What is research methodology?
Here! We would be talking about the basic idea behind research methodology methodology. The basic steps for a scientific research methodology the types of Descriptive research methodology are a relationship between cause and effect and ethics. Used for any research methodology. Now, to start with how can we identify whether a research methodology is scientific or not it’s very very interesting topic. Say, I am there at an airport or a railway station and I see people with 2 different outlooks. one who has a kind of very executive and formal outlook and another person with long hair might be I have a pre mindset that this person might smoke and this is a kind of executive person because he is in a formal dress but is that a reality I would definitely say, no. A scientific research methodology is only true if you have certain foundations on which you can proof that what you are stating is correct. That is just my preconceived notion that since this person is having long hairs, might be this person smokes. So, the idea behind any scientifically research methodology is finding the basic ethics. And the basic foundation is stone and once I can prove that this research methodology or this basis on which I am saying that persons with long hair smoke is true then only I can proof that this is a research methodology which is scientific in nature. So, there are various steps that are involved under a scientific research methodology. So, if I say steps that are involved in a scientific research methodology, I would say there are 5 steps that I could classify. Now, I have a scene here. Where there are group of children who are sitting and watching television but on television, they are seeing like scenes which are violent in nature. Now, based on this what would be the steps in my scientific research methodology. 1stis perceive question. So, my first instant question would be what is happening around. So, what is happening is a kind of question that is being asked here. Now, I try to formulate the hypothesis. What is hypothesis? Hypothesis is a kind of tentative solution to a problem. So, what is the problem here that the children who are watching violent scenes on television might become aggressive? So, I formulate the hypothesis that children who watch violent programmes on television, becomes aggressive in nature.
Say whether the behaviour of children in group a is more aggressive then behaviour of children in group b. So, that is where I test hypothesis but, when I formulate hypothesis. There is a kind of phenomena which is known as conformation biasness. Conformation biasness means I have a pre assume tendency to notice things on which I agree upon. So, for example I say I have a preconceive notion that people with long hair smoke. Then I would ignore all long haired people, who are not smoking. So, that is what a kind of confirmation biasness is and this conformation biasness affects your formulation of hypothesis. So, I have a preconceive notion that people with long hair smoke. So, we talked about perceiving the question then formulating the hypothesis that is a tentative solution to the problem that is given. Then try to test the hypothesis. Finally, I draw conclusions and that is what the goal of prediction is. So, I here try to predict in the second step that children turn to be aggressive if they see violent shows on television and what I am trying to do in the conclusion is and trying to predict the goals.
So that I’m trying to do is, I’m trying to either approve the hypothesis or this approves the hypothesis. So, if I approve or support the hypothesis. I would say that yes, all the children who are aggressive in nature is because of the reason that they are watching violent shows on television. If I disapprove the hypothesis, I would say no this not the reason that the children turn to be violent and then finally I report my research methodology. That is very important because if I have done some research methodology and if I don’t report it, it would be very difficult to replicate that research methodology. So, report helps to replicate that research methodology. So, if I have done this research methodology on this topic and there is some another person who tries or who wants to do similar research methodology on another topic. He can do that only if we try to, if I have replicated this research methodology, I have reported this result, if I have not reported this result there is another person who won’t be able to replicate the research methodology. So, reporting of the result is very important. Now, this can be done only if I have unscientific problem. Now, how should I demarcate whether a problem is scientific in nature, or non-scientific in nature. So, understanding whether a problem is scientific or empirical or it is not scientific or not empirical is an important question in research methodology methodology. How, can we do that? I have 2 questions here. 1st question says where does life exist or I could say, do life exist on Mars. Do lives exist on mars or moon or anything. Same here, okay. So, that’s my first question. The second Question is what is life? So, the first question I’m asking does life exist on moon? Now, this question can be answer based on scientific findings of research methodology.
What is descriptive research methodology?
I would say that psychology is a science by nature not arts per say, per say because most of the research methodologyes I would say in psychology. Deal with understanding human behaviour and therefore it is much more scientific nature. Now, I have these 5 steps that I have mentioned here to understand in 5 steps. I could apply various methods and these 4 methods that I could apply are known as descriptive methods. Now, what do we understand by descriptive method. So, descriptive research methodology are those methods which could be explained. In I could say detail. Here we have the four research methodology that we’ll talk about naturalistic observation, laboratory observation, case study and surveys. Now, to start with naturalistic observation means supposedly I want to understand the feeling of the villager when, he is in a farm. So, I would go to the farm and see the villager doing various activities and observe them. That is what is naturalistic observation.I’m trying to observe the villager of the farmer in his natural settings but here there is a main problem of observer biasness. If the farmer knows that I am a person who is doing research methodology on him and I am constantly seeing him in the field. His activities might get distorted and that is what is known as observer biasness because of the presences of an observer there, his results are bias I am not exactly what they should be. So, that is a main problem of research methodology.
There are some of the remedies that have been used to avoid this observer Biasness. First is using one-way mirror. So, one-way mirror means the observer can see the participants but the participants cannot see the observer. So, it’s a kind of one-way mirror. I could see the participants what they are doing, but the participants won’t be able to see the observer. So, that is one method. Second is participant observation. So, what I do is rather than bringing it to the information of the farmer that I am an observer or I am a research methodologyer doing a research methodology on him I would become another farmer and go down in the field with the same farmer and then try to observe what he is doing. So, that is what is known as participant observation. I become a part and parcel of the person and then try to observe what he is trying to do the next is use blind observers. Blind observers mean that even I am not aware why I am there. Okay. I’m in the farm even I don’t know why I am there in the farm. After I see the farm and come back and told that I was there because I wanted to do the research methodology or see the behaviour of a farmer in the farm settings. So, that is what is a blind observer. That means observer himself does not know what does his role, when he is going to the field. So, these are some of them. This is some of the major problem that naturalistic observation face and these are some of the remedies that are done order to improve the problems of naturalistic observation.
What could be done is you cannot solve those by observation a person might not be ready to give answers in case study but in case of surveys if similar if questions asked about similar personal issues are discussed with them in form of interviews, questionnaires. Okay? Or any other similar forms what they would do they would be kind of more happy answer those questions rather than if they are being observed or they are being judged individually for the case study. So, survey provides a broad ambit for the research methodology there is another benefit of survey that you can apply it on huge number of population. Case study if you are dealing with one by one person. How many persons would you be able to cover in a day but surveys you can do kind of provide questionnaire to all the 100 people sitting in the chamber and all of the 100 people can answer those at a single go, so you can apply surveys on huge number of population another benefit of survey is you randomly select people so random selection is again important its early because if I say if I want to observe students from grade 1 to 5 rather than assessing all the hundred of each class I can go for 20 students from each class and that would be a kind of sample survey or I have done random selection for this survey. So that is one of the benefit that survey technique has. Now we have talked about survey case studies, laboratory observations and naturalistic observations. All this imply descriptive statistics. However it’s important to note that rather than doing a research methodology which is descriptive in nature what we are trying to find is relationship. Relationship by means of cause in effect so if I can say the weather is dark today it might rain or there are black clouds or dark clouds it might rain so that is something I am trying to do a cause effect relationship the cause is the clouds here and because of the effect would be rain.
So such relationships with research methodology could be understood either by experimentations or by co-relation. Now we would be covering co-relation in detail under the section on statistics again here we are just breathily introducing this concept and experiment again we will be covering in detail we would be breathily touching these two topics here now co-relation means the relationship between element x and y so I would say if I pantograph you have element x and y the relationship between that element can be given by co-relation and co-relation is usually soon by means of scatter diagram so all the values or all the people whom I am experimenting on if I try to individually mark the location of them I would get graph with different types usually the value of co-relation varies from minus one, zero and plus one.
However, to understand research methodology better there can be two different effects one is the placebo effect other is the experimental placebo effect is the effect that I have a plumbly that if I go to doctor x, y, z whatever treatment he gives me I get well Now based on that I have a kind of minor headache and I go to doctor x, y, z and he gives me a placebo. Placebo is a kind of drug I would say which has no composition it’s a kind of normal sugar powder that put in the capsule and the doctor gives me the sugar powder and says you take this capsule and you will be alright The next day I come to doctor and I say I am alright that means I am not well because there was some meditation in research methodology but because of the placebo effect that is taking place similar to placebo effect there is another effect which is known as experimental research methodology under experimental effect what happens is candidate tries to perform better because there is presence of the experimental so for example if I am doing a research methodology on a say a group of people or sit a students were suffering from Alzheimer’s so I have a set of candidates who are suffering from alzymers and I am giving them the second drug dose he will be maybe to do that effort they can give me good result and that’s because of the experimental effect if the experimental is not the experimental did not have a kind of a exceptions that he would give me good results might be that result would have not come out So there can be two types of effects that affect any experiment one is the placebo effect and other is the experimental effect.
Again when you are doing the research methodology or experiment there can be two types of experiment one is single blind experiment and other is double blind experiment single blind experiment is an experiment in which the participant is un aware about the treatment been given so or the experiment been conducted. So I have a participant here who does not know anything and he is under an experiment Double blind experiments are those experiments in which neither the participant know nor the experimental know what is going around there is a third person who is putting all the settings and both the participants and the experimental are totally unaware and that is the mainly because of the reason to avoid by is the result so rather then there is in case there is no placebo and no experimental effect to avoid those effects what is happening here is there is a double blind experiment that has been set up. Now we have talked about the various steps in the various types or methods in the experiment the most important topic that we would be discussing now is the ethics now there are certain ethics or rules I would say that are used research methodology methodology. The first ethic says that people 1st, research methodology 2nd, that means the 1st priority is given to people and not research methodology. So, all the candidates who are under research methodology settings would be given the best priority.
However, towards the end you tell them that you are taking the test. So, that is the kind of debriefing. You not informed the person prior but once everything is done you try to say you explain the person that we explained you the lecture and based on this lecture we are taking your test. The 4th is participants should be allowed to withdraw at any time so you cannot force a participant for any research methodology if the participant wants to withdraw in the middle of the research methodology he should be allowed to withdraw. The next is similar to debriefing that is done to the participants, there should be debriefing of the invigilators as well. So, invigilators should also be debriefed Similar to the participants. The next is while undergoing any kind of research methodology or experiment that the participant is doing. If he comes out with some undesirable consequences some kind of results which he was not expecting he or she must not expecting in case of such undesirable consequences is the duty of the examiner or the person who is taking the result, doing the research methodology or the experimenter to detect the problem to remove the problem and make the participants comfortable. So, comfort of the participant is the primary goal and that is one of the major ethics that is involved in research methodology methodology and all the research methodology or all the data that has been collected during the research methodology must be kept confidential. That’s another important ethical guideline in the research methodology. So, these were some of the basic ideas that we have discussed under research methodology methodology. We’ll be covering more topics on research methodology methodology in subsequent classes.
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Where to find great papers with descriptive research methodology?
Researchers who employ the descriptive research methodology may find it useful to consult global research letters. Without drawing any conclusions about the cause of the phenomenon under study, descriptive research tries to describe and analyse a phenomenon or set of phenomena. Global research letters offer access to a variety of published research studies, reports, and data sets that describe various occurrences, which might help with this kind of research.
Global research letters can help with descriptive research by giving an in-depth summary of previous research studies and their conclusions. Researchers can find gaps in the literature and places where more descriptive study may be required by reviewing previously published research. Also, access to a variety of data sets and statistical analyses that can be utilised to characterise the features of the phenomenon being examined can be found in global research letters. This information can be utilised to provide an accurate and thorough description of the phenomenon, which can aid in future study or decision-making.