General Research Methods
General Research Methods
2 Scientific Enquiry
A research is a scientific (systematic) enquiry into a phenomenon. Therefore, to understand research methodology is it important to understand the process of scientific enquiry. The first lecture for both qualitative methods and quantitative methods I start with this lecture. The understanding of the scientific process will also justify the outline of research reports: Introduction, Method, Results, Discussion.
This lecture also introduces the student to some basic terminology which will be further expanded in the subsequent lectures. <<DOWNLOAD SLIDES IN PDF – LECTURE 1>>
3 Research Terminologies
The study of research methods has its own discourse. This includes a set of terminologies. If you are angry with your lecturer you might call it, ‘a set of jargons’. There is no escape from this. You don’t need to memorise them, but surely you have to familarise yourself with them.
Here is a glossary of terms: Glossary of Terms in Research Methods. I have adapted this from: http://wps.pearsoned.co.uk/ema_uk_he_matthews_resmeth/153/39239/10045193.cw/-/10045194/index.html
4 Research Questions
5 Epistemology and Matching Methods
This is again an introductory lecture which introduces the student to the epistemologies of research methodology. Epistemology is the theory of knowledge. The theory of knowledge refers to the set of criteria one used to determine what is reality – what is true. How do you know what you know?
DOWNLOAD SLIDES IN PDF: <<Quali L02 Research Epistemologies>>