Research Method

Lecture 1
 Objectives:
 What is Knowledge?
 What is Science?
 Requirement of Science.
 What Science is not?
 Philosophy of Science
 Types of Sciences
 What is Research? A way of
thinking
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 What Research is not? 2
 What is Knowledge

(i) expertise, and skills acquired by a

person through experience or
education; the theoretical or practical
understanding of a subject,
(ii) what is known in a particular field or
in total; facts and information or
(iii) awareness or familiarity gained by
experience of a fact or situation.
Knowledge is defined (Oxford English Dictionary)
variously as

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 Ways of Knowing

Esoteric: Hidden, unexplained (Bermuda Triangle)

4/8/2019 Occult: Involving the super natural 4
 Definition of Science

1. the systematic observation of

natural events and conditions in
order to discover facts about them
and to formulate laws and
principles based on these facts.
2. the organized body of knowledge
that is derived from such
observations and that can be
verified or tested by further
investigation.
(Academic Press Dictionary of Science & Technology)

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 Definition of Science.
Science is an intellectual activity carried
on by humans that is designed to
discover information about the natural
world in which humans live and to
discover the ways in which this
information can be organized into
meaningful patterns. A primary aim of
science is to collect facts (data). An
ultimate purpose of science is to
discern (distinguish) the order that
exists between and amongst the various
facts.
Dr. Sheldon Gottlieb in a lecture
series at the University of South Alabama

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 Requirement of Science

 Derived from observations

 Can be verified or tested

by further investigation.

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 What Science is not?

 Science is not Art.

Art is Individualistic, Aesthetic,
Beautiful.
Science is an attempt to find
demonstrable, replicable
conclusions that are presented
to others with EVIDENCES. Not
necessarily beautiful.

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 What Science is not (Cont..)

 Science is not Technology.

Scientists are in the business of
generating knowledge, whereas
engineers are in the business of
generating technology.
Example: Scientists developed the
understanding of radiation sufficient
for the invention of the microwave
oven While Engineers developed
Microwave Oven.
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 What Science is not (Cont..)

 Science is not Truth .

"The evidence suggests that . .
." or "Our current understanding
is . . .".
Because Scientific theories
change with new studies.

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 What Science is not (Cont..)

 Science is not religion .

Science uses physical evidence to
answer its questions and relies on
modern humans to make inferences
from that evidence.
Religions, on the other hand,
commonly use divine inspiration,
interpretation of ancient texts, and (in
some cases) personal insight as the
source of the answers to their
questions.
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 What Science is not (Cont..)

 Reading Material:
What science is not.html

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 To Do Science?

To do science is to search for

repeated patterns, not simply
to accumulate facts.
Robert H. MacArthur, Geographical Ecology

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 Philosophy of Science
 Aim of Modern Science
Why do Science?
Motivation (Discovery, Proving or
Disproving, Explaining)
 Scientific discovery: The processes
of developing new theories.
 Scientific criticism: The criteria
scientists use for the assessment of
theories.
 Scientific explanation: The end
product of basic science.

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 Types of Sciences

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 Definition of Research
 Research is one of the ways to find
answers to your questions
 A careful, systematic, patient study and
investigation in some field of knowledge,
undertaken to establish facts or principals
(Grinnell 1993:4)
 Research is a structured inquiry that
utilizes acceptable scientific methodology
to solve problems and create new
knowledge that is generally applicable

Read: Definition of Research (Chapter 1, Research

Methodology by Ranjit Kumar)

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 Research: A way of thinking

 Questioning about a
Phenomenon
 Observing
 Examining Critically
 Finding ANSWERS

Read : Research A way of examining your Practice

(Research Methodology By Ranjit Kumar)

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 Types of Research

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 Types of Research (Cont..)

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 Purpose of Research

 Reply Answers the Questions

with proofs

 Should Add to the Knowledge

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 What Research is not?

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 That’s All

QUESTIONS
&
ANSWERS

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