unit 02 [compatibility mode]

Research Methodology

Dr. I. Manjubala

Email: [email protected] Intercom: 2513

Room No. 313, CBMR Building

Dr. I. Manjubala SBST, VIT University

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Unit - II

• Problem identification and formulation• Scientific Research: Problem, Definition,

Objectives, Types, Purposes and components of Research problem.


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Definition of Research Problem

A research problem is the situation that causes the researcherto feel apprehensive, confused and hard.

Operationalization is then used to give some indication of theexact definitions of the variables, and the type of scientificmeasurement used.

Operationalization is the process of strictly defining variablesinto measurable factors. The process defines ambiguousconcepts and allows them to be measured, empirically andquantitatively.


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Selection of Research Problem

First step in research process is the choice of a suitableproblem

Enlist the specific questions like WHO,WHAT, WHERE,WHEN and WHY of the problem.

A problem well defined is half solved The formulation of the problem is often more essential than its

solution. The actual reasons (possible causes) for the discrepancy

between what is (current situation) and what is desired (e.g.lack of motivation among students)


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Selection of Research ProblemCriteria/Factors of selecting the problemso Academic background of the researchero Researcher's experiences, aptitudes, ability , values , behavior etco Researcher's training and orientationo Researcher's purpose and objectiveso Originality and Utility of the research o Direction of the organization where the researcher workso Availability of data and information – primary, secondary sourceso Access to the study areao Resource availability – money, manpowero Time factoro Supervisor’s time, qualification, experiences, interest, etco Nature of the problems – need oriented, problem solving, etco Controversial topico Nor too narrow/vague Dr. I. Manjubala

SBST, VIT University5

Evaluation of The Research Problemo Is the problem of current interest? Will the research results have

social, educational or scientific value?o Will it be possible to apply the results in practice?o Does the research contribute to the science of education?o Will the research opt new problems and lead to further research?o Is there enough scope left within the area/field of research?o Will it be possible for another researcher to repeat the research?o Will it have any value? and are you motivated to undertake the research?o Do you have the necessary knowledge and skills to do the research? Areo you qualified to undertake the research?o Do you have the necessary funds for the research?o Do you have access to the administrative, statistic and computero facilities the research necessitates?o Will it be practically possible to undertake the research?o Is the research free of any ethical problems and limitations?Dr. I. Manjubala


Evaluation of the Research ProblemIn short• Is the problem researchable?• Is the problem new?• Is the problem significant?• Is the solution to this problem helpful for the

development of further knowledge?• Is the problem feasible for researcher?• Research competencies• Interest and enthusiasm• Financial consideration• Time requirements• Administrative considerations


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Defining a Research Problem

what a problem is?

(i) There must be an individual (or a group or an organization) to whom the problem can be attributed

• It/he/she occupies an environment, say ‘N’, whichis defined by values of the uncontrolled variables, Yj.

(ii) At least two courses of action, say C1 and C2, to be pursued• A course of action is defined by one or more values of the controlled variables.–For example, the number of items purchased at aspecified time is said to be one course of action.


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WHAT IS A RESEARCH PROBLEM?

(iii) There must be at least two possible outcomes, say O1 and O2

(iv) The courses of action available must provides some chance of obtaining the objective, but they cannot provide the same chance, otherwise the choice would not matter.

Thus, if P (Oj | I, Cj, N) represents the probabilitythat an outcome Oj will occur, if I select Cj in N,then P(O1II,C1, N)≠ P(O1II C2, N)


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Components of a research problem:

(i) Individual or a group which has some difficulty or the problem

(ii) some objective(s) to be attained at.• If one wants nothing, one cannot have a problem

(iii) There must be alternative means (or the courses of action) for obtaining the objective(s) one wishes to attain.

• This means that there must be at least two meansavailable to a researcher for if he has no choice ofmeans, he cannot have a problem.


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Components of a research problem:

(iv) There must remain some doubt in the mind of a researcher with regard to the selection of alternatives.

• This means that research must answer thequestion concerning the relative efficiency of thepossible alternatives.

(v) There must be some environment(s) to which the difficulty pertains.


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SELECTING THE PROBLEM

– The research problem undertaken for study must be carefully selected.– The task is a difficult one, although it may not appear to be so.

– (i) Subject which is overdone should not be normally chosen, for it will be a difficult task to throw any new light in such a case.– (ii) Controversial subject should not become the choice of an average researcher.


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SELECTING THE PROBLEM– (iii) Too narrow or too vague (fuzzy) problems should be avoided.

– (iv) The subject selected for research should be familiar and feasible so that the related research material or sources of research are within one’s reach.

• Even then it is quite difficult to supply definitiveideas concerning how a researcher should obtainideas for his research.


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– a researcher should contact an expert or a professor in the University who is already engaged in research– read articles published in current literature availableon the subject

• may think how the techniques and ideas discussed there in might be applied to the solution of other problems

– discuss with others what he has in mind concerning aproblem.

• In this way he should make all possible efforts in selecting a problem.



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– (v) The importance of the subject,• the qualifications and the training of a researcher,• the costs involved,• the time factor,• a researcher must ask himself the following questions:

– (a) Whether he is well equipped in terms of his background to carry out the research?– (b) Whether the study falls within the budget he can afford?– (c) Whether the necessary cooperation can be obtained from those who must participate in research as subjects?



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– (vi) The selection of a problem must be preceded by a preliminary study.

• This may not be necessary when the problem requires the conduct of a research closely similar to one that has already been done.• But when the field of inquiry is relatively new and does not have available a set of well developed techniques, a brief feasibility study must always be undertaken



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TECHNIQUE IN DEFINING A PROBLEM– (i) statement of the problem in a general way;– (ii) understanding the nature of the problem;– (iii) surveying the available literature– (iv) developing the ideas through discussions; and– (v) rephrasing the research problem into a workingproposition.


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(i) Statement of the problem in a general way:– problem should be stated in a broad general way, keeping in view either some practical concern or some scientific or intellectual interest.– the researcher must immerse himself thoroughly in the subject matter concerning which he wishes to pose a problem.– In case of social research, it is considered advisable to do some field observation or pilot survey.– Then state the problem or he can seek the guidance of the guide or the subject expert in accomplishingthis task.


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(ii) Understanding the nature of the problem:– to understand its origin and nature clearly.– The best way of understanding the problem is to discuss it with those who first raised it in order to find out how the problem originally came about and with what objectives in view.– If the researcher has stated the problem himself, he should consider once again all those points that induced him to make a general statement concerning the problem.– For a better understanding of the nature of the problem involved, he can enter into discussion with those who have a good knowledge of the problem concerned or similar other problems.– The researcher should also keep in view the environment within which the problem is to be studied and understood.


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(iii) Surveying the available literature:– All available literature concerning the problem must necessarily be surveyed and examined before a definition of the research problem is given.

• To find out what data and other materials, if any, are available for operational purposes.• “Knowing what data are available often serves to narrow the problem itself as well as the technique that might be used.”


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(iii) Surveying the available literature:– If there are certain gaps in the theories,

• or whether the existing theories applicable to the problem under study are inconsistent with each other,• or whether the findings of the different studies do not follow a pattern consistent with the theoretical expectations and so on.

– indicating the type of difficulties that may be encountered in the present study

• as also the possible analytical shortcomings.


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(iv) Developing the ideas through discussions:– often produces useful information– Various new ideas can be developed– Discuss problem with colleagues and others who have enough experience in the same area or in working on similar problems– This is quite often known as an experience survey– People with rich experience are in a position to enlighten the researcher on different aspects of his proposed study and their advice and comments are usually invaluable to the researcher– They help him sharpen his focus of attention on specific aspects within the field.


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(v) Rephrasing the research problem:– to rephrase the research problem into a working proposition.– rephrasing the problem into analytical or operational terms– puts the research problem in as specific terms as possible so that it may become operationally viable and may help in the development of working hypotheses


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Defining a research problem:

The following points must also be observed while defining aresearch problem:

– (a) Technical terms and words or phrases, with specialmeanings used in the statement of the problem, should be clearlydefined.

– (b) Basic assumptions or postulates (if any) relating to theresearch problem should be clearly stated.

– (c) A straight forward statement of the value of the investigation(i.e., the criteria for the selection of the problem)

– (d) The suitability of the time-period and the sources of dataavailable

– (e) The scope of the investigation or the limits within which theresearch Dr. I. Manjubala


An example :• “Why is productivity in Japan so much higher than in India”?

In this form the question has a number of ambiguities such as:– What sort of productivity is being referred to?– With what industries the same is related?– With what period of time the productivity is being

talked about?In view of all such ambiguities the given statement or

the question is much too general to be amenable toanalysis.

• Rethinking and discussions about the problemDr. I. Manjubala


Example• “What factors were responsible for the higher labour productivity of Japan’s manufacturing industries during the decade 1971 to 1980 relative to India’s manufacturing industries?”– an improvement over its earlier version for the variousambiguities• Further rethinking and rephrasing

– “To what extent did labour productivity in 1971 to 1980 in Japan exceed that of India in respect of 15 selected manufacturing industries? What factors were responsible for the productivity differentials between the two countries by industries?”


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• Example:– the various terms involved such as ‘labour

productivity’, ‘productivity differentials’, etc. must be explained clearly.

• The researcher must also see that the necessary data are available.• In case the data for one or more industries selected are not available for the concerning timeperiod, then the said industry or industries will have to be substituted by other industry or industries.

–The suitability of the time-period must also beexamined.


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Assignment:

– Look at any scientific paper, and you will see the research problem, written almost like a statement of intent.

– Defining a research problem is crucial in defining the quality of the answers, and determines the exact research method used.


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CHECKLIST FOR TESTING THE FEASIBILITY OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM


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Example– An anthropologist might find references to a relatively unknown tribe in Papua New Guinea.– Through inductive reasoning, she arrives at the research problem and asks,

• ‘How do these people live and how does theirculture relate to nearby tribes?’

– She has found a gap in knowledge, and she seeks to fill it, using a qualitative case study, without a hypothesis


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An IllustrationSuppose that a research problem in a broad general way is as follows:

Why do Maharashtrian entrepreneurs lack behind other business

communities?

32Dr. I. Manjubala SBST, VIT University

Ambiguities in the question• Who is an entrepreneur?• Who is a Maharashtrian?• Which are the ‘other communities’ in business?• Are we speaking of a specific business or all

businesses?• Do self employed professionals like lawyers and doctors

fall in the category of business?• Define success and failure in business.• What is the scope of the enquiry in terms of area? Are

we looking at one suburb of Mumbai, a few suburbs of Mumbai, all of Greater Mumbai or the entire state of Maharashtra?


How would you explore the topic?• What made you think of it?• What is your perception about the problem?• Why do you think it is a problem?• Whose problem is it?• Who would you talk to about this problem?• Has something been written on it?• Where would you find data, reports etc to help you

understand the topic better?• Whose experience do you think would be of help in

understanding the problem?• What are the different perspectives to the same

problem?


Talk to whom? • Yourself, your friends, family, teachers• Economists• Sociologists• Entrepreneurs• Professionals• Writers• Editors• Icons within the community• Business associations and groups


Read what?

• Member-directories of all registered business and trading associations to find out ‘obvious’ Maharashtrian names and those from other communities.


The problem may be redefined thus

• A comparative study of the ability to take risk, sources of seed capital, time taken to expand the size of the business, nature of debt and the ratio of profit to capital investment between the Marathi speaking entrepreneur and the Gujarati speaking entrepreneur in Mumbai with specific focus on entrepreneurs involved in garments, ready-to-eat food, footwear, electronic goods, books and stationery, printing and the services sector exclusive to medicine, law and education in the suburbs of Girgaum, Vile Parle, Dadar, Borivli and Ghatkopar in Mumbai.


Keep working on defining the research problem till you are clear in your mind what is the nature of the problem, the

question that you are addressing.

Unless this is clear your research gets nowhere.


unit 02 [compatibility mode]

Science