Revision of the course

1. Revision of the course • DrAyazAfsar

2. Topics of the course We have covered the following topics in this course: • The Nature of Research • Managing Time in Research • Getting Started • The Ethics of Educational and Social Research • Finding Information and Dealing with it • Literature Review • Research Methodology • Paradigms of Research • Sampling (1) • Sampling (2) • Sampling (3) • What is Plagiarism and how to avoid it?

3. 13. Validity in Research 14. Reliability in Research 15. Historical and Documentary Research 16. Case Studies 17. Action Research 18. Accounts Narrative 19. Using Questionnaire (1) 20. Using Questionnaire (2) 21. Using Interviews (1)

4. 22. Using Interviews (2) 23. Using Observation 24. Using Test (1) 25. Using Test (2) 26. Qualitative Data Analysis 27. Quantitative Data Analysis 28. Content Analysis and Grounded Theory 29. Narrative Analysis 30. Structuralism and analysis of literary tests 31. Using Corpus Linguistics in Research

5. Developing research questions or hypotheses Hypothesis • It means to suppose, or suggest, something that can then be tested or tried out. Suggested explanation for a phenomenon or a reasoned proposal suggesting a possible correlation between multiple phenomena. Testing of a scientific hypothesis which will have been based on extensions of scientific theories. • Research question • the type of research you are undertaking • research processes – questions and hypotheses • kinds of research • Ensuring that research ethics are followed

6. The research process (a) • problem/ experience/ observation/ interest • in a more scientific or social hypothesis, does this happen? What if this was tried? It is expected that if this happens then this will happen, let us see ……. • investigation and experimentation to test the hypothesis (b) • asking a research question – looks at effect of, interactions, interpretations, how and why things happen and work (or not), how they might …. and so on • constructing knowledge and believing that knowledge is constructed rather than trying to prove it and believing it is provable, the world knowable and fixable • searching literature and engaging your own ideas and work in dialogue with theorists and experts • development of research design, choice of methodology/ies and the methods, vehicles that help you ask and address your question.

7. Both forms of research therefore involve • data gathering • data analysis and interpretation of the findings • confirmation or disapproval of the hypothesis or • addressing or answering the question • producing conclusions • advancing our understanding and our awareness of the interpretations of meaning in the field, as well as our knowledge

8. Stating your title • It is important that the title makes a statement or outlines an area of study that can be explored, opened up, questioned. Suggest an area, an idea, a part of a field of study that can be questioned; make a suggestion or propose an innovation; and suggest that you will check for its viability and success. Say all you can find out about, kind of title, excite, suggest scope for enquiry and reflection, and indicate that it is complex and ‘meaty’ or sufficiently extensive for your exploration.

9. Research questions • Research focus and question prompts Key stages – developing a hypothesis or research questions • State the research problem or issue or question: introduction – nature of problem, why it is important, how research will contribute to its solution • State the research question or hypothesis, in the form of an interrogative question asking the relationship between variables, phenomena, events, and definitions of terms • Asking research questions – setting out to solve problem

10. Operationalising’ a concept • Asking questions about a concept or an idea – moving further • Data, categories, theme, patterns, difference between elements explored and discovered in relation to asking your question, elements of knowledge, your findings, interpret your data, time frame, field by finding out about numbers of students, study habits, developed work-related skills, hypotheses (to be tested) or questions, relationship between the variables of gender and subject choice, location of universities and numbers of students.

11. Boundaries and gaps

12. From topic to title • Keep it tight and properly boundaries – your ‘slice of the cake’: others can ask other questions and explore other areas and issues • Do not set up a purely descriptive dissertation/thesis • Set yourself a problem, or • a set of critical questions, or • a set of contrasts (for example, contrasting arguments about or approaches to …..) You are contributing to ongoing debates and entering a dialogue in the academic community

13. Stages of asking the research question • Topic – fascination – work directive or development • Research question – asking a question problematises and focuses your interests • Gaps: • What has already been asked and discovered in relation to this area? • How? • Where can my work fit in and add new knowledge and meaning? • Ensure it addresses a gap in knowledge. • Ensure it is significant – sufficiently important for the level (MA, MPhil, PhD etc.) of the research. • Boundaries: • Decide on which elements to focus and what to leave for later (either for yourself or others).

14. Summary • Turning fascinations, directives, topics, broad areas of interest into research questions • Identifying suitable and appropriate, important and significant ‘gaps’ in knowledge, so the research to address these is worth carrying out • Identifying what kind of research this will be • Identifying what the research cannot or will not cover, that is, the boundaries (for someone else to address, or the researcher to look at later) • Examples of moving forward, through focus on area of interest, to a workable research question and design of study.

15. Research Methodologies Choosing research methodologies • Methodology • Methods • Methodology • Ontology • Epistemology • Methodology affects: • the research questions you ask • the kinds of research you carry out • the methods used • the modes of analysis used on your data • what you can argue as findings from your data

16. Positivistic paradigm • Concerned with hypotheses testing • Uses large samples • Data are highly specific and precise • Produces quantitative data • High reliability • Low validity • Generalisesfrom sample to population Postpositivistic paradigm • Concerned with generating theories • Uses small samples • Data are rich and subjective • Produces qualitative data • Reliability is low • Validity is high • Generalises from one setting to another

17. Positivism • Interpretivism • Constructivism • Structuralism • Poststructuralism • Postmodernism

18. Research approaches • Research approaches – which are yours? • Theoretical exploration • Reflection on experience • Empirical research • Ethnographic • Experimental • Descriptive • Exploratory • Predictive • Explanatory • Practitioner – and/ or action – related • Creative

19. Ethics and Confidentiality Typical procedures and their history • Ethics in research • Example • If the research involves contact with, observation of, or collection and storage of confidential information about human subjects, then you may need ethics approval. Complete the following questionnaire and then follow the accompanying flow-chart to help you decide. • Does the study involve participants who are unable to give informed consent (e.g. children, people with learning disabilities, unconscious patients)?

20. Will participants be presented with painful stimuli or high intensities of auditory, visual, electrical or other stimuli? • Is there any foreseeable risk of physical, social or psychological harm to a participant arising from the procedure? • Will deception of participants be necessary during the study? • Will the study involve more than a minimal invasion of privacy, or accessing confidential information about people without their permission?

21. Revising ethics in practice • Before you fill out an ethics form consider: • Will participants agree to take part? How are you asking them? • Can you share information and results with them? • How can you protect their interests? • How can you protect yourself? • Are there or could be any personal issues of access, interpretation, etc? • How can you manage these? Give and take advice. • How are you managing the information and data? Storing data • Analysing data drawing conclusions – how are ethics issues involved here? • What happens to your research afterwards? Are there any ethics issues here?

22. Using qualitative and quantitative research methods together • This course has considered research methodologies based on worldviews, and looked at the ways in which you might approach your research, the methods you might use, in relation to the methodology you are using.

24. The Quantitative Tradition • The quantitative tradition is based on a belief that the study of society is no different than the scientific study of any other element of our world. • It premises scientific method, hypothesis testing, deductive logic, objectivity and quantification.

25. Hypothetico-deductive Method • Involves hypothesis testing through collection and analysis of quantitative data gathered through experimental design or survey research.

26. Experimentation • Experiments explore cause and effect by manipulating independent variables to see if there is a corresponding effect on a dependent variable. • Pure experimentation requires controlled environments and randomly assigned control groups (not always possible in social science experiments often conducted in the field rather than a lab).

27. Studying A Population • Exploring a population involves building an understanding of knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) related to a particular topic or issue. • Two broad methodological strategies are to: • explore existing data • generate primary data – primarily through survey research.

28. The Qualitative Tradition • The qualitative tradition critiques quantitative assumptions and premises inductive logic, subjectivity, multiple truths, the political nature of research, and the value of depth over quantity. • Qualitative research strategies for achieving credibility include thoroughness, i.e. saturation, crystallization, prolonged engagement, persistent observation, broad representation and peer review, and confirmation, i.e. triangulation, member checking, and full explication of method.

29. Ethnography Exploring a cultural group by: • discovering • understanding • describing • and interpreting a way of life from the point of view of its participants. • Ethnography is reliant on prolonged engagement, persistent observation and analysis that demands a high level of reflexivity.

30. Ethnography • Because ethnographic studies involve ‘immersion’ ethnographers need to carefully manage their own subjectivities and thoughtfully negotiate their relationship with the ‘researched’.

31. Phenomenology • Exploring phenomena involves generating descriptions of lived phenomena as they present themselves in direct experience. • Descriptions emerge through a dialogic process, and are synthesized to offer a range of distinct possibilities for the experience of a particular phenomenon. • While phenomenology offers a way to study phenomena, something often neglected in the social science literature on phenomenology is that it can be thick, divergent, and not ‘methods’-oriented.

32. Ethnomethodology • Ethnomethodology explores the methods individuals use to make sense of their social world and accomplish their daily actions. • Ethnomethodologists search for the collaborative and constantly emerging nature of interaction through exploration of breaching experiments, building of shared interpretations and interpretative miscues.

33. Ethnomethodology: • recognizes the interpretative work of the individual • offers a method for exploring ‘how’ questions • allows comparisons of divergent cultural norms and allows exploration of specific forms of interaction. • However, it can be critiqued for not addressing ‘significant’ questions, and being too focused on verbal aspects of communication.

34. Feminist Approaches • While not a distinct methodology, feminist research is premised on the belief that traditional ‘rules’ of research are imbued with unacknowledged and unaddressed male bias. • Feminist researchers argue that research should be committed to: • the empowerment of women • overcoming inequity • diverse representation of humanity • empowerment of marginalized voices • lessening the distinction between researcher and researched • searching for multiple, subjective and partial truths.

35. Mixed Methodology • “Mixed” studies traverse traditional divides and can help you capitalize on the best of both traditions while overcoming their shortcomings. • “Mixed”approaches can be premised in the quantitative tradition with acceptance of qualitative data; the qualitative tradition with acceptance of quantitative data; or be driven by the questions themselves.

36. Mixed Methodology • Challenges associated with mixed approaches include: • needing to be familiar with and skilled in two traditions • being mindful of overambitious design • and not having the necessary time, resources, or supervisory support for a multi-mixed method approach.

37. Writing a Research Proposal • What do you want to research? How you can draw up a good proposal • Abstract • Introduction • Theoretical perspectives/literature survey • Methodology and methods • Design of the study including what research is carried out when and how; what analysis is carried out when and how • Timeline of work to be completed • Some sense of the outline of the draft chapters • Justification for the level of the award • Biography of major sources

38. Drawing up your proposal • Abstract • Introduction • Research question • Gaps in the current knowledge • Boundaries • Theoretical perspectives/literature survey • Conceptual framework • Methodologies and methods • Research design – design of study • Decide on methods and vehicles • Decide on timeline • Decide on population/primary sources • Decide on data collection and analysis • Ethical considerations • Outline plan of study • Justification for the level of the award • Bibliography – primary references

39. Draft proposal • Indicative title • Introduction – aim and focus of the study • Questions • Sub-questions • Context for the research • Theoretical perspectives and interpretations • Research methodology and methods – design • Research methods • Research design (stages of your work – over time) • Ethical considerations • Outline plan of study • Timeline for activities in the research • from ……………………. to ……………………….. • from ……………………. to ………………………. • from ……………………. to ……………………….. • from ……………………. to ……………………….. • from ……………………. to ……………………….. • Draft chapters and areas • Justification for level of award • Bibliography primary texts

40. We have considered how you go about putting together a research proposal. At all levels, such proposals are needed, sometimes in a formal (PhD, MPhil) and sometimes a shorter or less formal shape (MA). Writing them helps you to be clear about how your research questions and conceptual framework (of ideas, arguments, theories and methods) run throughout your proposed research. For MPhil/PhD most universities demand a lengthy proposal (about four pages), and this could take up to six months to refine and perfect.

41. You will be researching alongside this writing, but probably will have your proposal agreed (and probably changed a little or a lot) by a research degrees committee before your are formally and finally registered. Sometimes you might have to resubmit the proposal. This is perfectly normal. You need to get it right, as it informs all you do – so don’t be too upset if it is sent back for rewriting – it will encourage you to clearer, more coherent, and more likely to produce a successful piece of research which matters.

42. The Challenge of Writing Up

43. The Challenge Because your write-up will be a considerable piece of academic work with major consequences attached to its quality, the writing process can be intimidating. There are, however, practical strategies that can improve the quality of your work and make the task less daunting.

44. Writing as ‘Conversation’ The goal of your write-up is to share your research with others. Think of your write-up as a communication process or a ‘conversation’ that demands the consideration of your readers.

45. Knowing Your Audience To write effectively you need to know your audience, including: • who they are • what they know • what they are likely to find useful • what their expectations are • and what reactions they may have to your work.

46. The ‘Standard’ Structure Your write-up can follow a standard structure that generally includes: • introduction • literature review • methods • findings • conclusion

47. Alternate Structures Your write-up can also follow an alternate structure that may better suit a particular projects’ aims and objectives. While alternate structures can allow for more creative expression, the standard format gives readers what they tend to expect.

48. Write As You Go Preparing research accounts and deliverables often involves a relatively unpractised form of writing. So it’s well worth ‘writing as you go’. In fact writing is now commonly recommended as a practice that should be incorporated throughout the research process.

49. Writing as Analysis Writing itself can be a form of analysis and can be central to the construction and interpretation of meaning. It can also be instrumental in the development of significant, relevant, logical, and coherent storylines.

50. Your ‘Story’ Your research write-up should unfold as an interesting story. As the author of that story you need to: • think of writing as a conversation • become familiar with the craft • find a voice • develop a structure • create a story line • make convincing arguments • get down to the business of writing and rewriting.