Research for Under Graduate

Degree Courses – St. Mary’s College

Sebastian Panattil, Asst. Professor
 Breakdown
• Main Project Study
• Total Marks: 100 (80 marks for report and 20
marks viva voce)
 Research
• Research is a search for knowledge.
• The word “Research is composed of two
syllables “Re” and “search”. “Re” is a prefix,
meaning ‘Again or over again or a new’ and
‘Search’ is a latter meaning ‘to examine
closely and carefully’.
 Types of Research

• Basic Research
• Applied Research
• Descriptive Research
• Analytical Research
• Qualitative Research
• Quantitative Research
• Conceptual Research
• Empirical Research
 Basic Research
• It is also called Pure or Fundamental Research
• It is the research done for knowledge
enhancement, not to create or invent
something.
• It is not necessarily problem-oriented and
hence does not have direct practical
application.

Example:
• How did the universe begin?
 Applied Research
• Designed to solve practical problems of the
modern world, rather than to acquire knowledge
for the sake of knowledge.
• It focuses on analysis and solving social and real-
life problems.
• This is conducted on a large-scale basis and is
expensive.
• Thus it is often conducted with the support of
some financing agencies like Government, World
Bank,UNICEF etc.
For Example,
• How can cyber security be improved?
• How does tobacco use affect humans?
 Descriptive Research
• Also called ex-post-facto research method
• It is the description of the state of affairs as it
exists at the present.
• Researcher has no control over the variables;
he can only report what has happened or
what is happening.
• Descriptive Research attempts to determine
‘what’ is the problem under consideration.
• For example, study on the frequency of
shopping, preferences of people and so on.
 Analytical Research

• In analytical research, the researcher uses

the information already available and
analyses them to make a critical evaluation.
• It attempts to establish ‘why’ it is the way or
how it came to be.
• For example, research on a company’s
financial performance over long times.
 Qualitative Research

• Research dealing with the phenomena that

are difficult or impossible to quantify
mathematically, such as beliefs, meanings,
attributes and symbols.
• Qualitative Researchers aim to gather an in-
depth understanding of human behaviour
and the reasons that govern such behaviour
(why people think or do certain things).
• Example, attitude or opinion research i.e., the
research designed to find out how people feel
or what they think about a particular subject.
 Quantitative Research

• Based on the measurement of quantity or

amount.
• The research problem and its solution will
be expressed in terms of quantity and hence
statistical, mathematical or computational
techniques are used in this research.
• The objective is to develop mathematical
models/theories pertaining to phenomena.
• For example, the study of relationship
between dietary intake and weight-loss.
 Conceptual Research

• Conceptual Research focuses on the theory

or concept that explains or describes the
phenomena being studied.
• Used by philosophers or thinkers for
developing new concepts or reinterpret
existing ones.
For example,
• What causes disease?
• How can we describe the motion of the
planets?
 Empirical Research

• Research using empirical evidence

• It is a way of gaining knowledge by means of
direct and indirect observation or
experience rather than theory or pure logic.
• For example, the research about the
heavenly bodies is based on the data
collected about their movement.
 Report
• Background Section – Problem Statement, Study, Introduction , Background
Scope along with Objectives of the study and Literature Review

• Methodology Section – Research design, Sampling design, Data collection and

Data analysis

• Findings Section – Results, Interpretation of Results

• Conclusion Section – Recommendations and Limitations of the Study

• Appendices and Glossary of Terms.

• Bibliography
 Background Section
• Problem Statement
• Introduction to the Study
• Background Scope
• Objectives of the study and
• Literature Review
 Methodology Section
• Research design
• Sampling design
• Data collection and Data analysis
 Findings Section
• Results, Interpretation of Results
 Conclusion Section
• Recommendations and Limitations of the
Study
 Research Problem
• It is a question that the researcher wants to answer or
a problem that the researcher wants to solve.
• A research problem, or phenomenon as it might be
called in many forms of qualitative research, is the
topic you would like to address, investigate, or study,
whether descriptively or experimentally.
• It is the focus or reason for engaging in your research.
• It is typically a topic, phenomenon, or challenge that
you are interested in and with which you are at least
somewhat familiar.
Steps in Formulating a Research Problem

• Stating the problem in a general way

• Understanding the nature of the problem
• Surveying the available literature
• Developing the ideas through discussions
• Rephrasing the research problem
 Narrowing Further…
• WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY ?
• AND THEN “MIX ‘N’ MATCH”
• Combine any number of elements that your
derive from asking these questions until you
find an interesting topic to research.