Research Methods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Research Methods - Essay Example The different perspectives of each individual researcher scholar vary to a large degree, ranging from those who view the two research strategies as separate processes, to those that are ready to mix the two approaches within their projects. As for example, we find that Bryman (1988) in his paper contended that the best process for completing one’s research work is using best of both the processes, or in other words, a combination of the qualitative and quantitative approaches should be adopted. Hughes (1997) on the other hand warned against such mixed methods, and suggested that quantitative approaches are scientific and hence more objective in nature (413-420). While exploring the subject of quantitative and qualitative researches, this paper is primarily based on epistemological notions presented within the query, `what is research and what are the research techniques?’ Eileen Kane, in the book Doing your own research (1985, gives an interesting perspective to the ent ire debate on the research processes, where she comments, â€Å"research techniques are a bit like fishing flies: you choose the right one for fish you want to catch. No fisherman would use the same kind of fly for twenty different varieties of fish† (51).... her wishes to use in his/her research work depends, as suggested by Kane (1985), on the researcher’s wish, which he must decide as per his requirement and subject. Data Input data output analysis knowledge William M.K. Trochim depicted the methods followed in any research project, in Knowledge based research (fig 1). Fig 1: The Yin and the Yang of Research (Trochim, 1999, 8). The figure represents the framing of the studied material using the Knowledge Base. Left side of figure depicts the research theory, while the right part depicts the research practice, and the theoretical introduction of any research project and the practical aspect on how to formulate the undertaken research project are linked. The left arrows delineate the validity types that must be accounted in any research paper, which is actually concept of providing the reader with a unifying theory for understanding the entire project. The right arrows point to the research practice areas that match the validity t ypes in order to prove the research problem (Trochim, 1999). While conducting a research a researcher may adopt various techniques as per his subject requirements. The various research techniques that one may adopt are conducting interviews, questionnaires, participant observation, and studying written sources (Kane, 1985, 51). Each technique gives a certain form of information and not any other type; however, the techniques can complement each other within one research paper (fig 2). Fig 2: The figure (Kane, 1985, 52) shows the various ‘petal-like’ research techniques that are combined together within a single project. In the figure we find petals representing research techniques, they overlap at the centre, while each overlaps with its neighbour at the sides. The areas that do not overlap