Basics of
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Dr. Ekwal Imam M. Phil., Ph.D. P.G.D. Remote Sensing & GIS Assistant Professor Department of Biology, Mekelle University Mekelle, Ethiopia (Africa)
NEW INDIA PUBLISHING AGENCY New Delhi – 110 034
NEW INDIA PUBLISHING AGENCY 101, Vikas Surya Plaza, CU Block, LSC Market Pitam Pura, New Delhi 110 034, India Phone: + 91 (11)27 34 17 17 Fax: + 91(11) 27 34 16 16 Email: info@nipabooks.com Web: www.nipabooks.com Feedback at feedbacks@nipabooks.com Š Author, 2014 ISBN : 978-93-83305-43-8 All rights reserved, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher or the copyright holder. This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources. Reasonable efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author/s, editor/s and publisher cannot assume responsibility for the validity of all materials or the consequences of their use. The author/s, editor/s and publisher have attempted to trace and acknowledge the copyright holders of all material reproduced in this publication and apologize to copyright holders if permission and acknowledgements to publish in this form have not been taken. If any copyright material has not been acknowledged please write and let us know so we may rectify it, in subsequent reprints. Trademark notice: Presentations, logos (the way they are written/presented) in this book are under the trademarks of the publisher and hence, if copied/resembled the copier will be prosecuted under the law. Composed, Designed and Printed at Jai Bharat Printing Press, Delhi
DEDICATED TO
MY BELOVED DAUGHTER FATIMA SON SHARIB & WIFE SHAHINA
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Foreword
It gives me great pleasure to write foreword for the book entitled "Basics of Research Methodology" written by Dr. Ekwal Imam, Assistant Professor of Ecology in the Department of Biology, College of Natural and Computational Science, Mekelle University, Mekelle, Ethiopia. With the time, Research Methodology has become a very important tool for ecological, natural and medical sciences. Research Methodology has opened up new vistas for biological sciences during twentieth century, however, the subject has not received much attention and there is an extreme paucity of comprehensive and concise text books, which are suitable for students and researchers engaged in ecological and biomedical sciences. Most research outputs fail to gain acceptance at the international level owing to poor research design. Therefore, this book includes some of the widely used procedures and application, which would certainly increase the chances of due recognition of the work. Many institutions and universities are offering Research Methodology at undergraduate and post-graduate level. But the major challenge is unavailability of basic text books suiting the needs of the countries where English is not their native language. Most of the books on these aspects available in the market are written by authors of western countries and designed to fit into their educational programmes. As a result, there is a need to write a book which should be suitable for students of Asian and African countries, whose mother tongue is not English but their medium of instruction is English. Dr. Ekwal Imam deserves to be congratulated for his bold effort and devotion for writing this book. Dr. Imam, who was teaching Research Methodology to the Post graduate and Under graduate students in the Department of Biology, Mekelle, University, Ethiopia, has tried to keep the language of this book as simple as possible, so that students from both the continents will have maximum benefit from this book. I hope this book will surely fill the gap between teachers and taught, on account of its indigenous approach of presentation of the subject matter and immense worth for the biological, biomedical undergraduate, post graduate students and Ph.D. scholars as well. vii
Foreword/viii
A copy of this book deserves a space on the shelf of libraries. Dr.Tesfamichael G. Yohannes (Ph.D.) Dean, College of Natural and Computational Science Mekelle University, Mekelle, Ethiopia (Africa)
Preface
The "Basics of Research Methodology" is a reference book; useful for undergraduates, postgraduates and research scholars of biological, ecological and medical sciences. The book has been written keeping in view the requirements of students at different levels. Many institutions and universities are offering this course at undergraduate, postgraduate and Ph.D. level. But the major challenge is unavailability of basic text books suiting the needs of the countries where English is not their native language. Most of the books on these aspects available in the market are written by authors of western countries and designed to fit into their educational programmes. This book grew out of my teaching and research experiences. The purpose of writing this book is to provide an accessible reference book on research methodology, which may be helpful for students in developing proper research design and methodology. The methods described in this book are, of course same as those used in different disciplines, but things are made so user's friendly that even general readers will find this book useful. The chapters of the book have been organised in such a way that suits the course curriculum of various universities. The book begins with chapter- Introduction, which deals with the concept of research methodology. Second chapter includes details on collection of data, followed by sampling techniques. Chapter four enumerates sample size calculation. Basic concept of probability is provided in chapter five, whereas, in chapter six, hypothesis formulation is discussed in detail. Chapter seven will give an insight on how to write a research proposal/ project with an example. In chapter eight, writing a scientific research paper, how to write a review paper, methods of presenting research outcome using oral presentation, poster presentation and ethics in research are discussed. At the end of this chapter, some of the words which are commonly misused are pointed out. Chapter nine is all about the methods deal in data presentation using table, graph, figure etc. A chapter is also devoted to selected bibliography, which may be helpful for further reading. ix
Preface/x
The material for this book has been drawn from different published and unpublished sources. I do not claim any original contribution except in matters of organization and presentation. While writing this book, various people helped me directly or indirectly. I acknowledge all the authors/publishers mentioned in bibliography, particularly Dunbar, Fienberg, Hutt and Hutt, J. Altman, Jim Fowler & Louis Cohen, R. Kumar, NCERT, Philip N. Lehner, R. Das & P. Das, Salim Javed & Rahul Kaul, and anonymous authors as some of the concepts and examples are taken from their books/write-ups and incorporated here. I am thankful to my mother Husn Ara, wife Shahina, son Sharib and daughter Fatima for their moral support. Thanks are also acknowledged to Dr. Md. Saghiruddin, Prof. H.S.A. Yahya, Prof Jamal A. Khan, Dr. Afifullah Khan, Prof. Naushad Ahmad, Dr. Satish Kumar, Dr. Orus, Dr. Shahid Ben Zeya, Dr. Khalid Saifullah, Dr. Serajuddin, Dr. Tahir Hussain, Dr. Faiza Abbasi, Dr. Alem, Dr. Sethuraman, Dr. Imtiyaz, Dr. Mushir, Dr. Tadese, Dr. Solomon, Dr. Meheretu, Mr. Zewdneh, Mr. Dawit and Mr. Tsegazeb for their encouragement and valuable suggestions while developing this book. Last but not least at the end I thank publisher, New India Publishing Agency, New Delhi, who agreed to make my dream true. DR. EKWAL IMAM
Symbols
Common Symbols 1 a b 0 = _ a P(A) P(A/B) S Mt T N N
Alpha: Probability of a type I error Beta: Probability of a type II error Slope of a regression line Intercept of a regression line on the y axis Gradient of a regression line (also known as the regression co-efficient) Intercept of a regression line Equals delta: Population mean difference between two paired measurements Does not equal Less than or equal to epsilon: The residual or error term in ANOVA and regression More than or equal to Absolute or positive value of a Sigma: Summation theta: The population median or the odds ratio Pi = Population proportion Probability of event A Probability of event A given that event B has happened null hypothesis mu: The population mean Estimate of from sample data The population trimmed mean T test , critical value that follows the t distribution nu: Degree of freedom Sample size xi
Symbols/xii
SD SE P R r2 R2 2 Cv Df E O X H0 H1
Sample standard deviation Sample standard error rho: The population correlation coefficient sample correlation Coefficient of determination Squared multiple correlation in multiple regression sigma: The population standard deviation Sigma squared: population variance Coefficient of variation Degree of freedom phi: A measure of association Expected frequency Observed frequency chi: X2 is a type of distribution Null hypothesis Alternative hypothesis
X Y Y’ Z T P U T F Q
Dependent variable in regression Predicted value of Y regression Critical ratio that follows the a z of normal distribution tau: Kendall’s tau Probability Test statics of the Mann-Whitney U-test Test statics of the Wilcoxon’s test for matched pair Test statics of the F –test Test statics of the tukey test
X bar: sample mean
Contents
Dedicated to .................................................................................................... v Foreword ....................................................................................................... vii Preface ............................................................................................................ ix Symbols ......................................................................................................... xi 1. Research Methodology ........................................................................ 1 1.1. Introduction ............................................................................................. 1 1.2. Methods of Acquiring Knowledge ........................................................ 2 1.3. Research Processes .................................................................................. 8 1.4. Summary ................................................................................................ 10
2. Collection of Data .............................................................................. 11 2.1. Introduction ........................................................................................... 11 2.2. Primary Data collection Methods ........................................................ 12 2.2.1. Research, Experiment and Observation ................................. 12 2.2.2. Questionnaire Survey ............................................................... 13 2.2.3. Interview ..................................................................................... 18 2.2.3.1.
Personal interview .................................................... 18
2.2.3.2.
Postal/Mail questionnaire survey .......................... 20
2.2.3.3.
Telephone interview ................................................. 24
2.2.4. Focus group Interviews ............................................................ 27 2.2.5. Case-Studies ............................................................................... 27 2.2.6. Diaries ......................................................................................... 28 2.3. Summary ................................................................................................ 29
3. Sampling Techniques ........................................................................ 31 3.1. Census and sample surveys ................................................................. 31 3.2. Classification of Sampling Techniques ............................................... 37
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Fi r s tf e wp a g e so ft h i sb o o ka r ep u b l i s h e d o nk i s a n . c o mb yi t sp u b l i s h e r . I fy o uwi s ht op u r c h a s eah a r d c o p y o ft h i sb o o k , p l e a s ec o n t a c tt h ep u b l i s h e r .
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