CHAPTER TWO

Research Process
and
Problem formulation
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 The Research Process
• The research process consists of a series of actions or
steps necessary to effectively carry out research and the
desired sequencing of these steps.

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 The Research Process
CONTD…

• A researcher must discover new, unique, innovative techniques that aid in

building or using computational mechanisms.
• Researchers look for new, unique and innovative abstractions, new
approaches, new algorithms, new principles, or new mechanisms.

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 IT/ Computer Science Research Activities

• Develop the new solutions using IT tools and technologies

• Apply the new IT tools and technologies to discover better models
• Enhancement in existing IT solutions
• Development of New IT Application for performance enhancement

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 Cont’d…
• Designing and building new computer systems,
• Measuring the performance of a computer system & enhance
• Studying the errors programmers make as they build a large software
system.

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6
 Useful procedural guidelines
1. Identifying and formulating the research problem
(i.e., problem discovery and definition)
“Research takes place when there is a problematic situation and a need to solve the problem. The identification of a research
problem is a difficult phase of the entire research process. “

2. Extensive literature survey • government report,

It is also called document • policy report,
review or literature survey. • publications of international organizations,
• academic journals, • books, and
• conference proceedings, • newsletters.
• dissertations,
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 3. Developing a working hypothesis
A tentative intelligent guess , Or it is a statement which predicts the
relationship between two or more variables.
• Link between theory and investigation, usually stated after an extensive
survey of the literature.
• Usually it is derived from the deductive logic of the objectives under
investigation. Thus there could be as many research hypotheses as there are
objectives.

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 4. Determining the Research Design i.e., Selection of basic
Research Method
• If little is known about the phenomenon to be investigated, Exploratory
Research is feasible.
• If the problem is precisely and unambiguously formulated, Descriptive or
Causal research is needed.
• If little or nothing is known about the phenomenon to be investigated,
Basic research is feasible.
• If sufficiently known about the phenomenon/ problem to be
solved/injected, Applied research is feasible.

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5. Determining the Sample Design and Collecting data (i.e., Deciding
on Sampling Technique)

In designing the sample, the researcher must specify:

(1)The sampling frame  The list of population elements . The sampling
frame is the pool from which the interviewees are chosen.
• Ex. Telephone directory, but many don't have telephone( non or random sampling error)
(2) The sample selection process  requires that the form of the sample be
specified. It can be either probability or non-probability sample.
(3) The size of the sample sample size involves determining how many
elements should be studied to get sufficiently accurate and reliable
answers that will allow a decision to be made regarding the problem without
exceeding the time and money budgeted.
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6.Analysis of the data
The collected data are useless unless findings are analyzed and the
results interpreted in the light of the problem at hand.
Data analysis involves several steps:
1. Editing: First, the data collection forms must be scanned to be sure that
they are complete and consistent. This process is called editing.
2. Coding: Coding involves assigning numbers to each of the answers so
that they can be analyzed.
3. Tabulation: The final step in analyzing data is tabulation, the orderly
arrangement of data in a table or other summary format achieved by
counting the frequency of responses to each question. 11
 7. Hypothesis testing
(If hypothesis exists)
• A hypothesis is a tentative explanation for some kind of observed
phenomenon, and is an important part of the scientific method.
• In hypothesis testing, the testers seek to discover evidence that either
validates or rejects a given hypothesis.
• Usually, this involves a series of experiments being conducted in many
different conditions.

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 Contd..
• If the hypothesis does not stand up to the tests in all conditions, then the
new hypothesis is submitted to the same hypothesis testing.
• If it passes and is not proven wrong( i.e. Accepted) it can eventually be
considered a scientific theory or law,
• Though nothing in science can be proven to be absolutely and universally
truth.
• One common method of hypothesis testing is known as “statistical
hypothesis testing”, and typically deals with large quantities of data.

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 8.Generalization & interpretations
(If required seriously)
What is Generalization?
Take small group as sample, generalize conclusion on whole group/population.
• Ex. AMU is good , whole Ethiopian Universities are good

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 Contd…
• For any experiment, you may be criticized for your generalizations
about sample, time and size.
• You must ensure that the sample group is as truly representative of the
whole population as possible.
• For many experiments, time is critical as the behaviors can change yearly,
monthly or even by the hour.
• The size of the group must allow the statistics to be safely extrapolated to an
entire population.

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 Contd..
• For example, you may want to test a hypothesis about the effect of an
educational program on schoolchildren in the US.
• For the perfect experiment, you would test every single child using the
program, against a control group.
• If this number runs into the millions, this may not be possible without a
huge number of researchers and a bottomless pit of money.
• Thus, you need to generalize and try to select a sample group that is
representative of the whole population.

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 Contd…
• If you sampled children from one town, it is dangerous to assume that it
represents all children.
• This is not perfect, but certainly contains more external validity and would be
an acceptable generalization.
• Note: Thus Generalization is to which extent the research and the conclusions
of the research apply to the real world. It is not always so that good research
will...

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 9. Preparing the report and presentation of the results
(formal write up of conclusions reached)
• Prepare the Scientific Research Report
• The research report summarizes the research results and conclusions. It is
imperative that the research report be clear and accurate.

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 What is Problem formulation?
Problems can be formulated by understanding the following things-
1. What is a Research Problem?
2. What is the Research Question?
3. Definition and the statement of the problem

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 1. What is a Research Problem?
• It refers to some challenge/difficulty, which a researcher
experiences in the context of either a theoretical or a
practical situation and wants to obtain a solution for the
problem.

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 Generally, a Research Problem exists when there is /are-

1. An individual or group, which has some difficulty or problem

2. Some objectives to be attained(un attained)
3. Alternative measures
4. Unanswered questions
5. Some environment to which the difficulty pertains

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 Some potential source of research problem/topic
• Own professional experience is the most important source.
• Inferences from theory and professional literature.
• Technological and Social change.
• Technological and Social advancements.

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 2. What is the Research Question?

Problem should be narrowed properly and focused into specific question.

Techniques that help us to narrow a research topic into research question:
• Examining of the past and present literature
• Discussing the idea with other people
• Applying the topic to specific context (specific time period, society or
geographical unit or subgroups or categories etc)
• Defining the aim of the outcome (whether the research is exploratory
research)
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 3. Definition and the statement of the problem

• The next step is to clearly define the problem in unambiguous

manner
• A problem clearly defined is a problem half solved.
Well defined problem helps the researcher to:
• Categorize relevant data from irrelevant ones
• To lay boundaries within which to study
• To proceed on the Right track
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 Recommended steps in Defining the Research Problem:

1. ( General Statement of problem) - Statement of the problem in

general way
2. ( Specific Statement of problem )-Understand the nature of the problem
more clearly ( ask experienced people)
3. Survey of the available literature.
4. Developing the ideas through discussion
5. Rephrasing the Research Problem: This helps to put the research problem in
specific terms, as possible so that it may become operationally viable and may
help in developing new hypothesis;
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 What are Objectives of the study?
The next step after the statement of the problem is setting up the objective; it
is the most important task in conducting research.
Set an overall objective of the research [Goal/Aim/General Objective]
• Split the overall objective in to smaller segments known as sub-objectives(
Specific Objectives)
• State the sub-objectives clearly and precisely/concisely

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 What is Research Hypothesis?
• Definitions:
• 1) Hypothesis is a tentative intelligent guess postulating from the purpose of
directing the researcher towards the solution of problem.
2) It is a statement which predicts the relationship between two or more
variables.
3) It is necessary link between theory and investigation, usually stated after an
extensive survey of the literature.

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 Importance of Research Hypothesis:
• It is an indicator of the type of data needed
• It gives direction to the research objectives
• It gives direction to data gathering techniques (procedures)
• It facilitates the extension of knowledge because it links theory and
investigation.
• It guides the researcher by delimiting the area of research and keeps him on
the right track.

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 Formulation of Research Hypothesis:
• It is derived from the deductive logic of the objectives under investigation.
• A one-to-one correlation might exist between the objectives and their
corresponding hypothesis.
• Thus there could be as many research hypotheses as there are objectives.
• There are also objectives that do not need formulation of hypothesis.

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 Hypothesis can appear in your report on either:
1.Deductive form: makes positive statement about the outcome of the study.
It can come in the form of
A.Directional: stipulate (specify) the direction of the expected results.
Ex: The performance of young employees is significantly higher than
those who are experienced and old.
B. Non- directional: Does not specify the direction of expected difference or
relationship.
Ex: There is a difference in performance of employees who are
young and those who are old and experienced.
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 Contd..

2. Null Form (of Hypothesis): Makes a statement that states no relationship.

Ex: There is no significant difference in the performance of employees between those who
are young and old
3. Question form (of Hypothesis): Put the hypothesis in question form.
Ex: Does the change in the experience of the employees affect the performance of employees?
4. Alternative hypothesis: This signifies a statement written opposite to the null form, i.e., when the final
decision is made at a given significance level if the null hypothesis is to rejected alternative hypothesis gets
accepted, the alternative hypothesis too on equal footing along with the null hypothesis provides direction to
the research.
Ex: There is significant difference in the performance of employees between those who are
young and old
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 What do you mean by Significance of the study?

• It is to mean the Rationale [Justification, Basis, Motivation] to conduct the Research.

The significance or rationale to take a research may be stated as:
• There is no detail local investigation before about the problem
• The study may be conducted on the assumption that there is a strong need for local
investigation
• To alert decision makers
• To fill the gap in the existing studies
• To resolve some inconsistency in previous research
• The finding may lead to new problem for further study
• To provide basic data about the problem
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 What do you mean by Delimitation of the study?

• It is also known as the Scope of the study.

• In many research projects, researchers cannot treat all aspect of the research problem.
The researcher, therefore, should carefully state the boundary of the problem to be
investigated.
• Variables which will be considered in the study or by eliminating all aspects and factors
which will not be considered in the study.
• The delimitations of a study are those characteristics that limit the scope (define the
boundaries) of the inquiry as determined by the conscious exclusionary and
inclusionary decisions that were made throughout the development of the proposal.
• Among these are the choice of objectives and questions, variables of interest, alternative
theoretical perspectives that could have been adopted, etc.
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 What is the Scope and limitation of the study?

• Delimitation Vs Limitations
• Due to these limitations our scope of the research may also be
limited.
• Differentiate the Challenges & limitations:
• Challenge face, confront like power failure, natural
disaster, technology disaster
• Limitation constraints like money, time, personnel, tools,
and techniques
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 Research Scope ?
• The questions to consider in the research scope should be:
i. Does the research cover a particular time period?
ii. Does the study cover a specific geographical area?
iii. If the study involves people, what age group, gender and place of origin are
to be included?

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 Cont’d…
iv. Are all dates of publication to be included?
v. Is the research going to cover publications from other countries?
vi. Will the research include other languages and scripts?
vii. Are all perspectives to be considered? For example, philosophical, political,
psychological, etc.

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 Cont’d…

• We can conclude that the differences between limitation and scope

of the research are:
(i)   The research scope is the specific area that the researcher want to cover
in his/her study while the research limitations is the constraint and obstacle
that the research expects to encounter during the study; and
(ii) The research limitation is beyond the researcher’s control since it
involves external factors which outside researcher’s authority while the
research scope is under researcher’s control and manageable by him/her.
The researcher will determine what scope to be cover and what scope to be left.37
 What are the Criteria of a Good Research?

• Whatever may be the type of research one that is important is that all
meet on the common ground of scientific method employed by them?
• The Research purpose should be clearly defined and common concepts
should be used.
• The research procedure used should be described in sufficient details
to permit another researcher to repeat the result for further advancement.
• The procedural design of the research should be carefully planned to
yield results that are as objective as possible.
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 …cont’d
• The researchers should report the results with complete frankness,
flaws in procedural design and estimate their effects up on the findings.
• The analysis of the data should be sufficiently adequate to reveal its
significance.
• The method of analysis should be appropriate, the validity and
reliability of the data should be checked.
• Conclusions should be confined to those justified by the data of the
research.

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Proposal Development
Planning and Writing A Research Proposal

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 Definition
A Proposal is:- a road-map, work plan, outline, statement of intent, or draft
plan.
• The proposal tells us What, Why, How, Where, When and for Whom the
research will be done.
• The length and complexity of research proposals range widely.
• IT research or Technology research proposals normally range from
up to 10-20 pages.

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 Draft Outline for Research Project Proposal

• This may vary according to the type of work to be done (research or development)
and the subject matter or problem to be addressed / investigated. The following
illustrative outlines give alternative formats in writing project proposal.

Multipurpose outline
• Cove Page with Title
• Outline/ or the Abstract / Executive summary
• Introduction- 1) Background, 2) Statement of the Problem, 3) Objectives, 4)
Hypothesis, 5) Justification, 6) Scope & Implementation
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 Outline
… cont’d

• Literature Review-
1) Theoretical,
2) Empirical
• Research Methodology
• Work plan-
1) Time schedule,
• Budget,
• References/ Bibliography
• Appendix
Note:
In addition, a research proposal must present the researcher’s credentials in the
best possible way to encourage the proposal’s selection over competitors.
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 Statement of Research question/ Research Problem?

• It is the point where really starts

• It is the essential for any research study proposal
• No research can start without problem or question

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 Structure of the Research Proposal
• Title- In general it is a single sentence representation of your whole research work or
research study ( either proposed or complete)
• Executive Summary vs Abstract
• The executive summary allows understanding quickly the overall picture of starting from
thrust of the proposal.
• It is essentially an informative abstract to grasp the essentials of the proposal without reading
the details.
• As such, the executive summary should include brief statements of the Science/Technology
dilemma and Science/Technology question, the research objectives, and the benefits of your
approach.
• Sometimes Total budget and time required to complete the project/research is also mentioned
in this part.
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 Problem Statement
• In this section, the technology dilemma, its background, its consequences,
and the resulting science and technology question should be stated.
• Be sure that problem statement is clear without the use idioms and
clichés. (Clear, finite, solvable, Concise and Confined)

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 Research objectives
[ General and Specific]
• This module addresses the purpose of the investigation or
experimentation.
• In a descriptive study, the objectives can be stated as the research
question.
• If the proposal is for a causal study, then the objectives can be restated as a
hypothesis. [All intelligent people live in America ?]
• The objectives flow naturally from the problem statement.
• The objective should be specific, concrete and achievable.

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 Review of Literature
• The literature review examines recent (or historically significant) studies, organizations
data, or industry reports that act as the basis for the proposed study.
• Close the literature review section by summarizing the important aspect of the
literature and interpreting them in terms of your problem.
• Finally write statement like “ A knowledge gap has been observed in…….. This
research outcome would be a new contribution to the domain….”
• Refine the problem as necessary in light of your findings.
• Ethics in Research: (Declaration/certificate of data use/disclosure)
• Apply at all stages of research, such as planning, conducting and evaluating of
a research project.
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 Importance/Benefits of the study
• Describe the explicit benefits [clear benefits] that will accumulate from
the study.
• The importance of “doing the study now” should be emphasized.
• Usually, this section is not more than a few paragraphs.

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 Research Design & Methodology

• The design describes what you are going to do in technical terms.

• Research Methodology is step to be followed to complete the research
work.
• It provides information on your proposed design for tasks such as
sample selection and size, data collection method,
instruments/apparatus, procedures, and the tools used to analyze the
data.
• The basic limitations of the study should also be emphasized here.
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Nature and form of results

• Specify the types of data to be obtained

and the interpretations that will be made in
the analysis.
• Statistical conclusions,
• Applied findings,
• Models,
• Strategic plans, are examples of the nature of
results. 51
 Budget
• It is extremely important to retain all information you use to generate the
budget.
• One should know how much money is budgeted for each particular task.
• The budget should not be more than one to two pages.
• A format of a sample proposal budget is shown below;
Next Page……………

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Contd…

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 Schedule
• The schedule should include the major phases of the project, their
time tables, and the milestones that signify completion of a phase.
• For example, major phases may be
(1) exploratory (5) editing and coding,
interviews, (6) data analysis,
(2) final research (7) experimentation and
proposal,
(8) report generation.
(3) questionnaire
revision,
Each of these phases should have an estimated time schedule.
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(4) field interviews,
 Facilities and special resources
(If any)
• Often, projects will require special facilities or resources that should be
described in detail.
• Computer-assisted telephone or other interviewing facilities may be
required. Sometimes, proposed data analysis may require sophisticated
computer algorithms, and therefore, you need access to an adequate system.
• These requirements will vary from study to study. The proposal should
carefully list the relevant facilities and resources that will be used. The costs
for such facility use should be detailed in the budget.

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 Deliverables
• Measurement instruments
• Algorithms
• Computer programs / prototypes
• Comparative evaluation
• Other technical reports

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 Bibliography
• For all projects or researches, that require a literature review, a
bibliography is necessary.
• Use the standard style to provide the details necessary to prepare the
bibliography.

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 Appendixes

• Glossary: The researcher should include a glossary of items whenever

there are many words unique to the research topic and not understood
by the general community.
• Terms and definitions. Also, the researcher should define any
acronyms used. (E.g. AMU, CATI for computer-assisted telephone
interviewing).
• It is appropriate to include the measuring instrument when you
assemble the proposal. E.g. Questionnaire. Any other details that
reinforce the body of the proposal can be included in an appendix.
This includes researcher CV, profiles of firms or individuals to
which work is assigned, budget details, and lengthy descriptions of
special facilities or resources.
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End of Chapter Two
Thank you!!!

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