Researching Your Subject
Week 7

RESEARCH is the process of developing evidence. PRIMARY research is to create technical information yourself. SECONDARY research is gathering information that others have discovered and created. NARROWING a topic involves developing a question or set of questions that can be answered simply. In the scientific method, the task is to formulate an hypothesis that can be simply accepted or rejected (yes, or no). Narrowing a topic can be done by restricting subject, time, place, or events.

RESEARCH STRATEGY is based on audience, purpose, and subject.

1. Schedule and budget: When is a deliverable due? Is there enough money to do the work?
2. Deliverable: What kind of document are we writing? Who are the authors and what is the target journal or media (print, web)?
3. What will be in the final deliverable? Outline the end document before you begin the work?
4. Map out the work you must do to fill in the outline of the deliverable. For primary research, this would be an outline of experiments or observations. For secondary research, this would be a list of research topics or missing information.
5. Ask questions for each sub topic.
6. Do the secondary research, making sure you know what is already known or in print.
7. Do the primary research, including surveys, examinations of existing bodies of fact, etc.
8. Evaluate the quality of your information. Is it accurate, unbiased, current, comprehensive?
9. Reiterate as needed, but stick to the original schedule and budget.

SECONDARY RESEARCH. The best source for most university-level research is still the library. Other sources include

• PRINT. These are highly portable, useful for permanent records. Searchable through online catalogs.
• Note the difference between primary and secondary literature.
• DATABASES. These may be available online. These searches can be very expensive, however.
• DISKS. These can contain indexes, abstracts, and reference texts.
• WEB SITES. These can be searched, but it may take practice to find information.
• ONLINE DISCUSSION GROUPS AND BULLETIN BOARDS. These categorize and publish email messages submitted by members of the group. Newsgroups also store news in databases. Mailing lists can send announcements of the availability of information, sent regularly (as a weekly newsletter, for example).

BASIC RESEARCH TOOLS:

• ONLINE CATALOGS. Database of books, microforms, films, CD’s, etc., usually limited to a particular library or group of libraries (e.g., HELIN)
• REFERENCE WORKS. General dictionaries, encyclopedias, almanacs, atlases, etc. {Note, page 134, list of references to references.}
• PERIODICAL INDEXES
  • Applied Science & Technology Index
  • Business Periodicals Index
  • Readers’ Guide to Periodical literature
  • Engineering Index
  • Obtain printed articles
    • Library itself
    • Interlibrary loan
    • Document-delivery services
• NEWSPAPER INDEXES
  • New York Times
  • Christian Science Monitor
  • Wall Street Journal
• ABSTRACT SERVICES
  • Biosis
  • Chemical Abstracts
• GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS (held in separate areas in libraries, probably not abstracted)

SKIMMING AND NOTE-TAKING. To decide whether a paper, book, etc., has useful information, skim it. Look at a book’s preface and intro, table of contents, or sample chapters or paragraphs to gauge depth, quality, and relevance. Read article titles and abstracts, or use major headings to get an idea of the nature and scope of a journal article. The main value of skimming is to rule out useless materials (too superficial, too complex, off target). Note taking, in a laptop or on index cards, involves paraphrasing, quoting, or summarizing.

• PARAPHRASE by restating in your own words. If you copy, use quotation marks, and record author, title, etc., for the bibliography. Study and understand the original content, rewrite relevant portions in complete sentences, title and organize the information for later retrieval; be sure to record the bibliography.
• QUOTING, using quotation marks, brackets for explanatory additions, ellipsis for omissions.
• SUMMARIZING, to record briefly only the essential messages. Summaries include overviews, abstracts, executive summaries, or conclusions.

EVALUATE THE INFORMATION. Is it accurate, unbiased, comprehensive, appropriately technical, current, and clear?

• AUTHORSHIP. Who is this person, and what is their background, bias, etc?
• PUBLISHER. Is this a reputable publishing house? Is it sponsored by a group with a bias (political, business, etc.)
• DOCUMENTED. Is there evidence that the author knows the literature or the field? Are there good references cited?
• SENSIBLE. Do the arguments and assumptions appear reasonable?
• TIMELINESS. Is this current information, based on recent technology, etc?

PRIMARY RESEARCH. There are many sources of primary information.

• INSPECTION. Do personal, eye-witness study, looking at evidence.
• EXPERIMENTS. Follow the scientific method. Establish an hypothesis, document careful methods to eliminate confounding effects, carefully observe and record results, draw conclusions (i.e., accept or reject the hypothesis).
• FIELD OBSERVATIONS. Experiments (quantitative) versus field research (qualitative). Distinction is the amount of control over confounding effects. You need to understand the ability of statistical analysis to ferret out quantitative relations, regardless of confounding effects.
  • Look for EFFECT OF EXPERIMENT (or experimentor) on the behavior you are studying.
  • Deal with BIAS in the recording and analysis of data.
• INTERVIEWS. Guidelines for conducting the interview.
  • Preparing. Good, open, focused questions.
  • Arriving on time, getting started smoothly.
  • Conduct. Take careful notes, but keep talk flowing. Start with prepared questions, but be flexible after that. Ask follow-ups. Stay on track.
  • Conclude. Say thanks, ask permission to quote. Arrange for followup if that seems appropriate.
  • Post interview. Summarize while still fresh in your mind. Write a thank you note.
• QUESTIONNAIRES AND SURVEYS. Need to be mindful of demographics. Is the return going to produce a statistically meaningful sampling of a population?