Nicholas Walliman, in his handbook Research Methods: The Basics, defines research methods as “the tools and techniques for doing research” (2011). These techniques include collecting, sorting, and analyzing the information and data you find. The better the tools and more comprehensive the techniques you employ, the more effective your research will be. By extension, the more effective your research is, the more credible and persuasive your argument will be.

Here are some basic terms and definitions you should be familiar with:

Research: the systematic process of finding out more about something than you already know, ideally so that you can prove a hypothesis, produce new knowledge and understanding, and make evidence-based decisions.

Research Methods:  techniques of collecting, sorting, and analyzing information/data. Also called Research Methodology.

Data:  bits of information.

Three Types of Research Sources

The typical kinds of research sources you will use can be grouped into three broad categories:

• Primary Sources: research you might conduct yourself in lab experiments and product testing, through surveys, observations, measurements, interviews, site visits, prototype testing, beta testing, etc.
• Secondary Sources: written sources that discuss, analyze, and interpret primary data, such as books, journal articles, trade magazines, reports, and websites.

• Tertiary Sources:  reference sources such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, and handbooks that provide a consolidation of primary and secondary information. They are useful to gain a general understanding of your topic and major concepts, lines of inquiry, or schools of thought in the field.

Data can also be categorized in several ways:

Table 1.1.1. Primary and secondary data (Last, 2019) [Used under CC BY 4.0(opens in new tab)]

Research Methods

Research methods are often categorized as quantitative, qualitative, or “mixed methods.” Some projects, like a science project, require the use of the scientific method of inquiry, observation, quantitative data collection, analysis, and conclusions to test a hypothesis. Other kinds of projects take a more deductive approach and gather both quantitative and qualitative evidence to support a position or recommendation. The research methods you choose will be determined by the goals and scope of your project, and by your intended audience’s expectations.

• Quantitative Data: Using numbers to describe information that can be measured quantitatively. These data are used to measure, make comparisons, examine relationships, test hypotheses, explain, predict, or even control.
• Qualitative Data: Using words to record and describe the data collected; often describing people’s feelings, judgments, emotions, customs, and beliefs that can only be expressed in descriptive words, not in numbers. These include “anecdotal data” or personal experiences.

Figure 1.1.1. shows an overview of the publication process and the types of literature.

More specific methodologies, such as ways to structure the analysis of your data, include the following:

• Cost/Benefit Analysis: determines how much something will cost vs what measurable benefits it will create.
• Life-Cycle Analysis: determines overall sustainability of a product or process, from manufacturing, through lifetime use, to disposal. (You can also perform comparative life-cycle analyses, or specific life-cycle stage analysis.)
• Comparative Analysis: compares two or more options to determine which is the “best” solution (given specific problem criteria such as goals, objectives, and constraints).
• Process Analysis: studies each aspect of a process to determine if all parts and steps work efficiently together to create the desired outcome.
• Sustainability Analysis: uses concepts such as the “triple bottom line” or “three pillars of sustainability” to analyze whether a product or process is environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable.

In all cases, the way you collect, analyze, and use data must be ethical and consistent with professional standards of honesty and integrity. Lapses in integrity can lead to poor quality reports in an academic context (poor grades and academic dishonesty penalties), but in the workplace, these lapses can also lead to lawsuits, loss of job, and even criminal charges.  This will be explained in more detail in Section 1.5 Ethics in Research.

References