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RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY

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• Research involves systematic, controlled,
valid and rigorous exploration and
description of what is not known and
establishment of associations and

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causation that permit the accurate
prediction of outcomes under a given set
of conditions.
• It also involves identifying gaps in
knowledge, verification of what is already
known and identification of past errors
and limitations.
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Review the research
process in the lec2….

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Reviewing Literature
In this section, you will learn

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about:
•• The functions of the literature review in
research
•• How to carry out a literature search
•• How to review the selected literature
•• How to develop theoretical and
conceptual frameworks 4

•• How to write a literature review

The place of the literature
review in research
The literature review is an integral part

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of the research process and makes a
valuable contribution to almost every
operational step.
The documentation of a comprehensive
review of the published and unpublished
work from secondary sources of data in
the areas of specific interest to the
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researcher.
Cont…
The literature review serves

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to enhance and consolidate
your own knowledge base
and helps you to integrate
your findings with the
existing body of knowledge. 6
 Literature Review
Funcations
In relation to your own study, the literature

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review can help in four ways. It can:
• 1 bring clarity and focus to your research
problem;
• 2 improve your research methodology;
• 3 broaden your knowledge base in your
research area; and
• 4 Contextualize your findings. 7
Cont…
 Bringingclarity and focus to your

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research problem
When reviewing the literature you learn
what aspects of your subject area have
been examined by others, what they have
found out about these aspects, what gaps
they have identified and what suggestions
they have made for further research. 8
Cont…
Improving your research

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methodology
A literature review tells you if others
have used procedures and methods
similar to the ones that you are
proposing, which procedures and
methods have worked well for them
and what problems they have faced 9
with them.
Cont…
Broadening your knowledge

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base in your research area
It is important that you know what
other researchers have found in
regard to the same or similar
questions, what theories have been
put forward and what gaps exist in
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the relevant body of knowledge.
Cont…
Enabling you to contextualize

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your findings
How do answers to your research
questions compare with what others have
found?
What contribution have you been able to
make to the existing body of knowledge?
How are your findings different from those 11
of others?
 How to review the
literature
There are five steps involved in

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conducting a literature review:
• Searching for the existing literature in
your area of study.
• Reviewing the selected literature.
• Developing a theoretical framework.
• Developing a conceptual framework.
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• Writing up the literature reviewed.
Cont…
Searching for the existing

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literature
There are three sources that you
can use to prepare a bibliography:
(a) books;
(b) journals;
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(c) the Internet.
Cont…
Reviewing the selected

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literature
Now that you have identified several
books and articles as useful, the next
step is to start reading them critically
to pull together themes and issues
that are of relevance to your study. 14
Cont…
Developing a theoretical

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framework
As you start reading the literature,
you will soon discover that the
problem you wish to investigate has
its roots in a number of theories that
have been developed from different 15
perspectives.
Cont…
If you want to study the relationship between mortality and
fertility, you should review the literature about:

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• fertility – trends, theories, some of the indices and critiques
of them, factors affecting fertility, methods of controlling
fertility, factors affecting acceptance of contraceptives, and so
on;
• mortality – factors affecting mortality, mortality indices and
their sensitivity in measuring change in mortality levels of a
population, trends in mortality, and so on; and, most
importantly,
• the relationship between fertility and mortality – theories
that have been put forward to explain the relationship, 16
implications of the relationship.
Cont…
Developing a conceptual

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framework
 It stems from the theoretical framework and
usually focuses on the section(s) which become
the basis of your study.
 Whereas the theoretical framework consists of
the theories or issues in which your study is
embedded, the conceptual framework describes
the aspects you selected from the theoretical
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framework to become the basis of your enquiry.
Cont…
Writing about the literature
reviewed

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As mentioned in the beginning of this literature,
the two of the broad functions of a literature
review are:
• (1) to provide a theoretical background to your
study and
• (2) to enable you to contextualize your findings
in relation to the existing body of knowledge in
addition to refining your methodology. 18
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Formulating a Research
Problem

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In this section, you will learn about:
•• The importance of formulating a research
problem
•• Sources of research problems

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•• Considerations in selecting a research
problem
•• Specific issues to consider when formulating
a research problem in qualitative research
•• Steps in formulating a research problem
•• How to formulate research objectives
•• The importance of establishing operational 20

definitions
The research problem
Any question that you want answered and any
assumption or assertion that you want to

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challenge or investigate can become a research
problem or a research topic for your study.
1. Questions to answer:
a. Is there any relationship between
decentralization and productivity level?
b. What are the effects of TV programs on
children behavior? 21
Cont…
2. Assumptions:
a. The average age of the male students in this

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class is higher than that of the female students.
b. A total of 60 percent of females and 30 percent
of males obtain ICDL certificates.
3. Statement/Challenge to investigate:
c. Exploring phenomenon, customer satisfaction
with products, service or program.
d. Improving productivity, quality of service or
program. 22
The importance of formulating
a research problem
The formulation of a research

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problem is the first and most
important step of the research
process.
It is like the identification of a
destination before undertaking
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a journey.
Cont…
The way you formulate a problem

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determines almost every step that follows:
 the type of study design that can be used;
 the type of sampling strategy that can be
employed;
 the research instrument that can be used
or developed;
 and the type of analysis that can be
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undertaken.
Sources of research
problems

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•• people;
•• problems;
•• programmes;
•• phenomena.

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Cont…
Every research study has two aspects:
 the people provide you with the ‘study

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population’, whereas the other three ps
furnish the ‘subject areas’.
 Your study population – individuals, groups
and communities – is the people from whom
the information is collected.
 Your subject area is a problem, programme
or phenomenon about which the information 26
is collected.
 Cont…

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Considerations in selecting a
research problem
•• Interest – Interest should be the most important
consideration in selecting a research problem.

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•• Magnitude – You should have sufficient
knowledge about the research process to be able
to visualize the work involved in completing the
proposed study.
•• Measurement of concepts – If you are using a
concept in your study (in quantitative studies),
make sure you are clear about its indicators and
their measurement. 28
Cont…
•• Level of expertise – Make sure you have an
adequate level of expertise for the task you are

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proposing.
•• Relevance – Select a topic that is of relevance to
you as a professional.
•• Availability of data – If your topic entails
collection of information from secondary sources
make sure that this data is available.
•• SEthical issues – Another important consideration
in formulating a research problem is the ethical 29
issues involved.
 Steps in formulating a
research problem
Identify a broad field or subject area of

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interest to you.
Dissect the broad area into subareas.
Select what is of most interest to you.
Raise research questions.
Formulate objectives.
Assess your objectives.
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Double-check.
The formulation of research
objectives
Objectives are the goals you set out
to attain in your study.

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Objectives should be listed under
two headings:
main objectives;
subobjectives.

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Cont…
Main Objective: is an overall statement of the
thrust(the main idea) of your study. It is also a

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statement of main associations and relationships that
you seek to discover or establish.
Sub-objectives: are the specific aspects of the topic
that you want to investigate within the main
framework of your study.

The objectives should start with words such as

‘to determine’, ‘to find out’, ‘to ascertain’, ‘to 32
measure’ and ‘to explore’.
Characteristics of Objectives
Clear;
Complete;

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Specific;
Identify the main variables to be
correlated;
Identify the direction of the
relationship
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 Establishing operational
definitions
When you define concepts that you

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plan to use either in your research
problem and/or in identifying the
study population in a measurable
form, they are called working
definitions or operational
definitions. 34
Cont…
Operational meaning give an operational meaning
to the study population and the concepts used.

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The following example studies help to explain this.
The main objectives are:
To find out the number of families living below
the poverty line.
To ascertain the impact of immigration on family
roles among immigrants.
To measure the effectiveness of a training
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program designed to help young people.
 Cont…

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 Cont…
Concept Definition Concept Definition
Poverty Line Total value of Child A person who
assets, annual has not
income below attained
AED 50,000,00 puberty.

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Family roles Ability of Immigrant A person who
family to leaves has
protect, guide, native country
educate, and to live
support its elsewhere
members

Effectiveness Ability to The young An individual

achieve aged between
decided, 18 and 35 37
decisive, and
desired results
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The End
Thanks for listening.
Any Question
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