| |
 
Research a way
of thinking about issues.
It can have a range
of purpose. You can either:
- critically examine an aspect of your profession;
- understand and formulate guiding principles that govern procedures;
or
- develop and test new theories for enhancing your profession.
Research is a way
of obtaining answers to questions.
It implies a process
- within a set of philosophical assumptions;
- using procedures, methods and techniques that have been tested for
validity and reliability;
- designed to be unbiased and objective.
Research can be
classified according to 3 perspectives:-
- The application
of the research study
- Pure research
i.e. an experimental approach where you develop and test hypotheses
with the purpose of adding to existing knowledge.
- Applied research
i.e. research is applied to various aspects of a situation, issue,
problem or phenomenon.
- Its Objectives
- Descriptive
- the purpose is to systematically describe a situation or phenomenon.
- Correlation
- the purpose is to establish relationships between 2 or more
aspects of a situation.
- Explanatory
- the purpose is to clarify why or how there is a relationship
between 2 aspects of a situation.
- Exploratory
- the purpose is usually a 'feasibility' study or a small pilot
study.
NB Most research
projects are a combination of the first 3 bullets.
- Purpose -
Qualitative or Quantitative.
This will depend on the approach taken, the variables and the way
the information is analysed.
Both approaches have their strengths and weaknesses.
They need not be mutually exclusive - in many studies a combination
of the approaches are used.
|
