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Research Methodology

Research methodology is the theoretical analysis of methods used in a field of study. It encompasses concepts like paradigms, theoretical models, and qualitative or quantitative techniques. A methodology provides the theoretical framework for understanding which specific methods or best practices can be applied to a case, but does not provide solutions itself. Importantly, methodology is not the same as a method - it is the design process for carrying out research, not a procedure or tool itself. Methodology should not be used interchangeably with "method".

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53 views3 pages

Research Methodology

Research methodology is the theoretical analysis of methods used in a field of study. It encompasses concepts like paradigms, theoretical models, and qualitative or quantitative techniques. A methodology provides the theoretical framework for understanding which specific methods or best practices can be applied to a case, but does not provide solutions itself. Importantly, methodology is not the same as a method - it is the design process for carrying out research, not a procedure or tool itself. Methodology should not be used interchangeably with "method".

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ANKIT SINGH
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RESEARCH

METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Methodology is the systematic, theoretical analysis of the methods applied to a field of


study. It comprises the theoretical analysis of the body of methods and principles associated
with a branch of knowledge. Typically, it encompasses concepts such as paradigm,
theoretical model, phases and quantitative or qualitative techniques.
A methodology does not set out to provide solutions - it is, therefore, not the same as a
method. Instead, a methodology offers the theoretical underpinning for understanding
which method, set of methods, or best practices can be applied to specific case, for
example, to calculate a specific result.
It has been defined also as follows:

1. "the analysis of the principles of methods, rules, and postulates employed by a discipline";
2. "the systematic study of methods that are, can be, or have been applied within a discipline";
3. "the study or description of methods".

The methodology is the general research strategy that outlines the way in which research
is to be undertaken and, among other things, identifies the methods to be used in it.
These methods, described in the methodology, define the means or modes of data
collection or, sometimes, how a specific result is to be calculated. Methodology does not
define specific methods, even though much attention is given to the nature and kinds of
processes to be followed in a particular procedure or to attain an objective.
When proper to a study of methodology, such processes constitute a constructive generic
framework, and may therefore be broken down into sub-processes, combined, or their
sequence changed.
A paradigm is similar to a methodology in that it is also a constructive framework. In
theoretical work, the development of paradigms satisfies most or all of the criteria for
methodology. An algorithm, like a paradigm, is also a type of constructive framework,
meaning that the construction is a logical, rather than a physical, array of connected
elements.

Any description of a means of calculation of a specific result is always a description of a


method and never a description of a methodology. It is thus important to avoid using
methodology as a synonym for method or body of methods. Doing this shifts it away from its
true epistemological meaning and reduces it to being the procedure itself, or the set of
tools, or the instruments that should have been its outcome. A methodology is the

design process for carrying out research or the development of a procedure and
is not in itself an instrument, or method, or procedure for doing things.
Methodology and method are not interchangeable. In recent years however, there has
been a tendency to use methodology as a "pretentious substitute for the word method".
Using methodology as a synonym for method or set of methods leads to confusion and
misinterpretation and undermines the proper analysis that should go into designing
research.

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