Research Methodology Assignment: Discussion of Data Analysis Methods

Question

Task: In this section you clearly outline what methodology you used in your research i.e. what you intend to do and how you intend to do it. It must be clearly written so that it would be easy for another researcher to duplicate your research if they wished. Most researchers will use one or more of a number of well documented and acceptable methods understood by the research community. We will discuss a number or research methodologies in different sessions, but there will be many others you can choose from

The structure of a methodology chapter will be discussed in class and examples given. The Methodology would normally constitute Chapter 3 in a research report, see suggested guidelines in (report.doc, chapter 3).

The submission for the Methodology has been divided into a number of submissions so the Unit lecturer can gauge the students progression in this topic.

Answer

Research Methodology
Outline
This chapter focuses on explaining the research approach, methods, tools and processes adapted in order to conduct this research. The chapter first explains the methodological approach selected for the research of current topic.Quantitative approach is chosen to conduct research as largely existing data is studied and considered for this research. Data collection methods and tools are then discussed next. Later, the research process chosen is described in detail. Data analysis methods are then discussed those are used while conducting this research. Finally chapter concludes by providing limitations of the research.

Methodological Approach : Quantitative Approach
The approach adapted for conducting this research is quantitative approach. This approach allows researchers to start with remarks on the underlying topic that helps in generating theories on which researches are concluded. The reason for selection of quantitative analysis is straight; it relies on surveys. Many papers that have been published in reputed publications for the selected topics were studied in detail. Research papers were collected and studied to get detailed insights of the topic under research. Qualitative approach is another way of performing research but it contains interviewing some people for a set of questionnaire. Since the topic falls more into technology investigation rather than small survey, quantitative approach was selected. This approach requires analyzing and studying many different research papers and articles published in this area of interest. Several papers that are collected and studied are discussed in details in next section [1].

Data Collection
The survey required collection of articles and research papers from recent years that could support big data analysis in agricultural sector. The published articles and research papers collected between the span of years 2012 - 2019. Collected data comprises of papers published in esteemed research publications, online website content that focuses on current topic, articles published online that are available to download.Originally these considered research papers and articles were mostly derived through several such researches done in this area. The collected data ranges from year 2012 – 2019 because this was the peak time when Big Data analysis was new in the technological world and had been practically applied in various fields. It was observed that it was helping humans in really good way in the other areas, so it was newly introduced in agricultural field too with the belief that it will be highly beneficial to use big data in agricultural purpose. The collected articles and papers contains different ways in which big data technology has tried to provide ease to farmers. Blogs and reports were also collected that could fit in the research topic. But the emphasis was mainly on research topics and articles from trusted sites. Lastly, it was considered that only the articles, research papers, blogs and reports written in English language will be used for further study [2].

Research Process
The literature survey for this research used a simple systematic way of presenting the collected information. Process of finding data started by first gathering research papers from the year 2012-2019. The reason is straightforward, it is considered that the research papers published in esteemed publications are cross verified and are highly trustworthy. So all the research papers focusing on big data technology in agriculture were found and downloaded. There were many papers found this way. Then, focus was shifted from research papers to articles published online. These articles were mainly available online whereas only few of them were downloaded. Other online articles were saved as their links. The articles presented online were mostly from reputed sites and hence the implications drawn from it were trustworthy too. Online blogs and reports were also considered for research since it can provide information from different angles as well. Reports contains thorough understanding of the topic that helps in attaining huge knowledge without actually searching for more articles and papers. Blogs were read only to get small idea about the topic. To have surfaced information, blogs are kind of perfect place to stop. This way there was a huge base of data gathered. The next step was to sort the most relevant articles and papers for detailed study. It is always important tofind data that is nearest to the research topic so as to avoid confusion while studying each of them. Blogs were read for gaining knowledge about the topic because blogs are relatively easy to understand the problem than that of research papers. Moreover, reports were also collected that intend to provide some information relevant to the topic. This way, at the end, all the data collected for review was ready to get understand in detail. All the filtered data was then thoroughly studied to gain knowledge about the topic, as well as to know the impact of using technologies in this areas could be fruitful or not. This way most relevant data was extracted and presented in literature review. It contains key findings of the research from every aspect of current topic. Additionally, conceptual framework was synthesized by using extracted information from the huge data collection. Conceptual framework is drawn by the end of chapter 2 [1].

Data Analysis
Data analysis was performed using secondary quantitative aka desk research. This method is applied on existing pool of data referred as secondary data. Analyzing existing data is increases the efficiency of research. Data analysis is a vital step to enlist the finding from the comprehensive study on the collected data. The existing data referred in this research is papers, articles, blogs and reports available from various trusted sources on internet. By using secondary quantitative approach, one can agree as well as disagree certain key findings of different research papers. There are different research analysis methods but the one used in conducting this research is usage of data from internet. It has become easy to find any information on internet which is just few clicks away. Information is mostly gathered from the available sources on internet. Existing data is usually easy to study since researchers have already invested their much valuable time in finding and writing the findings [3].

Research Limitations
Some problems were faced during research for this topic. The challenge was to conduct research with a focus on one direction. Since internet is a huge source of information, it becomes difficult sometimes to concentrate on the topic. There are other related contents too available, it was a challenge to find only relevant papers and articles.
Next, to research a topic for which huge data in available, it requires time to get the qualityresearch done. To complete study of each relevant found material and record the findings is a difficult task and when it is time bound, it becomes stressful too. Sometimes, small sample of data can be difficult to extract useful information. But the huge data pool can also create confusions in order to extract accurate information. Factually, this approach provides accurate results but studying several relevant data becomes difficult when using quantitative research methodology. At first, using quantitative approach seems to be time efficient as it requires a good internet connection and a computer. But when you have a huge material floating in front of view, it is very time consuming to study it for further analysis. Quantitative research is complicated when it comes todata with complex outcomes than just a yes or no. This research has complex outcomes and is not just limited to yes or no.

It is impossible to rely on few data for finding research outcome while using quantitative research approach. Hence, it required collection of various data samples from internet and analysis was required on a huge data pool.

References
[1] L. Spyros,“Features of Qualitative & Quantitative Research”, 2015.
[2] L. Spyros, “CHAPTER 3 - RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: Data collection method and Research tools” , 2014.
[3] L