Author Profile

Dr. L.N. Kothari, M.A., Sociology, M.Phil. and Ph.D., Assoc. Professor at J.N. Roy College of Arts and Science, Deptt. of Sociology J.P. University. He is teaching the subject for last twenty years and has attended various seminars and conferences and has been pioneer in organising two college level seminars. At present, he is also the Member of College's Admission Committee and incharge of Vice Principal. He has published his articles also.

About The Book

Research aims at discovering new facts or verifying old ones to analyze their sequence, inter relationship, and causal explanation to understand human behaviour. Therefore, the basic objective of social research is to understand and clarify the behaviour of man and the various forces or factors which influence him. Once the human behaviour is influenced, this affects the social institutions. The term 'research methods' refers to all those methods and techniques that are used by a researcher in conducting his research. The term, thus, refers to the methods, techniques or tools employed by a researcher for collecting and processing of data, establishing the relationship between the data and unknown facts, and evaluating the accuracy of the results obtained. The scholars in universities and colleges in management, commerce, economics, political science, sociology, geography, psychology and related disciplines doing masters' and research degrees and those undertaking field research in marketing, personnel and finance areas in trade, industry and service sector shall find it a useful text as well as reference work.

Table of Contents

Preface
1. Introduction
Types of Research Methods; Quantitative Methods; Quantitative Research; Plagiarism Research; Research Approach and Method; Research Methodology and Its Importance; The Importance of Theory and Methodology in Research; Research Methods
2. The Process of Research
Introduction; Creating the Research Design; Definition of Research; Significance of Research; Research Limitations; Types of Research; Research Value; Research and Development; Types of Research Methodology
3. Data Collection for Research Methodology
Data Collection; Techniques of Data Collection; Administrative Collections; Statistics/Methods of Data Collection; Methodological Dilemmas;
4. Descriptive Analysis of Data
Steps in Data Analysis; Meaning and Significance of Data Analysing; Types of Data Analysis; Descriptive Statistics Data; Descriptive Research; Primary Data Vs. Secondary Data; Sources and Methods of Primary Data; Interviewing Method
5. Sampling Methods and Techniques
Sampling (Statistics) Research; The Sampling Distribution; Probability Sampling; Survey Sampling Methods; Simple Random Sample; Stratified Sampling; Systematic Sampling
6. Research Design Methodology
Research Design Defined; Features of a Good Research Design; Design Research Methods; Need for Research Design; Types of Research Design; The Logical Validity of Experimental Designs
7. Statistics for Research Methodology
Statistics; Applications of Statistics; Research Methods of Statistics; Descriptive Statistics; Inferential Statistics; Users of Statistics; Statistical Significance and Practice; Multivariate Statistics
8. Scientific Methods in Research Methodology
Scientific Methods; Elements of Scientific Method; Steps in Scientific Research; Need for Scientific Research; Methodology of the Research Project; Models of Scientific Inquiry
9. Probability Distributions
Mean, and Variance of Discrete Random Variables; Mean and Variance of the Binomial Distribution; Descibes of Binomial Distribution
10. Test of Hypotheses
Nature of Hypothesis; Concept of Hypothesis; Developing the Hypothesis; Formulating Hypothesis; Contact Hypothesis; Contact Hypothesis and Homosexuality; Hypothesis Testing; Hypothesis Testing Process; Sources and Types of Hypothesis; Statistical Hypothesis Testing
11. Correlation and Regression
Correlations; Types of Correlation; Rank Correlation Coefficient; Significance of the Study of Correlation; Properties of Correlation; Regression Analysis; Multiple Regression Analysis; Relationship between Regression and Correlation
12. Survey Methodology
Selecting Samples; Advantages and Disadvantages of Surveys
Bibliography
Index