A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF RESEARCH METHODS IN ENGLISH AND IDOMA LANGUAGES

Abstract

Research is a scientific inquiry into a body of knowledge with the view of discovering new ideas or improving on the existing ones. Idoma community has distinctively different research methods from other communities with developed writing systems like the English Language. This paper therefore examines what constitutes research among the Idoma, the Idoma Language. Robert Lado’s Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis was employed to guide the study. The descriptive research survey design was used for the interpretation of the data. The primary and secondary data were significantly employed in the collection of data for this study. The findings revealed that English and Idoma languages used oral interviews as methods of data collection; but the two languages differ in their focus for research. Researchers seek to identify new grounds that are yet to be identified and improve on the existing knowledge. Idoma researchers, on the other hand, are concerned about the preservation of their cultural values and to identify evil doers in their land. These and many others will be beneficial to researchers in both the indigenous and the second /foreign languages. It will foster critical skills among researchers on how to analyse research in different aspects of human endeavour as well as imbue Idoma learners of English as a second language with broadened knowledge of different modes of research.