Course Contents

 Defining research, The research process: characteristics and requirements, types of research from application perspective, objectives perspective and mode of inquiry perspective.  The research process: Attributes of a good research, Steps involved in scientific research.  Identification of broad topic area, Turning research idea into research project.  Literature review, how to conduct a systematic review, searching for literature, Evaluating the literature, Write the literature review, APA citation format, The research proposal  The research process: theoretical framework and hypothesis development, The need for a theoretical framework and its components, Variables and its types, Hypothesis development: definition, statement of hypothesis, Directional and non-directional hypotheses, Null and alternate hypothesis.  The elements of research design: The purpose of study: exploratory, descriptive, hypothesis testing, Types of investigation: casual vs. Correlational study settings: contrived and noncontrived.  Unit of analysis: individuals, dyads, groups, organizations, cultures; time horizon of studies.  Measurement of variables: Operational definition; How variables are measured, Operationalization of variables, operationalization: dimensions and elements using example of achievement motivation.  Scale of measurement: scales; nominal scale, interval scale, ratio scale.  Collection of Data: Primary sources of data, Secondary sources of data, Data collection methods. Interviewing, unstructured and structured interviews, training interviews, face-to-face interview, the questioning technique. Questionnaire: personally, administered and mailed, open ended versus closed ended questions, sample design and procedures. Guidelines for questionnaire design, type and form of questions, general appearance or getup of the questionnaire.  Analysis of data: Developing the field for the data, Coding and data entry, code book construction, data transformation.  Sampling: population, element, sample, sampling unit, subject; reasons for sampling, the sampling process, probability sampling, non-probability sampling.  Research report: written report and its purpose, audience of written report, characteristics of report, Contents of the research report, The oral presentation of the report.

Course Synopsis

The course provides the basic understanding of quantitative and qualitative research .It will help the students to study the essential steps involved in conducting scientific research.The contents of course will provide students with practical perspective on how research can be applied in real situations.

Course Learning Outcomes

After completing the course, the students shall be able to:  understand the theoretical and methodological backgrounds of research.  conduct the higher-level research.  practically apply the all theories through the understanding of basics of research and methodologies.