CGT 411 Research Presentation

1. CGT 411 Research Presentation Conducting Research: What Do You Need to Think About? Part 1 – Overview of the Process

2. Overview of Research • A systematic inquiry whose objective is to provide information to solve problems. • Often provides a means of competitive advantage • Applied Research vs. Pure Research  problem-oriented vs. for knowledge sake

3. Overview of Research • Good research should follow the standards of the scientific method • Purpose clearly defined • Research process detailed • Research design thoroughly planned • Limitations frankly revealed • High ethical standards applied • Adequate analysis for decision-maker’s needs • Findings presented unambiguously • Conclusions justified • Researcher’s experience reflected

4. The Process • Research planning • Asking the question • Developing a proposal • Designing a methodology • Data gathering • Analysis • Interpretation • Reporting • Decision-making

5. Exploratory Research • Particularly useful when a clear idea of the problem is lacking • Area may be so new or vague that exploration is required • Ensures practicality of further study • Not often given due consideration • Relies more heavily on qualitative techniques

6. Elements of Scientific Method • Direct observation of phenomena • Clearly defined variables, methods, and procedures • Empirically testable hypotheses • Ability to rule out rival hypotheses • Statistical justification of conclusions • Self-correcting process

7. Contents of a Research Proposal • Literature review • Statement of the research question • Brief description of research methodology • Pilot Testing • Data collection • Data preparation • Data analysis and interpretation • Research reporting

8. General Research Design Characteristics • No absolute definition for research design, although there is always a plan • Hypotheses/research questions are posed • Involves the collection, measurement, and analysis of data • A framework for specifying relationships between variables • Procedures are outlined • Resources are often limited

9. What is the Literature Review? http://www.wesleyan.edu/libr/tut/litrev/thelitrev.html

10. Literature Review Specifics • Primary • Secondary • Tertiary All of them happen somewhere on the preceding figure (typically)

11. Literature Review - Primary • Sciences • Lab reports • Field notes, measurements, etc • Social Sciences • Historical documents • Government publications • First-person accounts • Newspapers • Humanities • Published writings • Works of art • Recordings • All/General - • Conference proceedings • Internet • Archives • Artifacts • Manuscript collections • Books or articles Direct, uninterpreted records of the subject of your research project.

12. Literature Review - Secondary Books, articles, and other writings by scholars and researchers reporting their work to others. They may be reporting the results of their own primary research or critiquing the work of others. As such, these sources are the focus of a literature review: this is where you go to find out in detail what has been and is being done in a field, and thus to see how your work can contribute to the field. 

13. Literature Review - Tertiary • Tertiary - Encyclopedias, indexes, textbooks, and other reference sources. In general, there are two types of tertiary (reference) sources: • Summaries / Introductions: They are an efficient means to quickly build a general framework for understanding a field. • Indexes to publications: They are an efficient means of finding books, articles, conference proceedings, and other publications in which scholars report the results of their research.

14. Literature Review Specifics • Work backwards. Usually, your research should begin with tertiary sources: • Tertiary - Start by finding background information on your topic by consulting reference sources for introductions and summaries, and to find bibliographies or citations of secondary and primary sources. • Secondary - Find books, articles, and other sources providing more extensive and thorough analyses of a topic. Check to see what other scholars have to say about your topic, find out what has been done and where there is a need for further research, and discover appropriate methodologies for carrying out that research.  • Primary - Now that you have a solid background knowledge of your topic and a plan for your own research, you are better able to understand, interpret, and analyze the primary source information. See if you can find primary source evidence to support or refute what other scholars have said about your topic, or posit an interpretation of your own and look for more primary sources or create more original data to confirm or refute your thesis. When you present your conclusions, you will have produced another secondary source to aid others in their research.