It seems appropriate at this juncture to explain the difference
between research methods and research methodology. Research methods
may be understood as all those methods/techniques that are used for
conduction of research. Research methods or techniques, thus, refer to
the methods the researchers use in performing research operations. In
other words, all those methods which are used by the researcher during
the course of studying his research problem are termed as research
methods. Since the object of research, particularly the applied research,
is to arrive at a solution for a given problem, the available data and the
unknown aspects of the problem have to be related to each other to make
a solution possible. Keeping this in view, research methods can be put
into the following three groups:
1. In the first group we include those methods which are
concerned with the collection of data. These methods will be
used where the data already available are not sufficient to
arrive at the required solution;
2. The second group consists of those statistical techniques
which are used for establishing relationships between the
data and the unknowns;
3. The third group consists of those methods which are used to
evaluate the accuracy of the results obtained.
21 Research methods falling in the above stated last two groups are
generally taken as the analytical tools of research.
Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the research
problem. It may be understood as a science of studying how research is
done 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. It is necessary for the researcher to know not only
research methods/techniques but also the methodology. Researchers not
only need to know how to develop certain indices or tests, how to
calculate the mean, the mode, the median or the standard deviation or
chi-square, how to apply particular research techniques, but they also
need to know which of these methods or techniques, are relevant and
which are not, and what would they mean and indicate and why.
Researchers also need to understand the assumptions underlying various
techniques and they need to know the criteria by which they can decide
that certain techniques and procedures will be applicable to certain
problems and others will not. All this means that it is necessary for the
researcher to design his methodology for his problem as the same may
differ from problem to problem. For example, an architect, who designs a
building, has to consciously evaluate the basis of his decisions, i.e., he
has to evaluate why and on what basis he selects particular size, number
and location of doors, window and ventilators, uses particular materials
and not others and the like. Similarly, in research the scientist has to
expose the research decisions to evaluation before they are implemented.
He has to specify very clearly and precisely what decisions he selects and
why he selects them so that they can be evaluated by others also.
From what has been stated above, we can say that research
methodology has many dimensions and research methods do constitute a
part of the research methodology. The scope of research methodology is
wider than that of research methods. Thus, when we talk of research
22 methodology we not only talk of the research methods but also consider
the logic behind the methods we use in the context of our research study
and explain why we are using a particular method or technique and why
we are not using others so that research results are capable of being
evaluated either by the researcher himself or by others. Why a research
study has been undertaken, how the research problem has been defined,
in what way and why the hypothesis has been formulated, what data
have been collected and what particular method has been adopted, why
particular technique of analyzing data has been used and a host of
similar other questions are usually answered when we talk of research
methodology concerning a research problem or study.
Research and Scientific Method
For a clear perception of the term research, one should know the
meaning of scientific method. The two terms, research and scientific
method, are closely related. Research, as we have already stated, can be
termed as “an inquiry into the nature of, the reasons for, and the
consequences of any particular set of circumstances, whether these
circumstances are experimentally controlled or recorded just as they
occur. Further, research implies the researcher is interested in more than
particular results; he is interested in the repeatability of the results and
in their extension to more complicated and general situations.” On the
other hand, the philosophy common to all research methods and
techniques, although they may vary considerably from one science to
another, is usually given the name of scientific method. In this context,
Karl Pearson writes, “The scientific method is one and same in the
branches (of science) and that method is the method of all logically
trained minds…….the unity of all sciences consists alone in its methods,
not its material; the man who classifies facts of any kind whatever, who
sees their mutual relation and describes their sequences, is applying the
Scientific Method and is a man of science.” Scientific method is the
23 pursuit of truth as determined by logical considerations. The ideal of
science is to achieve a systematic interrelation of facts. Scientific method
attempts to achieve “this ideal by experimentation, observation, logical
arguments from accepted postulates and a combination of these three in
varying proportions.” In scientific method, logic aids in formulating
propositions explicitly and accurately so that their possible alternatives
become clear. Further, logic develops the consequences of such
alternatives, and when these are compared with observable phenomena,
it becomes possible for the researcher or the scientist to state which
alternative is most in harmony with the observed facts. All this is done
through experimentation and survey investigations which constitute the
integral parts of scientific method.
Experimentation is done to test hypotheses and to discover new
relationships, if any, among variables. But the conclusions drawn on the
basis of experimental data are generally criticized for either faulty
assumptions, poorly designed experiments, badly executed experiments
or faulty interpretations. As such the researcher must pay all possible
attention while developing the experimental design and must state only
probable inferences. The purpose of survey investigations may also be to
provide scientifically gathered information to work as a basis for the
researchers for their conclusions.
The scientific method is, thus, based on certain basic postulates
which can be stated as under:
1. It relies on empirical evidence;
2. It utilizes relevant concepts;
3. It is committed to only objective considerations;
4. It presupposes ethical neutrality, i.e., it aims at nothing but
making only adequate and correct statements about
population objects;
5. It results into probabilistic predictions;
24 6. Its methodology is made known to all concerned for critical
scrutiny and for use in testing the conclusions through
replication;
7. It aims at formulating most general axioms or what can be
termed as scientific theories.
Thus, “the scientific method encourages a rigorous, impersonal
mode of procedure dictated by the demands of logic and objective
procedure.” Accordingly, scientific method implies an objective, logical
and systematic method, i.e., a method free from personal bias or
prejudice, a method to ascertain demonstrable qualities of a phenomenon
capable of being verified, a method wherein the researcher is guided by
the rules of logical reasoning, a method wherein the investigation
proceeds in an orderly manner and a method that implies internal
consistency.
