Research and Research Methods

A research aims to find answers to questions through the use of scientific methods. The main purpose of research is either to describe or to explain the phenomena under study. Different research problems imply different research goals, which in turn, call for varied methods and techniques. However, not all problems or questions are researchable. The best research design is one that will add to knowledge no matter what the results are (Slavin, 1984).

Types of Research:

a.    Pure Research – or fundamental or basic research

-          arises from a desire to know for the sake of knowing; academic in nature

-          is driven by scientist’s curiosity or interest in a scientific question

-          main motivation is to expand man’s knowledge, not to create or invent something

-          no obvious commercial values to the discoveries that result from this research

-          e.g. Floral Biology and Pollination of Ampalaya (Momordica charantia L.),

Identification of Hybrid Sterility Gene Loci in Two Cytoplastic Male Sterile Lines in Rice

b.    Applied Research – comes from a desire to gain knowledge for useful ends using and applying the theories derived from pure research; practical in nature

-          goal of the applied scientist is to improve the human condition

-          e.g. In vitro Regeneration of Sambong (Blumea balsamifera Linn.),

Development and Release in the Philippines of Sweet Potato Variety ‘NSIC Sp-31’

Types of Research Methods

a.    Experimental Method – researcher manipulates a variable to see if it produces any changes in the response of interest

-          applicable in all scientific disciplines and appropriate whenever practical and ethical

-          only method by which the effect of manipulated variable can be isolated to detect cause-and-effect relationships

-          done under highly controlled settings which may be considered as artificial and thus may not reflect what really happens in the less controlled and more complex real world

b.    Correlation – determine the degree and direction of relationship between two or more variables or measures of behavior

-          can be used when it is impractical and/or unethical to manipulate variables

c.    Naturalistic Observation – researcher observes and records some behavior or phenomenon over a prolonged period

-          researchers observe behavior in the setting in which it normally occurs rather than the artificial and limited setting of the laboratory

-          may be used to validate some laboratory finding or theoretical concept

d.    Survey – data collected via interviews or questionnaires to which subjects are asked to respond

-          use extensively in the social and natural sciences to assess attitudes and opinions on a variety of subjects

-          data may be affected by interviewer or the enumerator

e.    Case Study – get a detailed contextual view of an individual’s life of particular phenomena

-          useful when researcher cannot, for practical or ethical reasons, do experimental studies

-          involves one or few individuals and therefore may not represent the population