Research Methodology

At the end of this course, the students should be able to: 1. define Research and state its characteristics, types and process; 2. formulate research problem and objectives; 3. construct research Questionnaire and other research tools; 4. process, by analysis, data gotten from research to extract useful information for knowledge generation; 5. distinguish between proposal in Engineering and other research proposals; and 6. cost Engineering research proposals.

Definition of Research. Characteristics of Research. Types of Research. The Research Process. Formulating the Research Problem. Considerations in selecting a research Problem. Reviewing Literature. Procedure for r literature review. Formulation of objectives. Preparing research design. Consideration for the Research Design. Guidelines for the construction of a research tool. Constructing a Questionnaire.Piloting the Questionnaire. Collecting Data. Ethical Issues concerning research participants. Ethical Issues relating to the researcher. Processing and analyzsng Data. Data Processing operations. Methods of data analysis. Generalisation and interpretation of results. Reporting Findings. Written research project. Report format. General attributes of research proposals. Distinguishing features of research proposal in Engineering. Components of a research proposal. Costing an Engineering research proposal.