Purposes Of Doing Research Essay

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The following essay will be discussing the different purposes of doing research; the four units of analysis including the ecological fallacy and reductionism as types of faulty reasoning. An outline of the structure of a research proposal and its elements will be discussed. Included also will be the elements of the research process/project outlined by Babbie and the interrelated processes of conceptualisation, operationalisation, and measurement will be elaborated on. Research plays a big part in our lives, it might not be directly but it does exist. We do research to have a better understanding of our society we live in, why certain things happen and if there is a better way of doing things especially for the development of our country. To start with any kind of research one needs to understand what research is about and understand its components.

Three purposes for doing research
Research has got three of the most common and useful purposes which are exploration, description, and explanation. Exploration is whereby most of the social research is conducted to discover a topic, which is, to begin to familiarise a researcher with that topic. This approach usually takes place when a new interest or when the subject of study is relatively new. At times exploratory research is pursued through the use of focus groups, or guided small group discussions. Exploratory studies are done for three purposes which are firstly to fulfil the researcher's curiosity and plea for better understanding, secondly to test the viability of undertaking a more widespread study, and lastly to improve the methods to be employed in any consequential study (Babbie 2011:67). Exploratory studies are also a basis of grounded theory. The main defect of explorato...

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...ving any notion a specific meaning is efficacy (Babbie 2011:135).

In conclusion, as seen from above, the three main purposes of research were identified and discussed which are exploration, description, and explanation. Before doing any kind of social research, it is very imperative to understand what research is and how it works. The four units of analysis which include individuals, groups, organisations, and social interactions were looked into. This basically shows that there are no boundaries as to whom or what can be studied. Followed was then the ecological fallacy and reductionism. Then the structure of the research proposal was outlined mainly because there are specific ways of doing research. The elements of the research project were put forward and lastly the interrelated processes of conceptualisation, operationalisation, and measurement were identified.

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