Researching Your Subject

Chapter Six

Outline

• Understanding the Difference Between Academic and Workplace Research

• Understanding the Research Process• Choosing Appropriate Research Methods• Conducting Secondary Research• Conducting Primary Research

Introduction

• Research is the cornerstone of the workplace• While printed work is still used, online sources

are becoming the common source today• There are two main types of Research:

• Primary Research- creating information yourself• Secondary Research- collecting information that other

people have already discovered or created

Understanding the Differences Between Academic and Workplace Research

• Academic research and workplace research can overlap, but usually different in goals and methods

• Academic Research- school research- Answer scholarly questions

• Academic is often more abstract than applied research• Academic research often involves extensive secondary

research: reading scholarly literature, academic journals and books, only do primary research after extensive secondary research

• Autobiographies and first hand accounts are considered primary research

Workplace Research

• Goal is to find information to help you answer a practical question

• Usually involves the organization that you work for

• Often focuses on improving a situation at a particular organization

• Both primary and secondary research serves the primary goal of answering questions

Understanding the Research Process

• You want the process to be effective and efficient

• You want to answer the questions that you need answered

• Want to meet the goals in a clear and allotted time

An overview of the Research Process

• Analyze Your Audience• Analyze Your Purpose• Analyze Your Subject• Visualize the Deliverable• Work Out a Schedule and a Budget for the Project• Determine What Information Will Need to Be Part of That Deliverable• Determine What Information You Still Need to Acquire• Create Questions You Need to Answer in Your Deliverable• Conduct Secondary Research• Conduct Primary Research• Evaluate Your Information• Do More Research

Choosing Appropriate Research Methods

• Once you have determined the questions you need to answer, think about the various research techniques you can use to answer them

• Different question require different research methods

• Choosing research methods means choosing the way in which you will conduct your research

Questions You Need to Answer:

• What types of research media might you use?• What types of research tools might you use?• What types of primary research might you

conduct?

• You often find that your research plan changes as you conduct research

• Might need more than one method

Table 6.1- Research Questions and Methods

• Pages 124-125• A good starting point for asking yourself

questions regarding research

• Guidelines for Researching a Topic– Be Persistent– Record you data carefully– Triangulate your research methods

Conduction Secondary Research

• Will always need to do secondary research as well as primary research

• This is the most common type of research for students

• Traditional forms of information are changing, being replaced by web sources, which is both a good and bad thing

• Need to be very critical of your sources

Understanding Research Media

• Print- Journals, books, reports• Online Databases- LexisNexis, ProQuest,

EBSCOhost, have online journals or journals that are also in print

• Web Sites- Good news that there are millions of pages of information, the bad news is that there are millions of pages of information

• Social Media- more than just Facebook. Can be discussion boards, blogs by experts etc. that can be a very big help

Using Traditional Research Tools

• Online Catalogues: A database of information of a library or organization’s printed materials

• Reference Works: general dictionaries, encyclopaedias, biographical dictionaries, almanacs, atlases

• Periodical Indexes: Recent, authoritative discussions of limited subjects, often hard to find if you do not know where to look, libraries often have online catalogues listing the available databases or you can obtain an interlibrary loan or use a document delivery service

Using Traditional Research Tools Continued

• Newspaper Indexes: Not always available on the web these days; paywall, but many libraries keep copies- both paper and electronic

• Abstract Services: Indexes that keep brief technical summaries of articles

• Government Information: usually .gov websites, and there are literally 1000’s of handouts about a variety of things

Using Social Media and Other Interactive Resources

• Strong because of the interactive nature of social media

• Troubles with lack of review process- not everything is true!– Discussion Boards– Wikis– Blogs– Tagged Content– RSS Feeds

Evaluating the Information

• Accuracy• Bias• Comprehensiveness• Appropriately Technical• Current• Clear• Guidelines on pages 134-135

Conducting Primary Research

• Sometimes the library and internet isn’t enough

• There are seven major categories of primary research: observations and demonstrations, inspections, experiments, field research, interviews, inquiries, and questionnaires

1) Observations and Demonstrations

• Two common forms of primary research• Observe: simply watch an activity to understand some

aspect of it• Demonstration or Demo: watching someone carry out a

process

You need to prepare beforehand. Write down questions you need answered or the factors you want to investigate.Prepare interview questions in case you get to speak with someone.Make sure that you are on time and ready!

2) Inspections

• Similar to observations• Participate more actively• Walk around location, take photographs, test

equipment

• Professionals applying knowledge and professional judgement

3) Experiments

• Very common

a) Establish a hypothesisb) Test the hypothesisc) Analyze the datad) Report the data

Produces quantitative data that can be measured.

4) Field Research

• Creates data that cannot always be measured; qualitative data• Seek to understand the quality of an experience• Some studies have both qualitative and quantitative elementsNeed to look at two things:

a) The effect of the experiment on the behaviour you are studyingb) Bias in the recording and analysis of the data.

Conducting the experiment or field research is relatively simple; the hard part is designing your study so that it accurately measure what you want it to measure.

5) Interviews

• Very useful when a subject is too new to have much literature about it or the info is inappropriate in some situations

• Three questions:– What questions do you want to answer?– Who could provide this information?– Is the person willing to be interviewed?

Guidelines for conduction an interview: Pgs. 140-141

Interviews continued

• Presenting the information:– Transcripts of the interview– Use an appendix or present brief transcripts– Focus on the important aspects and evidence

6) Inquiries

• Useful alternative to a personal interview• Can be a letter, an e-mail, message sent

through a company or organization’s website• Do not always get the results that you want-

sometimes do not respond or do not respond correctly

• Little opportunity for follow up questions

7) Questionnaires

• Solicit information from a large group• E-mail, survey websites, telephone questions

Do not always yield completely satisfactory results.1) Some of the questions will misfire2) You won’t obtain as many responses as you

want.3) You cannot be sure the respondents are

representative

Asking Effective Questions

• Use unbiased languageGood- Are you in favour of imposing tariffs on men’s clothing?Bad- Should Canadian clothing manufacturers protect themselves from unfair foreign competition? • Be specificGood- Do you favour requiring automobiles manufacturers to equip new cars with electronic stability control, which would raise the price by an average of $300 per car?Bad- Do you favour improving the safety of automobiles?

Testing the Questionnaire

• You need to show other people the questions with an explanation

• Give practice tests on people who’s backgrounds are similar to those who will be taking the test

• Revise

Administering the Questionnaire

• Determine who should get the questionnaire• You need to make things easy for those who

are taking the questionnaireYou need to be professional. If you are not, the people will not take the questionnaire seriously or they will not take it at all

Presenting Questionnaire Data in your Document

• Where and how• More important information in the body of a

document• Less important in an appendix

Ethics

• Report what you find, not what you want to find

• Don’t omit information that contradicts what you thought

• Do not try to cover up mistakes