Wednesday, 2 March 2016

RESEARCH, Definition and purpose of research

Definition of research
Different authors have defined research as follows:
Ø  Research is carrying out a diligent inquiry or a critical examination of a given phenomenon.
Ø  Research involves a critical analysis of existing conclusions or theories with regard to newly discovered facts i.e. it’s a continued search for new knowledge and understanding of the world around us.
Ø  Research is a process of arriving at effective solutions to problems through systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of data.

What is Business Research?
It is a systematic inquiry whose objective is to provide information to solve managerial problems (Cooper and Schindler, 2003).

Research and Scientific Method
The scientific method encourages a rigorous, impersonal mode of procedure dictated by the demands of logic and objective procedure. It is based on the following basic postulates:
Ø  It relies on empirical evidence
Ø  It utilizes relevant concepts
Ø  It is committed to only objective considerations
Ø  It presupposes ethical neutrality i.e. it aims at nothing but making only adequate and correct statements about population objects
Ø  It results into probabilistic predictions
Ø  Its methodology is made known to all concerned for critical scrutiny and for use in testing the conclusions through replication.
Ø  It aims at formulating most general axioms or what can be termed as scientific theories.

Purpose of Research
Ø  To discover new knowledge
Ø  To describe a phenomenon
Ø  To enable prediction.
Ø  To enable control i.e. the ability to regulate the phenomenon under study.
Ø  To enable explanation of a phenomenon i.e. accurate observation and measurement of a given phenomenon.
Ø  To enable theory development and validation of existing theories. Theory development involves formulating concepts, laws and generalizations about a given phenomenon.
Ø  Research provides one with the knowledge and skills needed for the fast-paced decision-making environment
  
Components of research
1.      Identification of the research area and topic.
2.      Statement of the problem.
3.      Literature review.
4.      Methodology design
5.      Sampling frame and sampling techniques.
6.      Data collection tools, design and techniques.
7.      Data analysis methods.
8.      Report writing techniques.


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