Page 20 - DLIS401_METHODOLOGY_OF_RESEARCH_AND_STATISTICAL_TECHNIQUES

Unit 1: Concept of Research

As research into a problem proceeds with researchers posing it in different ways, the problem Notes
ideally (as Dewey implied) unfolds to reveal new dimensions that facilitate the problem’s
solution. The variety of available research methods is a key element in this process in that it
provides researchers with a multifaceted empirical view of the phenomena and of the theories
in question. This enables researchers to formulate problems in a manner that does greater
justice both to the complexity of social phenomena and to the complex implications of our
theories.
However, employing a variety of methods also complicates the process of problem formulation
because different types of research methods very often provide conflicting answers to the
same research questions. For example, Deutscher (1966) found the problem of attitude versus
action to be complicated by the fact that experimental studies generally reported greater consistency
between subjects’ words and deeds than did observational field studies. When such methodologically
linked contradictions appear in the course of a problem’s development, the suspicion is that
they may derive from theoretically irrelevant characteristics of the different methods employed
rather than from the substantive complexity of the problem.
Inconsistent findings require reformulations of research problems. When these inconsistencies
reflect unanticipated substantive complexity, then concepts and propositions must be recast to
take account of that complexity. But although more complicated theories are sometimes necessary
to achieve theoretical realism, simplicity is preferable. And if, in fact, contradictory research
findings are attributable to methodological influences and can be shown to be consistent with
existing theories, once those influences have been taken into account, so much the better.
The substance of social life is certainly diverse enough to generate inconsistent findings, but
the methods of social research are also diverse. Only by analyzing the methods employed to
obtain research findings can it be determined which source of inconsistency any given set of
findings reflects. For example, Hovland (1959) observed that textbooks summarizing the effects
of communication on opinion-change in the 1950s often reported substantive contradictions in
research findings without regard to differences in methodology, despite the fact that stronger
effects were generally found in experiments than in surveys. However, Hovland found that
upon closer inspection these apparent contradictions might be explained in terms of the idiosyncrasies
of these two different types of methods and might not require new theoretical explanations.
In sum, although the exclusive use of a single type of research method can oversimplify
research problems, the use of different types of research methods, without systematic comparisons
of their results and an understanding of possible methodological influences, can make problems
appear to be more complex—or complex in different ways—than they really are.

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:
5. ................... are questions that indicate gaps in the scope or the cretainty of our knowledge.
6. The formulation of research problems also has an important ................... .
7. Both sides in the foregoing debate clearly have ................... .
8. Research into a problem does not end with a ................... .

9. The problem of attitude versus action is now a major topic of ................... .

1.6 Formulation of Hypothesis

After you have identified a problem, you may formulate certain answers in the form of hypothesis.
These guesses are based on the past experiences or informal observation or information gained

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