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CHAPTER 3 – RESEARCH AT PHILOSOPHICAL LEVEL

From this chapter, I learned that philosophy is very important in making a research. It
serves as our guide to make it specific and effective. And it will also help us to understand
reality. There are so many philosophies that could guides us like, Positivism, Post-Positivism,
Post-Modernism, Symbolic Interactionism, Feminism and etc.

I also learned that research still survive until today because of these ideals: Universalism,
Communalism, Skepticism, Empiricism, and Impartiality.

CHAPTER 4 – RESEARCH FOR PARADIGM LEVEL

From this chapter, I learned the 3 kinds of research approaches or research processes.
First, Qualitative Research – relies on qualitative data or descriptive data that cannot be reduced
to numerical terms. It is simply focuses on words, images, meanings, categories and
characteristics of a thing or a certain data. For example, the eye color, the skin color, or
something that describes or modifies its appearance. Second, Quantitative Research – relies
primarily on numerical data as basis of analysis. It is simply focuses on the numbers or variables
or the quantity of a certain data. Lastly, the third, Mixed Method Research – a process that
involves the mixing or combination of the two approaches. Basically, it is just a combination of
qualitative research and quantitative research.

I also learned from Denise F. Polit, a researcher, which methodological level quantitative
research is generally associated with the philosophical traditions of positivism and qualitative
research, most commonly allied with post-positivist and post-modernist philosophies.

I also learned the other types of research strategy. First, Monodisciplinary Research, from
the prefix “mono” that means “one, only, single or solo”. This strategy indicates that research is
based on the discipline of a certain individual or basically a single or a solo researcher. Second,
Multidisciplinary Research, from the prefix “multi” that means “many, multiple, more than one
or composed of many life parts”. Basically this strategy is composed of many researchers that
collaborate their ideas or perspectives but they maintain a separation of their disciplines in that
process. Third, Interdisciplinary Research - team of researchers / scientists that solved a
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particular problem by integrating or linking their findings holistically despite the differences in
their fields of specialization—they come up with a unified result. Fourth, Participatory
Research—a team of researchers involved the ‘wisdom’ or knowledge of the local people, based
from the idea that they are more knowledgeable about their area than the ‘outsiders’.

CHAPTER 5 – RESEARCH DESIGNS

Four Major Research Designs

1. Descriptive Research
- A scientific method which involves observing and describing the behaviour of
a subject without influencing it in any way.

Example: Survey – by interviewing different people face to face or handing out

questionnaires to fill out. Basically, you ask people about themselves.

2. Exploratory Research
- Is a research conducted for a problem that has not been studied more clearly,
intended to establish priorities, develop operational definitions and improve
the final research design

Example: The owner of a bakeshop has many, many ideas for improving the bakery’s sales
but isn’t sure which will work. They thing increasing the flavours of cupcakes the bakery
sells will bring in more customers but know they need more information. They intend to
conduct ER to investigate whether expanding their cupcakes selection will lead to an increase
in sales, or if there is better idea.

The owner starts by examining prior research available on food business improvement
methods. They hope that this will give them an idea on the type of questions and methods
that were helpful to others. Next, they develop a list of open-ended questions that let
respondents answer however they want.

The Bakery, for instance, asks respondents how they could improve the customer
experience. The most common customer responses included comments regarding the
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location. The atmosphere, the length of time it took to be served, and wanting the ability to
customize their cupcakes.

3. Explanatory or Analytical Research

- An attempt to connect ideas to understand cause and effect.

Example: A referendum to limit migration from European Union countries took place on 10th
February of 2014 in Switzerland. In the score of such event, Alexander Alfonso and Paul
Haydon did a simple analysis of correlation between the share of migrant’s population per
canton and the share of yes to anti-immigration initiatives, based on the results of the
referendum. The research question that lies beneath this analysis might be is there a
relationship between the share of migrant population in a given community and the way
migration is seen by its members. It is a clear example of explanatory research, where the
main objective is identifying the existence between two or more variables. The result of this
case also arose multiples new questions on how public opinion is build.

4. Predictive Research
- It involves extracting data from existing data sets with goal of identifying
trends and patterns.

Example: If you have a business and are trying out some unique marketing tricks, you
might come up with some interesting questions. One might be: which cities do the
highest spenders come from? This type of question is fairly rote business intelligence.