Research methodology MCQ Quiz - Objective Question with Answer for Research methodology - Download Free PDF

The correct answer is - Experiment Method

Key Points

• Experiment Method
  • The experiment method involves testing a hypothesis under highly controlled conditions.
  • Researchers manipulate one or more independent variables to determine their effect on dependent variables.
  • This method allows for precise control over variables and can establish cause-and-effect relationships.
  • Laboratory experiments are a common form of the experiment method, providing a controlled environment.

Additional Information

• Survey Method
  • This method involves collecting data from a large number of respondents through questionnaires or interviews.
  • It is useful for gathering information on people's attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors.
  • Surveys are less controlled compared to experiments and are often used for descriptive or correlational research.
• Life Histories
  • This qualitative method involves detailed descriptions of an individual's life, often through interviews and personal documents.
  • It provides in-depth insights into the person's experiences and the context of their life.
  • Life histories are particularly useful for understanding complex social phenomena from a personal perspective.
• Ethnographic Method
  • This method involves the in-depth study of people and cultures through participant observation and fieldwork.
  • Ethnographers immerse themselves in the community they are studying to understand their practices and beliefs.
  • It provides rich, qualitative data and a holistic view of the studied culture.

The correct answer is 3 Only

Key Points

 Annales school of thought

• Annales school, School of history. Established by Lucien Febvre (1878–1956) and Marc Bloch (1886–1944), its roots were in the journal Annales: économies, sociétés, civilisations, Febvre's reconstituted version of a journal he had earlier formed with Marc Bloch . Hence, Statement 3 Founded by Lucien Febvre and Antonio Gramsci is not true.
• Gramsci is best known for his theory of cultural hegemony, which describes how the state and ruling capitalist class — the bourgeoisie — use cultural institutions to maintain power in capitalist societies.
• According to this school of thought, the emphasis is on social history, and very long-term trends, often using quantification and paying special attention to geography and to the intellectual world view of common people, or "mentality" (mentalité). Little attention is paid to political, diplomatic, or military history, or to biographies of famous men.
• It opposed to the legacy of Positivism as well as Marxism

The correct answer is - Questionnaire is mailed to the respondents and filled in by the respondents.

Key Points

• Questionnaire is mailed to the respondents and filled in by the respondents.
  • This approach allows the respondents to fill out the questionnaire at their convenience, providing them with the flexibility to give thoughtful and thorough responses.
  • It is a cost-effective method for collecting data from a large and geographically dispersed sample.
  • Respondents may feel more comfortable providing honest answers since there is no direct interaction with the researcher.
  • Responses can be easily standardized, which simplifies data analysis.

Additional Information

• Questionnaire is personally executed in the field by the researcher.
  • This method is known as an interview or survey, where the researcher directly interacts with the respondents to gather data.
  • It allows for immediate clarification of any questions or doubts the respondents may have.
  • However, it is time-consuming and resource-intensive.
• Questionnaire is used only to collect qualitative data.
  • Questionnaires can be used to collect both qualitative and quantitative data depending on the design and type of questions included.
  • Closed-ended questions typically collect quantitative data, whereas open-ended questions gather qualitative insights.
• Questionnaire is mailed to the respondents but subsequently filled in by the researcher herself/himself.
  • This statement is incorrect as the purpose of mailing the questionnaire is for the respondents to fill it in themselves.
  • If the researcher fills it out, it defeats the purpose of collecting genuine responses directly from the participants.

The correct answer is - Credibility

Key Points

• Credibility
  • Credibility in qualitative research refers to the confidence that the findings are true and accurate representations of the participants' experiences and realities.
  • This criterion is akin to internal validity in quantitative research and focuses on ensuring the truthfulness and accuracy of the data collected.
  • Techniques to enhance credibility include prolonged engagement, persistent observation, triangulation, member checking, and peer debriefing.
  • Ensuring credibility involves verifying that the findings resonate with the participants and accurately reflect their viewpoints.

Additional Information

• Transferability
  • Transferability concerns the extent to which the findings can be transferred to other contexts or settings.
• Internal Validity
  • Internal validity refers to the accuracy of the measurement and design in quantitative research, ensuring that the study measures what it intends to measure.
• Confirmability
  • Confirmability ensures that the findings are shaped by the participants' experiences and not the researcher's biases or perspectives.

The correct answer is - Transferability

Key Points

• Transferability
  • Transferability in qualitative research refers to the extent to which the findings of a study can be transferred to other contexts or settings.
  • This concept is parallel to generalizability in quantitative research and focuses on providing sufficient descriptive data to allow others to apply the findings appropriately.
  • It is the responsibility of the researcher to provide detailed descriptions of the research context, participants, and findings to facilitate transferability.
  • Readers and other researchers determine if the findings are applicable to their own contexts based on the provided descriptions.

Additional Information

• Credibility
  • Credibility refers to the confidence in the truth of the findings, achieved through techniques like member checking and triangulation.
• Internal Validity
  • Internal validity relates to the degree to which the research design and methods accurately measure the intended variables, primarily a concept in quantitative research.
• Confirmability
  • Confirmability ensures that the findings of the study are based on the participants' responses and not researcher bias or preferences.

Research is a systematic inquiry towards understanding a complex social phenomenon or a process. They are broadly categorized into qualitative and quantitative research. Based on the research problem, the selection of research methods by the researcher may vary.
Key Points

Positivistic Research Paradigm:

A research paradigm is a research model or a perceptual orientation for conducting research that has been verified by the research community.

• Emphasizes quantitative analysis over qualitative analysis
• Relies heavily on experimentation
• Subscribes to pre-existing categories
• Hypotheses are put forward about the causal relation between phenomena
• Empirical evidence is gathered and analysed that explains the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable
• Employs a deductive approach to analyse data
• Collects numerical data

Important Points

Features of Qualitative Research:

• The objective is to explore a phenomenon to gain understanding by diving deeper into the problem
• Used qualitative methods of data collection such as interviews, focus groups, observation, etc.
• The sample size is kept small
• Believes in interpretivism paradigm and disregards the positivist assumptions and statistical data analysis
• Inductive reasoning is employe where things are observed, a pattern is developed and then the theory is formed
• The conclusions are descriptive rather than predictive.

Hence, it is clear from the given points that qualitative research avoids positivist assumptions and data analysis.

Research methodology refers to the techniques used to find and analyze information for a study, ensuring that the results are valid and reliable and that they address the research objective. It is the theoretical paradigm for data collection, analysis, and interpretation.

Important PointsResearch Methodology:

• Research methodology is a way of explaining how a researcher intends to carry out their research.
• It's a logical, systematic plan to resolve a research problem.
• A methodology details a researcher's approach to the research to ensure reliable, valid results that address their aims and objectives.
• It encompasses what data they're going to collect and where from, as well as how it's being collected and analyzed.

​​Therefore, the term "research methodology" refers to the methods used in data collection and analysis.

Additional Information

For example, steps involved in research methodology by the researcher.

• What data to collect (and what data to ignore)
• Who to collect it from (in research, this is called “sampling design”)
• How to collect it (this is called “data collection methods”)
• How to analyze it (this is called “data analysis methods”)

the most appropriate answer is (B), (C), (D) only.

Important Points

Case study method:

• The case study method is known for its particularistic approach, meaning it focuses on a specific case or situation.
• It is also descriptive in nature, providing detailed information about the case.
• The case study method is also considered to be inductive, as it involves drawing conclusions based on observations and evidence.

Case study:

• A case in a case study research could be an individual, organization, or institution.
• It is concerned with the in-depth study of a singular case (one person) from various possible angles for the sake of promoting his/her adjustment
• It is a qualitative research method that involves investigating a contemporary research problem within its real-life context by making use of multiple sources of data.
• It seeks to explore an area regarding which there is little understanding or prior knowledge.
• The data sources in a case study include data regarding the family and educational background and the primary data collection methods employed are observation and conducting interviews.     ​

Key Points

The case study method in research is a qualitative approach that involves the in-depth examination of a specific case or situation. It is used to gain a deeper understanding of a particular phenomenon. Some key points about the case study method include:

• Particularistic: The case study method focuses on a specific case or situation, rather than trying to generalize to a larger population.

• Descriptive: The case study provides a detailed description of the case, including relevant background information, context, and relevant data.

• Inductive: The case study method is inductive in nature, meaning that it involves drawing conclusions based on observations and evidence.

• Flexible: The case study method is flexible, allowing the researcher to gather a wide range of data, including interviews, observations, and documents.

• Multiple sources of evidence: The case study method often involves collecting data from multiple sources, including the subjects of the study, witnesses, and relevant documents.

• Interpretive: The case study method requires an interpretive approach, as the researcher must analyze and interpret the data collected.

Qualitative research is research using methods such as participant observation or case studies that result in a narrative, descriptive account of a setting or practice.

Important Points

• Grounded theory is a systematic methodology that has been largely applied to qualitative research conducted by social scientists.
• The methodology involves the construction of hypotheses and theories through the collecting and analysis of data.
• The grounded theory involves the application of inductive reasoning.
• The methodology contrasts with the hypothetico-deductive model used in traditional scientific research.
• A study based on grounded theory is likely, to begin with, a question, or even just with the collection of qualitative data.
• As researchers review the data collected, ideas or concepts become apparent to the researchers. These ideas/concepts are said to "emerge" from the data.

Hence Grounded theory research is an example of qualitative research.

Additional Information

• Experimental research is a study that strictly adheres to a scientific research design.
  • ​It includes a hypothesis, a variable that can be manipulated by the researcher, and variables that can be measured, calculated, and compared.
• Ex post facto study or after-the-fact research is a category of research design in which the investigation starts after the fact has occurred without interference from the researcher.
• A Descriptive Survey Research is an approach of Descriptive Research that blends quantitative and qualitative data to provide the researcher with relevant and accurate information.

An experimental method of research is a type of study in which the researcher speculates on the possible reasons for a previously observed result.

Key Points

Experimental research:

• The experimental method involves manipulating one variable to determine if changes in one variable cause changes in another variable.
• This method relies on controlled methods, random assignment, and the manipulation of variables to test a hypothesis.
• The experimental method under which the researcher can directly modify the independent variable(s) (that is, the cause) in an experimental study to see how it affects the dependent variable (that is, the effect).

Therefore, Experimental method research methods, the process of hypothesis testing optimally safeguards the role of extraneous variables. 

Additional Information

• Both experimental and ex-post facto research attempt to study links between existent variables and their conclusions are logically as well as empirically valid and accurate, but there is various difference between them.
• Ex post facto research is undertaken when a researcher wishes to investigate the cause of an event that has already occurred as an outcome of the cause.
• The phrase historical method refers to a set of strategies and rules used by historians in their investigation and writing of past histories.
• Descriptive Survey Research is a type of descriptive research that combines quantitative and qualitative data to give you reliable and relevant facts. 

A research design is a framework for the methods and approaches. 

Key Points

• Experimental research is a study that is based on scientific research design.
• The characteristic features of Experimental research are the following: 
  • A purpose statement is a declarative statement that highlights the major goal or goals of a research study.
  • The goal of a study or research endeavor is to answer research questions on the topic.
  • A hypothesis is a statement that expresses expectations for the results of research.
  • After developing a hypothesis then collect numeric data. 
• In short, developing clear, restricted, measurable, and observable purpose statements, research questions and hypotheses are characteristic features of experimental research.
• Experimental research is a study that uses two sets of variables and is conducted in a scientific manner.

Thus, creating purpose statements, research questions, and hypotheses that are narrow and measurable would mark the characteristic features of Experimental research.

Additional Information

• Grounded theory research: Grounded theory is a systematic approach to qualitative research where theories are generated through the collecting and analysis of data.
• Ethnographic research:   Ethnography is a qualitative data collection method and the researcher work in the field where they collect data through observations and interviews. 
• Narrative research:  It was defined as collecting and analyzing the accounts of respondents when they describe experiences and further interpret them. 

The correct answer is F-test.
Important Points

F-test:

• The F-test is commonly used in the context of analysis of variance (ANOVA) and regression analysis.
• It is used to compare the variances or means of multiple groups simultaneously.
• ANOVA assesses whether there are significant differences among the means of three or more groups, while the F-test in regression analysis is used to determine if a set of independent variables has a statistically significant effect on the dependent variable.
• The F-test calculates an F-statistic, which is compared to critical values to determine statistical significance.

When researchers use designs that involve multiple groups, such as in analysis of variance (ANOVA) or regression analysis, the most commonly employed test is the F-test.

• The F-test is used to compare the variances or means of multiple groups simultaneously.
• It helps determine whether there are significant differences among the means of the groups being compared.

The Z-test is commonly used when comparing a sample mean to a known population mean, assuming the population standard deviation is known.

The t-test for the difference of means is used when comparing the means of two independent groups. The paired t-test is used when comparing the means of two related groups (e.g., before and after measurements of the same individuals).

Therefore, in the context of designs involving multiple groups, the F-test is the most commonly employed test.

Research is a systematic way of investigation, a process of discovering new knowledge. Research is also considered as searching for and gathering information, usually to answer a particular question. Each research study has its own specific purpose.

Scientific Method Is Used In Empirical Researches.

• The word empirical describes any information gained by experience, observation, or experiment.
• One of the central tenets of the scientific method is that evidence must be empirical, i.e. based on evidence observable to the senses.
• Philosophically, empiricism defines a way of gathering knowledge by direct observation and experience rather than through logic or reason alone (in other words, by rationality).
• In the scientific paradigm, the term refers to the use of hypotheses that can be tested using observation and experiment.
• In other words, it is the practical application of experience via formalized experiments.
• Empirical data is produced by experiment and observation and can be either quantitative or qualitative.
• Science in general and empiricism specifically attempts to establish a body of knowledge about the natural world.
• The standards of empiricism exist to reduce any threats to the validity of results obtained by empirical experiments.
• For example, scientists take great care to remove bias, expectation, and opinion from the matter in question and focus only on what can be empirically supported.
• While many students of science believe that “empirical scientific methods" and “science" are basically the same thing, the truth is that empiricism is just one of many tools in a scientist’s inventory.

Thus, scientific method is the correct answer.

​

Validity is one of the important characteristics of scientific research. The term ‘Validity’ implies truth or fidelity. Thus, validity refers to the degree to which a test measures what it claims to measure. The word "valid" is derived from the Latin ‘validus’. A Valid measurement is always reliable.

• For determining the validity of a test, the test should be compared to another independent construct or criteria. 
• Validity is concerned with generalizability. 
• Validity has three important properties:
  • It is a relative term.
  • It is not a fixed concept or criteria of a test because it is an unending process that requires constant validation.
  • It is just a measure concept and not an all-or-none property.

Important Points