PhD ODL - Research Methodology 1

Practice: Based on your Research Title, write the Research methodology.
You can base your Methodology on the ‘Research Onion’ by Saunders et al., 2016

 3.1 Introduction/Research Design

In this section, state and justify your choice of type of research design that you are going to use in this study—

• Is it basic or applied research?
• Is this a exploratory, descriptive or causal research?
• What is the philosophy
• What is the approach i.e., deductive or inductive?
• What is the strategy e.g. survey?
• Is this a qualitative, quantitative or mixed choice for data collection
• The population and sampling type

Your justifications must be based on the opinions and findings of other writers published in journals or books. Suggested text is Saunders, Lewis and Thornbill (2012)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. 2 Research Philosophy

Philosophy refers to a system of beliefs and assumptions about the development of knowledge.

It is precisely what you are doing when embarking on research: developing knowledge in a particular field (See Chapter 4 of book by Saunders et al., 2012)

. Some of research philosophies are:

o   Positivism -   the stance of the natural scientist

o   Realism -      direct and critical realism

o   Interpretivism – researchers as ‘social actors’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                             3.2 Research Approach (deductive/Inductive. Exploratory/Causal)

                             3.3 Research Strategy (Survey/case study)

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.3 Research Approach

1. State the classification of research purpose - exploratory, descriptive and explanatory

The research can be classified into

·         Exploratory research

·         Descriptive studies

·         Causal/Explanatory studies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.4 Research Strategy (Survey/Case study)

1. A strategy is a plan of action to achieve a goal. A research strategy may therefore be defined as a plan of how a researcher will go about answering her or his research question.

  The strategies that can be used are:

• experiment.

• survey.

• case study.

• action research.

• grounded theory.

• ethnography.

•         Phenomenology

• archival research.

 

 

 

      

 

 

 

         

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.5 Research Methodological Choice (Qualitative/quantitative/mixed)

1. What is the research choice and why? Quantitative research OR qualitative research

There are 3 methods used.

·         Qualitative (numerical data)

·         Quantitative (non-numerical data

·         Mixed (both numerical and non-numerical data)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 3.6 Time Horizon (longitudinal/cross sectional)

  Explain the time horizon selected.

  There are 2 time horizons applicable:

·         The ‘snapshot’ - cross-sectional

·         A series of snapshots or the ‘diary’ perspective - longitudinal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                            

 

 

 

 

3.7 Data (primary/secondary)

1. Explain the type of data that will be collected and analysed

There are 2 types of data collected:

PRIMARY DATA: Data originated by a researcher for the specific purpose of addressing the research problem.

SECONDARY DATA:  Data that is collected from secondary sources such as reports, newspapers etc. Clearly state the sources of data

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                            

 

3.8 Instrumentation/ Questionnaire

Questionnaires are a popular means of collecting data but are difficult to design and often require many rewrites before an acceptable questionnaire is produced.

·         Describe the questionnaire used in the study

·         Is it original? If any items are taken from existing questionnaire, identify the

sources (adopted/adapted)

·         The structure and the question categories (demographic/rating questions)

·         Describe the scaling methods used and state the reasons for choosing them

·         Issues on validity and reliability

·         Was Pilot test done to check the clarity and appropriateness of the survey questionnaire

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.9 Administration of Questionnaire/ Data collection (Interview/internet)

Once your questionnaire is designed, and your sample selected, the questionnaire can be used to collect data via five main types. Describe how the questionnaire was administered and discuss problems encountered

·         Internet- or intranet-mediated,

·         postal,

·         delivery and collection,

·         telephone

·         interview

State the steps in data collection i.e.:

·         What method was used

·         How many questionnaires/respondents

·         How was the feedback

If pilot testing was done, state the reliability and validity testing results and what amendments done to questionnaire

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                            

3.10 Sampling (Type, population, frame, size)

1. State the Study Population, sampling frame and units of analysis. What was the sample size

     and how was it calculated

·         Describe the characteristics of your study population—who are they and where are they 

  situated and how big is this population size?

·         Describe your sample size, how you derive the sample size (state the formula did arrive what

 

2. State the sampling method (probability or non-probability) and sampling procedure.

·         What was the sampling method (e.g. Convenience sampling)

·         Reasons to support the sampling method

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.11 Data Preparation/Processing

1. State editing, coding and tabulating the data

2. What program/tool was used? Eg:SPSS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

3.12 Data Analysis

1.      Discuss the selected Descriptive and Inferential Statistical methods [as in the SPSS] used in analyzing the results. Having selected the variables for your study, you assume that they would either help to define your problem (dependent variable/s) and its different components or that they were contributory factors to your problem (independent variable).

    2. How to test goodness of data (reliability testing, normality testing etc)?

    3. How testing of hypothesis was done (inferential)?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                            

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.12 Ethical Considerations

1. What were the research ethics throughout your research?

     (Privacy, confidentiality, Consent etc)

 

 

 

 

3.12 Ethical Considerations

What were the research ethics throughout your research?

There are a number of ethical principles that should be taken into account when performing dissertation research. At the core, these ethical principles stress the need to (a) do good (known as beneficence) and (b) do no harm (known as non-malfeasance). In practice, these ethical principles mean that as a researcher, you need to: (a) obtain informed consent from potential research participants; (b) minimize the risk of harm to participants; (c) protect their anonymity and confidentiality; (d) avoid using deceptive practices; and (e) give participants the right to withdraw from your research.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note: For qualitative studies, the detail steps may be different, but the overall expectation of a clear and complete description of study population, instrumentation, data collection and analysis is the same as the quantitative studies.

 

 

References

As with any scholarly research paper, you must cite the sources you used in composing your proposal.

This section should testify to the fact that you did enough preparatory work to make sure the project will complement and not duplicate the efforts of other researchers. Cited works should always use a standard format that follows the writing style advised by the discipline of your course.