Health System Research
LECTURE NOTES
ON
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Definition
According to Kothari (1990), “the purpose of research is to discover answers to questions through the application of scientific procedures…, the main aim of research is to find out the truth which is hidden and which has not been discovered yet.” In another been, D. Slesinger and M. Stephenson in the Encyclopedia of Social Sciences define research as “the manipulation of things, concepts or symbols for the purpose of generalizing to extend, correct or verify knowledge, whether that knowledge aids in construction of theory or in the practice of, the reasons for, and the consequences of any particular set of circumstances, whether these circumstances are experimentally controlled or recorded just as they occur.” (Kothari, 1990).
Research is a systematized quest for new knowledge. The basic goal of research is to produce knowledge and create new understanding through scientific and logical reasoning. The quest for knowledge is operationalized by means of research which includes exploration, description, diagnosis and experimentation.
Research is also defined as human activity based on intellectual application in the investigation of matter. The primary purpose for applied research is discovering, interpreting and the development of methods and systems for the advancement of human knowledge on a wide variety of scientific matters of our world and the universe. (Ohn Levi Warner Research holding the torch of knowledge (1896) Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Washington D.C.) and also research has been defined to some people, research is simply the process of arriving at dependable solutions to problems through planned and systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of data. To some others, it is te process of discovering and finding the relationship that exist among phenomena. To some others, still research has to do with an inquiry into the unknown or the search for solution to
ON
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Definition
According to Kothari (1990), “the purpose of research is to discover answers to questions through the application of scientific procedures…, the main aim of research is to find out the truth which is hidden and which has not been discovered yet.” In another been, D. Slesinger and M. Stephenson in the Encyclopedia of Social Sciences define research as “the manipulation of things, concepts or symbols for the purpose of generalizing to extend, correct or verify knowledge, whether that knowledge aids in construction of theory or in the practice of, the reasons for, and the consequences of any particular set of circumstances, whether these circumstances are experimentally controlled or recorded just as they occur.” (Kothari, 1990).
Research is a systematized quest for new knowledge. The basic goal of research is to produce knowledge and create new understanding through scientific and logical reasoning. The quest for knowledge is operationalized by means of research which includes exploration, description, diagnosis and experimentation.
Research is also defined as human activity based on intellectual application in the investigation of matter. The primary purpose for applied research is discovering, interpreting and the development of methods and systems for the advancement of human knowledge on a wide variety of scientific matters of our world and the universe. (Ohn Levi Warner Research holding the torch of knowledge (1896) Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Washington D.C.) and also research has been defined to some people, research is simply the process of arriving at dependable solutions to problems through planned and systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of data. To some others, it is te process of discovering and finding the relationship that exist among phenomena. To some others, still research has to do with an inquiry into the unknown or the search for solution to