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Getting Started in Research. Background of topic and your goal Literature review Methodology Research question and hypothesis (if applicable) Research methods Sources to be used Significance of your research Difficulties that you predict you will encounter Research training required
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Background of topic and your goal • Literature review • Methodology • Research question and hypothesis (if applicable) • Research methods • Sources to be used • Significance of your research • Difficulties that you predict you will encounter • Research training required • Timetable 10 points for a research proposal
Extensive literature review – this tool gives you an overview of your topic and allows you to see areas that will allow you to focus your researchand determine its feasibility • Create 3-4 research questions and methods you would use to answer them • Compare your research ideas with other scholars in your chosen field • Think of the research holistically – what do you want your end result to be? 4 techniques for refining your research question/idea
Must be an ongoing process and not just at the beginning of the research project • Makes you familiar and allows you to become an expert in your chosen topic • Highlights rhetoric, methods, and concepts in your area • CofC librarian will give you specific details Literature review
Case study approach • Comparative approach Two most common types of research approaches
It is similar to a methodology • Ways of producing or getting at knowledge and is dependent on the view of the world taken by those that use them What is an approach?
Descriptive • Exploratory • Explanatory Three Main Types of Case Study
Defined as the study of one individual, group of people, town, etc. in great detail • Can be used with quantitative and qualitative research methods • Involves empirical investigation of a phenomenon within its real-life context Case Study
Usually involves a historical subject • Gives a detailed account of an issue, person, or process Descriptive Case Study
Used for testing initial hypotheses • Checking for availability of data • Finding relevant variables • Assessing whether the hypothesis is suitable for further research Exploratory Case Study
Is used most often in social science (like psychology) • Makes generalizations from one case study and uses those findings to explain another case study Explanatory Case Study
It is better to study one phenomenon deeply than skim 5-6 in order to compare them • Watch out going a mile wide and an inch deep Caution about Case Studies
Involve more than one case where the subject is the same but the time/location is different Examples: a. Comparing French driving habits with the British b. Welfare systems in France in 1920’s and today • Use typologies and hypothetical models frequently Comparative Studies