Writing a Research Planning for Analytical Report

Research Planning Document

Homework Assignment #2

Overview

Good research isn't simply a matter of jumping on the internet. If you don't have a clear idea what you're looking for and how you're going to get it, you will spend A LOT of time on the computer and get very little out of it. Any professional research project should begin with a well-conceived Research Plan.

Research Plans begin by asking yourself what you know about a topic and what you need to find out. Then they consider the best ways to go about answering the questions that you have and set up a timeline for accomplishing those goals.

Follow the steps in this document, and you’ll have a much better idea what you need to accomplish for your Analytical Report (AR). It’s not a bad idea to begin this process on a separate legal pad or notebook (brainstorming often works best when done by hand); however, your final homework assignment needs to be submitted as a Word doc. Ultimately, a Research Plan is simply a tool to help you focus and organize your research efforts.

Assignment Directions

Create a Research Plan by carefully considering and answering the questions below. Follow the steps. Keep in mind these things:

1. This isn’t simply a homework assignment. The document you create will help guide you through the AR, so make it as useful to you as possible.

2. A good research plan needs to be user friendly, so use formatting techniques to help organize the content (i.e. section titles, bullets, number lists, bold, etc.)

3. I know you’re VERY early in the AR process, so I expect that this research plan will change in later modules. Just do your best to answer these questions in as much detail as possible.

4. If you’re not sure what topic you want to do at this point, it might be a good exercise to complete a research plan for each topic you’re considering. That might help you decide which topic will make for the best analytical report.

Definitions

1. On a separate sheet of paper (or computer), write your specific topic for the AR Problem

Analysis. Next, define/describe your perspective on that problem. What exactly is the problem? Why is it a problem? What are the various aspects of the problem? What are some potential obstacles you foresee to solving that problem? How do you think other people perceive the problem? And most importantly, why should anyone care about this topic? The more specific and detailed you can be the better. Your view on the page may (should) change throughout the research process, but it’s good to verbalize your perspective before you start researching.

2. Next, you should define any crucial terms for your project. For instance, if your topic deals with relative terms such as quality, value, the best, ideal, etc., you’ll want to express exactly what those terms mean to you? Not only will these definitions inform your research as you move forward, but you’ll include them as part of your Analytical Report (in the Methodology section), so it’s good to get this step out of the way.

What do you know?

3. List whatever facts you already know about this problem/situation. How do you know these facts (make sure you can cite them appropriately in the paper)?

What will you need to find out?

5. More important is brainstorming what information you’re going to need to find out. Are there important facts that’ll you need to uncover? If so, list the best places to find out that information.

*Remember, the key to this report is becoming an “expert” on the subject. You need to understand all aspects of the problem (i.e. what contributes to the problem, what obstacles are standing in the way of resolving the problem, what efforts have been made to resolve this problem before, what are the main voices/opinions about this topic, etc. etc.,

Develop Research Questions

6. Once you have a general idea about the types of information you’re going to need to obtain for this project, you should formulate some specific research questions. For example:

· How have the new requirements for Part 141 effected flight programs and students?

· How would a foreign language requirement effect a Homeland Security student’s ability to get a job in the field after graduation?

· What are the specific effects of fatigue and how do they apply to aerospace maintenance professionals?

· What are the legal barriers to using UAV technologies more widely in the commercial sector?

*The more specific and detailed you can make the questions, the more useful they’ll be in helping you become an expert on the topic.

Plan the Primary/Secondary Sources

7. Before you start making a survey or start searching the web, you should have a clear idea what research questions you hope to get answered with the Primary and Secondary sources. For each of the research questions you formulated above, think about what kind of source would best give you the answers you need.

NOTE: A good analysis will weave together both information that is already out there (secondary) with new research you generate yourself (primary).

Think of your research like a jigsaw puzzle. At this stage, you need to start thinking about how all the pieces will fit together. Otherwise, you’ll waste time pursuing research that won’t be useful for the project.

Primary data is research you generate yourself. It doesn’t exist before you do something to create it. This generally refers to interviews, surveys, experiments, etc.

Secondary data is research you go out and find to incorporate into your analysis. Journals, newspapers, books, websites, etc. are all secondary sources.

PAGE

2