CHAPTER ONE

Industrial Research Methodology

Course Code: IEng4162

Instructor: Tadesse Fisseha (MSc)

Nov 15/2021
 Course Objective:
• To help students understand principles of
research and gain insights into how scientific
research is conducted
• To help students acquire practical research
skills required to undertake researches in
technology, business and academics.
• To help students acquire skills to write and
present research reports
 INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH
• Outline

• What is Research?
• So Why Do We Do Research?
• Research Methods versus Methodology
• Objectives of Research
• Characteristics of Research
• Motivation in Research
• Types of Research
• Research Process
What is Research?
 What is Research?
• The word research is composed of two syllables “Re”
and “Search”.

• “Re” is the prefix meaning ‘Again or over again or a

new’ and “Search” is the latter meaning ‘to examine
closely and carefully’ or ‘to test and try’.

• Together they form, a careful, systematic, patient

study and investigation in some field of knowledge
undertaken to establish principles / policies.
Cont…
 The systematic, rigorous investigation of a situation
or problem in order to generate new knowledge or
validate existing knowledge.
 Research can also be defined as
•Search for knowledge
•Systematic and scientific search for getting
relevant answers on any taken up specific topic.
•Scientific enquiry into a subject.
•Research is a movement from the unknown to the
known.
•It is the voyage of discovery
Cont…
• It is a process of finding solutions to a problem
after a thorough study and analysis to the
situational factors
 This said, one will argue that every investigation
on a topic of interest is research.

• In sum, research is an Organized and Systematic

way of finding answers to questions.
 So Why Do We Do Research?

• Create/develop something new

• Cause something particular to happen
• Make-sense-of what is happening
• Explain what is happening/verify
• Predict what will happen`
 Research Methods versus Methodology

Research Methods
• Research Methods are the methods/techniques that
the researcher adopts for conducting the research
Studies.

• A research method refers only to the various specific

tools or ways data can be collected and analyzed,
E.g. a questionnaire; interview checklist; data
analysis software etc.
Cont…

Research methodology
 It is a way to systematically solve the research
problem.
 It is the Science of studying how research is
conducted scientifically. In it we study the various
steps that are generally adopted by a researcher in
studying his research problem along with the logic
behind them.
 The procedures by which researchers go about their
work of describing, explaining and predicting
phenomena.
Cont…

• The term methodology refers to the overall

approaches & perspectives to the research process as
a whole and is concerned with the following main
issues:
•Why you collected certain data
•What data you collected
•Where you collected it
•How you collected it
•How you analyzed it
 Objectives of Research

• To discover answers to questions through the

application of scientific procedures.
• To find out the truth which is hidden and which has not
been discovered as yet.
• To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to achieve
new insights into it
• To describe accurately the characteristics of a particular
individual, situation or a group
• To determine the frequency with which something
occurs or with which it is associated with something
else
• To analyze/test a hypothesis of a causal relationship
between variables
 Characteristics of Research

• Research is directed towards the solution of a

problem.
• Research is based upon observable experience or
empirical evidence.
• Research demands accurate observation and
description.
• Research involves gathering new data from primary
sources or using existing data for a new purpose.
• Research activities are characterized by carefully
designed procedures.
Cont…

• Research requires expertise/skill

• Research is objective and logical
• Research involves the questions for answers to
unsolved problems.
• Research requires courage/effort
• Research is characterized by patient and unhurried
activity.
• Research is carefully recorded and reported.
 Motivation in Research

 What makes people to undertake research? The

possible motives for doing research
1.Desire to get a research degree along with its
consequential benefits;
2.Desire to face the challenge in solving the
unsolved problems, i.e., concern over practical
problems initiates research;
3.Desire to get intellectual joy of doing some
creative work;
4.Desire to be of service to society;
5.Desire to get respectability.
 Types of Research

Research

Conceptual Qualitative
Basic Descriptive
Vs. Vs. Vs.
Vs.
Applied Empirical Quantitative
Analytical
 Basic Vs. Applied

Fundamental Research ( Basic Research)

• Fundamental research is mainly concerned with
generalizations and with the formulation of a theory.
Gathering knowledge is termed as ‘pure’ or ‘basic’
research.
Cont…
Example:
•Research on mathematics.
•Research studies, concerning human behavior
carried on with a view to make generalizations about
human behavior,
•How to improve the effectiveness of information
systems.
•How to increase the productivity of the employees.
•How to increase the effectiveness of small
businesses.
 This type of research adds knowledge to the already
existing organized body.
Cont…
Applied Research
 Applied research aims at finding solutions for an
immediate problem facing a society or an
industrial/business organization.
Example:
• Social, economical and political trends prevailing in a
country.
• Reasons why a particular product is not selling well
Apple’s iPod sales increased by 200% from 2001 to
2008. But the sales decreased by 6% in 2009. What is the
reason for this decrease?
The question is: what will apple do about this
problem?
Cont…

 Thus, the central aim of applied research is to discover a

solution for some pressing practical problem, whereas
basic research is directed towards finding information
that has a broad base of applications and thus, adds to the
already existing organized body of scientific knowledge.
 Both types of research follow the same steps of
systematic inquiry to arrive at solutions to problems.
 Descriptive Vs. Analytical
Descriptive research:
 Includes surveys and fact-finding enquiries of
different kinds. Its purpose is description of the state
of affairs as it exists at present.
 The methods of research utilized in descriptive
research are survey methods of all kinds, including
comparative and correlation methods.
Analytical research:
 This type of research requires a researcher to use
facts or information already available, and analyze
these to make a critical evaluation of the material.
 Conceptual VS. Empirical
Conceptual Research
 Conceptual research is that related to some abstract idea(s)
or theory. It is generally used by philosophers and thinkers
to develop new concepts or to reinterpret existing ones.
Empirical research
 This type of research relies on experience or observation
alone, often without due regard for system and theory. It is
data-based research, coming up with conclusions which
are capable of being verified by observation or experiment.
 We can also call it as experimental type of research.
 In such a research it is necessary to get at facts firsthand, at
their source, and actively to go about doing certain things
to stimulate the production of desired information.
 Quantitative VS. Qualitative
Quantitative
• Quantitative research is based on the measurement of
quantity or amount.
• Some of the characteristics are:
It is numerical, non-descriptive, applies statistics or
mathematics and uses numbers.
It is an iterative process whereby evidence is
evaluated.
The results are often presented in tables and
graphs.
It is conclusive.
It investigates the what , where and when of
decision making.
Cont…
Qualitative research
• Qualitative research is concerned with qualitative
phenomenon, i.e., phenomena relating to or involving
quality or kind.

 Some of the characteristics are:

It is non-numerical, descriptive, applies reasoning and
uses words.
Its aim is to get the meaning, feeling and describe the
situation.
Qualitative data cannot be graphed.
It is exploratory.
It investigates the why and how of decision making.
 Research Approaches
 On a broader perspective, all researches can be
classified based on process and kind of resulting
data into two groups:
1. Quantitative Research:
• Quantitative research is based on the measurement
of quantity or amount.
• Relates to aspects that can be quantified and
expressed in terms of quantity.
• In this type of Research, the objectives, design,
sample and all the other factors influencing the
research is pre determined.
Cont…
2. Qualitative Research:
• It is a research dealing with phenomena that are difficult or
impossible to quantify mathematically, such as beliefs,
meanings, attributes, and symbols.
• Qualitative approach to research is concerned with
subjective assessment of attitudes, opinions and behavior.
• Research in such a situation is a function of researcher’s
insights and impressions.
• Example:
For instance, when we are interested in investigating the
reasons for human behavior (i.e., why people think or do
certain things).
• This type of research aims at discovering the underlying
motives and desires, using in depth interviews for the
purpose.
 Research process
1. Formulating the research problem;
2. Extensive literature survey;
•review concepts and theories
•review previous research findings
3. Developing the hypothesis; is tentative assumption made in order to draw
out and test its logical or empirical consequences.
4. Preparing the research design;
5. Determining sample design;
6. Collecting the data; Data can be collected either through primary
sources or secondary sources.
7. Execution of the project;
8. Analysis of data;
9. Hypothesis testing; accepting the hypothesis or in rejecting it that
formulated earlier
10. Generalizations and interpretation, and
11. Preparation of the report or presentation of the results, i.e., formal write-up
of conclusions reached
 Criteria of good Research

• The objective of the research clearly defined

• The research methodology used should be described in
sufficient detail to permit another researcher to repeat the
research for further advancement
• The sampling design should be such as to yield least error
• The writing should be done with complete frankness –
nothing which has bearing on the result should be hidden
• The validity and reliability of data as a well as
calculations should be re-checked to avoid mistakes
• Conclusions should be confined to those justified by data
and analysis
• Researcher should be a person of integrity/honesty
Cont…
 In other words, we can state the qualities of a good
research as:
•Systematic
•Logical
•Empirical/experiential
•Replicable/reproduce exactly
•Creative
•Use of multiple methods
THANK YOU !!