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An introduction to research methodologies
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- Anglia Ruskin University (ARU)
An introduction to researching
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Research 1PART A - Overall introduction
Research is the investigation into a topic using materials and sources available to discover
new facts to prove or disprove researcher’s hypotheses. Research can be used to find
correlations in behaviours in society and help us discover new ways of thinking about things.
When reading about research methods I found the difference between research methods
and methodology is that the methods are they ways of obtaining the data whereas the
methodology refers to the philosophy behind the research. (Pm Kasi, 2009) Methodology
such as positivism and Interpretivism show two different ways of looking at research.
Positivists discover fixed relationships about the world based on observations of social life.
Positivism is used to predict and affect social change using facts and statistics from past
social trends. Positivists use scientific methods to build or test theories on social life and
only use confirmable facts; which means reliability can be a strength as facts and statistics
do not vary due to interpretation, so testing theories of the same topic over and over again
will not change results. However positivism does not have much influence on modern life as
it is argued that it only emphasises misleading facts without any research into the
underlying issues in society that cannot be observed.
In contrast to this, Interpretivists research the reason and causes of fixed relationships in
society. They believe there is a difference between sociology and natural science and
humans are conscious beings and make their own choices. Interpretivists like to find the
actual cause of the relationships in comparison to positivists that like to just find the links.
However Interpretivists use a variety of methods that usually result in qualitative data being
collected. This can take a lot of time and is open to interpretation by each individual
researcher. They also use the grounded theory which is when data is collected and analysed
to find a theory – the opposite to traditional social science research. (Pm Kasi, 2009)
The main type of research used in education is empirical research which results in either
quantitative and qualitative data being collected (or both) depending on the research
methods used. Quantitative data is data that results in numbers being collected. It is fast
and easy to analyse and produces reliable valid results. Qualitative research results in data
that is not in the form of numbers. Interviews usually result in qualitative data which gives a
wider personal look at experiences however it is open to bias and takes a long time to
analyse. Non-empirical research is based on facts and statistics being collected from the
past and used in a new way.
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, The table above (Blaxter L, 2010) shows a simplified model of the research progress. The
pre empirical stage shows the researcher discovering a new area they would like to research
into. The context and literature shows the researcher finding out about previous
information about their topic that helps them decide on their research question. Entering
the empirical stage the researcher must decide on a research design where they must
consider the structure of their study and the methodology of obtaining their result. There
are many different research methods including interviews, questionnaires or covert/overt
observations. Once the method is decided for example interviews, they then have to decide
on their sample and data collection. The researcher could use a certain group of people or
an opportunity sample. This is when the first participants available are used to collect data
from to ensure the most possible data is collected. If they chose a certain group of people
for example females aged 18-25 they may have trouble getting hold of participants in that
group that actually want to be a part of the research. After the data is collected the
researcher must then analyse all of the results. If they produced qualitative data from the
interviews the researcher could find trends and quantify the data to be put into graphs and
charts. When this is finished the researcher will then be able to answer their research
question or conclude whether their hypothesis was proven.
In my own research I decided to use a research question; ‘Do students value their formal
education in relation to their future prospects?’. My chosen method was to use
questionnaires to collect my data and my research design enabled me to collect both
quantitative and qualitative data. I chose questionnaires because they are simple and don’t
take much time to make, leaving me with more time to do other things later on like analyse
the data. The questionnaire used both open and closed ended questions resulting in
structured and unstructured data. A strength of the questionnaires was the ease of handing
them out to the participants and collecting them in quickly and efficiently. However a
limitation of the questionnaires was the validity of the questions as some people may have
interpreted the questions differently to others and written answers they thought were
correct instead of what they actually think.
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