What is a survey?

In one sense, the word ‘survey’ means ‘to view comprehensively and in detail’.
In another sense it refers specifically to the act of ‘obtaining data for mapping’.
These aspects of the definition of a survey, of course, derive from the classic versions
of geographical surveys and ordnance surveys which map out the landscape
or the built environment of roads and buildings. The principles, though,
have been used to good effect on mapping out the social world as well as the
physical world and, indeed, surveys have emerged in recent times as one of the
most popular and commonplace approaches to social research. Such social
surveys share with their physical counterparts some crucial characteristics.
• Wide and inclusive coverage. Implicit in the notion of ‘survey’ is the idea
that the research should have a wide coverage – a breadth of view. A survey,
in principle, should take a panoramic view and ‘take it all in’.
• At a specific point in time. The purpose of mapping surveys is generally to
‘bring things up to date’, and so it is with the notion of social surveys.
Surveys usually relate to the present state of affairs and involve an attempt
to provide a snapshot of how things are at the specific time at which the
data are collected. Though there might be occasions when researchers will
wish to do a retrospective study to show how things used to be, these
remain more an exception than the rule.Empirical research. In the sense that ‘to survey’ carries with it the meaning
‘to look’, survey work inevitably brings with it the idea of empirical research.
It involves the idea of getting out of the chair, going out of the office and
purposefully seeking the necessary information ‘out there’. The researcher
who adopts a survey approach tends to buy in to a tradition of research
which emphasizes the quest for details of tangible things – things that can
be measured and recorded.

These three characteristics of the survey approach involve no mention of
specific research methods. It is important to recognize this point. The survey
approach is a research strategy, not a method. Researchers who adopt the
strategy are able to use a whole range of methods within the strategy: questionnaires,
interviews, documents and observation. What is distinctive about
the survey approach is its combination of a commitment to a breadth of
study, a focus on the snapshot at a given point in time and a dependence
on empirical data. That is not to deny that there are certain methods which
are popularly associated with the use of surveys, nor that there are certain
methods which sit more comfortably with the use of the strategy than
others. This is true for each of the main research strategies outlined in the
book. However, in essence, surveys are about a particular approach – not the
methods – an approach in which there is empirical research pertaining to a
given point in time which aims to incorporate as wide and as inclusive data as
possible.

Is how to achieve objectivity in social research?

Social research should be objective so that findings are without bias. Objectivity is when research is neutral, when personal bias has been removed meaning two independent researchers should be able to conduct the same research and get the same outcome.

However objectivity is more of an ideal then a reality social researchers are individuals with their own culture, race, religion, gender, beliefs etc. They come to what they are researching for personal reasons therefore how are they expected to remain neutral?

Traditional theorists (Weber, Durkheim) relived that social research can be objective. Objectivity was seen as a central methodological principle where the challenge was the practical constraints on objectivity rather then the desirability of the principle itself.

Objectivity can be seen as detrimental to social research by contemporary researchers as they believe that emotions and feelings contribute to their understanding of research.

Thus objectivity makes social research valid but i believe it is impossible for social researchers to step away from their feelings therefore is more of a ideal. Reflexivity is an alternative and is a way of researchers to acknowledge how they have helped construct meaning.

The objective of research is to learn new things from the Internet, books, people and many more ways to research

What are the good characteristic of a good research?

well first of all there should be something to back the answer up like a link or a picture and now secondly you should look if the person is writing with experience or research of some sort

What is good research?

Research is the act of seeking and obtaining knowledge by studying books, literature, the Internet; performing experiments and tests in order to prove or disprove a theory, and even realize a new discovery. 

The question of what define a good research is a great deal of attention, but too often it is conceived principally as a methodological question rather than an ethical one. Good research is a matter not only of suitable procedures but also beneficial aims and results to serve people well-being. There should be a good deal of history and convention against such a concept of researcher’s work.

High quality research gather knowledge that produced others in the past, produce new knowledge for himself and his readers also. Undoubtedly, the best research arises from a strong felt need by the researcher in order to solve a problem or answer a question.
 

What is educational research?

Educational research deals with various phenomenon of education area. It is a part of social science in nature. It explores the present situation of some topics like as teaching-learning process, school management, students learning achievement etc. of education field and gives direction what should be done in both present and future. It clarifies as well as expresses everything from educational point of view.

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Strategies for good research.

Introduction:
Some basic things need to be considered to produce an excellent research. Firstly, in devising a research project, researcher should have a clear and rational concept on research design, statistical methods, and ethical concern as well as good recourses. Followings are some factors need to be considering before starting research or in research process.

Planning:
A good research requires a well structured and relevant working plan. Research planning is a systematic process which cover all the relevant points of data collection and report the results .To formulate a research project, researcher should have clear rational for constructing research questions and an awareness of the key factors that will influence the success of the project. These factors may comprise in study design, statistical methods, assemble required recourses and other study related materials. It is the responsibility of researchers to set data quality control arrangements in order to ensure the quality of data at planning stage. In addition, funding is a crucial issue that needs to pay more concentration at initial stage of planning. Besides this, it is need to be cautious that any types of conflict like legal, ethical, moral, financial, institutional, and personal or any other nature is to identify and declare so that it cannot become a complicating or actionable issue in future. Moreover, it has to be noted that the research objectives would be significant in relation to current issue of the society (Denscombe M, 2003). Last but the not list, there is a sufficient time should be reserve for designing the research project, collecting data and analyzing the results.

Ethical Consideration:
Researchers should take into account the ethical issues and seek the guidance of some appropriate ethical committee who establish an effective and efficient mechanism for the study. It is to be mention that, no misrepresentation in dealing research subject is strictly avoidable. Furthermore, a clear documented ethical approval must be made using an appropriate and easy format where if there are any significant change arises it must be reported to the body which granted the ethical approval.

Data:
A good research cannot be formulated without having accurate and consistent data. The effect of personal values, beliefs and background create biasness, researchers should strictly avoid expressing his own judgment in front of his respondents. In addition, he should have the openness to accept what his data shows and acknowledge the limitations of the research approaches or instruments that is adopted. Moreover, researcher should have a keen knowledge on the sources of errors in data collection procedure. For getting a valid and reliable data a quality control system should be designed before going to field. What is more, researchers should keep clear and accurate electronically records of data as well as the methods that followed in the research project.

Results:
The research paper should publish in a standard form that construct distinguish journals. It is the best system for reviewing research results and make available to research community for verification. Researchers should observe the standard practice in guidelines published by scientific societies and other professional bodies. However, the profitable organizations are shows less interest in academic practices in research rather than capture commercial values. Another issue is authorship, which is significant context of good research practice. Appropriate contribution to authorship may include undertaking a substantial part of the work or a vital contribution on research design, analysis and writing of the research output. Besides this, a high-quality research requires honesty in every action in research and responses to action of other researchers. Lastly, after finishing the research project, researcher should encourage other researchers to be as open as possible in discussion for giving their valuable feedback on research methods and results.

Good sources:
The literature review in the social science is an important foundation for research project, as it helps to frame and strengthen research question as well as hone analytical skills (Gilbert N, 2008). Identify what is going to achieve, outline the factors of research questions, measure the effectiveness of previous research methods and explore the relationship between theory and practices- these are the significance of literature review. A good quality research need good published, peer-reviewed, varied (books, scholarly journals, website), recent and sufficient number of sources. A competent researcher never satisfied by one or two resources. If a researcher can no longer ask the question, ‘what is then’ and he has the answer then no longer need to do research.

Describe limitations:
Every research has some shortcomings. For instance: less reliable data, non-representative sample, budgetary/time/legal/ethical constrain and so on. Researchers should acknowledge the limitations so that the finding of this research is acceptable by considering those limitations. In addition, in case of doing further study researcher need to conscious on this issue.

Some others factors need to consider about in case of using qualitative or quantitative or both approaches. These are summed below.

Qualitative Research:
All qualitative researchers are philosophers in that ‘universal sense in which all human beings are guided by highly abstract principle’ (Bateson, 1972). In this type of research, researchers act as tool of data collection. The research design is less rigid and it useful to increase researchers’ imagination. Qualitative research requires detail data and researcher needs diverse thinking capability (Silverman, 2006). Denzin and Lincoln (2003) said that a detail qualitative data able to explore issues, identify reasons, underlying factors and origins, gathering suggestions/solutions and new understanding of different kinds of social phenomena.

Quantitative Research:
This type of research deal with quantifiable data on large number of people who are known to be representative of a wider population in order to test theories or hypothesis has been viewed many researcher. That means, it is essential to understand different theoretical frameworks and their perspectives on the objective of the study. Theory building is important because it provides a structure of analysis facilitates the efficient development of the field and make applicable toward real world problems. The explicit use of concept and theories is a part of good research practice and it can inspire fresh way of looking at the social world and also suggest new angles of approach of enquiry. The analytical mathematical research methodology now being popular and appears to be over-researched. On the other hand, theory building in operations management is not developing evenly across all methodologies so that the analytical and establishment of causal relationship are under researched. Finally, to produce an outstanding quantitative research, need to alert on analyze and describe how to conceptualized abstract concept (so that it can be measured), identify and apply appropriate design, identify dependent and independent variables and data analytical and presentation process.

Mixed Approach:
To begin of a project based on mixed approach, researchers should make some crucial decisions on research questions, literature review and the choice of methods in order to fulfill his research aim. The researcher must have enough skill to combine different types of methods in a single research project properly. This mixed research increase the accuracy of research findings. However, it is extremely challenging to compare and contrast these two types of findings. The quality of mixed method research depends on researchers’ expertise on triangulate, complement, development, initiation and expansion on findings or methods.

Conclusion:
In summary, good research is well informed, thorough, systematic and capable to generate new knowledge. And good researcher is who can able to extract relevant information from huge information that is valuable for his research. Beside this, he should be able to convey the study in an accessible format. The data presentation and interpretation should be simply and easily described that make interest into readers mind. That means, if the findings are effortlessly understandable for the readers and useful for the policy makers, researchers’ sincerity is visible.

‘Research is to see what everybody else has seen and to think what nobody else has thought’ - Albert Szent-Gyorgyi (1937)

What Define Good Social Research?

The question of what define a good research is a great deal of attention, but too often it is conceived principally as a methodological question rather than an ethical one. Good research is a matter not only of suitable procedures but also beneficial aims and results to serve people well-being. There should be a good deal of history and convention against such a concept of researcher’s work.

High quality research gather knowledge that produced others in the past, produce new knowledge for himself and his readers also (Hostetler K, 2005). Undoubtedly, the best research arises from a strong felt need by the researcher in order to solve a problem or answer a question.