Assignment Code: MLE-102/AST/TMA/Jul.22-Jan.23

Course Code: MLIE-102

Assignment Name: Research Methodology

Year: 2022-2023

Verification Status: Verified by Professor

1.1 What do you understand by scientific method? Discuss Ranganathan‟s Spiral of Scientific Method. (10)

Ans) Science is a body of facts and truths that have been put in a logical order to show how general laws work and how other things work with them. People also think that library and information science is slowly but surely becoming a field of systematised knowledge.

Ranganathan’s Spiral of Scientific Method

Ranganathan says, "The Scientific Method makes the mind pursue any discipline over and over again in an endless series of cycles.

Types of Laws, Activity and Cardinal Stages

1)  Types of Laws

a) Fundamental laws.

b) Figured out laws.

c) The bottom line.

d) Empirical laws.

2) Types of Activity

a) Senses, experimentation, observation, concretisation, and particularisation.

b) Intelligence, deduction, generalisation, and abstraction.

c) Generalizing, abstracting, sublimating, and getting an idea from  gut.

d) Specification, concreteness, deduction, and the mind.

3) Cardinal Stages in the Cycle

a) Nadir.

b) Ascendent.

c) Zenith.

d) Descendent.

Spiral and its Quadrants and their descriptions

1) Quadrant 1 represents the stage in the development of a subject in the universe of subjects, according to the scientific method, in which:

a) People use their primary senses either in their natural state or with the help of instruments of different strengths.

b) With or without experimental inference and conditioning, knowees are used to make observations.

c) There are facts.

2) Quadrant 2 describes the stage when:

a) The intellect can be used on its own or with the help of machines made to speed up the work of the intellect and give it some relief.

b) With the help of inductive logic, like normal equations, statistical calculations, and other types of calculations, a lot of facts can be boiled down to a small number of inductive or empirical laws.

c) Laws are made based on reasoning or experience.

3) Quadrant 3 corresponds to the stage in which:

a) Some intuition is used without the help of the main senses or the intellect.

b) The learned or learned-by-doing laws can be boiled down to a small number of fundamental laws.

c) Getting closer to the ultimate generalisation.

d) Moving toward the most abstract state.

e) Taking fundamental laws and writing them down.

4) Quadrant 4, which is about using  mind to come up with and write down deduced laws, includes:

a) Use of the mind on its own or with the help of machines.

b) Using deductive logic to help with reasoning, such as in math and other classes.

c) Steps toward getting more specific.

d) Getting closer to the real world.

e) How laws were made and how they were written down.

f)  Laws that are deduced must include at least one of the empirical laws that are brought in.

2.1 Describe the procedure of sampling and the different types of sampling. (10)

Ans) Procedure of sampling and the different types of sampling as follows:

Sampling Procedure

Specification of objectives: The first and most important step in sampling procedure is figuring out what one want to get out of it. Because from this goal, all other steps will flow.

Definition of population: In this step, we decide which units belong in the population. There are often cases that are close to the line, and it's important to use the right definition.

Preparation of ‘sampling frame’: Once one know what units will be in the population, one can make a list of the units from which the sample will be taken. Often, problems arise because the sources one want to use to make the sampling frame may not be complete or may be out of date.

Identification of sampling procedure: Sampling procedure is the way that the sample is chosen. There are a lot of different ways to pick samples. We should choose a method that gives us a representative sample, can be done given our limitations, and doesn't cost too much.

Determination of sample size: The next step is to figure out the size of the sample. We should, however, settle for a smaller sample size if we don't have enough money, people, or time to get a bigger one.

Selection of sampling units: After deciding on the sampling method and the size of the sample, the next step is to draw the sampling units from the sampling frame.

Types Of Sampling

Snowball Sampling: In this step, one start by finding someone who fits the requirements for being in  study. Then one ask them if they know anyone else who also meets the criteria. Even though this method wouldn't give very good samples, it may be the best way to get a sample sometimes. Snowball sampling is especially helpful when one want to reach people who are hard to reach or hard to find.

Stratified Random Sampling: This method is used when a population is not all the same but can be broken up into similar groups (called "strata"). Here, we take sub-samples from each stratum and add them up to get the sample we want. So, the stratified random sampling method is a better way to represent the population, and the sampled units are a better reflection of the population's characteristics.

Quota Sampling: In this method, people are put into groups based on things like their gender, age, level of education, religion, income, etc. A certain number of units from each group are chosen. The quota may or may not be based on how big the group is in the population as a whole.

3.1 Describe in detail the process of conducting an interview.

Ans) Process of conducting an interview as follows:

Plan: At this stage, the researcher plans the whole interview process, including how the interviewer will be trained, how long the interview will last, and where it will take place. It also takes into account the cost, how long it takes to get there, and how long one have to wait. When there are more people to talk to, one need field staff. With so many people responding, one main interviewer/research assistant is not enough. For the interview session to go well, the field staff, enumerator, or research assistant needs to be trained.

Preparation of Interview Schedule: A schedule for an interview is a list of questions that are written down and put in some kind of order. During the interview, the interviewer writes the answers on the printed schedule. A plan is made ahead of time for when interviews will happen. People who are going to do this assignment need to do practise interviews to learn how to do it well. But we can't ignore the fact that the interviewer has an opinion about how answers should be interpreted. Because the interviews were planned, the researcher knows who the respondent is. One won't have to deal with a low response rate if one use this method. But only the information that turns out to be very accurate from the respondent is written down. Schedules for interviews let one get to know the respondent on a more personal level.

Pilot Test of the Schedule: It's a good idea to try out the interview questions before the real interview starts. For a pilot study, a small group of interviews should be chosen. The right study shouldn't include this group. The interviewer should ask the chosen respondents for their ideas on how to make the interview schedule better. When the researcher gets the feedback from the pilot study group, he or she should change it to fit. This step is very important if one want to get good answers from respondents.

Conducting the Interview: Interviewing is an art, which we all know. But for a researcher, it's the hardest thing to do. The interviewer/researcher has to do a lot of things at once. For example, he or she might ask the respondent questions, listen carefully to the answers, clarify, explain, or give directions to help the respondent understand, and write down the answers by hand or with the help of a computer or other electronic device. The interviewer also keeps track of the time, the questions to be asked, etc. It requires skill. The person who does the interviewing should be trained to do this job.

4.1 Enumerate the different types of research plans. Discuss its structure giving an example. (10)

Ans) Types of research plans and its structure as follows:

Types of research plans

There are two kinds of plans for research. These are: quantitative and qualitative proposals. For experimental and descriptive research, a quantitative proposal is given. For descriptive and exploratory research, a qualitative proposal is given. Even though there isn't a clear line, qualitative research usually doesn't have hypotheses or operationalization of concepts. Operationalization of concepts means giving operational definitions, figuring out the independent and dependent variables, choosing samples, and deciding on the measuring instruments and their reliability and validity. Instead, the qualitative proposal will include research methods that aren't used in quantitative research.

Structure of research plans

Title: The first part of  plan is the name of  study (dissertation or project). We should make sure that the title says what it means. It should let people know what we want to do. There shouldn't be any doubt. It should be clear, exact, and use correct grammar. It shouldn't be too broad or too narrow compared to what we plan to look into in the research. If we want to study how personality development programmes affect how staff deal with users, the topic could be: Impact of personality development programmes on how staff deal with users in libraries.

Scope: After stating the problem, it's important to explain how big it is. In the scope, one should say how far one want to look into the topic. He should make it clear what the scope is in terms of both the subject matter and the geographic area. There should also be a description of the time period and what it covers. The topic's limits should be spelled out in the scope.

Objectives: The plan should list the goals of  study after the problem. One of the most important parts of  plan is this. Knowing what one want to do helps. If someone is interested in  study, all they need to know are the goals. One have a good idea of how important goals are. So, it's important that they are said in clear, direct language so that there is no doubt about what they mean. Also, they should explain what one hope to learn from  study. When one start from here, where do one end up? Action verbs like "to know," "to find out," "to evaluate," "to automate," "to design," etc., are needed for this. When setting goals, one should also keep in mind that they shouldn't be too broad. One should be clear about the goals of his or her study, which can help him or her or one when evaluating. It's a way to figure out how far one've come with my project. Let's talk about the same example again: "Impact of automation on the services of academic libraries in India." One of the goals of the study could be to look at how automation affects:

1. Change the way services are given.

2. If there are any new services.

3. The people who do the work.

4. How often people use services.

5. How easy it is to use services.

5.0 Write short notes on any two of the following: (10)

a) Applied Research

Ans) Applied research is research that is done to solve a problem in theory or practise that needs to be fixed right away. It has a useful purpose. "Action research," "Case studies," "Clinical research," and "Research and Development," which most people just call "R&D," are all examples. Most research done in business, the military, and government is applied or has a practical purpose. One example is

1. To come up with a way to keep track of when periodicals are received and send automatic reminders when they are overdue by more than a month.

2. To figure out why a certain collection in a library isn't being used much.

3. To find a way to deal with the lack of space in libraries in the 1960s.

No matter what kind of research is being done or why, the line between the two is thin, false, and temporary, if it exists at all. Science's history shows that you can't draw a straight line between the two for a longer time.

b) Case Study

Ans) Charles H Cooley says that ‘Case study deepens perception and gives a clear insight into life.’ Pauline Young says, "It is a way to look at and analyse the life of a social unit, like a person, a family, an institution, a cultural group, or even a whole community." Goode and Hatt say, "Case Study is a way to organise social data in a way that keeps the social object being studied as a whole." According to F.L. Whitney, “Case study is a complete analysis and report of the status of an individual subject with respect as a rule to specific phases of his total personality.” Another social scientist says that a case study is like putting a spotlight or microscope on one or more examples of a social entity, like an organisation, work team, event, role, or relationship. Each case is studied using different ways to gather information, such as by looking at administrative records and documents, doing in-depth interviews, structured interviews, and so on.