Research Methodology: A Guide for Researchers In Agricultural Science, Social Science and Other Related Fields

439 Pages·2013·14.81 MB·English

Pradip Kumar Sahu
Research Methodology:
A Guide for Researchers
in Agricultural Science,
Social Science and Other
Related Fields
Research Methodology: A Guide
for Researchers in Agricultural Science,
Social Science and Other Related Fields

Pradip Kumar Sahu
Research Methodology:
A Guide for Researchers
in Agricultural Science,
Social Science and Other
Related Fields
PradipKumarSahu
DepartmentofAgriculturalStatistics
BidhanChandraKrishiViswavidyalaya
WestBengal
India
ISBN978-81-322-1019-1 ISBN978-81-322-1020-7(eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-81-322-1020-7
SpringerNewDelhiHeidelbergNewYorkDordrechtLondon
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2013933139
#SpringerIndia2013
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To
My Parents

Preface
Starting from the initiation of the human civilization, all efforts have
remained directed towards improving the quality of life. In the process,
“Research,” the search for knowledge, is ever increasing. Huge amount of
resourcesindifferentformsisbeingchanneledforthispurpose.Assuch,the
importance of research methodology is being felt day by day to have more
and more successful research program. The voyage of discovery could
bemoremeaningfulifdueattentionisgiventotheartofscientificinvestiga-
tion, particularly in designing and meticulous implementation of a research
program. Taking all these into consideration, this book has been written in
suchawaysothatresearchersinthefieldofagriculture,socialscience,and
other fields could get a guideline about the appropriate methodology to be
adopted and,intheprocess, themethodsandtechniquestobeusedsoasto
havesuccessfulresearchprogram.
This book contains 14 chapters altogether. The first two chapters
(“Scientific Process and Research” and “Research Process” will help the
research students, teachers, and researchers in different fields to get ideas/
conception and also plan better research programs. Chapter 3 (“Research
Problem”)willguideresearchersinformulatingaresearchproblemunderthe
givensituations.Chapter4(“ResearchDesign”)isaimedatimpartingideas
of quality research to researchers so that these could be attributed to a
researchprogram.Discussionsofthetypesofvariables,theirmeasurement,
and scaling techniques have been made in Chap. 5. In Chap. 6, mainly the
techniques of drawing appropriate sample have been discussed. This will
help researchers working on heterogeneous population. Different types of
dataandtheircollectionmethodologiesarediscussedinChap.7.Tointerpret
the data collected, processing and analysis are the most important aspects.
Processing of raw data, its scrutiny, and preliminary analytical techniques
havebeendiscussedinChap.8.Manyresearchprogramsdealwithproblems
that involve hypothesis testing. Details of hypothesis testing techniques,
both parametric and nonparametric, are discussed in Chap. 9. Analysis of
variance, along with different experimental designs and their analysis, is
discussedinChap.10.InChap.11,anattempthasbeenmadetodemonstrate
the techniques of analysis of different genetics and breeding related pro-
blems.Multipleregressionanalysis,discriminantanalysis,principalcompo-
nent analysis, cluster analysis, etc., have been taken up in Chap. 12. The
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viii Preface
emphasis has been on how to tackle multivariate problems with the help of
computer programs and their interpretations. Instruments are nowadays an
indispensiblepartofanyresearchprogram.Anattemptismadetodiscusssome
oftheinstruments,precautiontobetakentousethelaboratorysafetymeasures,
etc.,inChap.13.Inthischapter,theutilityofacomputerinstatisticalanalysis
andthemisuseofstatisticaltheoriesarediscussedinbrief.Inthelastchapter,
formulationofprojectproposal,interpretation,preparationoffinalreport,etc.,
arediscussed.Ineachchapter,theoriesarefollowedbyexamplesfromapplied
fields,whichwillhelpthereadersofthisbooktounderstandthetheoriesand
applications of specific tools. Attempts have been made to familiarize the
problemswithexamplesoneachtopicinalucidmanner.Duringtheprepara-
tionofthisvolume,agoodnumberofbooksandarticlesindifferentnational
and international journals, have been consulted; efforts have been made to
acknowledgeandprovidetheseinthereferencesection.Aninquisitivereader
mayfindmorematerialfromtheliteraturecited.
To help the students, teachers and researchers in the field of agriculture
andotheralliedfieldsremainstheprimeconsiderationinconceptualizingthis
book.Sincereeffortshavebeenmadetopresentthematerialinsimplestand
easy-to-understand form. Encouragements, suggestions and helps received
from my teachers and my colleagues in the Department of Agricultural
Statistics, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya are acknowledged sin-
cerely. Their valuable suggestions towards improvement of the content
helped a lot and are acknowledged sincerely. Dr. BK Senapati, Associate
Professor,DepartmentofPlantBreeding,andDrKusalRoy,Departmentof
Agricultural Entomology, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, have
extended their full support towards the improvement of several chapters of
this book. The author sincerely acknowledges the help received from
Dr Senapati and Dr Roy. The author is happy to acknowledge the help
received from Sri Pradeep Mishra, K Padmanabhan, and Ms Piyali Guha,
theresearchstudents,duringthepreparationofthisbook.Thanksaredueto
my two daughters, Saswati and Jayati, and their mother Swati for their full
cooperation and continuous encouragement during the preparation of this
manuscript.Theauthorthankfullyacknowledgetheconstructivesuggestions
received from the reviewers towards improvement of the book. Statistical
packages used to demonstrate the techniques of analyzing data are also
gratefully acknowledged. Thanks are also due to M/S Springer Publishers
forthepublicationofthisbookandcontinuousmonitoring,helpandsugges-
tion during this book project. Help, co-operation, encouragement received
fromvariouscorners,whicharenotmentionedabove,theauthorthankfully
acknowledge the same. Every effort will be successful if this book is well
accepted by the students, teachers, researchers, and other users whom this
bookisaimedat.Iamconfidentthatliketheotherbookswrittenbyme,this
book will also receive huge appreciation from the readers. Every effort has
been made to avoid errors. Constructive suggestions from the readers in
improvingthequalityofthisbookwillbehighlyappreciated.
DepartmentofAgriculturalStatistics P.K.Sahu
BidhanChandraKrishiViswavidyalaya
About the Book
Thisbookistheoutcomeofmorethan20yearsoftheauthor’sexperiencein
teachingandinresearchfield.Thewiderscopeandcoverageofthebookwill
helpnotonlythestudents/researchers/professionalsinthefieldofagriculture
andallieddisciplinesbutalsotheresearchersandpractitionersinotherfields.
Written in a simple and lucid language, the book would appeal to all those
whoaremeanttobebenefitedoutofit.Alleffortshavebeenmadetopresent
“research,” and its meaning, intention, and usefulness. The book reflects
current methodological techniques used in interdisciplinary research, as
illustrated by many relevant worked out examples. Designing of research
program, selection of variables, collection of data, and their analysis to
interpretthedataarediscussedextensively.Statisticaltoolsarecomplemen-
ted with real-life examples, making the otherwise complicated subject like
statisticsseemsimpler.Attemptshavebeenmadetodemonstratehowauser
cansolvetheproblemsusingsimpleacomputer-orientedprogram.Emphasis
is placed not only on solving the problems in various fields but also on
drawing inferences from the problems. The importance of instruments and
computers in research processes and statistical analyses along with their
misuse/incorrect use is also discussed to make the user aware about the
correct use of specific technique. In all chapters, theories are combined
with examples, and steps are enumerated to follow the correct use of the
available packages like MSEXCELL, SPSS, SPAR1, STATISTICA and
SAS. Utmost care has been taken to present varied range of research pro-
blemsalongwiththeirsolutionsinagricultureandalliedfieldswhichwould
beofimmenseusetoreaders.
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