S7

Arya Vijayan

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RESEARCH
Table of Contents

Abstract………………………………………………………………………...03
Introduction…………………………………………………………………….04
01 Research aims and philosophy ……………………………………………05
1.1 Aims and Objectives
1.2 Research Philosophies

02 Research Paradigms ……………………………………………………….08

03 Literature Search and Review ……………………………………………..10
3.1 Literature Search
3.2 Literature Review

04 Libraries and Databases …………………………………………………...14

4.1 Libraries
4.2 Databases

05 Aims and Structure of Literature Review ………………………………….17

06 Research Proposals ………………………………………………………..19

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Abstract
The research process deals with the ways and strategies used by researchers to understand the world
around us. This section deals with research of research, from how to choose a topic of interest to research
proposal and the preparation of the research report.

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Introduction
Research is a careful and detailed study into a specific problem, concern, or issue using the scientific
method. It's the adult form of the science fair projects back in elementary school, where you try and learn
something by performing an experiment. This is best accomplished by turning the issue into a question,
with the intent of the research to answer the question.

To begin researching something, you have to have a problem, concern, or issue that has turned into a
question. These can come from observing the world, prior research, professional literature, or from peers.
Research really begins with the right question, because your question must be answerable.

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01 Research Aims and Philosophy
1.1 Aims and Objectives
Research aim and objectives determine the scope, depth and the overall direction of the research;
achievement of aim provides answer to the research question. Research objectives divide research aim
into several parts and address each part separately. Moreover, research aim specifies what needs to be
studied and research objectives comprise a number of steps that address how research aim will be
achieved.

Aims and Objectives should:

 Be concise and brief.

 Be interrelated; the aim is what you want to achieve, and the objective describes how you are
going to achieve that aim.
 Be realistic about what you can accomplish in the duration of the project and the other
commitments you have
 Provide you and your supervisor(s) with indicators of how you intend to:
o approach the literature and theoretical issues related to your project.
o access your chosen subjects, respondents, units, goods or services.
o develop a sampling frame and strategy or a rationale for their selection.
o develop a strategy and design for data collection and analysis.
o deal with ethical and practical problems in your research.

Aims and Objectives should not:

 Be too vague, ambitious or broad in scope.

 Just repeat each other in different terms.
 Just be a list of things related to your research topic.
 Contradict your methods - i.e. they should not imply methodological goals or standards of
measurement, proof or generalisability of findings that the methods cannot sustain.

1.2 Research Philosophies

The term „research philosophies‟ refers to systems of beliefs and assumptions about the development of
knowledge. This means that research philosophy contains important assumptions about the way in which
you view the world. These assumptions shape all aspects of research projects.

Fig : The Research Onion

The diagram we use to depict the issues underlying the choice of

data collection techniques and analysis procedures

Source : 2015 Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornbill

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To understand research philosophy, you need to develop the skill of reflexivity, which means asking
yourself questions about your beliefs and assumptions, and treating these with the same scrutiny as you
would apply to the beliefs of others.

Research philosophies make three major types of assumption:

1) Ontology concerns researchers‟ assumptions about the nature of the world and reality, these
assumptions you make determine what research objects and phenomena you focus on, and how
you see and approach them.
2) Epistemology concerns assumptions about knowledge – how we know what we say we know, what
constitutes acceptable, valid and legitimate knowledge, and how we can communicate knowledge
to fellow human beings. Epistemological assumptions you make determines what sort of
contribution to knowledge you can make as a result of your research.
3) Axiology refers to the role of values and ethics within the research process, which incorporates
questions about how we, as researchers, deal with our own values and also with those of our
research participants.

Research philosophies can be differentiated in terms of where their assumptions fall on the objectivism–
subjectivism continua.

Objectivism incorporates assumptions of the natural sciences. It entails realist ontology (which holds that
social entities exist in reality external to and independent from social actors), epistemology focused on
the discovery of truth by means of observable, measurable facts, and claims to have a value-free,
detached axiology.

Subjectivism incorporates assumptions of the arts and humanities. It entails nominalist ontology (which
holds that social phenomena are created through the language, perceptions and consequent actions of
social actors), epistemology focused on the social actors‟ opinions, narratives, interpretations, perceptions
that convey these social realities, and claims to have a value-bound, reflexive axiology.

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References

1. Ketokivi, M. and Mantere, S. (2010) „Two strategies for inductive reasoning in organizational
research‟, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 35, No. 2, pp. 315–33.
2. (PDF) Understanding research philosophies and.... Available from:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309102603_Understanding_research_philosophies_a
nd_approaches [accessed Jul 30 2018].

3. Bryman, A. (2004). Social research methods (2nd ed.) Oxford University Press.
4. Higgins R. (1996). Approaches to research: A handbook for those writing a dissertation. Jessica
Kingsley.

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02 Research Paradigms
A broad framework of perception, understanding, belief within which theories and practices operate ,a
network of coherent ideas about the nature of the world and the functions of researchers which, adhered
to by a group of researchers, conditions their thinking and underpins their research actions. Like the
objectivism–subjectivism dimension, this ideological dimension has two opposing poles or extremes.

1) Radical change research approaches organizational problems from the viewpoint of overturning
the existing state of affairs. Such research is often visionary and utopian, being concerned with
what is possible and alternatives to the accepted current position.
2) Regulation perspectives are concerned primarily with the need for the regulation of societies and
human behavior. They assume an underlying unity and cohesiveness of societal systems and
structures.

Fig: Four paradigms for analysis

The matrix‟s four paradigms represent four different ways of

viewing the social and organizational world.

Source: Burrell and Morgan (1982) Social Paradigms and

Organizational analysis

In the bottom right corner of the matrix is the functionalist paradigm. This is located on the objectivist and
regulation dimensions. Research in this paradigm is concerned with rational explanations and developing
sets of recommendations within the current structures. Research carried out within the functionalist
paradigm is most likely to be underpinned by the positivist research philosophy , this type of research
often being referred to as „positivist-functionalist‟.

The bottom left corner of the matrix represents the interpretive paradigm. The primary focus of research
undertaken within this paradigm is the way we as humans attempt to make sense of the world around us.
The concern you would have working within this paradigm would be to understand the fundamental
meanings attached to organizational life.

In the top right corner of the matrix, combining objectivist and radical change, is the radical structuralist
paradigm , concerned with approach to research with a view to achieve fundamental change based
upon an analysis of organizational phenomena such as structural power relationships and patterns of
conflict. Research undertaken within the radical structuralist paradigm is often underpinned by a critical
realist philosophy, although such researchers differentiate themselves from extreme objectivists.

Finally, the radical humanist paradigm is located within the subjectivist and radical change dimensions. As
we noted earlier, the radical change dimension adopts a critical perspective on organizational life. It
emphasizes both its political nature and the consequences that one‟s words and deeds have upon others.
This approach concerns from within a subjectivist ontology, which would lead you to emphasize the
importance of social construction, language, processes, and instability of structures and meanings in
organizational realities.

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References

1. Norman K, Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln, Handbook of Qualitative Research, SAGE Publications,
USA,1993.
2. Ketokivi, M. and Mantere, S. (2010) „Two strategies for inductive reasoning in organizational
research‟, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 35, No. 2, pp. 315–33.
3. (PDF) Understanding research philosophies and.... Available from:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309102603_Understanding_research_philosophies_a
nd_approaches [accessed Jul 30 2018].

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03 Literature Search and Review
3.1 Literature Search
Literature search is a systematic and well-organized search from the already published data to identify
a breadth of good quality references on a specific topic. The reasons for conducting literature search are
numerous that include drawing information for making evidence-based guidelines, a step in the research
method and as part of academic assessment. However, the main purpose of a thorough literature search
is to formulate a research question by evaluating the available literature with an eye on gaps still
amenable to further research.

Literature search is done to identify appropriate methodology, design of the study; population sampled
and sampling methods, methods of measuring concepts and techniques of analysis. It also helps in
determining extraneous variables affecting the outcome and identifying faults or lacunae that could be
avoided.

Methods of literature search:

1) Protocol driven
 Hand search of journal
 Electronic search of databases
2) Snow balling
 Reference chasing
 Tracking citations
3) Personal knowledge
 Existing theories and basics
 Particular contacts and academic system
 Offhand discovery: such as finding a suitable paper when looking

Fig: Process of literature search

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3.2 Literature Review
A literature review is a search and evaluation of the available literature in your given subject or chosen
topic area. It documents the state of the art with respect to the subject or topic you are writing about.

A literature review has four main objectives:

 It surveys the literature in your chosen area of study.

 It synthesizes the information in that literature into a summary.
 It critically analyses the information gathered by identifying gaps in current knowledge; by
showing limitations of theories and points of view; and by formulating areas for further research
and reviewing areas of controversy.
 It presents the literature in an organized way.

A literature review shows your readers that you have an in-depth grasp of your subject; and that you
understand where your own research fits into and adds to an existing body of agreed knowledge.

Other way of describing those four main tasks. A literature review:

 demonstrates a familiarity with a body of knowledge and establishes the credibility of your work;
 summarizes prior research and says how your project is linked to it;
 integrates and summarizes what is known about a subject;
 demonstrates that you have learnt from others and that your research is a starting point for new
ideas.

Types of literature reviews:

1) Narrative literature review critiques the literature and summarizes the body of a literature.
Narrative review also draws conclusions about the topic and identifies gaps or inconsistencies in a
body of knowledge. You need to have a sufficiently focused research question to conduct a
narrative literature review.
2) Systematic literature review requires more rigorous and well-defined approach compared to most
other types of literature review. Systematic literature review is comprehensive and details the
timeframe within which the literature was selected. Systematic literature review can be divided
into two categories: meta-analysis and meta-synthesis.
 When you conduct meta-analysis you take findings from several studies on the same
subject and analyze these using standardized statistical procedures. In meta-analysis
patterns and relationships are detected and conclusions are drawn. Meta-analysis is
associated with deductive research approach.
 Meta-synthesis, on the other hand, is based on non-statistical techniques. This technique
integrates, evaluates and interprets findings of multiple qualitative research studies. Meta-
synthesis literature review is conducted usually when following
inductive research approach.
3) Argumentative literature review, as the name implies, examines literature selectively in order to
support or refute an argument, deeply imbedded assumption, or philosophical problem already
established in the literature. It should be noted that a potential for bias is a major shortcoming
associated with argumentative literature review.
4) Integrative literature review reviews, critiques, and synthesizes secondary data
about research topic in an integrated way such that new frameworks and perspectives on the
topic are generated. If your research does not involve primary data collection and data analysis,
then using integrative literature review will be your only option.

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5) Theoretical literature review focuses on a pool of theory that has accumulated in regard to an
issue, concept, theory, phenomena. Theoretical literature reviews play an instrumental role in
establishing what theories already exist, the relationships between them, to what degree the
existing theories have been investigated, and to develop new hypotheses to be tested.

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References

1. Pautasso M. Ten simple rules for writing a literature review. PLoS Comput
Biol. 2013;9:e1003149.[PMC free article] [PubMed]
2. Creswell JW. Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Method
Approaches. 4th ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage; 2014.
3. Anju Grewal, Hanish Kataria,1 and Ira Dhawan_ Literature search for research planning and
identification of research problem_ Indian J Anaesth. 2016 Sep; 60(9): 635–639. [PMC free
article] [PubMed]

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04 Libraries and Databases
4.1 Libraries
Provides a physical space to work in and promotes access to external research material, procures
research material (journals, books etc) and facilitates easy access and discovery of research material,
provides information and advice (online and face-to-face) on topics such as publishing your work,
copyright, open access, citations. Successful and high-quality libraries can be a significant factor in
recruiting and retaining top researchers.

Libraries help researchers win grants and contracts like:

 Help researchers improve the quality of their funding applications, and to increase the institution‟s
success in winning research income
 Provide resources and expertise for the project (e.g. a systematic literature review)
 Providing references for inclusion in grant applications.
 Ensuring researchers, the content they need to support their research.
 Provides inductions and training programmes to develop research skills
 Assists with research tasks (particularly in finding hard-to-get resources and information
gathering)
 Provides a named point of contact to prevent PhD students (particularly in AHSS and part-time)
from feeling isolated
 Populates VLEs with reading lists
 Assist in the grant proposal process - help with citations, resourcing, specialist expertise and
project resources
 Helps with RAE submissions of their work - validation and checking of metadata, finding full text
articles
 Helps with submitting articles to the open access repository
 Digitizes important research collections

4.2 Databases
Research databases are organized collections of computerized information or data such as periodical
articles, books, graphics and multimedia that can be searched to retrieve information. Databases can be
general or subject oriented with bibliographic citations, abstracts, and or full text. The sources indexed
may be written by scholars, professionals or generalists.
Research databases that are retrieved on the World Wide Web are generally non-fee based, lack in-
depth indexing, and do not index proprietary resources. Subscription or commercial databases are more
refined with various types of indexing features, searching capabilities, and help guides.
Library databases contain information from published works like Magazine and newspaper articles,
encyclopedias and other reference books. They are searchable, provide citation information, and often
contain full-text articles. Includes both specific topics and general topics.

Difference between library databases and normal web sites are listed in table 1

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Table 1

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References

1. Journal of eScience librarianship/The Role of the Library in the Research Enterprise/ Vol 2/may
2013.
2. The value of libraries for research and researchers (RIN and RLUK, 2011), available at
http://www.rin.ac.uk/system/files/ attachments/value_of_libraries_for_screen_0. Pdf

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05 Aims and Structure of Literature Review
There are two primary ways to organize and structure a literature review

1) The Chronological Literature Review

In a literature review organized chronologically, you group and discuss your sources in order of
their publication date, highlighting the changes in research in the field and your specific topic over
time. This structure is useful for reviews focusing on research methodology, historiographical
papers, and other writing in which you want to emphasize how ideas have developed over time.
This type of organization is related to what is referred to as a descriptive review in which you
sequence the review according to how your topic has been organized by others. However, a
frequent criticism of either the chronological or descriptive review is that you have relied on
someone else‟s organizing principles rather than your own synthesis of the material.
2) The Thematic Literature Review
In a review organized thematically, you group and discuss your sources in terms of the themes,
theoretical concepts, and topics that either you decide are important to understanding your topic
or that you have identified from reviewing the key studies on your topic. This structure is
considered stronger than the chronological organization because you define the theories,
constructs, categories, or themes that are important to your research.In these types of reviews, you
explain why certain information is treated together, and your headings define your unique
organization of the topic. The sequence of the concepts or themes should be from broad to
specific.The organization is often referred to as a funnel in which the discrete pieces of
information are funneled from higher-level concepts to the specific studies upon which your own
research is based.

Format for structuring the literature review:

1) Introduction
 define your topic and provide an appropriate context for reviewing the literature;
 establish your reasons – i.e. point of view – for
 reviewing the literature;
 explain the organisation – i.e. sequence – of the review;
 States the scope of the review – i.e. what is included and what isn‟t included
2) Main body
 organise the literature according to common themes;
 provide insight into the relation between your chosen topic and the wider subject area e.g.
between obesity in children and obesity in general;
 move from a general, wider view of the literature being reviewed to the specific focus of
your research.
3) Conclusion
 summarise the important aspects of the existing body of literature;
 evaluate the current state of the literature reviewed;
 identify significant flaws or gaps in existing knowledge;
 outline areas for future study;
 link your research to existing knowledge.

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References

1. Cone, J. D., & Foster, S. L. (2006).Dissertations and theses from start to finish: Psychology and
related fields (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. [Massey Library
link]
2. Mauch, J. E., & Park, N. (2003). Guide to the successful thesis and dissertation: A handbook for
students and faculty (5th ed.). New York, NY: Marcel Dekker. [Massey Library link]

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06 Research Proposals
A research proposal is a concise and coherent summary of your proposed research. It sets out the central
issues or questions that you intend to address. It outlines the general area of study within which your
research falls, referring to the current state of knowledge and any recent debates on the topic. It also
demonstrates the originality of your proposed research.

The proposal is the most important document that you submit as part of the application process. It gives
you an opportunity to demonstrate that you have the aptitude for graduate level research, for example,
by demonstrating that you have the ability to communicate complex ideas clearly, concisely and critically.
The proposal also helps us to match your research interest with an appropriate supervisor.

Rules :

1) Contents
 Be clear, objective, succinct and realistic in your objectives .
 Ask yourself why this research should be funded and/or why you are the best person to
undertake this project
 Ask yourself why this research is important and/or timely
 State and justify your objectives clearly (“because it is interesting” is not enough!)
 Make sure you answer the questions: how will the research benefit the wider society or
contribute to the research community
2) Style
 If space allows, provide a clear project title
 Structure your text – if allowed use section headings
 Present the information in short paragraphs rather than a solid block of text
 Write short sentences
 If allowed, provide images/charts/diagrams to help break up the text
3) The process
 Identify prospective supervisors and discuss your idea with them
 Avoid blanket general e-mails to several prospective supervisors
 Allow plenty of time – a rushed proposal will show
 Get feedback from your prospective supervisor and be prepared to take their comments
on board
 If applying to an external funding agency, remember that the reviewer may not be an
expert in your field of research
 Stick to the guidelines and remember the deadline

Structure for a research proposal:

1) Title and abstract

2) Background information/brief summary of existing literature
3) The hypothesis and the objectives
4) Methodology
5) How the research will be communicated to the wider community
6) The supervisory provision as well as specialist and transferable skills training
7) Ethical considerations
8) Summary and conclusions

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References

1. Olk HR. How to write a research proposal. DAAD Information Centre Acra. German Academic
Exchange Service ©. November 2003. http://ic.daad.de/accra
2. Bolton Institute, University of Bolton. How to write a dissertation – Writing a research proposal.
http://basil.acs.bolton.ac.uk/~wh2/PROPOSAL.HTML
3. (PDF) HOW TO WRITE A RESEARCH PROPOSAL. Available from:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228490768_HOW_TO_WRITE_A_RESEARCH_PROP
OSAL [accessed Jul 30 2018].

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