Research Directorate has organized two-day training on ‘Research Methods’ for Arba Minch University’s newly recruited researchers from 17th to 18th June, 2014, at Lecture Theatre, Main Campus. Dr Girma Taye from Ethiopian Institute of Agriculture Research is the resource person.
Emphasizing important ingredients in a research proposal, he said, it should have scientific approach. Summary, introductory background, problem statement, purpose, objective, literature review, materials & methods, result, discussion, conclusion, recommendation, references & appendices are its basic elements.’’
Elaborating further he said, introduction is key because donors want to see the expression, after background, what issue and the problem area has to be stated clearly. Then comes objective that at times gets translated into hypothesis assumes greater value.
On ‘Literature Review,’ he said, It’s the area where one must assess what others have done in the area that decides researcher’s objective. Abstract (summary) should be summarized in a page, which can be called executive summary for those who have time constraint.
Cautioning, the researchers, he says, ‘‘You must exercise intelligence while submitting your paper for publication, it should be reputable journal that mirror your study in an appropriate manner. Best it should be in a technical Manuel that tells how to design and analyze the data.
Keen attention should be given to the background as it highlight study and the environment in which one operates using concise and focused sentences. Problem Statement is important component, hence one must state the exact problem dogging the society, its enormity, rationale behind its selection by you and what remedy can be offered and how can it be solved.
Moreover, you need to prioritize the area to convince donor by providing evidence, needs and solutions by stating the sources of the problems as well.
He said, recommendation targets futuristic study, it may not be solved by the researchers but the future generation can pay heed to it. Therefore, correct Problem Statement would have cascading effects on everything. On the other hand, incorrect statement would put your objective in disarray; you can’t formulate hypothesis; won’t know what data to take. Ultimately you would end up with a botched-up work winning no grants.
Describing, purpose of study, he said, is self-explanatory because you envisage what you are going to do, so provide flow of idea and concept you will achieve at the end. Your Objective should be more precise then the purpose itself. It’s talk about your intention and the roadmap that takes you to your desired destination, he added.
Objective has two categories i.e. general and specific must be devised considering time, money and human capital. Specific objective shouldn’t be more than three, if more, it needs to be inter-related.
On literature review, he said, it’s something summarized which is done by others in few words. It has to be relevant telling problem you picked up not attempted by others and neither duplicated by the researcher. Your study need to have up to date references
Stating the approaches in investigation, he said, it has two types i.e. design and analyze aspect, which begins with preliminary goes through planning and preparation of data collection.
He said in survey you must identify respondents, how many enumerators are there; the way data is taken decides your analysis. He also talked about statistical data analysis, review of basic statistical theory etc.
By Philips Joseph
