RESEARCH METHODS

LECTURE 2 – RESEARCH PREPARATION

What is a research problem?
◦ A statement about an area of concern, a difficulty that needs to be
eliminated, or a disturbing question from a literature, theory or practice

◦ RS Woodworth defined it is as a situation with no ready made solution.

◦ In general, a problem is a disturbing situation which needs a solution

Conditions in determining a researchable
problem
◦ Interesting, relevant, novel
◦ Most important questions in the discipline
◦ Should lead to greater understanding
◦ Can fill a gap in knowledge
◦ If it is a replicate, there must be improvement and refinement
◦ Cutting edge/ innovative
◦ Based on “why” or “how”
◦ Built on a felt need
◦ Non-hypothetical, factual
◦ Relevant and manageable
Characteristics of a well formulated
research problem
◦ Interesting
◦ Manageable
◦ Scientific
◦ Clear and well defined
◦ Along the expertise of the researcher/s
◦ relevant
Key strategies in finding a research
problem
◦ Researcher knowledge
◦ Personal exploration
◦ Article reading – Evidence that answer isn’t already known – Your work
may be of interest to its readers – Published papers calibrate your
knowledge
◦ Ask the experts, speak to fellow students, attend talks and workshops
◦ Immerse yourself in a research environment!
Remember…
“The purpose of a problem statement is to introduce the reader to the
importance of the topic being studied”
 Writing the Introduction
◦ You never get a second chance to make a first impression.
◦ The opening paragraph of your paper will provide your readers with their initial
impressions of your argument, your writing style, and the overall quality of your work.
◦ A vague, disorganized, error-filled, off-the-wall, or boring introduction will probably create
a negative impression.
◦ On the other hand, a concise, engaging, and well-written introduction will start your
readers off thinking highly of you, your analytical skills, your writing, and your paper.
◦ Introduction is an important road map for the rest of the paper. It conveys a lot of
information to the readers.
◦ It can let them know what your topic is, why it is important, and how you plan to proceed
with your discussion.
 Writing the Introduction
◦ In many academic disciplines, the introduction should contain a thesis that will assert the
main argument.
◦ After reading the introduction, the readers should not have any major surprises in store
when they read the main body of the paper.
◦ The introduction should capture the readers’ interest, making them want to read the rest
of the paper.
◦ It should introduce the project as a whole giving background, reasons, alternatives,
previous work, etc. It should convey to the reader a depth of knowledge about the subject
based upon background reading and highlight this by referencing. In short, it sets the
scene for the remainder of the report. It must not simply describe what is to follow
chapter by chapter!.
Writing the Introduction
◦ It provides background material and discussions/explanations of why the
work was done, (causes and effects of the prevalence of the problem),
defines the scope of the project, and states clearly the objectives of the
project.
Importance of aims and objectives
Aims and objectives may be required at various points in the process, such as
the research proposal or introduction or they may be required by your
supervisor/adviser before you are given approval to begin your planned
investigation
Difference between aims and objectives
◦ Aims are what you hope to achieve by the end of your
research/investigation. They should be clear and concise statements, but
expressed in general terms.

◦ Objectives are how you intend to achieve those aims. They will include the
specific means of answering the research question that you have posed
and details of the key issues involved.
Research Aim (or General Objective)
◦ Research aims are almost always positioned at the very beginning of a
statement of research aims and objectives (or questions).

◦ They are broad and introductory rather than specific and focused.

◦ Usually a research project will have only one broad aim

Research Objectives
◦ Research objectives indicate in more detail the specific research topics or
issues the project plans to investigate, building on the main theme stated
in the research aim.
◦ try to link your research objectives directly to the main conclusions of your
review
◦ It is good practice to put these in a numbered list so they can be clearly
identified later in a proposal or report.
◦ Normally between two to four research objectives are stated
Use S.M.A.R.T. guidelines to develop your
objectives:
◦ Specific – avoid general statements, include detail about what you are
going to do.
◦ Measureable – there should be a definable outcome.
◦ Achievable – be realistic in what you hope to cover, don’t attempt too
much.
◦ Realistic – think about logistics. Factors to consider include: time; expense;
skills; access to sensitive information; participant’s consent; etc.
◦ Time constrained – be aware of the time-frame of the project.
Remember…
◦ Research aims and objectives do not instantly spring forth fully formed.
◦ It takes a lot of time and literature review to finalize the objectives.
◦ Write them down and ask other people to comment on them.
◦ Use all the feedback you get from other people as a basis for critically
assessing the clarity, relevance, logical consistency and practicality of your
research aims and objectives
Literature review
This stage will:
◦ Explain what a literature review is and why you need to do one
◦ Define the steps in a literature search and a literature review
◦ Give you an overview of where to look for appropriate literature
Why Do I Need to Do a Literature
Review?
◦ You are almost certainly not the first to investigate your topic!
◦ How do the various studies relate to each other? What precise
contribution do they make to the field? What are their limitations?
◦ You will need to draw on their work to construct your own project. But you
will also need to distinguish your own work from theirs.
◦ Originality is important! How does your own research fit into what has
already been done
The Role of the Literature Review
◦ primarily to collect and examine the state of current knowledge in a field
by examining the work of scholars and researchers whose work has been
recognized as valuable.
◦ Establishes context for your work by showing what has been done in the
area
◦ Exposes the gap in current knowledge
◦ Shows your supervisors that you have done your research
Structure of the Literature Review
There are options for organizing your literature review. You can either
organize by source, chronological, thematic, conceptual, methodological, or a
combination.
 Strategies for Writing a Literature Review
◦ Organizing: The first step is to develop a framework for the review: this can be done by
identifying the key articles or the key areas of knowledge (depending on the
organizational structure chosen), and associating papers with specific areas of knowledge.
◦ Summarizing: The second step involves identifying each article’s contribution to the area
of knowledge. You may be summarizing an entire article, or just including a brief
reference to the article.
◦ Evaluating: In the final step, you need to assess the work done in the key area of
knowledge or by the pivotal paper, in order to establish:
• How previous work has left a gap, because of either inadequate assumptions or
inconclusive findings;
• How previous research will be applied in a new context; or
• How general disagreement or different views on the subject create a need for a solution
Range of literature
◦ Journal articles
◦ Monographs
◦ Computerized databases
◦ Conferences proceedings
◦ Dissertations
◦ Empirical studies
◦ Government reports and reports from other bodies
◦ Historical records
◦ Statistical handbooks
 How Do I Do a Literature Search?
There are two main approaches to doing literature searches: searching using a search
term and searching citations, both of which rely on the availability of online databases.
Examples of databases include:
◦ Compendex (Engineering Village)
◦ INSPEC
◦ Scopus- citation database
◦ ISI JOURNAL CITATION REPORTS – citation database
◦ IEEE Xplore
◦ ACM digital library
◦ ASCE Research Library
◦ ASME Digital Library
◦ ASTM journals
◦ ProQuest Dissertations and theses
◦ Web of Science – citation database
◦ Science Direct
◦ Google Scholar
 What Makes a Successful Literature
Review?
◦ Search terms: Formulate appropriate search terms as the basis for your literature searches.
◦ Database search tools: Use database search tools to identify relevant journal articles and related
materials.
◦ Key publications: Identify a series of key publications in your area and use these as the bases for
citation reference searches.
◦ Web search tools: Use web search tools to identify pieces of interest, in particular grey literature,
relevant to you.
◦ Scanning: Scan abstracts of articles, reviews of books, executive summaries of government reports,
and other summaries of published work to determine if you need to read the piece in full.
◦ Reading: Read the pieces you have identified and make notes from them.
◦ Thematic organization: Use these notes as the basis of a thematic organization of your literature
review.
◦ Writing the review: Write the review, based on the thematic organization, in such a way that you can
construct one or more interesting research questions which you will address in your investigation.
Proper citation and reference
◦ Gives credit and respect to the original author(s).
◦ Allows readers to find the original source(s).
◦ Strengthens the credibility of your report. If a researcher does not cite the
sources, it is plagiarism
 What is referencing and why should you
reference?
When writing a piece of work, whether essay, seminar paper, dissertation or project, it is
essential that detailed and precise information on all sources consulted is included in the
text and in the reference list at the end of the piece. This allows the reader to locate the
information used and to check, if necessary, the evidence on which any discussion or
argument is based. References should, therefore, enable the user to find the source of
documents as quickly and easily as possible.
You need to identify these documents by making reference to (or citing) them - both in the
text of your assignment (called in-text citation) and in a list at the end of your assignment
(called the reference list or endtext citation).The reference list only includes sources cited
in the text of your assignment as in-text citations. It is not the same thing as a bibliography,
which uses the same format or reference system as a reference list, but also includes all
material used in the preparation of your work.
What is referencing and why should you
reference?
By providing references you:
• demonstrate the breadth of your research
• allow the reader to consult and verify your sources of information
• avoid plagiarism.
 What is plagiarism?
◦ the use of any source of information, published or unpublished, without proper acknowledgement
◦ quoting, summarising or paraphrasing material in your work without citing the source (see
glossary for definitions of these terms)
◦ paying a fee (online or in person) for someone else’s work or downloading from free sites
◦ copying and pasting text
◦ copying someone else’s work
◦ copying sections and just changing the odd word or phrase
◦ citing sources you did not use
◦ submitting the same piece of work for different assignments, even if they are for different
tutors/lecturers
◦ unauthorised collaboration (collusion) with other students on a piece of work that requires
individual work.
How to avoid plagiarism
◦ manage your time and plan your work – ensure you have time to prepare, read
and write
◦ use your own ideas and words
◦ use the ideas of others sparingly and only to support or reinforce your own
argument
◦ when taking notes, include complete citation information for each item you use
◦ when using material on the Internet make a note of the source (author, title,
URL etc.) and the date that you accessed the page
◦ use quotation marks when directly stating another person’s words and cite the
source in your list of references. Doing none or only one of these is not
acceptable
How to avoid plagiarism
◦ avoid using someone else’s work with only minor cosmetic changes, e.g.
using “fewer” for “less” or changing a sentence around
◦ when paraphrasing, use words or a sentence structure different from the
original work and acknowledge the source through intext citation
immediately following the paraphrase
◦ save all your notes, printouts etc. until you receive your final mark or grade
for the assignment
◦ remember that your list of references (sources you have cited) at the end
of your assignment is not the same as a bibliography which also includes
items (books, articles, web pages etc.) that you used for your research but
did not cite directly.
Styles for Citations
Citation styles differ primarily in the order, and syntax of information about
references, depending on difference in priorities attributed to concision,
readability, dates, authors, and publications. Some of the most common
styles for citation (as well as other aspects of technical writing) used by
engineers are as follows:
1. ASCE style (American Society of Civil Engineers)
(a) Reference list: This part is to be placed in the bibliography or references at
the end of the article or report. A template with example for the same is given
below:
b) In-text citation for journals or books: The following part is to be placed right after the reference to
the source of the citation assignment:
IEEE style (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) IEEE style is standard for all IEEE journals and
magazines, and is frequently used for papers and articles in the fields of electrical engineering and
computer science. The IEEE style requires endnotes and that references be cited numerically in the
text. Those submitting to an IEEE publication should see guidelines for the specific journal or magazine
and may also refer to the complete IEEE editorial style manual. Some examples of IEEE styles of
citations for different types of sources are enumerated below
Which citation system should you use?
There are two principal methods of citation used in higher education:
◦ Harvard system (also known as the Author-date system)
◦ British Standard (also known as the Numeric system)
◦ Other systems such as the Vancouver (also known as the Uniform
Requirements system - for medical and scientific references) and MLA
(Modern Language Association) styles are also used, particularly for
specific subject areas