2. Slide 2
Research definition and principles
Research:
A diligent and systematic enquiry or
investigation into a subject in order to
discover, or revise facts, theories or
applications. Research leads to discoveries,
inventions eg. penicillin, automobile,
computer
Facts: Population of Ghana; price elasticity
of demand for food in Ghana;
3. Slide 3
Research definition and principles
• Theories
Theory is a plausible or scientifically proven
general principle ( or body of principles)
offered to explain a phenomenon. E.g. theory
of demand
• Applications: e.g. drugs, chemicals (e.g.
Atersunate amodiaquin in the control of
malaria, food preservatives; pesticides on
fresh produce)
4. Slide 4
Where do research topics come
from? From the research problem
• Practical problems in the field
• Literature in your specific field
• Request for proposals
• Think up research problem
5. Slide 5
Every research arises from a problem
• Fertiliser subsidy in Africa: is it the answer?
(What is the level of fertilizer usage in Ghana)
• Brokers in fresh fruit marketing: are they helpful to
Ghanaian fruit farmers?
( Efficiency of fresh fruit marketing in Ghana)
• Does contract farming improve market access of
smallholders?
(Accessibility of smallholder farms to markets)
• Does ICT use have a potential to promote agricultural
development?
(Effect of ICT on the development of agric in Ghana?)
6. Slide 6
Research Feasibility
• Key consideration after identifying an initial
research problem
• is the study feasible (how practical will it be) in
terms of:
– Time
– Needed cooperation
– Ethical issues
– Costs
7. Slide 7
Types of Research
• Descriptive: Percentage of women poultry
farmers
• Explanatory: Factors affecting the productivity
of the poultry industry in Ghana; factors
affecting fertilizer use in Ghana.
• Evaluation: The effect of subsidies on the
profitability of poultry farming
8. Slide 8
Other categorization of Research
• Descriptive vs. Analytical research: In the descriptive
research, the researcher has no control over the
variables. He or she can only report what has happened
and what is happening. In the case of analytical research,
researcher has to use facts and information for analyzing
and then make a critical evaluation of the material.
• Applied vs. Basic research: Applied research aims at
finding a solution for an immediate problem facing a
society to an industrial/business organization (or some
other scientific problem). Whereas Basic or fundamental
research mainly concerned with generalizations and with
the formulation of a theory. It adds information to the
already existing organized body of scientific knowledge.
9. Slide 9
Other categorization of Research
• Quantitative vs. Qualitative research: Quantitative
research is based on the measurement of quantity or
amount. It is applicable to phenomena that can be
expressed in terms of quantity. Qualitative research, on
the other hand, is concerned with qualitative phenomena,
i.e., phenomena relating to or involving quality or kind.
• Conceptual vs. Empirical research: Conceptual
research is that related to some abstract idea(s) or theory.
It is generally used by philosophers and thinkers to
develop new concepts or to reinterpret existing ones.
Empirical research relies on experience or observation
often in the context of a system of knowledge or theory. It
is data based research coming up with conclusions which
are capable of being verified by observation or
experiment.
10. Slide 10
How do we conduct research
• Approach/strategy Methodology
• General principles underlying the choice of a
research approach or methodology are:
– Validity – (sound)
– Reliability (results should be reproducibly) –
(trustworthiness)
• Principles are important because recommendations
are made from research findings.
11. Slide 11
The Scientific Method of Enquiry
Real world hypothesis Experimental Abstraction to test
phenomenon postulation hypothesis (3)
research (2)
problem Design
(1) experiment
(3a)
Conduct
experiment
Evaluate (3b)
conclusion
against
conclusion
reached by
postulation
(7)
Conclusion Statistical Sample
interpretatio observations
n (4)
(6) (5)
12. Slide 12
The Scientific method of Enquiry in Business &
economics research
• Researcher has no control over the experimentation phase. The
research only observes the outcome. The experiment itself is
conducted by society.
• The social science researcher is restricted to the process of Non-
Experimental Model Building.
• Researcher has to find out the relationship or experimental design
that generated a set of observed data.
• There is uncertainty about the economic and statistical model
used for estimation and inference purposed as well as the
sampling method that was the basis of the data generated
because postulation can provide many economic or social
relationships for a real world problem.
13. Slide 13
Scientific Research Process
Introduction
•Identify Research Problem (would normally
include some literature review)
•Determine and state Objectives of your
research (Main/broad objective and specific
objectives).
•Give justification for research
14. Slide 14
Scientific Research Process
Conduct a literature search.
•Literature review is designed to identify related research, to
set the current research project within a context of existing
work.
– Outcome of literature review
– More information about the nature of the research
problem
– Previous work on issues related to problem and
information gap they present
– Methodologies applied in investigating similar problems
– Review should be critical! Are methods valid? Are
results reliable?
15. Slide 15
Scientific Research Process
Develop methodology
(set of rules, methods, principles applied in the design of the
investigation; methodology of research depends on the type of
research)
– Theoretical framework & Empirical application
– Data requirements:
• Who or what to study;
• Concepts and definitions;
• Operationalizing concepts
– Data sources:
• Primary or secondary data
• Cross-sectional or time series
– Data collection methods
• Number of cases or observations to study (sample size)
• What sampling method
– Techniques of data analysis – analytical tools – Excel,
Econometric software
16. Slide 16
Scientific Research Process
Data Analysis
– Cleaning and organizing the data for analysis
(Data Preparation)
– Describing the data (Descriptive Statistics)
– Testing Hypotheses and Models (Inferential
Statistics)
17. Slide 17
Data Preparation
• involves checking or and validating the
questionnaire; checking the data for accuracy;
entering the data into the computer;
transforming the data; and developing and
documenting a database structure that
integrates the various measures.
• Descriptions of how the data were prepared
tend to be brief and to focus on only the more
unique aspects to your study, such as specific
data transformation that are performed.
18. Slide 18
Descriptive Statistics
• They are used to describe the basic features of the
data in a study. They provide simple summaries
about the sample and the measures. Together with
simple graphical analysis, they form the basis of
virtually every quantitative analysis of data.
• The descriptive statistics that you actually look at can
be voluminous. Therefore carefully select and
organize into summary tables and graphs that only
show the most relevant or important information.
19. Slide 19
Inferential Statistics
• investigate questions, models and hypotheses. In
many cases, the conclusions from inferential
statistics extend beyond the immediate data alone.
• For instance, we use inferential statistics to try to
infer from the sample data what the population thinks.
Or, we use inferential statistics to make judgments of
the probability that an observed difference between
groups is a dependable one or one that might have
happened by chance in this study.
20. Slide 20
CAUTION:
• In most analysis write-ups it is especially
critical not to “miss the forest for the trees.”
YOU WANT TO SHOW THE BIG PICTURE!!
21. Slide 21
Write-up of Research Report
• TITLE PAGE (Includes title of research project, Your name;
Project work submitted to the Department of Agricultural
Economics & Agribusiness in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Award of Bachelor of Science in Agriculture.
• DEDICATION
• DECLARATION and SIGNATURE page
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
• ABSTRACT
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
• LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
• Number all pages by Roman numerals up to this point
22. Slide 22
CHAPTER 1
• INTRODUCTION
– Background to research
– Research Problem and research questions
– Motivation for research
– Research objectives
– Limitations of research
– Organization of research
23. Slide 23
CHAPTER 2
• LITERATURE REVIEW
– Introduction (What you have reviewed and how the
chapter is organized)
– …….
– ……. (Provide a conclusion to each topic of review)
– Always prepare an outline of the chapter. It should be
structured around the main issues of the research but
should include
• Theory
• Empirical applications
• Methods,
• Findings
• Gaps
24. Slide 24
CHAPTER 3
• METHODOLOGY
– Organize sections according to the objectives
in the proposal
25. Slide 25
CHAPTER 4
• RESULTS AND ANALYSIS or ANALYSIS
OF RESULTS
– Organize sections according to the study
objectives
26. Slide 26
CHAPTER 5
• CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
– Summary
– Conclusions – Implications of findings
– Policy Recommendations
27. Slide 27
References
• Citing of references (in text) and listing
references cited at the end of report.
– ….. Onumah and Acquah (2010)
– (Onumah and Acquah, 2011).
– ..... Onumah et al. (2010)
– (Onumah et al., 2010)
• Citing – Surname only, year of publication
28. Slide 28
References
• Citing – Surname only, year of publication
– Onumah, E. E. and H. D, Acquah (2011). A Stochastic
Production Investigation of Fish Farms in Ghana.
Agris on-line Papers in Economics and
Informatics, 3(2): 55-65.
–
– Acquah, H. D, and E. E. Onumah. (2010). A
comparison of the Different Approaches to Detecting
Asymmetry in Retail-Whole Sale Price Transmission.
American Eurasian Journal of Scientific Research.
5(1): 60-66.
29. Slide 29
References
• Citing – Surname only, year of publication
– Onumah, E.E., Brummer, M. and Hörstgen-Schwark,
G. (2010): Elements Which Delimitate Technical
Efficiency of Fish Farms in Ghana. Journal of the
World Aquaculture Society, 41(4): 506-518.
– Coelli, T. J., D. S. P. Rao, C. J. O’Donnell, and G. E.
Battese. (2005). An introduction to efficiency and
productivity analysis, 2nd edition. Springer Publishers,
USA.
