Research: Meaning, Types, and Characteristics
Research is a systematic, controlled, empirical, and critical investigation of a problem, undertaken to discover new facts, verify existing knowledge, or establish new relationships between facts.
Characteristics of research
- Systematic and objective, following a planned procedure.
- Based on empirical evidence, not opinion alone.
- Replicable — another researcher can repeat it and verify the findings.
- Aims at generalisation and contributes to the existing body of knowledge.
Types of research
| Basis | Types |
|---|---|
| Purpose | Basic/Pure research (advances theory, no immediate application) vs. Applied research (solves a practical problem) |
| Approach | Interdisciplinary (draws on two or more disciplines) vs. Multidisciplinary research |
| Data nature | Qualitative (descriptive, interpretive) vs. Quantitative (numerical, statistical) |
Positivism and Post-positivistic Approach
| Positivism | Post-positivism |
|---|---|
| Believes reality is objective and can be measured precisely through observation and experiment; favours quantitative, hypothesis-testing methods | Accepts that reality can only be known imperfectly and probabilistically; the researcher’s perspective inevitably shapes findings; more open to mixed and qualitative methods |
Methods of Research
- Experimental method — manipulates one or more independent variables under controlled conditions to observe effect on a dependent variable; establishes cause-effect relationships.
- Descriptive method — describes characteristics of a population or phenomenon as it exists (surveys, case studies); does not manipulate variables.
- Historical method — systematically studies past events and records to understand present phenomena, relying on primary and secondary historical sources.
- Qualitative method — explores meaning, experience, and social phenomena through interviews, observation, and content analysis; produces descriptive, non-numerical data.
- Quantitative method — relies on numerical data and statistical analysis to test hypotheses and establish patterns.
Steps of Research
Thesis and Article Writing: Format and Styles of Referencing
A thesis typically follows the structure: title page, abstract, introduction, review of literature, methodology, results, discussion, conclusion, references, and appendices. Journal articles compress this into IMRaD — Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion.
Common referencing styles
- APA (American Psychological Association) — author-date in-text citation, common in social sciences and LIS.
- MLA (Modern Language Association) — author-page in-text citation, common in humanities.
- Chicago/Turabian — notes-bibliography or author-date, used across disciplines.
- Vancouver — numbered citation style, common in biomedical sciences.
Application of ICT in Research
- Access to e-journals, e-books, and databases (Scopus, Web of Science, JSTOR) for literature review.
- Statistical and analysis software (SPSS, R, Bibexcel) for data processing.
- Reference management tools (Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote) for citation and bibliography management.
- Anti-plagiarism software (Turnitin, Urkund/Ouriginal) to check textual originality.
- Institutional repositories and open-access platforms for dissemination of research output.
Research Ethics
Honesty in data and reporting, integrity, objectivity, confidentiality of participants, informed consent, avoidance of plagiarism and data fabrication/falsification, proper acknowledgement of collaborators and funding sources, and adherence to institutional ethics committee approval where human or animal subjects are involved.