What is Research Method (See links below for our video lectures on Practical Research 1 and 2)

What is research method ?

Let us briefly define this term before we delve into the meaning nature and dynamics of quantitative qualitative and mixed method in research .

And so a research method is the logic of how a scholar arrives at a valid and reliable knowledge .

It is a direct product of reason and is the intellectual and rational basis of scientific certitude .

In other words , a research method is the strategy employed in the collection of data or evidence for analysis to uncover new information or arrive at a better understanding of a particular topic as a strategy .

It involves specific procedures in collecting and analyzing data .

This explains why developing a research method is an integral part of one's research design without it .

Therefore , the researcher can hardly proceed with a collection of data even if she has a well defined research problem .

It is important to note that the procedure in research is subsumed under method .

Hence , the term procedure is not synonymous with method procedure .

As we can see is a series of steps undertaken to carry out the demands of a method .

Thus , the formulation of the research plan , data gathering authentication of documents , review of related literature , content analysis , statistical treatment and similar concerns of researchers are items of procedure undertaken for the purpose of attaining the aims of the method .

Indeed , the type of method determines the type of procedures to follow in research .

That is why the procedure is indicated under method in order to show that it is a subsidiary .

Hence , a procedure must be logically derived from a method now , because method is a logic , it is aimed at discovering meaning or significance .

A simple rule to remember regarding meaning or significance in the context of research is that meaning is understood as relatedness or connectedness , whether it is in the category of cognition , that is knowledge , affection , that is feeling and attitude or operation , that is action and performance .

It is also important to note that the discovery of meaning begins with making a question .

And as we can see , meaning is an answer , it does not come unless one asks a question .

And in research , the question is called the statement of the problem .

Three things therefore are essential in research .

Namely first , the problem , second , the method of answering the problem and third the answer to the problem .

Every scholarly work .

Therefore , either short or long has these three explicitly or implicitly in formal scholarly writing such as in thesis and dissertations .

These three are explicitly stated .

Now , as we can see , a research method refers to the tools that one uses in doing research .

And as we already know it can either be qualitative , quantitative or mixed method .

In our other videos , we will be discussing very briefly their meaning nature and dynamics .