Towards a Guide for Novice Researchers on Research Methodology: Review and Proposed Methods

The novice researcher, such as the graduate student, can be overwhelmed by the intricacies of the research methods employed in conducting a scholarly inquiry. As both a consumer and producer of research, it is essential to have a firm grasp on just what is entailed in producing legitimate, valid results and conclusions. The very large and growing number of diverse research approaches in current practice exacerbates this problem. The goal of this review is to provide the novice researcher with a starting point in becoming a more informed consumer and producer of research. Toward addressing this goal, a new system for deriving a proposed study type is developed. The PLD model includes the three common drivers for selection of study type: research-worthy problem (P), valid quality peer-reviewed literature (L), and data (D). The discussion includes a review of some common research types and concludes with definitions, discussions, and examples of various fundamentals of research methods such as: a) forming research questions and hypotheses; b) acknowledging assumptions, limitations, and delimitations; and c) establishing reliability and validity.