Unit 2 Research Process and Strategy

Starting the Research Process

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Starting the Research Process

The most engaging research often begins with personal interest or the

investigation of a new policy, procedure, curriculum, or learning model in a

corporate or educational institution; however, there are also other excellent

sources available for identifying topics. Consider the value of reading

educational journals, browsing the Internet, or sharing ideas and opinions

with colleagues. The number of potential subjects that emerge from

professional development activities is enormous. What, however, are you

supposed to do once you have identified an avenue for research activity? This

presentation focuses on this question by examining how to identify a research

problem, how to specify research questions and/or hypotheses, and how to locate research for your literature review.

Identifying the Research Problem

Once a research topic has been selected, the next step is to identify and

refine the research problem. To do this, the researcher needs to understand

that a research problem must be identified in the following manner:

stated in a clear, succinct manner that can be clearly understood by

others in the field of study

defined and delineated in a way that would allow investigation through

research

have sufficient practical value, whether to further basic research or to

immediate applications in education

posed in terms of the relationships of variables or, if it is a descriptive

study, at least clearly state the focus of the study

justified based on previous research or on the potential benefits to the field yielded by addressing the problem

Finally, the findings based on the problem should give rise to further

questions or hypotheses and should also be repeatable by independent

researchers.

Specifying Research Questions or Hypothesis

The research question or research hypothesis is the question that directs the

focus of the literature review and drives the development of the research

methodology. It is the issue or concern that exists in the theory, literature, or

in practice that needs to be studied. It should answer the questions, "Why is

Starting the Research Process

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this study needed?" and "What problem created the need for this study?"

Research questions are most often used to guide the method of qualitative research while hypotheses define the scope of quantitative designs.

Research questions: A research question is the fundamental

question inherent in the research topic. Such questions, normally

supplemented by a number of subquestions, are used to guide the

research much like a thesis statement guides the organization of an

essay.

Hypotheses: Hypotheses are succinct statements that usually make

predictions about future events, existing differences among groups, or

relationships among variables. There are three types of hypotheses: directional, non-directional, and null.

The Literature Review

Once the research questions and the purpose of the research are understood,

the researcher should immediately begin to review professional sources of

information concerning problems in this area. All researchers explore

literature about their topic: first, to see what has already been done and,

second, to profit from findings, cautions, and suggestions made by other

researchers. You can benefit from browsing and examining both primary and

secondary resources. This information may be available from professional

organizations, business journals, or experts in the field. The literature should

provide an overview of current articles and materials that have examined

issues directly related to the research topic. The review of this literature

provides the foundation for the research paper; it should also provide a

comprehensive review of the benchmark studies which have been completed

in the topic area.