RESEARCH METHODOLOGY I

• Research: Definition and concept of research, objectives of research, importance of research.
• Types of Research- Descriptive vs Analytical, Applied vs Fundamental, Quantitative vs Qualitative, Conceptual vs Empirical, Historical, Longitudinal Research. Research Approaches, Significance of Research. Research Methods vs Methodology, Research Process, Criteria of Good Research, Problems encountered by Researchers in India.

• Research Design: Meaning, Need, Concepts and Characteristics of a good research design.
• Identification of a Research problem. Selection of a Research problem. Techniques involved in defining a problem
• Hypothesis- Purpose, Characteristics, Types and Criteria of Hypothesis

• Data gathering instruments: Observation, Interview, Questionnaires and Schedules, their construction, Technique of data collection, Scrutiny of data, accuracy of measurements, testing of a questionnaire.
• Scaling Techniques: Purpose of scaling techniques, Types of scales- Nominal, Ordinal, Interval and Ratio scales. Goodness of Measurement Scales

• Statistics- Meaning, Importance, Limitations, Classifications and Tabulation of data, Variables- Meaning and Concept, Types of Variables. Frequency Distributions and Cumulative Frequency Distribution,
• Measure of Central Tendency- Mean, Median and Mode, Geometric and Harmonic Mean their Properties, Merits and Demerits.
• Measure of Dispersion- Range, Quartile Deviation, Mean Deviation and Standard Deviation, Coefficient of Variation.
• Skewness : (their absolute and relative measures)

• Correlation Analysis- Definition and Concept, types and measures of studying Correlation (Karl Pearson’s coefficient of correlation, its assumptions, properties, merits and demerits, Spearman’s Rank correlation & Con-Current Deviation Method)
• Regression Analysis- Definition, Concept, Uses and Properties. Least Square Method, Regression Coefficients, Fitting of Regression lines.