Gelila International Seminary

course: research methodology

lecturer:
Birhanu Terefe Difiru
(BSC PH, MSc. MPHN, Specialty, PhD in Leadership
and Management , Ass. Proffesor )
Introduction to research
 At the end of the lecture, you
should able to know:
Define “research”
Define Business research as knowledge
Explain the Element of Research
Know the objectives of the research
Describe the motivates or research
Classify the types of Business Research
Birhanu Terefe D. (PhD) Lecture note 06/10/2024 2
 The meaning Research
• One can also define research as a scientific and
systematic search for pertinent( relevant)
information on a specific topic.
• Research is an art of scientific investigation.
• The Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current
English lays down the meaning of research as “a
careful investigation or inquiry, especially
through search for new facts in any branch of
knowledge.”
• Redman and Mory define research as a
“systematized effort to gain new knowledge.”
Birhanu Terefe D. (PhD) Lecture note 06/10/2024 3
 Cont..
• Some people consider research as a movement,
• a movement from the known to the unknown.
• It is a voyage(Trip) of discovery.
• We all possess the vital instinct or nature of inquisitiveness
for, when the unknown confronts or challenges us, we wonder
and our inquisitiveness makes us probe or seek and attain
full and fuller understanding of the unknown.
This inquisitiveness is the mother of all knowledge and
the method, which man employs for obtaining knowledge of
whatever the unknown, can be termed as research.
Birhanu Terefe D. (PhD) Lecture note 06/10/2024 4
 Cont..
• Research is an academic activity and
as such the term should be used in a
technical sense.
• According to Clifford Woody research
comprises defining and redefining
problems, formulating hypotheses or
suggested solutions; collecting,
organizing, and evaluating data;
making deductions, and reaching
conclusions.
Birhanu Terefe D. (PhD) Lecture note 06/10/2024 5
 Cont..
Carefully testing the conclusions to determine
whether they fit the formulating hypothesis. D.
Slesinger and M. Stephenson in the Encyclopedia of
Social Sciences define research as “the manipulation
of things, concepts or symbols to generalize to
extend, correct or verify knowledge, whether that
knowledge aids in the construction of theory or the
practice of an art.”
• Research is, thus, an original contribution to the
existing stock of knowledge making for its
advancement

Birhanu Terefe D. (PhD) Lecture note 06/10/2024 6

 Cont..
• It is the pursuit (Hunt)of truth with the help of study, observation,
comparison, and experiment.
• In short, the search for knowledge through objective and systematic
methods of finding the solution to a problem is research.
• The systematic approach concerning generalization and the
formulation of a theory is also researched.
• As such the term ‘research’ refers to the systematic method
consisting of articulating the problem, formulating a hypothesis,
collecting the facts or data, analyzing the facts, and reaching certain
conclusions either in the form of solutions(s) towards the concerned
problem or in certain generalizations for some theoretical
formulation.
Birhanu Terefe D. (PhD) Lecture note 06/10/2024 7
 Cont..

• Meaning: The investigation process of human

beings called Scientific Investigation because these
kinds of Research proceed scientifically. We can
easily define it as Re – Search (again search)
• It must be in a scientific way and its consequence
should be something fruitful which is adding
something with well observation on old things; and
makes reliable/easy to enforcement.

Birhanu Terefe D. (PhD) Lecture note 06/10/2024 8

 Element of Research:

• Investigatory, desirable mind

• Specific field
• Availability of information
• Descriptive presumption
• Scientific theory Explanation
• Fruitful logical theory

Birhanu Terefe D. (PhD) Lecture note 06/10/2024 9

 Nature of Research?

• Nature of Research: Objectively new knowledge

or ideas add/enrich current idea(s) with disciplined
desire.
• It works with an investigative mind and high
enthusiasm to find some new reliable way that is
easier than the previous one.

Birhanu Terefe D. (PhD) Lecture note 06/10/2024 10

 The objectives of research:

• The purpose of research is to discover answers to

questions through the application of scientific
procedures. The main aim of research is to find out
the truth which is hidden and which has not been
discovered as yet. Though each research study has
its own specific purpose, we may think of research
objectives as falling into a number of following
broad groupings:

Birhanu Terefe D. (PhD) Lecture note 06/10/2024 11

 Cont..
• To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to achieve new
insights into it (studies with this Object in view are termed as
exploratory or formulative research studies);
• To portray accurately the characteristics of a particular
individual, situation, or group (Studies with this object in view
are known as descriptive research studies);
• To determine the frequency with which something occurs or
with which it is associated with something else (studies with
this object in view are known as diagnostic research studies);
• To test a hypothesis of a causal relationship between variables
(such studies are known as hypothesis-testing research studies).
Birhanu Terefe D. (PhD) Lecture note 06/10/2024 12
 Motivations of research

• What makes people to undertake research? This is a

question of fundamental importance. The possible
motives for doing research may be either one or
more of the following:
• 1. Desire to get a research degree along with its
consequential benefits;
• 2. Desire to face the challenge in solving the
unsolved problems, i.e., concern over practical
Problems initiates’ research;
Birhanu Terefe D. (PhD) Lecture note 06/10/2024 13
 Cont.
3. Desire to get the intellectual joy of doing some creative work
4. Desire to be of service to society;
5. Desire to get respectability.
However, this is not an exhaustive list of factors motivating
people to undertake research studies. Many more factors such
as directives of government, employment conditions, curiosity
about new things, desire to understand causal relationships,
social thinking and awakening, and the like may as
well motivate (or at times compel) people to perform research
operations.
Birhanu Terefe D. (PhD) Lecture note 06/10/2024 14
 Types of research

• the basic types of research according to the purpose are

as a follows:
• Descriptive research: defining (what) and describing
social phenomena of interest. Individuals, groups,
institutions, compare and contrast , classify and analysis.
• Descriptive research includes (define and
describe)surveys and fact-finding enquiries of different
kinds. The major purpose of descriptive research is
description of the state of affairs as it exists at present.
Birhanu Terefe D. (PhD) Lecture note 06/10/2024 15
 Descriptive research

• In social science and business research we quite

often use the main characteristic of this method is
that the researcher has no control over the
variables; he can only report what has happened or
what is happening.
• Most research projects are used for descriptive
studies in which the researcher seeks to measure
such items as, for example, frequency of shopping,
preferences of people, or similar data.
Birhanu Terefe D. (PhD) Lecture note 06/10/2024 16
 Descriptive research

• Descriptive research also attempts by researchers

to discover causes even when they cannot control
the variables.
• The methods of research utilized in descriptive
research are survey methods of all kinds, including
comparative and correlational methods.

Birhanu Terefe D. (PhD) Lecture note 06/10/2024 17

 Exploratory research

• Exploratory research :is defined as a research used to

investigate a problem which is not clearly defined.
• It is conducted to have a better understanding of the
existing problem, but will not provide conclusive
results. For such a research, a researcher starts with a
general idea and uses this research as a medium to
identify issues that can be the focus for future research.
An important aspect here is that the researcher should
be willing to change his/her direction subject to the
revelation of new data or insight.
Birhanu Terefe D. (PhD) Lecture note 06/10/2024 18
 Exploratory research

• Such a research is usually carried out when the

problem is at a preliminary stage.
• It is often referred to as grounded theory approach
or interpretive research as it used to answer
questions like what, why and how.

Birhanu Terefe D. (PhD) Lecture note 06/10/2024 19

 Explanatory research

• Explanatory research: cause and effect

relationship .it uses available information to
analysis Seeks to identify causes and effects of
social phenomena and to predict how one
phenomenon will change or vary in response to
variation in some other phenomenon.

Birhanu Terefe D. (PhD) Lecture note 06/10/2024 20

 Evaluation research

• Evaluation research seeks to determine the effects

of programs, policies, or other efforts to affect
social patterns, whether by government agencies,
private nonprofits, or for-profit businesses. This is a
type of explanatory research, because it deals with
cause and effect, but it differs from other forms of
explanatory research because evaluation research
focuses on one type of cause: programs, policies,
and other conscious efforts to create change.
Birhanu Terefe D. (PhD) Lecture note 06/10/2024 21
 Other division

• Research can be classified based on practical

solution:
• Applied research:
• Basic research :

Birhanu Terefe D. (PhD) Lecture note 06/10/2024 22

 Applied research
• Applied research aims at finding a solution for an immediate
problem facing a society or an industrial/business
organization.
• facing a concrete social or business problem is an example of
applied research.
• Research to identify social, economic, or political trends that
may affect a particular institution or copy research (research
to find out whether certain communications will be read and
understood) or marketing research or evaluation research are
examples of applied research.
• Thus, the central aim of applied research is to discover a
solution for some pressing practical problem,
Birhanu Terefe D. (PhD) Lecture note 06/10/2024 23
 Basic research

• whereas fundamental research is mainly concerned

with generalizations and with the formulation of a
theory.
• “Gathering knowledge for knowledge’s sake is
termed ‘pure’ or ‘basic’ research.”
• Research concerning some natural phenomenon or
relating to pure mathematics are examples of
fundamental research.
• Similarly, research studies, concerning human
behavior carried on to make generalizations about
human behavior
Birhanu Terefe D. (PhD) Lecture note 06/10/2024 24
 Differences?
• Purpose: Basic research
• expand knowledge of processes of business and management
• results in universal principles relating to the
process and its relationship to outcomes
• findings of significance and value to society in general.
• Basic Research refers to the study that is aimed at expanding
the existing base of scientific knowledge.
• Nature: theoretical
• Utility: Universal
• Concerned with Developing scientific knowledge and
predictions
Birhanu Terefe D. (PhD) Lecture note 06/10/2024 25
 Basic research

• Context:
• undertaken by people based in universities
• choice of topic and objectives determined
by the researcher
• flexible timescales
Goal: To add some knowledge to the existing one

Birhanu Terefe D. (PhD) Lecture note 06/10/2024 26

 Applied research
Purpose:
• improve understanding of particular business
or management problem
• results in solution to problem
• new knowledge limited to problem
• findings of practical relevance and value to
manager(s) in organisation(s)
• Applied Research is the research that is designed to solve specific practical
problems or answer certain questions
• Nature: Practical
• Concerned with: Development of technology and technique
Birhanu Terefe D. (PhD) Lecture note 06/10/2024 27
 Cont..

• Context:
• undertaken by people based in a variety of settings,
including organizations and universities
• objectives negotiated with originator(initiator)
• tight timescales
• Utility: Limited
• Goal: To find out solution for the problem at hand.
Birhanu Terefe D. (PhD) Lecture note 06/10/2024 28
 Definitions?

• Basic Research or otherwise called as pure or fundamental

research, is one that focuses on advancing scientific
knowledge for the complete understanding of a topic or
certain natural phenomenon, primarily in natural sciences.
• when knowledge is acquired for the sake of knowledge it
is called basic research.
• Basic Research is completely theoretical, that focuses on
basic principles and testing theories.
• It tends to understand the basic law.
Birhanu Terefe D. (PhD) Lecture note 06/10/2024 29
 Definition of Applied Research

• Applied Research can be defined as research that

encompasses real life application of the natural science.
• It is directed towards providing a solution to the specific
practical problems and develop innovative technology.
• In better terms, it is the research that can be applied to
real-life situations.
• It studies a particular set of circumstances, so as to relate
the results to its corresponding circumstances.

Birhanu Terefe D. (PhD) Lecture note 06/10/2024 30

 Reference

• C.R. KOTHARI (1990). Research methodology,

method and Techniques.
• Saunders, M., Lewis, P., & Thornhill, A. (2007).
Research methods for Business students .

Birhanu Terefe D. (PhD) Lecture note 06/10/2024 31