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Lesson 2 Contents: |
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Many students detest being assigned a research project. They fear and dread the task so much that they procrastinate until the last minute, finally starting their research in a completely haphazard and hurried way. Although such a disorganized approach might uncover some useful material, it is often by coincidence or sheer luck, and with much wasted effort. You will be much better off if you approach a research assignment with an overall plan of action. This overall plan we call the research process, the specific steps commonly followed to complete a bibliographic research project. It is a conscious attempt to be systematic and organized when doing research, as well as flexible and creative. It is often easier to understand a process by looking at a model. The rest of this lesson, therefore, presents a model -- eight stages of a process appropriate for most undergraduate research papers. Keep in mind, however, that this is just one model of bibliographic research, which may not be appropriate for every set of circumstances and every kind of information need. Researchers at the Ph.D. level, or researchers seeking extremely current or narrow slices of information, for example, may follow a different model than the one presented here. This model, however, is a comprehensive set of guidelines to the research process for the typical undergraduate researcher. Also keep in mind that the model presented here is not meant to be a series of steps that must be rigidly followed. This model has built-in flexibility that allows you to retrace your steps and make different decisions if earlier choices didn't produce good results. In other words, each step in the process directly influences all the others and sometimes mid-course corrections or backtracking become necessary. Begin by examining the table below, which maps out the 8 steps of the research process:
Let’s examine each step one at a time:
Every journey must begin with a first step and the first step in the research process is to decide on a tentative subject or area of interest. At this point in your research, it is perfectly acceptable if you only have a very general idea of what you'd like to pursue. For example, you may decide you'd like to research illegal immigration, alcoholism, freedom of speech, computer networks, elementary education, astronomy, or any of hundreds of other subjects. Later on, you will narrow your subject into a precise research question. If you are unable to come up with a broad subject area, here are some suggestions that may spark ideas:
After deciding on a general subject area, it is important to gain a general overview of that subject. Think of your research as if you were building a house. A house must be built on a firm, broad foundation from which the rest of the structure can rise. Build a firm foundation of background knowledge of your subject by asking yourself the following questions:
These questions can usually be answered by reading relevant articles in sources such as general and subject encyclopedias, general books on the subject, research guides, annual review sources, and bibliographic guides. Once you have gained some background knowledge, you should be able to make significant progress toward formulating a specific research question (Step 3). Step 2, therefore, is a critically important part of the research process because it is here that you are deciding exactly what aspect or aspects of your subject you want to focus on. If you take the time to gain a broad overview of your subject area, you will avoid a mistake commonly made by novice researchers. Inexperienced researchers often make the mistake of rushing into their research by immediately searching for articles in a periodical index chosen at random. They end up with a disjointed list of articles on certain narrow aspects of their subject and have little understanding of the history, scope and complexity of their subject. In other words, they have not built a firm foundation and cannot see the “big picture.” For most undergraduate research projects, it is almost always best to begin your research with sources that provide broad, basic, introductory information so that you understand the controversial issues, important events, key terms, key publications, and important thinkers in your chosen subject area. Step 3 will then be a natural and easy outgrowth of Step 2. A final benefit of conducting a preliminary topic overview is that this early effort almost always provides you with a preliminary bibliography, i.e. a list of books, articles, reports, etc. that -- depending on how your topic is eventually defined -- you may want to read.
Now that you have some background information on your subject, it’s time to specify at least a tentative research question. The difference between a subject and a research question is important. A subject is a broad area of interest from which a more specific research question can be chosen. A research question (often called a research topic) focuses on one particular aspect, event, controversy, issue, or dilemma within the larger subject. It’s a relatively narrow area of interest that can be thoroughly researched and discussed within the page length guidelines given by your instructor. Let’s take an example. Assume that you’ve chosen criminal justice as the general subject for a term paper you’re writing. After some preliminary background reading in reference sources, you discover that one major area of debate is the death penalty and whether or not it provides a deterrent to violent crime. You decided to focus on this specific controversy; thus your research question becomes: "How does the death penalty affect violent crime rates in the United States?" More examples of subjects and research questions are given below:
Notice that each of the above examples are open-ended questions, i.e. they are phrased in such a way that the researcher is deliberating inviting varying perspectives. This open-minded approach to all viewpoints is essential. If you begin your research with your conclusions and point of view already determined, you are not undertaking a true research project in the sense it's being described in this course. If that were the case, you would very likely fall victim to research bias, a flawed approach in which you only consider information and evidence that supports your pre-conceived opinion, and ignore anything that challenges or contradicts your pre-conceived opinion. It is only after reading broadly, carefully gathering and evaluating several viewpoints and types of evidence, that you can you feel justified about reaching your own conclusions and expressing them in a concise thesis statement. Also notice that each of these topics is focused on something that's relatively controversial, thus allowing you plenty of room for discussion. Intractable social problems (poverty, crime, etc.) or unsolved controversies within an academic field are often good topics because you're likely to discover strongly differing viewpoints. Therefore, for most research projects in most classes, you should avoid topics in which you are merely presenting your own opinion on a philosophical or abstract topic. For example, the topic "What is the true nature of reality?" is not a good research topic under most circumstances because it doesn't lend itself to objective evidence or objective discussion (Dornan and Dawe 368-9). A well-formulated research question will always contain at least two aspects or main ideas, referred to as concepts. The concepts can be phrased in relation to each other, typically in one of the following ways:
A well-written research question always incorporates a relationship between concepts in the wording of the question. When formulating your research question, it is best to begin with the words How, Why, or What. Research questions beginning with these words automatically suggest a somewhat broad investigation and substantive discussion, thus helping you avoid phrasing your topic too narrowly. Avoid starting your research question with the words Who, Where, or When. These words tend to force your research into a limited aspect of your subject and you'll be unable to come up with enough material for your project. Consider these examples: TOO NARROW: "Who and where are criminals sentenced to death in the United States?” TOO BROAD: “What are the controversies surrounding the death penalty?” APPROPRIATELY FOCUSED: "What is the effect of the death penalty on violent crime rates in the United States?" A good rule of thumb to remember is this: If there are entire books written about your topic, it’s probably too broad for a research paper. Conversely, if your research question can be fully answered in a few paragraphs, your topic is too limited. Also beware of choosing a topic that’s too recent, obscure, or specialized for you to find published material in a variety of sources. If, however, you formulate a question that turns out to be too narrow, too broad, or too esoteric, keep in mind that zeroing in on an appropriate topic can sometimes continue well into the later stages of the research process. In other words, as you gather more information on your question in steps 5 through 7, you are free to modify your topic if you discover that you have phrased your question too narrowly or too broadly.
At this point, you should conduct an information needs analysis - a process in which you decide how much information is needed and what sources might provide that information. The type and amount of information you need depends on the final product you're working toward. Are you preparing a 15-page term paper, a group report, a 3-minute speech? Each project requires varying kinds and amounts of information. To help you conduct your information needs analysis, ask yourself the following questions:
After conducting your information needs analysis, it’s time to choose the appropriate access tool(s), plan a search strategy, and conduct the search. (As you recall from Lesson 1, the 4 types of access tools are indexes, catalogs, bibliographies, and Web search tools. Each provides access to lists of information sources.) Since access tools provide access to specific types of sources (books, periodicals, Websites, etc.), it’s crucial to choose the appropriate access tool. For example, if you're looking for an in-depth overview of 20th century Chinese history, one helpful source would be a book. The best access tool to find books is an online catalog, not an index. On the other hand, if you were seeking the results of the most recent national elections in Taiwan, a periodical index or a Web search tool would be the appropriate access tool. Once you've chosen a tool, you must develop a search strategy for using it. A search strategy is a detailed plan for finding the best information that an access tool can provide on your topic. Taking the time to plan a search strategy adds precision to your search and saves you time because a carefully crafted search helps you avoid the frustration of wading through long lists of irrelevant records. Listed below are the main steps to follow when developing a search strategy for most access tools. You will learn more about each of these steps as you progress through the course:
Now that you have conducted a search using appropriate access tools, you will be presented with a list of records (sometimes called citations, references, entries, or hits) that describe books, articles, Websites, or other sources of information. At this point, it is extremely important that you evaluate these records for relevancy and quality. Even though you may have conducted a carefully planned search, you are still very likely to encounter "false drops" (irrelevant records) in your search results list. The fact that a record contains your search term(s) does not guarantee its relevancy to your topic and it would be a mistake to print every record that appears. You must exercise your critical thinking and evaluation skills and separate the wheat from the chaff. No computer can make these decisions for you.
Read and take notes from the relevant sources you identified in Step 6. When taking notes it is important that you use your own words and phrases to summarize and paraphrase what you read. If you borrow the language of your source too closely, or don't give credit to a source either through quotation marks or proper documentation, you are guilty of plagiarism.
As noted at the start of this discussion, this model of the research process is flexible and allows you to react to what happens along the way and respond accordingly. If, for example, your search result list in Step 5 is hundreds or thousands of records long, you need to narrow your research question or conduct a more precise search, perhaps with different terms. Conversely, if your search uncovers too little information, you may have to broaden its scope. Remember, as you go through this process you are continually evaluating what's happening in terms of your overall purpose -- finding information that meets your needs. If your research goals are not being met, you have the freedom to make the necessary corrections or adjustments at any stage of the process.
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