LECTURE 2: ISSUES IN CHOOSING A RESEARCH TOPIC

SOCI2020 Research Skills

Dr. Michelle Cowley, M.Cowley@soton.ac.uk

Overview

Choosing a research topicWhat to do if you cannot think of an ideaNarrowing the focus of your research topicReviewing the literatureOther issues to consider Framing your research question/aimStarting a research notebook

Choosing a research topic

Relevance to your Applied Social Science pathway

Plan ahead: How will this research topic be relevant to your career?

How much choice do you have?Your motivation and interestWhat loose ends have you discovered in the

reading you have done over the past two years?

See Blaxter et al. (2001)

Plan ahead

Think about where your career may be taking you

What is the time-line of your research?Does your topic and working title allow you

the time you need EVEN WHEN there are unanticipated setbacks?

How much choice do you have?

Research in the ‘real world’You are very lucky to have a school that is

supportive of YOUR researchThe only time in your life when it is all up to

you (given feasibility constraints) without pressure of publication

So be selfish and choose the most interesting topic you can!

Motivation

Your research should hold your interest even when it is not going as smoothly as you had planned

You should find yourself drawn to news reports related to your project (not so absorbed however, that you lose track of time and lose your way when finding a lecture room!)

Deeper levels of processing and insight when you are motivated (Craik & Lockart, 1972).

Loose ends in the literature

Key debates relevant to your pathwayKey thinkers and their criticsA comparison of two alternative theoriesRoom for methodological improvement or

innovation

What to do if you cannot think of an idea? Is there a particular methodology that you would

like to develop some skill in? What are your strong points:

o working with numbers, o talking to people, o detailed note takingo analytical skills?

Look at previous dissertations. Flick to indicated future research questions

Relate a topic to your own interest: sports, volunteer work (this would help to access to a special population!)

Narrowing your focus

Poets

Media

Science fiction

IrishChildren’s Imaginative Play

Artists

Personality

CulturalDiffs?

Seanachaí

Everyday People?

Reviewing the literature

Journal articles, research reports, edited chapters, or theses

Check their bibliography and build from there

Copious notes on key theorists and methodologies

Indicated future directions

A feasible project: Everyday Imagination (Ward, 1994)

Experiment: 37 participants were given a blank piece of paper on whichThey were to draw imaginary animals. They were first asked to imagine going to another planet somewhere else in the galaxy that was very different from earth, to imagine finding an animal there, and to draw a frontand side view of the animal…another same species… different species…

Bilateral symmetry, appendages, sense organs…

Ward, T. (1994). Structured Imagination: The Role of Category Structure in Exemplar Generation. Cognitive Psychology, 27, 1-40

Framing your research question/aim

From Hypotheses to Hippopotamuses!Brainstorm and write down as many

questions/aims as you canRepeat this every few days over this week

and nextReview your questions and see if any

appear to look like research questions/aimsMake your question/aim succinct and

concise

Starting a research notebook

Take it everywhere. You never know when a good idea may ‘pop’ into your head (Ohlson, 1992)

Time managementRecalling the methodological difficulties you

encounteredRecalling ideas you decided against for future

research in discussion chapter

Issues to always keep in mind

Ethics and Feasibility Resources Own knowledge (e.g. advanced

statistics) Any questions?