The Research Fallacies

A fallacy is an error in reasoning, usually based on mistaken assumptions. Researchers are cery familiar with all the ways they could go wrong with the fallacies they are susceptible to. Here, I explain two of the most important.

The Ecological fallacy  occurs when you make conclusions about individuals based only on analyses of group data.

An Exception Fallacy is sort of the reverse of the ecological fallacy. It occurs when you reach a group conclusion on the basis of exceptional cases. 

Both of these fallacies point to some of the traps that exist in both research and everyday reasoning. They also point out how important it is that we do research. We need to determine empirically how individuals perform. Similarly, we need to look at whether there are correlations between certain behaviors and certain groups.

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Philosophy of Research

Probably think of research as something very abstract and complicated. It can be, but you'll see that if you understand the different parts or phrases of a research project and how these fit together, it's not nearly as complicated as it may seem at first glance. A research project has a well-known structure - a beginning, middle, and end.
Before the modern idea of research emerged, we had a term for what philosophers used to call research - logical reasoning. So, it should come as no surprise that some of the basic distinctions in logic have carried over into contemporary research.
Quality is one of the most important issues in research. We introduce the idea of validity to refer to the quality of various conclusions you might reach based on a research project. Here's where I've got to give you the pitch about validity. When I mention validity, most students roll their eyes, curl up into a fetal position or go to sleep. They think validity is just something abstract and philosophical. But I think if you can understand validity - the principles that we use to judge the quality of research - you'll be able to do much more than just completing a research project.

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Sources of Research Topics

One of the most common sources of research ideas is the experience of practical problems in the field. Many researchers are directly engaged in social, health or human service program implementation and come up with their ideas based on what they see happening around them. Others aren't directly involved in service contexts, but work with people who are in order to learn what needs to be better understood. Many of the ideas would strike the outsider as silly or worse.

The health care industry has develop a number of approaches, many of the educational, to try to reduce the scope and cost of the problem. So, even though it might seem silly at first, many of these practical problems that arise in practice can lead to extensive research efforts.

Another source for research ideas is the literature in your specific field. Certainly, many researchers get ideas for research by reading the literature and thinking of ways to extend or refine previous research.

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The Nature of Research

Research is both a science and art. It is a science because the researcher is guided with the well established principles and guidelines. It is also an art because the researcher needs to be creative in determining the appropriateness of the methodology which is suitable to the problem being investigated and it is considered a cycle. It starts with a question and supposedly ends with an answer. However, the answer by one researcher may be the basis of the problem for another researcher. Research involves an electric blending of an enormous range of skills and activities. To be a good social researcher, you have to be able to work well with a wide variety of people, understand the subject that you are studying, be stay on track and on schedule, speak and write persuasively, on and on.

Most research projects share the same general structure. The research process usually starts with a broad area of interest, the initial problem that the researcher wishes to study. For instance, the researcher could be interested in how to use computers to improve the performance of students in mathematics. But this initial interest is far too broad to study in any single research project. The researcher has to narrow the question down to one that can reasonably be suited in a research project. This might involve formulating a hypothesis or a focus question. For instance, the researcher might hypothesize that a particular method of computer instruction in math will improve the ability of elementary school students in a specific district.

Once the basic data is collected, the researcher begins to try to understand it, usually by analyzing it in a variety of ways. Even for a single hypothesis there are number of analyses a researcher might typically conduct. At this point, the researcher begins to formulate some initial conclusions about what happened as a result of the computerized math program. Finally, the researcher often will attempt to address the original broad question of interest by generalizing from the results of this specific study to other related situations.

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Background Of Research

What is Research?

Research is a human activity based on intellectual investigation and aimed at discovering, interpreting, and revising human knowledge on different aspects of the world. It is also a scientific investigation of phenomena which includes the collection, presentation, analysis and interpretation of facts that link man's speculation with reality. Research is a careful explanation to discover new information or relationship and to expand and verify existing knowledge.

Why is Research Important?

Research provides basis for an appropriate action. It gives concrete information for making a decision. Research is systematic when it follows steps or stages that begin with the identification of the problem relating of the problem with existing theories, collection of data, analysis and interpretation of these data, drawing of conclusions and integration of these conclusions into stream of knowledge. Research is controlled unlike ordinary problem solving which may be done cursorily. Scientific research is so planned every step of the way that fancy and guess work do not set in. he is defined thoroughly variables identified and selected. Instruments are carefully selected or constructed and conclusions drawn only from the data yield. Consequently, recommendations are based on the findings and conclusions.


Everything is so controlled that any observer of the investigation will develop full confidence in the results. Hence, due to the control employed in the research, exact and precise outcomes are expected.

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