Research: Meaning, Types, and Characteristics, Positivism and Post - positivistic approach to research

 

Research: Meaning, Types, and Characteristics, Positivism and Post - positivistic approach to research

 

Research is a scientific process of investigating a phenomenon through a problem, questions, processes and outcomes.

Educational Research: It is a systematic attempt to gain a better understanding of educational process.

Characteristics:

Ø Solution the problems

Ø Generalisation

Ø Observation and Description

Ø Collecting data and existing data for new purpose

 

Objectives of Research:

1.  To discover new facts

2.  To verify and test important facts

3.  To analyses an event or process or phenomenon

4.  To identify the cause-and-effect relationship

5.  To develop new scientific tools, concepts and theories

6.  To solve and understand scientific, non-scientific problems and social problems

7.  To solve the problems occurring in our everyday life.

 

Descriptive Versus Analytical

1.  Descriptive research consists of surveys and fact-finding inquiries of different types. The main objective of descriptive research is describing the state of affairs as it prevails at the time of the study. The term ‘ex-post facto research’ is quite often used for descriptive research studies in social sciences and business research. The most distinguishing feature of this method is that the researcher has no control over the variables here. Researcher has to only report what is happening or what has happened. It is based on the questions what and why?

The methods of research adopted in conducting descriptive research are survey methods of all kinds, including correlation and comparative methods. Meanwhile, in Analytical research, the researcher has to use the already available facts or the information and analyse them to make a critical evaluation of the subject.

Applied Versus Fundamental (Basic)  

1.  To solve specific problem encountered by a firm, an industry, a business organization, or the society is known as applied research. Researchers engaged in such researches aim at drawing certain conclusions confronting a concrete social or business problem.

Meanwhile fundamental research mainly concerns the generalizations and formulation of a theory. In other words, “Gathering knowledge for knowledge’s sake is termed ‘pure’ or ‘basic’ research”. Researches relating to pure mathematics or concerning some natural phenomena are instances of Fundamental Research. Likewise, studies focusing on human behaviour also fall under the category of fundamental research.

 

Quantitative Versus Qualitative

1.   Quantitative research relates to aspects that can be quantified or can be expressed in terms of quantity. It involves the measurement of quantity or amount. Various available statistical and econometric methods are adopted for analysis in such research. Which includes correlation, regressions and time series analysis etc  On the other hand, Qualitative research is concerned with qualitative phenomena, or more specifically, the aspects related to or involving quality or kind. For example, an important type of qualitative research is ‘Motivation Research’, which investigates into the reasons for certain human behaviour. The main aim of this type of research is discovering the underlying motives and desires of human beings by using in-depth interviews. The other techniques employed in such research are story completion tests, sentence completion tests, word association tests, and other similar projective methods.

 

Conceptual Versus Empirical

1.  The research related to some abstract idea or theory is known as Conceptual Research. Generally, philosophers and thinkers use it for developing new concepts or for reinterpreting the existing ones.

Empirical Research, on the other hand, exclusively relies on the observation or experience with hardly any regard for theory and system. Such research is databased, which often comes up with conclusions that can be verified through experiments or observation.  It is also known as the experimental type of research, in which it is important to first collect the facts and their sources and actively take steps to stimulate the production of desired information. In this type of research, the researcher first formulates a working hypothesis and then gathers sufficient facts to prove or disprove the stated hypothesis. He/she formulates the experimental design, which according to him/her would manipulate the variables, to obtain the desired information. This type of research is thus characterized by the researcher’s control over the variables under study.

 

Some important Research:

Fundamental or basic research

·     Basic research is an investigation of basic principles and reasons for the occurrence of a particular event or process or phenomenon. It is also called theoretical research. Study or investigation of some natural phenomenon or relating to pure science are termed as basic research.

Basic researches sometimes may not lead to immediate use or application. It is not concerned with solving any practical problems of immediate interest. But it is original or basic. It provides a systematic and deep insight into a problem and facilitates the extraction of scientific and logical explanation and conclusion on it.

·     It helps build new frontiers of knowledge. The outcomes of basic research form the basis for much-applied research. Researchers working on applied research have to make use of the outcomes of basic research and explore the utility of them.

·     Research on improving a theory or a method is also referred to as fundamental research. For example, suppose a theory applies to a system provided the system satisfies certain specific conditions.

 

 

 

Examples of Fundamental or Basic Research

Ø All Famous Theorems of Physics

Ø All Laws of Maths and science we studied from childhood

       Applied research:

·     In an applied research one solves certain problems employing well known and accepted theories and principles. Most of the experimental research, case studies and inter-disciplinary research are essentially applied research.

·      Applied research is helpful for basic research. A research, the outcome of which has immediate application is also termed as applied research. Such research is of practical use to current activity. For example, research on social problems has immediate use. Applied research is concerned with actual life research

·     such as research on increasing efficiency of a machine, increasing gain factor of production of a material, pollution control, preparing vaccination for the disease, etc. They have immediate potential applications.

Action Research: It is a scientific procedure for finding out a practical solution of current problems.

 

 

Field of Action Research:

 

•      In improving and modifying the classroom teaching strategies, tactics and teaching aids.

•      In developing interests, attitudes and values of the students towards their studies.

•      In dealing with the classroom problems and school problems relating to discipline and code of conduct.

•      In dealing with the problems of poor attendance in class as well as in school and coming late in school.

•      In developing the habit of completing class notes and active participation.

•      In solving the personal problems of students relating to school situations or poor adjustment.

•      In dealing with problems of school administration organization.

 

Positivism/Post-positivism

  When questions come such as, what is the hypothesis? How big is the sample? How representative is the sample? How can you generalize if we have a small sample? Was there a control group? The validity of a piece of research is assessed by how elite meets theses scientific criteria. Using scientific method and language to investigate and write about human experience is supposed to keep the research free of the values, passions, politics and ideology of the researcher. This approach to research is called positivist and it is the dominant one among the general public.

Positivism (also known as logical positivism) holds that the scientific method is the only way to establish truth and objective reality. Positivism is based upon the view that science is the only foundation for true knowledge. It holds that the methods, techniques and procedures used in the natural sciences offer the best framework for investigating the social world. Positivism goes back to its origins in the philosophy known as realism.

Positivism originates from the term “positive” that means progressive which indicates positive and progressive development of the field of social sciences.

Post Positivist approach to research

A post-positivist research approach advocates methodological pluralism. It is based on the assumption that the method to be applied in a particular study should be selected based on the research question being addressed.

The post-positivists, like the positivists, believe that there is a reality independent of our thinking that can be studied through the scientific method.

Reality cannot be known with certainty. Observations are theory- laden and influenced by the observer’s biases and worldview. For example, two people may observe the same event and understand it differently, based upon their own experiences and beliefs. Objectivity can nevertheless be achieved by using multiple measures and observations and triangulating the data to gain a clearer understanding of what is happening in reality.

It is important to note that the post-positivists share a lot in common with positivists, but most of the research approaches and practices in social science today fit better into the postpositivist category.

Post-positivist research has the following characteristics:

1. Research is broader rather than specialized - lots of different things qualify as research.

2. Theory and practice cannot be kept separate. We cannot afford to ignore theory for the sake of ‘just the facts.

3. The ‘researchers’ motivations for and commitment to research are central and crucial to the enterprise (Schratz and Walker, 1995: 1,2)

 4. The idea that research is concerned only with correct techniques for collecting and categorizing information is now inadequate (Schratz and Walker ,1995:3)

 

Methodology:

 In the positivist/post-positivism paradigm, the purpose of the research is to predict results, test a theory or find a strength of relationships between variables or a cause-and-effect relationship. For example; A study to determine whether there is relationship between students’ entrance exam scores and their grade in an introductory math’s course. Quantitative researches begin with ideas, theories or concepts that are defined as they are used in the study to point to the variables of interest. The problem statement at minimum specifies the variables to be studied and the relationship among them. Variables are also operationally defined to enable others to replicate, verify and confirm the results. Operationally defining a variable means that the trait to be measured is defined according to the way it is used or measured or observed in the study. Typical methodologies include designs that are experimental, quasi-experimental, correlational, causal comparative, and randomized control trials research. Data gathering instruments include questionnaires, observations and tests.