Research Methodology

1. What do you mean by research? Explain its significance in social and

business
sciences.

Ans: Research is systematic investigation of a subject to discover new knowledge,

including designs of new products and processes. The process of carrying out research is
influenced heavily by the topic being researched and the purpose of research. However we can
identify following main steps in all kinds of research projects.

1. Identifying the problem or the specific research task.

2. Studying existing information related to the problem or the research task.
3. Formulating a hypothesis that gives possible explanation or description of the facts to be
uncovered by the research.
4. Collecting data or evidence that enables the researcher to test the validity of the
hypothesis.
5. Analysing the data collected and drawing conclusions based on it.

2. What is meant by research problem? And what are the characteristics of

a good
research problem?

Ans: A good research question is a question that’s worth asking. It poses a problem
worth
solving. “Dichotomous questions” – questions with simple yes or no answers – may
have
important practical significance but they don’t make good research questions. As
discussed earlier1, a good research question requires more than looking something up.
It
reflects an underlying tension that does not simply turn on one or two missing facts. It
should force you to weigh evidence and compare divergent opinions on your topic. It
should allow you to develop an answer that your readers find both interesting and
significant.
In presenting your research question it’s therefore useful to make clear to the reader
what
that tension is that provides the heft for your question. Below is a list 2 of hallmarks of
good research questions. They point to the sort of tension that is characteristic of an
engaging and fruitful question. Once you have a decided on a tentative question
compare
 it to the items in the list. Add up the point total in the last column. A good research
question need not exemplify all of these characteristics. But a very low score indicates
that you may be on the “dichotomous” side of the question spectrum. If so, some
additional reading and thought is appropriate.

3. What is hypothesis? Examine the procedures for testing hypotheses?

Ans: The basic logic of hypothesis testing has been presented somewhat informally in the
sections on "Ruling out chance as an explanation" and the "Null hypothesis." In this section the
logic will be presented in more detail and more formally.

Null and alternative hypotheses: The first step of statistical testing is to convert the
research question into null and alternative forms. We use the notation H0 to represent the null
hypothesis and H1 (or Ha) to denote the alternative hypothesis. H0 is a statement of “no
difference.” This is the hypothesis that the researcher hopes to reject. H1 opposes H0. We
retain the premise of the null hypothesis until proved otherwise. This has a basis in
[quasi-]deduction and is analogous to the presumption of innocence in a criminal trial.

Error threshold (α) : If we wish to reach a “yes-or-no decision,” fixed level testing must be
pursued. (This is not always necessary, and is sometimes unwise.) To pursue fixed-level
testing, we set an error threshold for the decision. The error threshold, called alpha (α), is the
probability the researcher is willing to take of incorrectly rejecting a true H0. For example, the
researcher may be willing to take a 1% chance of
incorrectly rejecting a true H0. In such instances, α = .01.

Test Statistic : A test statistic is calculated. There are different test statistics depending on
the data being tested and question being asked. In this chapter, we introduce tests of single
means. For single means tests, the null hypothesis is H0: : = “some value” and the test
statistic is either a zstat or tstat.

Conclusion : We convert the test statistic to a p value by placing the test statistic on its
appropriate probability distribution and determine the area under the curve beyond the test
statistic.
With fixed-level testing, the p value is compared to the " level and this simple decision rule is
applied:
When p # α, H0 is rejected.
When p > α, H0 is retained.

With flexible significance testing, the p value answers the question:

If the null hypothesis were true, what is the probability of observing the current test statistic
or a test statistic that is more extreme than the current test statistic? Thus, the smaller p
value, the better the evidence against H0. As an initial rule-of-thumb we might say that we
ought to take note of any p value approaching .05 (or less). In the parlance of statistics, such
findings denote “statistical significance.”

4. Write an essay on the need for research design and explain the
principles of
experimental designs.

Ans: In general usage, design of experiments (DoE) or experimental design is the design of
any information-gathering exercises where variation is present, whether under the full control
of the experimenter or not. However, in statistics, these terms are usually used for controlled
experiments. Other types of study, and their design, are discussed in the articles on opinion
polls and statistical surveys (which are types of observational study), natural experiments and
quasi-experiments (for example, quasi-experimental design). See Experiment for the
distinction between these types of experiments or studies.

In the design of experiments, the experimenter is often interested in the effect of some
process or intervention (the "treatment") on some objects (the "experimental units"), which
may be people, parts of people, groups of people, plants, animals, etc. Design of experiments
is thus a discipline that has very broad application across all the natural and social sciences.

Basic Principles of Experimental Designs

The basic principles of experimental designs are randomization, replication and local control.
These principles make a valid test of significance possible. Each of them is described briefly in
the following subsections.

(1) Randomization: The first principle of an experimental design is randomization, which is a

random process of assigning treatments to the experimental units. The random process
implies that every possible allotment of treatments has the same probability. An experimental
unit is the smallest division of the experimental material and a treatment means an
experimental condition whose effect is to be measured and compared. The purpose of
randomization is to remove bias and other sources of extraneous variation, which are not
controllable. Another advantage of randomization (accompanied by replication) is that it forms
the basis of any valid statistical test. Hence the treatments must be assigned at random to the
experimental units. Randomization is usually done by drawing numbered cards from a well-
shuffled pack of cards, or by drawing numbered balls from a well-shaken container or by using
tables of random numbers.

(2) Replication: The second principle of an experimental design is replication; which is a

repetition of the basic experiment. In other words, it is a complete run for all the treatments to
be tested in the experiment. In all experiments, some variation is introduced because of the
fact that the experimental units such as individuals or plots of land in agricultural experiments
cannot be physically identical. This type of variation can be removed by using a number of
experimental units. We therefore perform the experiment more than once, i.e., we repeat the
basic experiment. An individual repetition is called a replicate. The number, the shape and the
size of replicates depend upon the nature of the experimental material. A replication is used

(i) to secure more accurate estimate of the experimental error, a term which
represents the differences that would be observed if the same treatments were applied several
times to the same experimental units;

(ii) to decrease the experimental error and thereby to increase precision, which is a
measure of the variability of the experimental error; and

(iii) to obtain more precise estimate of the mean effect of a treatment, since , where
n denotes the number of replications.

(3) Local Control: It has been observed that all extraneous sources of variation are not
removed by randomization and replication. This necessitates a refinement in the
experimental technique. In other words, we need to choose a design in such a manner
that all extraneous sources of variation are brought under control. For this purpose, we
make use of local control, a term referring to the amount of balancing, blocking and
grouping of the experimental units. Balancing means that the treatments should he
assigned to the experimental units in such a way that the result is a balanced
arrangement of the treatments. Blocking means that like experimental units should be
collected together to form a relatively homogeneous group. A block is also a replicate.
The main purpose of the principle of local control is to increase the efficiency of an
experimental design by decreasing the experimental error. The point to remember here
is that the term local control should not be confused with the word control. The word
control in experimental design is used for a treatment. Which does not receive any
treatment but we need to find out the effectiveness of other treatments through
comparison.