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• Research is a systematic process of collecting, analyzing and interpreting information or data to increase understanding of a phenomenon
• Research requires collecting, analyzing and interpreting data to understand, describe, predict or control a phenomenon
• Research consists of three steps: pose a question, collect data to answer the question and present an answer to the question
• Research is a systematic investigation and study of materials and sources to create facts and reach new inferences
• Research helps society answer the WHAT and HOW questions
• Research can be categorized into basic research and applied research
• Basic Research:

  • Develops scientific theories to be more understandable
  • Increases the nature of understanding about the problem
• Applied Research:

  • Provides solutions and validation for specific questions
  • Applies solutions to real settings
• Research is undertaken to provide information to support decision-making in its respective area
• Characteristics of research:

  • Empirical: based on direct experience or observation
  • Logical: based on valid procedures and principles
  • Cyclical: starts and ends with a problem
  • Analytical: uses proven analytical procedures
  • Critical: exhibits careful and precise judgment
  • Methodical: conducted without bias using systematic methods
  • Replicability: research design and procedures are repeated for valid results
• Research process involves steps like defining the research problem, reviewing related literature, formulating hypothesis, research design, collecting data, analyzing data, interpreting and reporting
• Ethics in research is crucial and involves adhering to ethical standards in planning and conducting both quantitative and qualitative research
• Ethics in research involves beliefs about what is right or wrong, proper or improper, good or bad
• To be ethical is to conform to accepted professional practice
• Ethical norms are significant in conducting research studies
• Ethics promotes the pursuit of knowledge, truth, and credibility
• Ethical norms help individuals to be accountable in every act undertaken
• Ethical norms ensure researchers are held accountable to the public
• An ethical norm in research also needs public awareness
• • Responsible Mentoring to educate, mentor, and advise students
  • Respect Colleagues by treating all peers fairly
  • Social Responsibility to promote social good and avoid harm
  • Non-Discrimination to avoid discrimination based on sex, race, ethnicity, etc.
  • Competence to maintain and improve professional expertise
  • Legality to know and obey relevant laws and institutional policies
  • Animal Care to show proper respect and care for animals in research
  • Human Subject Protection to minimize harms, respect human dignity, privacy, and autonomy
• Key ethical principles for research:

  • Honesty must be maintained in all communication
  • Data should not be fabricated
  • Objectivity should be maintained in experimental design, data analysis, and interpretation
  • Integrity involves keeping promises and agreements
  • Carefulness to avoid careless errors and negligence
  • Openness to share data, results, ideas, and tools
  • Respect of Intellectual Property by giving proper acknowledgement or credit
  • Confidentiality to protect confidential communication
  • Responsible Publication to avoid duplicate publication
• Unethical practices in conducting research:

  • Deceiving a respondent about the true purpose of a study
  • Asking questions that cause extreme embarrassment, guilt, or emotional turmoil
  • Invading the privacy of a respondent
  • Studying respondents without their knowledge
  • Unethical data analysis practices such as revealing only part of the facts, presenting facts out of context, falsifying findings, or offering misleading presentations
• Difference between Quantitative and Qualitative Research:

  Quantitative Research:

  • Collects numerical data analyzed using mathematically based methods
  • Concerned with numbers and measurement

  Qualitative Research:

  • Seeks to answer why and how people behave
  • Provides in-depth information about human behavior
  • Concerned with experiences, understanding, and words of individuals
• More differences between Qualitative and Quantitative Research:

  Qualitative:

  • Purpose is to explain and gain insight through narrative data
  • Approach is subjective, holistic, and process-oriented
  • Hypotheses are tentative and evolving
  • Research setting is not as controlled

  Quantitative:

  • Purpose is to explain, predict, and control through numerical data
  • Approach is objective, focused, and outcome-oriented
  • Hypotheses are specific and testable
  • Research setting is controlled
  • Different sampling, measurement, design, and method approaches