Research Methods - Başar Onur Mesci

RESEARCH METHODS- The Research proposal -

EMBA 202

City CollageExecutive mba

Prepared by: Başar Onur [email protected]

Submitted to: Dr. [email protected]

The Research Proposal / EMBA202Başar Onur Mesci [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]



Table of Contents

1.0 Abstract

2.0 Introduction

3.0 Objectives

4.0 Literature review & Method

5.0 Ethics

6.0 Expected outcomes

7.0 Implications of the study

8.0 References

1.0 ABSTRACT



This study is done by Başar Onur Mesci as an executive MBA coursework in 2013. This study is giving information to the research writers about methods of academic dissertation writing. “Being curiosity is wanting to know about an existing problem, issue, policy, or outcome.” (Dantzker & Hunter, 2006, p.13). Information is given in this paper is about researches, way of curiosity solving and this coursework also can be functionally used by other professionals for other professional purposes. Main idea of this paper is to remind reader; where, when and what to focus, what not to forget in dissertation. This coursework (The Research Proposal) paper can be used as a reminder notes when developing the dissertation or any academic paper. Before writing main part of this paper; about methodologies of research method, I briefly want to say that academic searches can be varied and because of that there may be a need of using different algorithms for every branches of academic education. For example; in some academic branches there would be need for quantitative research methods in some qualitative would be needed. In other words when writing a research proposal about engineering we may need laboratory test result however if the dissertation topic is about corporate finance, cost & profit margin parameters would be useful.

2.0 INTRODUCTION

“The very term research is a pejorative one to many practitioners, conjuring up images of white coated scientists plying their arcane trade in laboratories filled with mysterious equipment” (Nunan, 1992). And this definition is slightly different than our definition of research. In this coursework research refers to a social, psychological, financial, engineering or any other source of academic study which is held by researcher. One of the main reasons of academic writing, dissertation is to get information at the background and to combine it with new findings and as a result to share with world. During this process; writer can learn and develop him or herself. There are some challenges and its quite crucial to describe main objective. Taylor (1999) states that “the challenge is to find a naturally occurring ‘experiment’, compare two or more groups to evaluate the hypothesis”. Main topics can be varied. Animals, food chain or mating for a veterinary; concrete, cement or iron for a civil engineer or human kind to a psychologist. As a result we can easily identify that each dissertation writer can focus on a variety of topics and methodologies can be different of course. If the question is from where will I start when writing a dissertation or which algorithm do I need to follow; I briefly try to show process. As described above; this algorithm can be varied for different branches of academia.

The Process of Dissertation Writing



Figure # 1. The process of scientific dissertation writing

Reviewing of the literature and Determination of Research ProblemIt's crucial for academic writers to find out, what has been written so far about similar

or relevant subjects by other researchers. This identification is crucial because;a. As an easier way; researcher can access to a broader base for knowledge.b. If a similar study was done before; by revising your subject you can prevent or

minimize loss of time.c. By reviewing previous papers you can support your introduction part with a

rich content. International scientific indexes and internet is a good source nowadays to review

relevant previous updated papers. Having and providing the main research question would help reader to understand and focus on the subject. As an example; if the researcher is writing about “the effect of age difference between couples in marriage”, and by adding a hypothesis as "age gap in marriages with less than 5 years have happier marriage" can trigger the readers and would provide a better understanding and expectation for the paper.

To Read and Summarize the Sources

After getting and providing a sufficient amount of resource, next stage would be reading and summarizing these papers. Preparing the summaries by the source you are observing can make you not to miss main points in forthcoming days. And taking summary notes would help developer not to read again and again same resources and helps to combine knowledge within each other.

Determination of Research and Analysis Methods

After deciding on hypothesis; it's crucial to order them in correct numbering when writing a dissertation. There are selection of methods relevant to your subject and interest; observation, association, archival research are some of these. Another crucial point is to decide which statistical method writer will choose, to compare data and share his/her findings.


Reviewing of the literature

Determination of research

problem

Reading and summarizing the sources

Determination of research and

analysis methods

Quality data collection and

analysis

Interpretation of main findings

The completetion of dissertation

paper


Quality Data Collection and Analysis

After deciding on the research method, researcher can start collecting data, the quality data. If the data is being collected from human kind there are some duties which researcher never to forget. First off all researchers must have experimental human’s approval and the experimental human has to have a wish to be take part of data collection to carry on data collection for statistical analysis. After completion of data gathering, experimental human has to be informed about the subject and objective of the research. And as the last, if experimental human has been psychologically affected badly within process of data collection, experimental human should not leave alone before stabilizing his/her psychology. After the completion of data collection, the data would be interpreted by statistical analysis programs or by software’s quickly.

Interpretation of Main FindingsAfter the completion of analysis, researcher may get two main results. The correction

of hypothesis is the first result. The opposite, disconfirmation of hypothesis is the second result. These results which are resulting as a correction or disconfirmation would be shared within the last sections of dissertation. Weaknesses of the paper can be defined in that part and this information would help other writers; who can possibly study on a similar subject, later on.

The Completion of Dissertation Paper

As a final responsibility writer has to share findings of research with society. After preparing the research report as in a order listed above, researcher would send his/her research, dissertation with publications to be published and to be make available for a bigger society as a copyrighted paper.

3.0 OBJECTIVES

Main objective of this paper is to show methods of dissertation writing, the research methods. Academic paper wiring regulations help writers and readers to read in same language; in other terms making principal clearness’s would make easier for both in writing and understanding. In this paper technical and ethical methodologies when writing an academic paper are presented. There may be some differences within different publications for academic paper writing. American Psychological Association’s (API) methods are being chosen as the main criteria. I found API more functional in web based resource criterion. Its important to write dissertation in correct order. These are: Cover page, abstract, introduction, methodologies, results, discussion and references. Please find detailed information for these sub headings below.

Cover Page



Cover page may consist the title of dissertation, writers and relevant organizations’ name in it. It is possible to add a short title which is less than 50 characters in cover page as well.

AbstractAbstract can provide a brief summary of the paper. Objective is to define content of study. If the question is how to develop abstract good; main answer would be telling main content of the report with limited number of paragraphs. And it would be good to create first sentence as functional, which is giving the information correct within limited number of words. It is better not to use first person singular or plural but good to produce past tense sentences. Subject of the study, details of participants and sampling can be given within the abstract. We can write abstract after cover page as a single page. Keywords can be added at the end of abstract.

IntroductionIntroduction part is providing reader what type of relevant similar studies have been performed and main objective of the study. Before start writing introduction reminders which are listed below can be helpful.

Significance of this study.How hypothesis are supporting the objective of study?What type of contribution to the existing literature is provided?Which methods and logical approaches are we going to use?

A good developed introduction has to answer all above questions well. When reader is getting information about above questions, literature review has to be identified clear. Some crucial points when listing literature review.

Presenting of all academic resources is important. Dissertation write has to mention about all referencing points.It’s important proving equal standing to all previous studies.Functional thing is not adding many referencing, main point is to provide relevant referencing.

After providing the subject and the literature within introduction part, telling about objective of the study and hypothesis at the last part of introduction would be beneficial.

MethodIn this part, information about methods used in dissertation; data gathering, sampling, laboratory experiments are provided. Participants, materials, procedure, results, discussions and references can be listed as subcategories. It’s important to provide correct data about all listed above. This would help proofing reliability of data used. And by giving information regarding on these, readers would have an understanding of selection of data. This can be used by other academic writers who may have chance to write about similar subjects later. How participants are being chosen, methods used for dividing participants within groups, why participants were involved and participant’s demographic information data are main highlights of participant’s part. It’s good to submit results as graphs, if available. Reader-friendly structures would decrease possibility of misleading. Writer of dissertation has to list his/her final findings, opinions



within discussion part. Discussion part is the final part of the paper except references part. Discussion part has to answer below questions can be raised by researcher;

What is my contribution to academia by this dissertation?Did I figure out well the research problem?What kind of results is my research providing?

ReferencingReferences part is the last part of paper if we are not providing appendixes. In reference part, name of the references are being citied in alphabetic order. Reference includes name of the researchers, date of publication, the title of publication, location of publication and details of publisher. Every reference line has to be started from left, if second line is applicable, second line has to be started single paragraph inside.

ExampleCoyne, IT. (1997). "Sampling in qualitative research: Purposeful and theoretical sampling; merging

or clear boundaries."Journal of Advanced Nursing 26, 623-630.

AppendixResearcher can provide other source of helpful supportive documents, such as pictures, graphs, tables, models, etc. within appendix part.

4.0 LITERATURE REVIEW & METHOD

Structure of dissertation paper is important at least as the quality of content. Well defined structures are available for dissertation writing. In this coursework, HRS (Harvard Referencing System) is being used as a source. HRS is one of the main common referencing systems which are actively being used at world. Also physical structure of the dissertation is being defined in below.

The Physical Structure of ReportPaper would be white, 80gr, A4 one.

FontIn common; 12pt. Times New Roman or 10pt. Courier, Arial and Verdana would be preferable. Clean writing is crucial. Italic and bold writing can be preferable if found functional.

Border Spacing1Inch spacing is preferable from both sides of the paper; top, bottom, right and left. Start writing from left is a must. Objective is to use 25 to 28 lines within a single paper, except figures, graphs and pictures.



Page NumberingAll pages including cover page has to be numbered.

HeaderPage numbers and acronym of the title can be shared as header. Header would locate at top of the page, at right end corner.

Dissertation writing improves the ability and skills of writer in a specific area. Ghauri (2005) states that “Research methodology can be conceived as rules for reasoning, i.e. a specific logic to acquire insights.” And method of dissertation writing can improve readers’ accessibility and understanding of shared data. By selection of right methods; theories can be answered in an appropriate way. In dissertation writing; decision on theories can affect researcher’s data accessibility. Researcher can choose a new subject, which has not been studied before or can modify & develop existing subjects. Adaptation may be required for the existing subjects.

Choosing appropriate data collection method and evaluating is one of the main parts of writing dissertation. Veal (2006) supports that “While seen as universal, various fields of research – including have developed their own methodological emphases and some fields’ enquiry scientific laboratory experiments are social surveys and are more common.” Not providing correct data can have an effect on the result and mislead both researcher and the reader. There are varies selection of data collection, objective is to decide on best matching ones. There are 2 main types of data collection; quantitative and qualitative data collection.

Quantitative Data Collection MethodsThe quantitative data collection method is relying on response categories experiences. Response categories are predetermined and random sampling is commonly in use. This type of data collection allows researcher simple comparison because of the usage of quantitative data. Quantitative data collection is preferable when researcher is not easily guessing the scale of theories with concrete data, it’s relevant with hypothesis. Researcher can make data collection participants larger population by sampling the groups. Main types of quantitative data collection can be listed as;

Telephone interviews which responder can select defined number of answers Questionnaires (closed-end again) Direct quality data gathering from management information systems Laboratory results

InterviewsQuantitative research interviews can be considered more detailed, more structured than qualitative research ones. Borders of the interviews would be developed well and objective would be getting answers to questions raised. In quantitative interviews, by the help of structured data there is no need for additional questionable queries. There are some different types of interviews; telephone, face to face and computer assisted interviews. Rate of correspondence in telephone interview is higher than email ones nowadays. And telephone interviews may take less than face to face interviews but response rate may be lower. Face to face interviews can be considered more functional if compared with telephone and computer assisted ones. Disadvantage is face to face interviews are not much



cost effective and time consumption may take longer. Computer assisted interviews can be considered as useful as face to face interviews when interviewer has got computer and typing skills. Interviewer can type his/her answers and comments within spacing in digital format. Computer assisted method can save some time.

QuestionnairesWeb based questionnaires are the common ones nowadays. Researchers can contact interviewers by reaching their email accounts by sending a website address and a form would be appeared to be filled by interviewer. In this type of questionnaires accuracy of answers can be slightly lower than paper-pencil ones. In paper-pencil ones accuracy can be higher but return rate in paper-pencil type of questionnaires is lower.

Qualitative Data Collection MethodsMorse and Field (1995) state that “Doing qualitative research requires the researcher to be methodologically versatile, to have extensive knowledge of social science theory, to interact skilfully with others, and to be persistent, focused and single-mindedly committed to research.” Qualitative data collection method is quite helpful for readers to understand basics and background of data collection. It’s a kind of a strong documentary. In qualitative data collection method, researcher can evaluate the collection quick. Number of interview which has done with the same interviewer can be increased, revision are commonly open. Multiple data collection and comparison with other collections are easier. It’s important to take notes often, “be descriptive in taking field notes” (Mostoukas, 1994). A disadvantage of qualitative data collection is, it may take longer than quantitative ones. Researcher has to record every finding in detail and compare its results. Erickson (2012) marks that “The crucial problem for the qualitative researcher, however, is determining the qualities of social action and meaning.” Document review, observation method and interview are the main categories of qualitative data collection. We can also draw a chart to explain it better as below;


Methodology

Theory

Hypothesis

Actions

Research Techniques

Techniques of Analysing

Information Gathering

Sampling


4.0 ETHICS

Taking other researchers sentences without using quantitation mark and not providing source can be called as plagiarism which is not an ethical act. If researcher can change organization of sentence but still not give the source, it can be still considered as plagiarism. In other words, if writer of a dissertation or course work is taking someone’s words, these words has to be put in quantitation mark as in italics and source of sentence has to defined at the end. We can list plagiarism articles as;

Copying and pasting sentences from World Wide Web sources without providing the source.

Copying a text from World Wide Web without providing the source. Getting instant coursework from World Wide Web. Copying a text from book, magazine and cyclopaedia without providing the

source. Reordering the words of texts from the sources listed above and not providing

the source. Using a picture or video without providing the source or getting a permit.

Bulmer (1984) states that “Research techniques are the specific manipulative and fact finding operations which are used to yield data about the social world.” Before presenting research findings to world, we have to be sure about the thrust and ethical approach of the academic paper. These ethics show researcher how to use findings in his/her research. This may cover research ethics and publishing (writing) ethics mainly. These ethical rules are commonly accepted by world-wide researchers. Dissertation and other types of academic researchers are based on some key issues, thrust is one of them. Researcher can develop their researches to help humankind by providing useful and harmful results to people.

5.0 EXPECTED OUTCOMES

“Research is creating new knowledge, whatever the disciplines – history, medicine, physics, and social work.” (Gillham, 2000, p. 2) Creating the knowledge is objective but it is also important to present outcomes as well. After getting and combining all data, it’s quite crucial to read them as well to present outcomes. Statistical techniques and why these techniques have been chosen so far have to be shared with reader clear. Researcher also must provide which sub-methods were used within data collection. Findings and reviews can be presented in same category within dissertation or within different categories. This is about the way of presenting findings. Researchers are using findings to support main thesis. Effectiveness of the dissertation outcome is crucial. “The theory of effectiveness is the Holy Grail of organizational research.” (Alan, 2004) Presenting outcomes is one of the main parts of dissertation because without providing findings to reader well, quality data may not mean much to reader if not shared functional.



Findings are not personal or subjective but reviews can be considered subjective. Parallel findings can be read different by different researchers. As an example from Rubin and Babbie (2008) as “knowledge based on the probability enables us to say that if A occurs, B is likely to occur” proofs us that reviews and expectations may be subjective. Criteria have to find correct approach defining reviews, outcomes from findings. All in all it’s crucial to provide outcome and summary sentence in dissertation; researcher has to provide final saying. If researcher is facing difficulty to choose one, it’s helpful to get most strong one from main outcomes.

5.0 IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY

This coursework aims to present dissertation writing research methods in terms of an ethical approach in a functional way. By using right way of academic writing; in other terms reviewing of the literature and determination of research problem, reading and summarizing the sources, determination of research and analysis methods, quality data collection and analysing, interpretation of main findings and the completion of dissertation paper researcher can use time more functional and quicker. Quality of data objective has to be as high as possible. By the help of this study, dissertation developer Başar Onur Mesci can study and write his dissertation academically. Also this coursework, study can be used by other readers to improve academic writing skills such as research methods.

6.0 REFERENCESBryman, Alan. Research methods and organization studies. Vol. 20. Routledge, 2004.

Bulmer, Martin, ed. Sociological research methods. Transaction Books, 1984.

Dantzker, Mark L., and Ronald D. Hunter. Research methods for criminology and criminal justice: A primer. Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2006.

Ghauri, Pervez N. Research methods in business studies: A practical guide. Pearson Education, 2005.

Gillham, Bill. Case study research methods. Continuum International Publishing Group, 2000.

Erickson, Frederick. "Qualitative research methods for science education."Second International Handbook of Science Education. Springer Netherlands, 2012. 1451-1469.

Morse, Janice M., and Peggy Anne Field. Qualitative research methods for health professionals. Sage, 1995.

Moustakas, Clark, ed. Phenomenological research methods. Sage, 1994.

Nunan, David. Research methods in language learning. Cambridge University Press, 1992.

Rubin, Allen, and Earl R. Babbie. Research methods for social work. Cengage Learning, 2008.

Taylor, David. "Introduction to Research Methods." medicine 319 (1999): 1618.

Veal, Anthony J. Research methods for leisure and tourism: A practical guide. Pearson Education, 2006.

