Introduction to Research Methodology

The term Research may be defined as a systematic gathering or collection of data and information. It is a process of analysis for the advancement of knowledge in any subject. 

Definition of Research

There is various definition of Research by various researchers/ as per the fields of their study and the availability of resources at the given time. As a basic definition of Research, we can say Research is the process of gathering information and data to discover a new knowledge/concept or advancement of existing theories, which is a new understanding that was not previously known.

 Characteristics of a Good Research

• The purpose of the research is clear.
• It follows a systematic process.
• It is logical and objective.
• It is easy to understand.
• Research starts with a problem/question. 
• It creates a path for generating new questions.
• It is ethical.
• It resolves any current problems/issues.
• The data of the research is appropriate.
• It is empirical & replicable.

Purpose of Research

There are many purposes of Research but the main three purposes are –

1. Exploratory: Exploratory research is the first unstructured research for solving new problems that haven’t been explored/discovered before. 
2. Descriptive: Descriptive research expands knowledge of an existing research problem in a structured way.   
3. Explanatory: Explanatory research is casual research, It is experiential research. It is conducted to check the result of specific changes in an existing procedure or system.

Types of Research

Research can be divided into two main types : 

1. Basic research (Pure Research):  It does not focus on solving specific problems or issues. It focuses on the advancement of an existing problem.
2. Applied research: It focuses to find solutions to specific problems or issues.

Types of Research Methods

Research methods are mainly classified into two 

1. Qualitative Research Methods: Qualitative research refers to analyzing in-depth information about human behavior and producing “textual data” (non-numerical).
2. Quantitative Research Methods: Quantitative research refers to analyzing something based on some numerical data and mathematical models and producing “numerical data”.

Both methods have distinctive properties and data collection methods. For more detail please refer Difference between Qualitative research and Quantitative research article.