

1. Sample random sampling

-draw selection(draw random)
-systematic random sampling
Ex: 3
6
9

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
 Research instrument (tool)

Typically, the research instruments

designed in research were:
1. Questionnaire
2. Observation
3. Interview
4. Testing
 Questionnaire
A research questionnaire, also called a survey,
is a set of questions that is administered to a
population sample, or group of people, in
order to gather data. Survey answers are used
for research purposes, so it is important that
the questionnaire effectively represents the
information it is intended to measure.
Therefore, questionnaire design should be
viable in terms of relevance and ease of
application
 Questionnaire
 types of questionnaire
-Fixed-response/structured (closed form)
-Open-ended/non-structured
1. Fixed-response/structured
Fixed-response questions provide research
questionnaire respondents with a specified set
of possible answers, and require respondents
to choose from those options. Use fixed-
response questions when you have a clear-cut
way to define and categorize data that the
answers provide and when you are not looking
for unique or original information from those
 Questionnaire
1. Fixed-response/structured
ex: fixed- structured question formats include
-multiple choice,
-ranking,
-yes/no (dichotomous question)
-rating scale
 Questionnaire
2. Open-ended/non-structured.
Non-structured questions are good for
collecting fresh, individual ideas from
respondents. However, it can be harder to
systematically analyze, organize and categorize
data collected from open-ended questions.
Any question that does not limit the scope of
the answer is open-ended.
Ex: how do you think about the course of Basic
Research Methodology?

……………………………………………………………………………
 Observation
 observation is most definitely used by all
scientists, anyone can make an observation
merely by watching.
Ex: A scientist looking at a chemical reaction in
an experiment
A doctor watching a patient after administering
an injection
An astronauts looking at the night sky and
recording data regarding movement and
brightness of the objects he sees
A parent watching her children interact with other
children on the playground
 Observation
 Notice: if you decide to use observation in your
research, you must decide exactly what you
want to know and exactly how you will find out
interview
 test specification
1. Setting test purpose
2. Characteristics of test takers
- age
-sex
-level
-topical knowledge of test takers
3. Time allotment
4. Test standardization
5. Test content
6.Preparing effective instruction
7. Specify scoring meth
some approaches to develop a test

1. Test validity
2. Test reliability
3. Objectivity
4. Discrimination
5. Item facility
 Test validity
Test validity is absolutely important factor in
measurement process, it refers to the
appropriate made from ss’s test results. A test
is valid if it is supposed to measure what it is
written to measure
Ex: a test is written to measure ss’ English
speaking ability, it should measure ss’ English
speaking ability, not other skills
 Criteria Test validity
1 content validity
2 construct validity
3 criterion related validity
content validity: in order to confirm that
whether the test is valid, the test strongly
need to endorsed through out 3 experts of test
development, and item objective congruence
(IOC) was computed:
If IOC 0,5 it means that task consistent with
the purpose
If IOC 0,5 it means that task inconsistent with
the purpose