Designing And Conducting Research_biit

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Designing and Conducting Research: Humanistic, Ethical and Islamic Approach Dr. S. M. Ali Akkas Email: [email protected], [email protected] Web: www.cdss.ingeniousbd.org

1. Designing Research 1.1 What is a Research Design? Decisions regarding what, where, when, how much, by what means concerning an enquiry or a research study constitute a research design. Research design is the conceptual structure within which research is conducted; it constitutes the blueprint for the collection, measurement and analysis of data. As such the design includes an outline of what the researcher will do from writing the hypothesis and its operational implications to the final analysis of data. More explicitly, the design decisions happen to be in respect of: i. What is the study about? ii. Why is the study being made? iii. Where the study be carried out? iv. What type of data is required? v. Where can the required data be found? vi. What periods of time will the study include? vii. What will be the sample design? viii. What techniques of data collection will be used ix. How will the data be analyzed? x. In what style will the report be prepared?

1.2. Main Parts of Research Design 1. The Sampling Design: This part deals with the method of selecting items to be observed for the given study. 2. The Observational Design: This part relates to the conditions under which the observations are to be made. 3. The Statistical Design: This part concerns with the question of how many items are to be observed and how information and data gathered are to be analyzed. 4. The Operational design: This part deals with the techniques by which the procedures specified in the sampling, statistical and observational designs can be carried out.

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RESEARCH PROCESS IN FLOW CHART

FF

FF

I Define research problem

Review concepts and theories Review previous research findings

Formulate hypothesis

Collect data (Execution)

Design research including sample design

III

Analyze data (Test hypotheses if any)

Interpret and report

V IV

II

VII VI

F

Where

F

= feed back (Helps in controlling the sub-system to which it is transmitted.

FF

= feed forward (Service the vital function of providing criteria for evaluation

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1.3. Feature of Research Design a) It is a plan that specifies the sources and types of information relevant to the research problem. b) It is a strategy specifying which approach will be used for gathering and analyzing data. c) It also includes the time and cost budgets since most studies are done under these two constraints. In brief, research design must, at least, contain – (a) clear statement of the research problem; (b) procedures and techniques to be used for gathering information; (c) methods to be used in processing and analyzing data.

1.4. Feature of a Good Design A good design is often characterized by adjectives like flexible, appropriate, efficient, and economical and so on. Generally, the design which minimizes bias and maximizes the reliability of the data collected and analyzed is considered as a good design. The design which gives the smallest experimental error is supposed to be the best design in many investigations. Similarly, a design which yields maximal information and provides and provides an opportunity for considering many different aspects of a problem is considered most appropriate and efficient design in respect of many research problems.

2. Conducting Research Where designing of the research ends, conducting starts. Conducting covers steps of the research process such as determining sample design, data collection, analysis and interpretation of data, and report writing. 2.1 Determining Sample Design All the items under consideration in any field of inquiry constitute a ‘universe’ or ‘population’. Sample design is a definite plan determined before any data are actually collected for obtaining a sample from a given population. Sample design can be of different types: 1) Deliberate sampling: This method also known as purposive sampling method involves deliberate selection of particular units of the universe for constituting a sample which represents the universe. 2) Simple random sampling: This type of sampling is also known as probability sampling where each and every item in the population has an equal chance of

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inclusion in the sample and each one of the possible samples has the same chance of selection. 3) Systematic sampling: In some instances the most practical way of sampling is to select every 15th name of a list, every 10th house on one side of the street and so on. Sampling of this type is known as systematic sampling. 4) Stratified sampling: In this technique, the population is stratified into a number of non-overlapping sub-populations or strata and sample items are selected from each stratum. 5) Quota Sampling: This method of sampling depends on interviewer’s judgment as regards taking samples from quota of each stratum. 6) Cluster sampling: Cluster sampling involves grouping the population and then selecting the groups or the clusters rather than individual elements for inclusion in the sample. 7) Multi-stage sampling: This is a further development of the idea of cluster sampling. Under this method the concept of clustering is applied at different stage say: states, districts, then towns and finally certain families within towns. 8) Sequential sampling: This is a complex sample design determined according to mathematical decisions on the basis of information yielded as survey progresses. This design is usually adopted under acceptance sampling plan in the context of statistical quality control.

2.2 Collecting the Data There are several ways of collecting the appropriate data which differ considerably in context of money costs, time and other resources at the disposal of the researcher. These are: 1) By observation 2) Through personal interviews 3) Through telephone interviews 4) By mailing of questionnaires 5) Through schedules

2.3 Analysis of Data The analysis of data requires a number of closely related operations such as establishment of categories, the application of these categories to raw data through coding, tabulation and then drawing inferences. Analysis work after tabulation is generally based on the computation of various percentages, coefficients, etc., by applying various well-defined statistical formulae.

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2.4 Hypothesis Testing After analyzing data, the researcher is in a position to test the hypotheses, if any, he had formulated earlier. Do the facts support the hypotheses or they happen to be contrary? This is the usual question which should be answered while testing hypothses. Various tests, such as Chisquare test, t-test, F-test, have been developed by statisticians for the purpose. Hypotheses testing will result in either accepting the hypothesis or rejecting it.

2.5 Generalizations and Interpretation If a hypothesis is tested and upheld several times, it may be possible for the researcher to arrive at a generalization, i.e., theory. As a matter of fact, the real value of research leis in its ability to arrive at certain generalizations. If the researcher had no hypothesis to start with, he might seek to explain his findings on the basis of some theory. It is known as interpretation.

2.6 Preparation of Report Writing of report must contain the following: 1) The layout of the report The layout of the report should be as follows: (i) the preliminary pages; (ii) the main text, and (iii) the end matter. In the preliminary pages of the report should carry title and date for followed by acknowledgements and foreword. Then there should be a table of contents followed by a list of tables and list of graphs and charts, if any, given in the report. The main text of the report should have: (a) introduction; (b) summary of findings; (c) main report, and (d) conclusion. At the end of the report, appendices should be enlisted in respect of all technical data. Bibliography, i.e., list of books, journals, reports, etc., consulted, should also be given in the end. Index should also be given specially in a published research report. 2) Report should be written in a concise and objective style in simple language avoiding vague expressions such as ‘it seems’, ‘there may be’, and the like. 3) Charts and illustrations in the main report should be only used if they present the information more clearly and forcibly. 4) Calculated ‘confidence limits’ must be mentioned and the various constraints experienced in conducting research operations may as well be stated.

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3. Humanistic, Ethical and Islamic Approach 3.1 Humanistic and Ethical Approach One of the greatest havoc done in the inquiry of knowledge of social sciences is the separation or compartmentalization of knowledge without keeping, denying or loosely accepting interconnections or linkages or interdependency among various disciplines of knowledge. Consequently, research has been brought under narrow framework of materialistic interpretation of reality. The tendency of making each discipline independent of other disciplines has denied interpretation of each separate discipline of knowledge from a broader framework of knowledge i.e., the worldview of reality. This has reduced complete knowledge into deformed individual parts having conceptual frameworks of their own. As a result, narrow materialistic interpretation in the name of objectivity has been the framework of modern method of inquiry. This has given unbridled license in the hands of science to be immoral working against humanity and doing unethical practice. Nuclear research on developing weapons of mass destruction, thus, could be justified then on many counts. In medical science also intracytoplasmic injection of spermatozoon, preimplantatory diagnosis has raised concerns for the humanity. One of the questions arises at this occasion is to determine if research on pre embryo is legitimate or not. The issue provokes some reluctance and severe criticisms concerning the future of the children obtained by such techniques: risk of slippery slope, possibly leading to a form of eugenics, and the fundamental and philosophical problem of the status of the embryo (Sureau C. website)1 The above along with other medical, ethical and societal concerns about costs, access, and quality of care are causing health care practitioners to consider for a more comprehensive model of medical decision making known as Economic, Clinical, and Humanistic Outcomes (ECHO) to provide a theoretical basis for considering potential trade-offs among econoimic, clinical, and humanistic variables in optimizing the allocation of health care resources (Kozma CM, Reeder CF, Schulz RM, website)2.

1

Sureau C., Morals, logic and ethics in reproductive health, www/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&emd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=7994585&query_h1=2&itool =pubmed. 2

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=8111809&dopt=Ab stract

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3.2 Islamic Approach 3.2.1 Quranic World View According to Quranic world-view the cosmos has been created and kept in a state of balance. A close study of the Quran reveals that it wants to educate us for maintaining equilibrium in every field of human activity. It gives us not only a philosophy but also a structural framework to maintain equilibrium between philosophy and action. The salient features of the Quranic world-view are summarized as:3 1. There is one and only one Creator who is Almighty, Intelligent, Eternal, Dynamic and Director of the cosmos; and that is Allah.4 2. The cosmos is all the way and time obedient to the Creator. It is well organized, integrated and in a state of equilibrium.5 3. Man is vicegerent and slave of the Creator. As a vicegerent he has been given potentialities to understand the world and to work any way he may like. As a slave he is expected to work obediently in coherence with obedience.6 4. A time will come when the cosmos will be reorganized and man will be judged as to whether or not he utilized his potentialities as an obedient vicegerent in coherence with the divine equilibrium and will be rewarded accordingly.7

3.2.2 The Quranic Method of Enquiry When we talk of the Quranic method of enquiry, the Quranic world-view itself becomes a paradigmatic part of methodology; revelation i.e., Wahy as such becomes a source of information and faith, prayer and taqwa incorporate as ethical parts of method. Nonparadigmatic part consists of spiritual and non-spiritual (or physical) methods. Among them intuition, inspiration and dream may be considered as spiritual methods while history, observation, experimentation, reason and inference are included as non-spiritual methods.8

3.2.2.1 Paradigm The Islamic methodology is characterized by its explicit statement of the macroparadigm, or perception of reality. The perception of reality is derived from the Quran and Sunnah. 3

Kirmani, M. R.: “Quranic Method of Enquiry” in in Research Mehology in Islamic Perspective edited by Mohammad Muquim, Institute of Objective Studies, New Delhi 1994. Pp. 97. 4 Al Baqarah 255 5 Ha Meem, As Sajda: 11, al Mulk:3-4, ar Rahman:7. 6 Al-Bakara:30-31, al-ariat:56, ar Rahman:7-8. 7 Ibrahim: 48, al-Momin:16-17. 8 Op cit. Kirmani, M. R. p. 98.

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The most important concept is the unity of this reality. Allah (SWT) has created the entire universe. Nothing moves and develops of its own accord. The laws of Allah govern this universe. It is an ordered universe, a cosmos. All its pieces are finely tuned to the ultimate Reality. And it is a purposeful universe with an underlying moral intent. According to Thomas Kuhn “A paradigm is what the members of a scientific community, and alone, share. Conversely, it is their possession of a common paradigm that constitutes a scientific community of a group of otherwise disparate men.”9. Imre Laktos defined scientific research program (SRP) as special kind of operational paradigm. “All scientific research programs may be characterized by the ‘hardcore’ surrounded by a ‘protective belt’ of auxiliary hypothesis which has to bear the brunt of tests.”10 He shows that an SRP has two types of components, namely, the rigid element (i.e. the hard core) and the flexible (i.e. the protective belt). Blaug points out that Lakatos acknowledges the fact that hardcore is irrefutable by its advocates.11 The hardcore is irrefutable because, “it contains, besides purely metaphysical beliefs, a positive heuristic consisting of a particularly articulated set of suggestions or hints on how to change and develop the refutable variants of the research program, that is on how to modify and sophisticate, the ‘refutable’ protective belt.” We should know that Lakatos’ acknowledgement that the hardcore contains the normative elements and that it is irrefutable by its advocates. This acknowledgement helps us to understand the important role of hardcore and its normative content in the SRP. The recognition by Lakatos that the existence of the normative beliefs in an SRP is perfectly in line with the standard scientific traditions of paradigm building underscores the importance of the normative content in the hardcore of al Faruqi’s plan.12 The Western paradigm, based on materialism, gives a limited worldview and a specific theory of knowledge. Discussing the implications of materialism for scientific investigation Zakaria Bashir says, “The cardinal proposition of materialism is that only the sensible world is knowable. Consequently, it is possible to make a knowledgeable claim about the physical world only through the senses.” This position of Western paradigm is known as the Logical Positivist Theory of meaning. The basic position of the Islamic theory of knowledge is founded on the principle that, “Islamic epistemology begins with the premise that originally all knowledge is Allah’s knowledge. He taught Adam, the first man, His ‘worlds’ and ‘names’ and He imparted to Adam the names of every things.”13

9

Thomas Kuhn, “Second Thoughts on Paradigm,” in Frederick Suppe edited The Structure of Scientific Theories (Urban, University of Illinois Press, 1974) pp. 459-482. 10 Imre Lakatos and A Musgrave, eds., Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge (Cambridge University Press, 1970. 11 Ibid. 12 Mark Blaug, “Kuhn vs Lakatos, or Paradigm vs Research programs in the History of Economics,” in Garry Gutting ed., Paradigm and Revolutions, (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1980) p.144. 13 Zakaria Bashir, “Towards an Islamic Theory of Knowledge, Part 1,” Arabia: The Islamic World Review, March 1986 pp. 74-75.

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Bashir argues that in the western paradigm of materialism, “there are no divine revelations, and prophets are merely great men, wise men or heroes. The (oughts) of morality can be reduced to material considerations relating to material interests and utilities of this life. The reason for this total exclusion of religion from Western epistemology is not difficult to find. Bashir explains the reason for this: “In the Western conception, religion is not a domain where reason is exercised. Religion is the domain of faith, where reason and faith could, at times, be mutually exclusive. Not so in the Islamic theory of knowledge, where religion is the domain where reason is exercised to its fullest capacity. When reason is so extended, it will recognize its own limits, and admit the existence of true, incorrigible, and infallible knowledge, which is obtainable only from genuine and authentic messengers of God. Hence the Quranic conception of knowledge is perfectly real and objective, and easily lends itself to all the categories of validation and confirmation.”14 It is worth mentioning that the new architect of a new Scientific Research Proposal (SRP) for the enhancement of human knowledge is Dr Islmail Razi al Faruqi. His SRP has been regarded as great contribution towards the progress and enhancement of the knowledge of all mankind. Since truth is a whole – a unity - while the Western paradigm’s capability is limited to the materialistic aspect of knowledge only, mankind is in dire need of a paradigm capable of explaining the entire truth. Here it is that Dr. Faruqi’s SRP for the Islamization of knowledge provides us with direction, destination, and methodological guidelines.15

3.2.2.2 From Paradigm to Methodology From this paradigm follows the basic methodology adopted by the Islamic researcher, the methodology of synthesis. During the course of investigation it links parts to the whole, seeks the overall purpose in segments and fits the pieces of reality into the total design. Parts of reality are meaningful only when they are perceived as parts and not the whole. An event, per se, is meaningless unless linked to the whole and perceived as a pause in the continuum. Synthesis, therefore, restores the aspects of reality, to individual events, their legitimate position in the scheme of universe – a position lost in the pursuit of analytical rigor.

14

Ibid. Mohammad Arif, “The Islamization of Knowlwdge and Some Methodological Issues in Paradigm Building: The General Case of Social Science with Special Focus on Economics” in Research Mehology in Islamic Perspective edited by Mohammad Muquim, Institute of Objective Studies, New Delhi 1994. Pp. 190-191. 15 Capra, F.(1982): The Turning Point Science Soc. & Culture, Simon & Schuster, New York, p.53. 15

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3.2.3 Aim of Islamic research Research methodology in Islam is not for research sake rather for the sake of finding whole truth or complete reality. The single aim which can be set forth for Islamic research is working out of entire Islamic system of life as applied to the condition of our own times in a way which may be convincing to the modern mind. The working of the Islamic system may proceed on the following lines:16 (1) The first problem is to understand the Islamic system. The question is what are the fundamentals of Islamic system of life? What elements go to characterize a system as Islamic? These characteristics must be visualized before any step to work out the system in its details can be undertaken. (2) The next question is related to the utility and practicability of Islam in modern times? Is the Islamic system of life applicable to modern conditions? How can we justify this claim in the historical perspective? (3) The third problem is what will be the complete picture of Islamic system when it is applied to the condition of our times? What will be its social structure? How will its economy operate? How will it solve the complicated political problems of modern society? And how will it deal with the problem of individual life? All through the history of Islamic research, experimentation and empirical investigation were pursued with the vigour and spirit to satisfy Allah and to serve mankind. The latter purpose is the cornerstone of Islamic research structure and helps to define, in conjunction with former, the scope and goal of scientific endeavour, in general, and social phenomenon in particular. The exploration of this world through experimentation to the benefit of mankind, to seek the sustenance and comforts of life has been strongly recommended by the Quran. “And seek the bounties of Allah.”17 Thus, Islamic research methodology defines the approach, the perspective of Reality: it assigns a purpose to research – acquisition of knowledge to seek the Reality, recognizes Allah and promotes the good of humanity.18

16

Ansari, A. Haque, “Nature and Scope of Islamic Research, Ibid. pp. 40-41. Al Quran: 62:10. 18 F. R. Faridi, Ibid. pp. 62. 17

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Gantt chart Showing Implementation Plan of a Hypothetical Survey Month

August’06 Week

1st

2nd

3rd

September’06 4th

5th

6th

7th

October’06 8th

9th

10th

11th

12th

Activities 1. Selection of the villages with field visit 2. Questionnaire setting 3. Pre-test of questionnaire 4. Finalization of questionnaire 5. Selection and training of Investigators 6. Fielding of Investigators and supervision Transportation 7. Administering of Questionnaires 8. Tabulation information

4md

6md 4md

2md 4md

2md

10md 10md

9. Analysis of data

10md

10. Report writing 7md 11. Submission of Report

2md

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