Research Methods Dersi 8. Ünite Özet

Basic Academic Writing Skills

Basic academic writing skills include, writing introduction/background/review of literature, having knowledge about theory, different research approaches and research methods, designing and developing/measurements/participants, analyzing the data, presenting and interpreting results/findings writing discussion, conclusions, implications, and suggestions for further studies.

Choosing an Original Research Topic

Finding an original and new research problem is the main organizing principle guiding the analysis of your research. It is difficult to choose an interesting topic without doing a preliminary reading in your discipline. Therefore, you should read a lot of topics and discuss the topic then determine the topic that you feel you find yourself better involved and interested in. Of course, you need to communicate it with your supervisor.

there are generally three ways students are asked to write about a research problem: 1. Your supervisor provides you with a general topic from which you study a particular aspect; 2. Your supervisor provides you with a list of possible topics to study and you choose a topic from that list; or, 3. Your supervisor leaves it up to you and you only have to obtain permission to write about it before beginning your investigation.

Writing Abstract

An abstract summarizes, usually one paragraph (sometimes in structured format) of 200-300 words or less. In general, an abstract covers the overall purpose of the study and the research problem investigated, the basic design of the study, main results, implications for research and practice. In your abstract, 3-5 key words that best reflect your research should be provided.

Writing Introduction

The introduction aims to provide an overview of the research topic and explain what it is about. The introduction leads the reader from a general subject area to a particular topic of inquiry. It establishes the scope, context, and significance of the research being conducted by summarizing current understanding and background information about the topic, stating the purpose of the work in the form of the research problem supported by a hypothesis or a set of questions, explaining briefly the methodological approach used to examine the research problem, highlighting the potential outcomes your study can reveal, and outlining the remaining structure and organization of the paper.

There are three overarching goals of a good introduction:

1. Ensure that you summarize prior studies about the topic in a manner that lays a foundation for understanding the research problem;
2. Explain how your study specifically addresses the gaps in the literature, insufficient consideration of the topic, or other deficiency in the literature; and,
3. Note the broader theoretical, empirical, and/ or policy contributions and implications of your research.

In general, Introduction section of an article should cover: research background, research problem/problem statement, and research objective(s)/research question(s).

These are general phases associated with writing an introduction:

• Establish an area to research by:
  • Highlighting the importance of the topic, and/or
  • Making general statements about the topic, and/or
  • Presenting an overview on current research on the subject.
• Identify a research niche by:
  • Opposing an existing assumption, and/or
  • Revealing a gap in existing research, and/or
  • Formulating a research question or problem, and/or
  • Continuing a disciplinary tradition.
• Place your research within the research niche by:
  • Stating the intent of your study,
  • Outlining the key characteristics of your study,
  • Describing important results, and
  • Giving a brief overview of the structure of the paper.

Writing a Paragraph

The paragraphs are included in the whole report. The emphasis is placed here on the introduction paragraph rather than the general rules of paragraph writing. The reason for this is that in general, the first part that will be read after the summary part is the introduction paragraph. To this respect, the introduction paragraph should be striking and should make the audience feel why the coming paragraphs should be read. The opening paragraph includes five basic pieces of information, usually in this order: 1) A statement of the general topic. 2) A general statement about what the literature has found. 3) A statement about what the literature is missing or where there is an unanswered question. 4) The aim of the study. 5) A general statement of the study approach.

To be as effective as possible, a paragraph should contain each of the following in order: argument/claim, evidence/proof, and summary . When writing a paragraph you should bear in mind that a paragraph has three elements including 1) coherence, 2) a topic sentence, and 3) adequate development.

How to Paraphrase

While paraphrasing researchers need to keep in mind the difference between paraphrasing and quoting. Paraphrasing is to state something written or spoken in different words, esp. in a shorter and simpler form to make the meaning clearer. On the other hand, a quote is a group of words taken from a text or speech and repeated by someone other than the original author or speaker, a formal statement. In social sciences, paraphrasing is preferred over quoting. When we paraphrase we must still cite the original author.

How to Synthetize Articles

Synthetize means that in your literature review you examine a number of studies on a shared topic and note aspects that are of interest for your own work. It also may mean that you draw and state a conclusion about the similarities and differences in the studies you review. It allows us to highlight what was important to us about those articles. Below are the steps that are important when synthetizing:

1. It is possible to synthesize multiple articles in one paragraph,
2. You note the shared issue across the articles that you want to call attention to,
3. Note any important differences that are relevant to your study,
4. And describe each article briefly in ways relevant to your study.

Literature Review

A literature review surveys books, scholarly articles, and any other sources relevant to a particular issue, area of research, or theory, and by so doing, provides a description, summary, and critical evaluation of these works in relation to the research problem being investigated. Literature reviews are designed to provide an overview of sources you have explored while researching a particular topic and to demonstrate to your readers how your research fits within a larger field of study. When writing a literature review it is important focus on three main issues including a) main objective, b) identifying main argument and evidence needed, and c) identifying the basic trends and patterns in the literature.

Using Transition Words

Transition words are words or phrases used in the topic sentence of a paragraph that give the reader clues about the paragraph logically relates to the rest of the paper. Transition words can also reveal different types of logical relationships, and that logically relate a particular paragraph. In general, there are three types of transition words used when writing paragraphs.

1. Transitions between sections: Particularly in longer works, it may be necessary to include transitional paragraphs that summarize the information just covered for the reader and specify the relevance of this information to the discussion in the following section.
2. Transitions between paragraphs : If you have done a good job of arranging paragraphs so that the content of one leads logically to the next, the transition will highlight a relationship that already exists by summarizing the previous paragraph and suggesting something of the content of the paragraph that follows.
3. Transitions within paragraphs: As with transitions between sections and paragraphs, transitions within paragraphs act as cues by helping readers to anticipate what is coming before they read it.

Writing a Method Section

The methodology section describes actions to be taken to investigate a research problem and the rationale for the application of specific procedures or techniques used to identify, select, process, and analyze information applied to understanding the problem, thereby, allowing the reader to critically evaluate a study’s overall validity and reliability. The method section of a research paper answers two main questions: How was the data collected or generated? And, how was it analyzed? In general, we should provide detailed information on the research design/ model, research samples/participants, data gathering instruments/equipment, materials and procedure, validity and reliability of the research instruments and data analysis. The method section should provide enough information to allow other researchers to reproduce our work.

Research Design/Model

The research design refers to the overall strategy that researcher choose to integrate the different components of the study in a coherent and logical way, thereby, ensuring they will effectively address the research problem. The central role of research design is to minimize the chance of drawing incorrect causal inferences from data. When designing research it is essential that researchers identify the type of, evidence required to answer the research question in a convincing way.

A well-developed design will achieve the following:

1. Identify the research problem clearly and justify its selection, particularly in relation to any valid alternative designs that could have been used,
2. Review and synthesize previously published literature associated with the research problem,
3. Clearly and explicitly specify hypotheses central to the problem,
4. Effectively describe the data which will be necessary for an adequate testing of the hypotheses and explain how such data will be obtained, and
5. Describe the methods of analysis to be applied to the data in determining whether or not the hypotheses are true or false.

Research Sample/Participants

Sampling is the method for selecting people, events or objects for study in research. Non-probability and probability sampling strategies enable the researcher to target data collection techniques. The way in which the researchers select a sample of individuals to be research participants is critical. How they select participants will determine the population to which they may generalize our research findings.

Whatever the types of research, as Frye suggested, procedure;

• Tells the reader how the data were collected.
• Clearly shows the order in which things occurred.
• States how the sample was recruited.
• Notes who collected the data.
• States clearly all processes or activities participants engaged in.
• Says what happened in the study.
• Notes where all the activities took place.
• May include other important details.
• How were participants identified?
• Where were they recruited?
• What method, exactly, was used to recruit them?
• For example, with fliers in local grocery stores asking interested volunteers to make contact by phone or email?
• Using random digit dialing from a list of phone numbers from an entire zip code?

Research Instruments/Measures

Research instruments are the tools and approaches used to collect data to answer the research question / hypothesis. More than one technique can be employed, the commonest are questionnaires and interviews. Research instruments or measures are the source of the actual data. These can be surveys, interviews, observation and measurement of demographic characteristics (gender, age, height, weight etc.) of the participants.

Research instruments/measures include the following elements:

• The construct or variable being measured,
• The name of the measure,
• A citation for the scale/measure if it is published,
• How many items there are,
• A sample item,
• How items are scored,
• What higher and lower scores mean,
• Research or data supporting the reliability of the scale/measure,
• Research supporting the validity of the scale/measure.

Reliability and Validity of Measure

There must be evidence that a measure is reliable and valid. Usually this will come from the published literature. Reliability demonstrates the operations of a study-such as the data collection procedures-can be repeated, with the same results. The concept of validity is used to judge whether the research accurately describes the phenomenon that is intended to describe.

Data Analysis

Data comes in different shapes and sizes: questionnaires, interview, focus group, observation, documents, diary entries etc. Data analysis is commonly divided into two broad types. 1) Exploratory, and 2) confirmatory. Exploratory analysis explores the data in order to reveal what the data tell you. Confirmatory analysis seeks to establish whether you have actually got what you expected to find. Generally, data analysis may involve qualitative and quantitative approaches, dependent on the type of data collected.

Quantitative Data Analysis

Quantitative data analysis with the application of statistical software consists of the following stages (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012):

1. Preparing and checking the data. Entering data into computer.
2. Selecting the most appropriate tables and diagrams to use according to your research objectives.
3. Selecting the most appropriate statistics to describe your data.
4. Selecting the most appropriate statistics to examine relationships and trends in your data

Qualitative Data Analysis

Researchers use qualitative research design to answer questions asked with how and why. How and why. There are five approaches to qualitative research. They are: Narrative, phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, case study.

How to Present the Results

A ‘Result’ section that presents key findings emerging from the analysis that answers the research question. It is important to prepare yourself for presenting the results. When presenting the results there are two preparatory steps. First, reviewing the results carefully by checking the results for accuracy. Second, checking the style manual (APA, Chicago, MLA, Harward etc.) for the format of the tables, format for statistical notation and figures if you will be presenting some of the data in these forms.

The organization of the conclusion part may be made based on five options, which are hypotheses, research questions, research methodology, chronology and variables.

Presenting Data in Tables and Figures

American Psychological Association style is most commonly used to cite sources within the social sciences. The purpose of tables and figures in documents is to enhance your readers’ understanding of the information in the document. They describe some general guidelines when using tables:

1. Necessity
2. Relation of Tables or Figures and Text
3. Documentation
4. Integrity and Independence
5. Organization, Consistency, and Coherence

Discussion, Conclusion and Recommendation

This section brings everything together, showing how our findings respond to the brief we explained in or introduction and the previous research we surveyed in our literature survey. It should be written in a discursive style, meaning we need to discuss not only what our findings show but why they show this, using evidence from previous research to back up our explanations. This is also the place to answer our research questions and theses hypotheses.

The purpose of the discussion is to interpret and describe the significance of your findings in the light of what was already known about the research problem being investigated, and to explain any new understanding or insights about the problem after you’ve taken the findings into consideration. The discussion should always explain how your study has moved the reader’s understanding of the research problem forward from where you left them at the end of the introduction.

In this section, the readers also want to see recommendations for educators, policy makers, implications for research and practice, suggestions for further research, and limitations of the current study.