It is likely that you consider that the execution of a research method is associated only with the scientific field, however, this generalized belief is totally wrong, since in all the fields in which a study is carried out, the planning and implementation of methodical actions, allows the satisfaction of the objectives set. The development of a study is an important process, which has fostered the knowledge expansion in different areas ranging from scientific issues to social issues. Investigating implies the orderly and systematic development of an inquiry regarding a phenomenon or fact, following a methodology in accordance with the objective to be achieved.
All research is carried out through the implementation of one, or several types of methods, and it is decisive in its success that its choice is adjusted to the characteristics of the study. The choice of the work methodology must consider the nature of the study to be executed and the objective to be achieved, in order to define the most consistent characteristics that guarantee the success of the study, from there several types of methods have been derived.
The types of methods are defined by considering the characteristics of the study carried out, the objective, the nature of the data collected, among other important factors, and the development of each of them, is the result of the need for adaptation from a methodology to the study carried out, in order to guarantee the execution of a study whose results are representative and consistent with the reality that surrounds its development.
Inductive method
What is the inductive method? Anyone who reaches conclusions but based on hypotheses and always using reasoning. From what can be said about it that it is a method that uses particular premises to reach that conclusion, which will be of a general type. Hence it is widely used in scientific fields. An example?
- My father saw a black fly
- My mother saw a black fly
- I saw a black fly.
- Then the result will be that the flies are black. There we have the essence or main characteristic of the inductive method and it is that, uses the premises, to reach a general conclusion.
Other characteristics of this method are based on research, based on concrete facts, as we have well commented. Although they are usually flexible in a certain way and their purpose is to elaborate certain theories as well as hypotheses and it lends itself to experimentation. To reach a conclusion, it is first observed, then experienced, analyzed and exemplified.
It uses the use of reasoning to generate correct conclusions about an event, starting from facts accepted as valid, to reach conclusions, whose application is of a general nature, starting with an individual study of the facts. As a result of its execution, universal conclusions are formulated that are postulated as laws, principles or foundations of a theory. Four essential steps can be distinguished:
- Observation of events and phenomena, for their registration and consideration
- Classification and study of the information obtained, in order to facilitate the analysis.
- La inductive shunt, that from the facts unifies the individual ideas, resulting in a generation of new paradigms.
- Contrasting, or comparison of the results of the analyzes.
Deductive method
From the beginning it come to logical conclusions. It can range from the general that refers to the laws, to the particular that encompasses the concrete facts. So the conclusion will be within the premises. It can be used in a direct or indirect way. The first will use a premise that is untested, while the second will use two premises, with a universal statement and a particular one. An example?
- All cats are deadly
- Your pet is a cat
- Conclusion: Your pet is deadly.
This deductive method comes from the ancient Greeks. From Aristotle to Descartes who also developed it without forgetting Spinoza or Leibniz.
It is based on the use of logical reasoning to evaluate the premises that define a process. The application of this type of method is associated with the inference of judgments based on universally accepted postulates and theorems, which, although they do not tacitly express their relationship with our study, by analyzing the common characteristics we can establish a connecting bridge between both parties.
Formally, a deduction can be said to be the inferred conclusion from a finite sequence of formulas. For example:
Let's consider an element A = 1 and an element C = 1. Starting from a deductive analysis we can establish that based on this statement A = C.
Steps:
- Investigation of formulas and theorems that are generally associated with the object of our study.
- Observation of the studied phenomenon, and compilation of data and necessary information.
- Analysis and comparison of the theory with the collected data.
- Generate deductions based on the identification of general theorems with particular events.
Analytical method
Consists in dismember or divide into parts that everything that you want to reel off. Since this way you can understand much better all the causes of it, as well as the effects, etc. You have to know well what to study to better understand all that it offers and hides us. Already the word analysis comes from the Greek and can be translated as decompose.
- If someone wants to know why a person behaves in a specific way, they have to investigate and reel off the taste, personality, way of life and everything that can lead that person to act that way.
So we can say that the main characteristic is to study and also to observe to reach the end. But you have to remember that it is open to be able to get more knowledge. It is true that errors can appear but also conclusions. So you have to wait a bit to close them completely, being able to change when we least expect it. Samples or tests are extremely important.
It is a process of a cognitive nature, which usually considers in detail an object of study, considering separately each of the parts of the whole to study them individually. The analytical method is developed with precision and attention to detail.
Steps to follow:
- Observation: It consists of the detailed observation of the phenomenon, event or event under study, in order to obtain information about it, which is valuable for the design of tests and data collection experiments.
- Questions: The formulation of questions about what is observed, allows orienting and giving shape to the study. It consists of the delimitation of the scope of the investigation, taking into account the observation previously made.
- Hypothesis: The third is the stage of formulating a hypothesis: taking all those questions that arose after the observation, an idea can be raised that explains in a general way what is observed.
- Experimentation: The execution of carefully thought out experiments, based on the information collected in the observation stage, the objective of which is to test the hypothesis raised.
- Conclusions: The results of the experiments are analyzed and the conclusions are drawn, at this stage the researcher discovers if the hypothesis raised was proven, or if on the contrary it was rejected, by the results of the investigation.
Synthetic method
Used to reconstruct an event, but always in a specific way, so it relies on the most accurate information. It is the most used for science, because the most general laws are extracted from it. Among its main characteristics we find that it is built on the basis of knowledge. Since it will analyze and give light to the various parts of them.
It consists of the unification of the dispersed components of an object of study to study them in their entirety. As a result of its application, it is possible to establish, starting from these components, a general and summarized concept.
- To solve a mystery: First we collect the clues, observe, study the case, the place, the people, put together all the information obtained to find the conclusion that solves the mystery.
The end will always be to improve to act in the best possible way, seeking the truth. But yes, using the synthesis or ability to summarize all this, so it is also included in it, common sense. How do we use it? First we observe, then we make the description, to give way to an examination of every detail what we are observing. After breaking it down, we re-compose it to get the conclusion.
Hypothetical-deductive method
It is said of the method that forces to combine the rational reflection with reality. So it has two steps that require experience and two that are rational. Hence, having this equilibrium, it should be noted that it follows an inductive process that is based on observation, but also deductive by the statement of hypotheses. Example:
- Observation: A disease that is spread between people who are close.
- Hypothesis: The route of infection may be through drops of saliva.
- Deduction: The level of contagion between people who are close and saliva.
- Experiment: The case of isolated people with their opposite part is studied.
- Verification: Confirmation of the hypothesis among those infected.
It consists of a procedure that starts from some assertions as hypotheses and seeks to refute or falsify such hypotheses, deducing from them conclusions that must be confronted with the facts. This method forces the scientist to combine rational reflection, (through the formation of hypotheses and deductions), with the observation of reality, known as the empirical moment.
Steps:
- Like the other methods, we start from the observation of a phenomenon.
- With the information obtained from the first step, we proceed to establish a hypothesis to explain the phenomenon.
- Deduction of the consequences or proposals, more elementary than the hypothesis itself.
- Verification of the veracity of the deduced statements comparing them with experience.
Historical-comparative method
This procedure is aimed at clarifying cultural phenomena, establishing the similarity between them, which translates into the inference of a conclusion about their genetic kinship, that is, of their common origin. This is a method usually applied to events of a social nature, and is based on a detailed documentary review, in which the capacity for comparative analysis and deduction must be present at all times.
Its phases or stages:
- Heuristics: When the material is identified and can be used as information. This evidence can come from primary and secondary sources. The primaries refer to historical or legal documents. While the latter are the analyzes that scientists or qualified people make of the former.
- Criticism: Evaluate the fonts to be used. Here all the necessary questions arise.
- Synthesis: The approach made by the researcher with all the information to be able to draw the conclusions.
Knowing its parts, nothing like applying them by looking at a practical example, to understand them:
- Comparison of social processes, over time.
- The trajectory of the theoretical part is being analyzed, which serves to launch new theories.
- You can set the study on a starting company, on a cultural event from the past, and note the changes over the years.
Dialectical method
It is based on the consideration of the perceptions regarding an event, in order to critically evaluate which ones best fit the description of the real phenomenon, from this analysis derives the synthesis of a concept. This method is characterized by its universality, because, in a general way, it is applicable to all sciences and to all research processes.
In a more schematic way, the dialectics as the discourse in which a concept accepted as real is contrasted, understood as thesis; and a sample of the problems and contradictions, understood as antithesis. From this confrontation arises, in a third concept synthesis, a resolution or a new understanding of the problem.
It is considered that, in this procedure, the thesis is put to the test by arguments of a contradictory nature, and as a result, a new paradigm is created in which both parties were involved.
The three main parts of the dialectical method are:
- The thesis: From where there is an approach to the concept.
- The antithesis: The opposite idea to what is proposed
- Synthesis: The combination of the first two and known as the resolution.
One of the simplest examples that we can put in this type of method is the face and the cross of the life we live. Since both the good and the bad have a direct relationship.
Characteristics of a method
The word method comes from the Greek "Methodos", which is literally translated as: path or path, hence its meaning, referring to the means that leads to the achievement of an end. In general terms, we can say that a method is characterized by the following factors:
- It develops around well-defined goals.
- Orderly actions predominate, and none of them operates in isolation, since each one is part of a planning, designed to ultimately generate a greater result.
- Seeks to obtain knowledge in relation to phenomena, events or situations of any kind.
- It includes mechanisms for collecting information (data) adjusted to the type of study carried out. For example, in obtaining information of a humanistic nature, it would be inappropriate to choose the mathematical formulation of phenomena, for this reason there is a tendency to opt for conducting surveys, or some qualitative tool.
- It has an execution time, which is a determining element in the planning of the process.
- The activities to satisfy the objectives set are carried out in a defined period of time.
- The types of methods contemplate the realization of two types of analysis, and depending on the conditions of the research being carried out.
- This process of analysis favors the formulation of conclusions, which allow the characterization of the evaluated phenomena.