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I. Research Fundamentals

I. Research Fundamentals. I. Research Fundamentals (cont.). Q: Which of the following is a researcher?. I. Research Fundamentals (cont.). A: All of them! A researcher is someone who has learned not only how to find information, but how to evaluate it, and report it clearly and accurately.

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I. Research Fundamentals

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  1. I. Research Fundamentals

  2. I. Research Fundamentals (cont.) Q: Which of the following is a researcher?

  3. I. Research Fundamentals (cont.) A: All of them! A researcher is someone who has learned not only how to find information, but how to evaluate it, and report it clearly and accurately.

  4. I. Research Fundamentals (cont.) What is research? • Broadly: • Gathering information to answer a question that solves a problem • Helps us break free from ignorance, prejudice, and the many half-baked ideas that are floating around our civil discourse • New knowledge, discoveries

  5. I. Research Fundamentals (cont.) What’s the advantage for you? • Helps you interpret what you read • Facts versus interpretation of facts • Accurately judge the research of others • Must experience the messy and difficult reality of doing research before you can judge the quality of other research • Assumptions • Limitations

  6. I. Research Fundamentals (cont.) Research = new knowledge • Depends on what questions you ask • Your assumptions may influence the type of questions you might ask • For example, the nature of poverty • People’s own fault or a structural reality of capitalism

  7. I. Research Fundamentals (cont.) Knowledge is dependent upon • Quality of research • Accuracy of reporting

  8. I. Research Fundamentals (cont.) Reality of Research • Not like learning to ride a bike! • Challenging, but rewarding • Basic principles remain the same • Careful, accurate, and honest • Constantly rethink how you do it • Follows a crooked path • Unexpected turns • Blind alleys

  9. I. Research Fundamentals (cont.) Geographical Research • Geography: The science of space and place at/near the earth’s surface • Most geographical research problems address in some fashion • Variations over space • Places • Characteristics • Human/environment interaction

  10. I. Research Fundamentals (cont.) Theme 1: Location • Absolute and relative location • Site • Situation • Cognitive (mental mapping)

  11. I. Research Fundamentals (cont.) Theme 2: Place • Places • Characteristics • That give meaning and character and which distinguish them from other places on earth • Interdependence • Sites of innovation • Sites of resistance

  12. I. Research Fundamentals (cont.) Theme 3: Human/environment interaction • Means different things to different people • Dependent upon • Cultural backgrounds • Technological resources • Examine effects • Positive and negative interaction

  13. I. Research Fundamentals (cont.) Theme 4: Movement • People interact with other people, places, and things • Complementarity • Transferability • Intervening opportunity • Spatial diffusion

  14. I. Research Fundamentals (cont.) Theme 5: Regions • Formal and functional • Defined by certain unifying characteristics • How do regions change over time? • Landscapes • Cultural, symbolic • Sense of place • Globalization and regions/places

  15. Theme 6: Scale I. Research Fundamentals (cont.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=AIqC79WrpKg • Scale • Local, regional, national, global • Materialization of real-world processes • The tangible partitioning of space within which life occurs

  16. I. Research Fundamentals (cont.) Examples of basic geographic questions (Slater, 1982) • Where is it? • Where does it occur? • What is there? • Why is it there? • Why is it not elsewhere? • What could be there? • Could it be elsewhere? • How much is there at that location? • Why is it there rather than anywhere else? • How far does it extend already? • Why does it take a particular form or structure that it has? • Is there regularity in its distribution? • What is the nature of that regularity? • Why should the spatial distributional pattern exhibit regularity? • Where is it in relation to others of the same kind? • What kind of distribution does it make? • Is it found throughout the world? • Is it universal?

  17. I. Research Fundamentals (cont.) Examples of basic geographic questions (cont.) • Where are its limits? • What are the nature of those limits? • Why do those limits constrain its distribution? • What else is there spatially associated with that phenomenon? • Do these things usually occur together in the same places? • Why should they be spatially associated? • Is it linked to other things? • Has it always been there? • When did it first emerge or become obvious? • How has it changed spatially (through time)? • What factors have influenced its spread? • Why has it spread or diffused in this particular way? • What geographic factors have constrained its spread? http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/world/road-to-rio/satellite-photos-urban-sprawl/index.html

  18. I. Research Fundamentals (cont.) Starting Your Project • How do I begin? • What aspect(s) of geography do you find interesting? • Human geography? • Physical geography? • Which courses did you like the most? • Which subjects in those courses did you like the most? • What aspects of those subjects did you find intriguing?

  19. I. Research Fundamentals (cont.) Starting Your Project (cont.) • What would you like to know more about? • Where would you like to contribute knowledge? • Is there a problem you would like to solve?

  20. I. Research Fundamentals (cont.) Okay, I have an idea. What’s next? • Tell me your idea (tentative topic) • Sooner rather than later • Develop it during the semester • Keep me posted of developments

  21. I. Research Fundamentals (cont.) Okay, I have an idea. What’s next? (cont.) • Discuss/refine your idea by meeting with • your geography professors • They want to help you! • www.geography.unt.edu • Devise a research plan! • Often starts out as a skeleton structure • Sometimes an idea in your head • Be flexible, expect change

  22. I. Research Fundamentals (cont.) Okay, I have an idea. What’s next? (cont.) • Keep in mind the end product, a formal written research proposal (prospectus): • Title (describes the work area) • Introduction and problem statement • What the work is about • Motivation • Research question • Objective(s) • Background/literature review (related work and results) • Methods (data collection, steps to address problem) • Conclusions (expected benefits, outcomes, deliverables) • References • http://search.proquest.com/pqdtft/index

  23. I. Research Fundamentals (cont.) Okay, I have an idea. What’s next? (cont.) • www.geog.unt.edu/~hudak/res-pro.doc

  24. I. Research Fundamentals (cont.) Who are you writing for? • You have to know this before you begin! • The audience for a prospectus is the reader who will determine whether or not the research project should be undertaken • Examples: professor, research committee, graduate degree committee, funding agency, company management, government agency • You adopt the role of someone who knows, and the reader needs to know

  25. I. Research Fundamentals (cont.) Who are you writing for? (cont.) • Help us understand something better than our current understanding • Be objective, rigorous, logical • Provide supporting evidence, describe how you collect it • Use accurate terminology and reliable sources • Don’t inundate us with facts • May help solve concrete problems

  26. I. Research Fundamentals (cont.) Reasons for writing a research prospectus • To remember or clarify information you might otherwise forget or confuse • Take notes (and references, including page numbers) when you are gathering information • To understand • To see the larger picture • When you arrange and rearrange your arguments, results, literature, and so on, you are constructing a logical argument that makes sense in your mind

  27. I. Research Fundamentals (cont.) Reasons for writing a research prospectus (cont.) • To test your thinking • Most of us believe our ideas are more compelling in the dark of our minds than they turn out to be in the cold light of print • Ultimately, to share it with others, such as funding agencies • Pertinent to most geography careers

  28. I. Research Fundamentals (cont.) Writing formally • The formal rules of writing research proposals/reports exist for a reason: • They help us to think more clearly about our own work and the work of others, and they embody the shared values of a research community • Hard to learn at first, but ultimately frees your mind to think in a greater number of ways • Makes your writing clearer • Have I evaluated my evidence? • Why do I think this data/argument/statistical technique is relevant? • What ideas have I considered but rejected and why? • Why did I choose this framework?

  29. I. Research Fundamentals (cont.) Some writing tips • Convey interest, relevance • Be objective • Use small words • Avoid fancy words • No typos, grammatical problems, or spelling errors • Avoid redundant sentence structure • Avoid excessive use of acronyms

  30. I. Research Fundamentals (cont.) Some writing tips (cont.) • Avoid lengthy equations without explanatory text • Avoid offensive language • Write in small sentences, be clear and concise • Write in small paragraphs, but more than one sentence per paragraph • Generally, a paragraph contains at most one idea or one piece of an idea • If you don’t understand what you have written, nobody else will either • Think about what you are saying • It can sound fancy and still be nonsense! • Read what you have actually written, not what you think you have written!

  31. Example Research Projects

  32. Example Research Projects (cont.) 1. Student examples www.geog.unt.edu/~hudak/st-wshd.pdf www.geog.unt.edu/~hudak/st-nar.pdf www.geog.unt.edu/~hudak/st-bee.pdf www.geog.unt.edu/~hudak/st-lg.pdf www.geog.unt.edu/~hudak/st-fp.pdf www.geog.unt.edu/~hudak/st-gl.pdf www.geog.unt.edu/~hudak/st-hml.pdf www.geog.unt.edu/~hudak/st-bgb.pdf

  33. Example Research Projects (cont.) 2. Water resources in rural Jamaica www.geog.unt.edu/~hudak/ex-jam.pptx

  34. Example Research Projects (cont.) 3. Irrigation ponds in central Bolivia www.geog.unt.edu/~hudak/ex-boliv.pptx

  35. Example Research Projects (cont.) 4. Constructed wetlands in Grand Prairie www.geog.unt.edu/~hudak/ex-wtld.pptx

  36. Example Research Projects (cont.) 5. Environmental effects of illegal immigration in southern California www.geog.unt.edu/~hudak/ex-immi.pdf

  37. Example Research Projects (cont.) 6. Groundwater impacts of oil/gas wells in southeastern Texas www.geog.unt.edu/~hudak/ex-gc.pptx

  38. Example Research Projects (cont.) 7. Tornado risk in Texas www.geog.unt.edu/~hudak/ex-torna.pdf

  39. II. Asking Questions, Finding Answers

  40. II. Asking Questions, Finding Answers (cont.) • Find a topic that is doable • Question that topic until you find a question that catches your interest • And is answerable! • And has not already been addressed in the literature

  41. II. Asking Questions, Finding Answers (cont.) • Figure out what evidence you will need to support your answer • If the evidence points in this direction, then it means… • If the evidence points in another direction, then it means… • Determine where you can find those data

  42. II. Asking Questions, Finding Answers (cont.) • List topics that interest you • Go to the library, www.library.unt.edu • Read scientific journals • Progress in Human Geography • Progress in Physical Geography • http://geography.about.com/od/studygeography/a/geojournals.htm • Internet • General search engines (Google) • Not all sources are credible! • Journal search engines (Web of Science)

  43. II. Asking Questions, Finding Answers (cont.) • Read strategically! • Skim, skim, skim (titles, abstracts) until you find a good piece of work that interests you • Then read a little more slowly (and take notes) • Ask yourself, “How can this article help me develop my research proposal?”

  44. II. Asking Questions, Finding Answers (cont.) • A topic is too broad if you can say it in four or five words! • Bad examples: climate change, sustainable development, urbanization • Better examples: • Conflict between economic development and green space preservation in Dallas • An analysis of pollen in lake sediment in Lake Superior over the last 5,000 years • The role of variation in land prices and the extent of urban sprawl in cities in the American Southwest: A case study of Tucson

  45. II. Asking Questions, Finding Answers (cont.) • Use “action words” (nouns derived from verbs expressing actions or relationships) • Conflict • Description • Contribution • Developing • Changed • Role of • Impact of • Causes of • Influence of

  46. II. Asking Questions, Finding Answers (cont.) • Develop a specific (focused) question with at least one action word • No specific question = no specific answer • What, where, and how • Particularly how • How did this particular geographic phenomenon come into place? • How has this place, phenomenon changed over time? • Role of rail transportation in emergence and growth of the U.S. system of cities in the 19th century • Role of the Internet in the diffusion of branch plant manufacturing or financial services

  47. II. Asking Questions, Finding Answers (cont.) • Consider the relationship between your specific question and wider society • Role of rail transportation in emergence and growth of the U.S. system of cities in the 19th century • Via a case study of the Union Pacific Railroad expansion between 1850 and 1880 in the American Southwest • How is your topic grouped into kinds (regions)? • What is the extent of the Mormon cultural region? • To what extent is the Mormon cultural region expanding in Northern Arizona?

  48. II. Asking Questions, Finding Answers (cont.) • Ask questions derived from the literature • Determine what issues are being debated • Many articles finish with a paragraph or two on “future questions” • Many literature reviews will highlight areas of contention

  49. II. Asking Questions, Finding Answers (cont.) • Evaluate your questions • Avoid: • Questions that can be answered by simply looking up information on settled facts • Did railroads have an impact on settlement hierarchy in the 19th century? • Questions where the answers would be purely speculative • How did 19th century farmers in the southwest perceive urbanization in the northeast? • Questions where the answers are dead ends • How many cats slept in barns as opposed to in farm houses in 19th century U.S.? • Questions you aren’t qualified to answer, or that can’t be answered in timely fashion with available resources

  50. II. Asking Questions, Finding Answers (cont.) • Consider the boundaries of your study area • Spatial and temporal dimensions • Political versus physical boundaries • Level of detail • A smaller study area affords more detail (for example, a watershed) • A larger study area dictates less detail (for example, a continent) • Consider logistics, advantages of “nearby” study area

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