Engineering Research Methodology Page No: 1
Module - 1
What Is Research?
Research refers to a careful, well-defined (or redefined), objective, and systematic method
of search for knowledge, or formulation of a theory that is driven by inquisitiveness for that
which is unknown and useful on a particular aspect so as to make an original contributionto
expand the existing knowledge base.
Research involves formulation of hypothesis or proposition of solutions, data analysis, and
deductions; and ascertaining whether the conclusions fit the hypothesis.
Research is a process of creating, or formulating knowledge that does not yet exist.
1.1 Research Flow Diagram
Booth et al. [1] explains that the research cycle starts with basically a practical problem: one
must be clear what the problem being attempted to solve is and why it is important. This
problem motivates a research question without which one can tend to get lost in a giant
swamp of information. The question helps one zero in onto manageable volume of
information, and in turn defines a research project which is an activity or set of activities that
ultimately leads to result or answer, which in turn helps to solve the practical problem that
one started with in the first place as shown in Fig. 1.1.
Research is not just about reading a lot of books and finding a lot of, gathering a lot of
existing information. It is instead adding, maybe small and specific, yet original,
contribution to that existing body of knowledge. So, research is about how one poses a
question which has relevance to the world that we are living in, and while looking for that
answer one has to be as systematic as one can be.
The ways of developing and accessing knowledge come in three, somewhat
overlapping, broad categories:
, Engineering Research Methodology Page No: 2
(i) Observation is the most fundamental way of obtaining information from a source, and
it could be significant in itself if the thing that we are trying to observe is really strange
or exciting, or is difficult to observe. Observation takes different forms from something like
measurements in a laboratory to a survey among a group of subjects to the time it takes for
a firmware routine to run. The observational data often needs to be processedin some
form and this leads to the second category of knowledge, the model.
ii) Models are approximated, often simplified ways of describing sometimes very complex
interactions in the form of a statistical relationship, a figure, or a set of mathematical
equations. For instance, the modeling equation captures the relationship between
different attributes or the behavior of the device in an abstract form and enables us to
understand the observed phenomena [2].
(iii) The final category is a way of arranging or doing things through processes,
algorithms, procedures, arrangements, or reference designs, to get a certain desired
result.
1.2 Objectives of Engineering Research
The purpose of research is to discover answers to questions through the application of
scientific procedures. The main aim of research is to find out the truth which is hidden and
which has not been discovered as yet. Although each research study is particularly suited for
a certain approach, in general, the following are different types of research studies:
1. The objectives of engine ring research should be to develop new theoretical or applied
knowledge and not necessarily limited to obtaining abilities to obtain the desired result.,
(known as exploratory or formulative research studies).
Module - 1
What Is Research?
Research refers to a careful, well-defined (or redefined), objective, and systematic method
of search for knowledge, or formulation of a theory that is driven by inquisitiveness for that
which is unknown and useful on a particular aspect so as to make an original contributionto
expand the existing knowledge base.
Research involves formulation of hypothesis or proposition of solutions, data analysis, and
deductions; and ascertaining whether the conclusions fit the hypothesis.
Research is a process of creating, or formulating knowledge that does not yet exist.
1.1 Research Flow Diagram
Booth et al. [1] explains that the research cycle starts with basically a practical problem: one
must be clear what the problem being attempted to solve is and why it is important. This
problem motivates a research question without which one can tend to get lost in a giant
swamp of information. The question helps one zero in onto manageable volume of
information, and in turn defines a research project which is an activity or set of activities that
ultimately leads to result or answer, which in turn helps to solve the practical problem that
one started with in the first place as shown in Fig. 1.1.
Research is not just about reading a lot of books and finding a lot of, gathering a lot of
existing information. It is instead adding, maybe small and specific, yet original,
contribution to that existing body of knowledge. So, research is about how one poses a
question which has relevance to the world that we are living in, and while looking for that
answer one has to be as systematic as one can be.
The ways of developing and accessing knowledge come in three, somewhat
overlapping, broad categories:
, Engineering Research Methodology Page No: 2
(i) Observation is the most fundamental way of obtaining information from a source, and
it could be significant in itself if the thing that we are trying to observe is really strange
or exciting, or is difficult to observe. Observation takes different forms from something like
measurements in a laboratory to a survey among a group of subjects to the time it takes for
a firmware routine to run. The observational data often needs to be processedin some
form and this leads to the second category of knowledge, the model.
ii) Models are approximated, often simplified ways of describing sometimes very complex
interactions in the form of a statistical relationship, a figure, or a set of mathematical
equations. For instance, the modeling equation captures the relationship between
different attributes or the behavior of the device in an abstract form and enables us to
understand the observed phenomena [2].
(iii) The final category is a way of arranging or doing things through processes,
algorithms, procedures, arrangements, or reference designs, to get a certain desired
result.
1.2 Objectives of Engineering Research
The purpose of research is to discover answers to questions through the application of
scientific procedures. The main aim of research is to find out the truth which is hidden and
which has not been discovered as yet. Although each research study is particularly suited for
a certain approach, in general, the following are different types of research studies:
1. The objectives of engine ring research should be to develop new theoretical or applied
knowledge and not necessarily limited to obtaining abilities to obtain the desired result.,
(known as exploratory or formulative research studies).
