ESH 234 Research Methods

Dr T. Marambanyika
Department of Geography, Environmental Sustainability and Resilience
Building
Introduction to research
• What is research?
• Is a scientific way of finding answers
to questions in order to solve
problems
• Is a systematic process of gaining new
knowledge
• RE – do it again +SEARCH – investigate
• A process for collecting, analysing and
interpreting information to answer
questions
• Education 5.0?
Why undertaking scientific research?
• Understand the world

• Solve new problems

• Improve existing knowledge

• Inform action
Main research approaches
• Qualitative - collecting and analyzing
non-numerical data (e.g. text, video,
or audio) to understand concepts,
opinions, or experiences.
• Quantitative - a systematic
investigation of phenomena by
gathering quantifiable data and
performing statistical, mathematical,
or computational techniques.
• Mixed methods – use both
Difference between quantitative and
qualitative approaches
Quantitative Qualitative
 Specific and well structured and  Less specific and precise
can be explicitly defined and  Deductive
recognized  Mostly not as structured and
 Tested for validity and reliability sequential
 Inductive  Replication of a study design
 More structured, rigid, fixed and almost impossible
predetermined  Prone to researcher bias
 Replicated for verification and  Exploratory
reassurance
 Less prone to researcher bias
The research process (Kumar 2014)
Research problem formulation
• Purpose of the research problem –
1st step to decide what you want to
find out about (destination)
• Question? Assumption?
• Sources of research problems
• People
• Problems
• Programmes
• Phenomena
• Literature
• Environment etc.
Considerations in selecting a research
problem
• Interest
• Magnitude – select what you can manage?
• Measurement of concepts – be clear on
how it can be measured?
• Level of expertise
• Relevance
• Availability of data
• Ethical issues
Statement of the problem
• A short, clear explanation of the issue to be
researched.
• Usually referred to as a ‘gap’ in a study.
• It should:
• Contextualize the problem. What do we already
know?
• Describe the exact issue your research will
address. What do we still need to know?
• Show the relevance of the problem. Why do we
need to know more about this?
• Set the objectives of the research. What will you
do to find out more?
Practical Vs Theoretical SOP
• Practical research problems
• Focus on the concrete details of the situation:
• Where and when does the problem arise?
• Who does the problem affect?
• What attempts have been made to solve the problem?
• Theoretical research problems
• Think about the scientific, social, geographical and/or historical
background:
• What is already known about the problem?
• Is the problem limited to a certain time period or geographical area?
• How has the problem been defined and debated in the scholarly literature?
 Objectives of the study
• What? - the goals you set out to attain in your study or
something you plan to achieve.

• Two headings:
• Main/General objective - a much broader statement
about what the study intends to achieve overall.
• Specific objectives - detailed objectives that describe
what will be researched during the study.
• SMART
• The objectives are written starting with infinitives/verbs
(identify, measure, assess …)
• Specific objectives must be written from low to high
order.
Constructing hypotheses
• Hypothesis - a tentative statement about something,
the validity of which is usually unknown.
• Hypotheses should be statements expressing the
relation between two or more measurable variables.
• Normally used in quantitative research.
• Characteristics of a hypothesis
• Simple, specific and conceptually clear
• Verifiable
• Operationalisable (can be measured)
• Contain an independent and dependent variables
• Types of hypotheses – null and alternate
Variables identification
• Variable - concept that can be measured
on any one of the four types of
measurement scale, which have varying
degrees of precision in measurement.
• Difference between concept and variable –
measurability?
• Concept can be converted into a variable
by identifying indicators.
• One of the main differences between
quantitative and qualitative research
studies is in the area of variables.
Types of variables
• Independent - change variables

• Dependent - outcome/effect variables

• Extraneous - unmeasured variables affecting the cause-and-effect

relationship (employee performance/noise)
• Any variable you're not interested in studying that could also have some effect on
the dependent variable

• Intervening (confounding) - variables that link a cause-and-effect

relationship (level of education/income/spending)
Types of measurement scale
• How a variable is measured, is considered the level
of measurement?
• Nominal - classification of individuals, objects or
responses based on a common/shared
characteristic or named/labelled, e.g. gender
• Ordinal/ranking - ranks the subgroups in a certain
order, e.g. satisfaction, happiness, degree of pain
etc.
• Interval - subcategories are arranged in an
ascending or descending order, e.g. family income,
temperature,
• Ratio – starting point fixed at zero and tells us the
exact value between units, e.g. weight, height etc.
Literature review
• Purpose of literature review (General)
• It provides a theoretical background to your study.
• It helps you establish the links between what you are proposing to
examine and what has already been studied.
• It enables you to show how your findings have contributed to the
existing body of knowledge.

• Own study:
• Brings clarity and focus to your research problem
• Improves your research methodology
• Broadens your knowledge base in your research area (gaps)
• Contextualises your findings.
Literature review
• How to review relevant scientific literature and credible sources –
books, journals etc.

• Writing the literature review

• Acknowledging sources
Types of research design
• A research design is a procedural plan that is adopted by the
researcher to answer questions validly, objectively,
accurately and economically.
• The main function of a research design is to explain how you
will find answers to your research questions (objectives).
• Qualitative – case studies, ethnographic studies, textual
analysis etc.
• Quantitative - experimental, quasi-experimental,
longitudinal, trend studies, descriptive, correlational, Cohort
studies, analytical, predictive etc.
• Mixed methods – Exploratory, explanatory, triangulation etc.
Target population
• Is the entire population, or group, that a
researcher is interested in researching
and analyzing.

• Study conclusions are generalized based

on the target population.

• A sampling frame is then drawn from

this target population.

• The master blueprint for the sample

 Sampling
• Is the process of selecting a few (a sample) from a bigger group (the sampling
population) to become the basis for estimating or predicting the prevalence of an
unknown piece of information, situation or outcome regarding the bigger group.
• Types of sampling methods
• Probability (random)
• Simple random
• Stratified random
• Systematic
• Non-probability
• Snowball
• Quota
• Purposive/judgemental
• Convenience
Data collection tools
• Primary – questionnaires, interview guides (structured, unstructured
and semi-structured), observation checklist forms (participant and
non-participant), etc.

• Secondary – documents (personal, government publications, previous

studies, census, company records etc.)

• Explain the difference between validity and reliability in research?

Validity
• Is the extent to which a test measures what it
is supposed to measure
• It is an important idea to consider when
preparing or selecting an instrument
• It is undertaken prior to use of the
measure/tool in the actual field data
collection.
• Normally used in quantitative studies.
• Types of validity:
• Construct validity: Does the test measure the
concept that it’s intended to measure? E.g.
job satisfaction, intelligence, etc.
• Content validity: Is the test fully
representative of what it aims to measure?
E.g. accidents prevalence
• Face validity: Does the content of the test
appear to be suitable to its aims?
• Criterion validity: Do the results accurately
measure the concrete outcome they are
designed to measure?
Reliability
• Consistency of a measure
• In other words, the extent to which a research instrument
consistently has the same results if it is used in the same situation on
repeated occasions.
• Normally used in quantitative studies.
• Types of reliability:
• Test-retest - The consistency of a measure across time: do you get the same
results when you repeat the measurement?
• Interater - The consistency of a measure across raters or observers: do you get
the same results when different people conduct the same measurement?
• Internal - The consistency of the measurement itself: do you get the same
results from different parts of a test that are designed to measure the same
thing?
Data analysis
• Quantitative analysis techniques
• Descriptive statistics – measures of central tendency, measures of dispersion
• Inferential statistics – Chi-Square, t-test, Mann-Whitney test, Pearson
Correlation co-efficient, Spearman, ANOVA etc & post-hoc analysis

• Qualitative analysis techniques

• Thematic analysis - analysing the patterns of themes in data.
• Content analysis - technique widely used to analyze content and its features,
e.g. Texts, pictures, videos or audios.

• Specify if data is analysed – manual or computer (SPSS, R, NVIVO etc.)

Research Ethics
• In accordance with principles of conduct that are considered correct,
especially those of a given profession or group.
• Prior to beginning the study
• Beginning the study
• Collecting the data
• Analyzing the data
• Stakeholders - research participants or subjects, the researcher & the
funding body.
Structure of research proposal
• It must answer the following questions:
• what are you proposing to do?
• how you plan to proceed?
• why you selected the proposed strategy?
Structure of research proposal
• Should include the following information:
• Study topic
• Background to the study
• Statement of the problem
• Objectives of the study (General and Specific)
• Hypotheses, if you are testing any?
• Justification of the study
• Study area
• Methodology
• Study/research design
• Target population
• Research instrument(s) you are planning to use
• Sample size and sampling design
• Data analysis procedures
• Study’s problems and limitations
• The proposed time-frame.
Structure of a research project/ dissertation
• Should include the following information:
• Study topic
• Abstract
• Table of contents
• Chapter 1 - Introduction
• Background to the study
• Statement of the problem
• Objectives of the study (general and Specific)
• Hypotheses, if you are testing any?
• Justification of the study
• Study area
• Chapter 2 - Literature review
• Chapter 3 - Research methodology
• Chapter 4 - Results and discussion
• Chapter 5 - Conclusions and recommendations
• References
• Appendices