Research Tips and Tools:

Does the thought of writing a research paper cause anxiety? For many, creating a thesis statement, research, surveys and interviews can feel overwhelming to the point of complete panic! If you feel this way, do not procrastinate, start early and incorporate the tips referenced below into your process, you may find your anxiety turning into confidence and reassurance.

Research: Take some time to familiarize yourself with the libraries you'll be using. Do not be timid-- talk to one of the reference librarians about where and how to start—they are there to help. To stress again, start early so you have plenty of time to work with a librarian. If you're under deadline, they may not have time to help you.

The Course Structure is designed in a way that the learning of Research Methodology can move from Mugging up syndrome to fun-practical method; from a teaching process to an experimental process, from memorizing to brainstorming, from clearing the examination to feedback learning, from knowledge transfer to knowledge creation, from competitive learning to collaborative learning.

The Participants of the Course will start the course by reading the provided literature at the end of the course they will find themselves equipped enough to author a book or two themselves.

The way you approach your question will have a profound effect upon the way you construct your dissertation, so this section discusses the types of research you might undertake for your dissertation. The use of literature and case studies is considered and the merits of primary research are debated and advice is given on the use of existing research data. You may not be fond of statistics, but the potential relevance of a quantitative approach should be considered and similarly,

the idea of qualitative analysis and conducting your own research may yield valuable data. The possibilities of using quantitative and qualitative data are also discussed.

What approach should I take - qualitative or quantitative?

Your approach, research design, and research question are all connected. 'Approach' means something more than the type of data you use – it refers to your overall orientation to research and the type of claims you will make for your study. Dissertations can be based on either quantitative or qualitative data, or on a combination of both. How you choose this may depend on your preferences and abilities, and the suitability of particular approaches to your topic. You need to be able to justify why you have chosen to use such data. Quantitative data is particularly useful when you wish to discover how common particular forms of behaviour such as illegal drug use are for a particular age group. Qualitative data is particularly useful when you wish to find out why people engage in such behaviour.

Think about the Research Methods modules you have taken so far. Think about the different kinds of studies you have read for other modules. There is plenty of scope to use the approaches and methods that you are most comfortable with. You need to justify your approach and methods and to cite appropriate literature to help you do this.

What if I want to record people's views on an issue, and give them a 'voice'?

You will probably want to use in-depth qualitative data, and you may wish to adopt a realist, a phenomenologist, or a constructionist approach to the topic. Qualitative dissertations will include descriptive material, usually extracts from interviews, conversations, documents or field notes, and are therefore likely to be nearer to the upper limit of your word range (e.g. 8,000 words). The types of method suitable for a dissertation could include content analysis, a small scale ethnographic study, small scale in-depth qualitative interviewing.

Whether you choose qualitative or quantitative analysis will depend on several things:

• Your preferred philosophical approach (realist, phenomenologist or constructionist).
• Your skills and abilities with methods of data collection (if needed) and analysis.
• The topic or issue you are interested in.
• How you frame your research question.

Can I combine qualitative and quantitative methods?

There are many ways in which qualitative and quantitative data and analysis can be combined. Here are two examples.

• You may be interested in doing an analysis that is primarily quantitative, looking at social trends, or policy implications. However you also want to introduce a 'human touch' by conducting one or several interviews asking what these trends mean to people or how particular individuals experience events. After doing your quantitative analysis, you should include a chapter or section on the qualitative data you have collected. In your discussion of findings you can use the qualitative data to help you understand the patterns in the quantitative analysis.
• You may be interested in doing an evaluative case study of a process or policy. You will have a particular focus – a 'case' that you are looking at. You will triangulate methods – i.e. collect data in several different ways, and some of these data may be quantitative. You will analyse each type of data and describe this, and then write a discussion that shows how each piece of analysis contributes to the overall picture of what is going on.

many times analysis becomes an ongoing iterative process where data is continuously collected and analyzed almost simultaneously. Indeed, researchers generally analyze for patterns in observations through the entire data collection phase The form of the analysis is determined by the specific qualitative approach taken (field study, ethnography content analysis, oral history, biography, unobtrusive research) and the form of the data (field notes, documents, audiotape, videotape).

Considerations/issues in data analysis

Extent of analysis

The use of the World Wide Web in social research requires special consideration. It is a relatively new research tool that provides a unique research environment because:
• The distinction between private and public space is not always clear;
• Data can be easily collected without consent;
• The participants and the researcher may never meet or speak to each other and the identities they may choose to assume may be ‘virtual’, bearing little resemblance to their ‘real’ self.

ONLINE SOLUTIONS FOR EVALUATION AND DECISION MANAGEMENT

Low cost, high speed

Along with obtaining larger sample sizes through the Web, online research saves money, a major advantage to researchers at small colleges and universities, Not only do researchers save on laboratory space, and printing of study materials, but labor costs are reduced because researchers don't need to hire lab assistants to man their labs or input data.

In addition, researchers can do more experiments in a shorter period of time--something the University of, PhD, and his students do. On average, they post a study a week devoted to research on judgment and decision-making. Baron monitors the site to see if people understand the study questions. If they don't, he pulls the study, discards the data and makes changes at little cost of money or time.

Professional Organizations

The Professional Associations Research Network is a non-profit membership organisation for professional bodies, offering expertise, experience and perspective on key issues in the sector through research, consultancy, networking, events and training.