4 - Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture

National Workshop-cum-Training on Biolnfonnatics and Information Management in Aquaculture
AN OVERVIEW OF FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS AND
STATISTICAL TESTS, COMMONLY USED I N
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
1. Basic Research-Methodology Concepts
Any standard social science research would generally be comprised of a set of
techniques and principles for systemically collecting, recording, analyzing and
interpreting data to aid decision makers. So, such research should always be
governed by the following principles or guidelines:
a) Attending to the timeliness and relevance of research;
b) Defining the research objectives carefully and clearly;
c) Better not to conduct research for the cases where decisions have already
been taken.
We look for gaining or generating some key/ critical information at the end of
any research process. Such an information is nothing but the data, that have
been collected, analyzed and interpreted by the research scholar/ investigator.
In this paper we shall first enlist and discuss briefly some basic terms as well as
types research, which are most commonly in use. This is done just to put the
concepts together. Then, in the subsequent section, some basic statistical tools
are given to aid the proposed discussion by the author in the workshop.
1.1 Research proposal & research process
A Research Proposal is a document that briefly describes the purpose and
scope, specific objectives, sample design, data collection procedures, data
analysis plan, timetable, and estimated cost for the contemplated project.
The Research Process is an interrelated sequence of steps that make up a
research project.
The major steps in a research process are as follows:
Justify the need for marketing research.
Define the research objective.
Identify data needs.
Identify data sources.
Choose an appropriate research design and data collection method.
Design the research instrument or form.
Identify the sample.
Collect data, including any relevant secondary data.
Analyze and interpret the data.
Present the research findings to decision makers.
' Correspondence: Dr. Rabi Narayan Subudhi, Professor (SRM), KIIT University
Bhubaneswar - 751024 Mail: rabisubudhi@amail.com, rnsubudhi@ksrrn.ac.in