This definition covers many different activities involved in your information search, and oftentimes these activities overlap with one another.
Research type | Essential characteristics |
|---|---|
1.Find the population of each country in Africa or the total (in dollars) of Japanese investment in the U.S. in 2002. | A search forindividual facts or data. May be part of the search for the solution to a larger problem or simply the answer to a bar bet. Concerned withfactsrather thanknowledgeoranalysisand answers can normally be found in a single source. |
2.Find out what is known generally about a fairly specific topic."What is the history of the Internet?" | Areportorreview, not designed to create new information or insight but to collate and synthesize existing information.A summary of the past. Answers can typically be found in a selection of books, articles, and Web sites. |
3.Gather evidence to determine whethergang violenceis directly related to playing violent video games. | Gathering and analyzing a body of information or data andextracting new meaningfrom it ordeveloping unique solutionsto problems or cases. This is "real" research and requires an open-ended question for which there is no ready answer. |
But, even before you begin to develop your question or perform any of these activities, you want to keep these bits of advice in mind:
1. Understand the assignment.A misread/misunderstood prompt can sink even the best written project or paper, since it leads to inappropriate sources or conclusions. Ask your instructor if you have questions, it's what they're here for!
2. Select a topic that interests you.A project on a topic that does not catch your interest is not only a slog to complete, but a bore to present. In contrast, some of the most fun presentations come when the person presenting obviously loves the material. Try to keep that in mind when choosing a topic!
3. If possible, select a topic you are already researching for another project. If you're doing a project on the mechanics of stem cell research for one class, you can use most of that material for your paper on the ethics of stem cell research in another. You need to understand the mechanics to argue ethics, after all. This way, you can really dig into the meat of a topic and greatly enhance your understanding.
4. Select a topic that is not likely to be chosen by others. Having to read 15-30 papers on the same two or three topics is the bane of any professor's grading. Simply giving them something different to read gives you an advantage, but remember to choose a topic appropriate to the assignment!
So, now that we've covered the basics, the next step is choosing a topic. How do you do that? By taking your topic and formulating questions, which is the focus of the next section.
Generating Questions
To even begin to research, you must have questions that you would like to investigate or answer. Such as, if your topic is stem cell research: What is it? What does it entail? What are the supposed benefits or pitfalls? Is this ethical? etc. You can use the topic of your project to generate these questions, and therefore make a rather complex topic area much easier to manage. A question, after all, has an answer, can be be used as a method to know when you've found enough information, and requires you to put your critical thinking and research skills to real use.
However, that does beg a question of its own: How do you do this? There are, in fact, many techniques that can be used in this way, but this module will focus on two of them: brainstorming and concept mapping.
Brainstorming
In this method of question development, you list any and all thoughts that come to mind about your topic. Any mental filters should be turned off, and it does not have to make coherent sense. Once you have finished free associating, look through your list and sort related words and concepts together. This is a very good method of determining the angles your investigation could take or aspects you may not have considered before.
Concept Mapping
This method works by placing your topic area in the middle of the map, and then branching related concepts, knowledge, and questions from it. This is helpful when you want to inventory your own knowledge of a topic or keep your thoughts organized. Truthfully, it may be helpful for you to brainstorm, and then use the concept map as a way to see what questions can be gleaned from your work.
Both of these methods can help you determine questions for your topic. But, what happens if the questions you come up with are too broad or too narrow? The next sections will provide the answers.
Broadening
A common problem among novice researchers is that they may find very few--if any--sources for their topic. If this happens, you have probably made your question a bit too narrow. Luckily, you can save yourself a headache by broadening your question, and oftentimes you'll uncover much more to work with.
The examples below show how you can broaden your question without completely changing the meaning. If, on the other hand, you go overboard and gotoobroad, the next section will cover the narrowing technique.
INSTEAD OF:
Should Makah whaling rituals be permitted despite endangered species laws?
TRY:
ShouldNative Americanspractice religious and socialcustomsthat violate local and Federallaws?
INSTEAD OF:
What are the economic impacts of sweat shops on development in South Asia?
TRY:
What are theimpactsofU.S. labor practiceson developingcountries?
