Research Methodology

Different professions use "research" to study a particular area. Some professions or fields are:

• psychology
• sociology
• science - medical science - physical sciences
• medicine - by physicians
• marketing or business
• etc.

When a person or group begins their research, the "method" should be described. For example, a psychologist wants to know if male children ages 4 to 12 are affected by watching violent television shows. He hypothezises (a guess) that males who watch violent shows will be more likely to be aggressive. He describes the scope of his research (4 to 16 yr old males), total number studied (30 boys), and the parameters of the study, such as: television viewing on Saturday afternoons from 1 pm to 5pm; types of shows watched (drama, westerns, sci-fi); duration (studied for 2 weeks... or 25 weeks...), etc.

When a study is completed, the researcher tells of anything that changed his original "method". For example, 4 of the 30 boys got sick and couldn't complete the study; or the scientist studied rats instead of mice.

Reasons that other people need to know research methods:

• WHO does the study is important, just as the "method". For example, many people distrust studies done by a controlling company because a study's results can affect the marketability of a product or affect financial stock sales. Example 1: A pharmaceutical company that tests its own medications. Example 2: A major manufacturer who submits water studies while hiding that the plant has run-off of highly toxic substances.
• Accurate research should be able to be replicated or duplicated. If Dr. Smith claims 50% of patients are healed by taking X herb daily for 3 months, then another doctor should be able to run a second study and come up with the same or nearly the same results.
• Many times, "research" is simply "claims" without good research. I could write here that 98% of people who read News Stories on the Internet increase their IQs by 1 point... but that is simply a claim I'm making, without any research data to back up my claim.
• The number studied is important! The bigger the sample, the more accurate the results. For example, a large medical study of women showed that yearly mannograms do not decrease the incidence of breast cancer. Although people are debating the results, this study has more validy than a study done on say, 50 women. As well, I could tell you that 50% of smokers never finished high school -- BUT what if I told you that I only studied TWO people--one who did finish high school and one who dropped out. Because I only studied 2 people, my "research" and "data results" is very misleading! But if I studied 50,000 men and women, I'd likely find and report a more reasonable figure (like 1%).
• A "blind study" in medicine often has more validity. It means the study group did not know key details; sometimes the research doesn't know which group in a study receives medication. A "double blind" study means both the researcher and the participants did not know -- like which patients took the real medicine or took a placebo. A "double blind" ensures that the researcher cannot impose his ideas onto the results, like, if Dr. Smith believes Drug RXRX will improve liver function, he won't unknowingly interpret results to fit his ideas.
• In Marketing studies, it is important to know whether the "study" was truly a "study" or if it was simply done by "consumer surveys". It is also important with all studies to know whether participants were paid money, or if they got some other type of reimbursement. For example: Online surveys are not "studies" but surveys that might be influenced by how much a person gets paid. If the "pay" is only 25 cents, the responding person may just click-click whatever answers, just to finish the questions fast-- but not accurately. A second example: A medical study might only reimburse transportation / mileage, give free tests, and free amounts of the med being studied.

This is not a complete list of why readers should know the specific research methods used, but it gives you an idea of why this knowledge is important.