Research Ideas and Hypotheses PDF

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH IDEAS AND HYPOTHESES 2.1 IDENTIFYING A TOPIC AREA; STEPS IN THE RESEARCH PROCESS: First — Identify a general topic area that is interesting to you. Second — Explore previous research in that topic area to discover a specific research idea or question. COMMON SOU...

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH IDEAS AND HYPOTHESES 2.1 IDENTIFYING A TOPIC AREA; STEPS IN THE RESEARCH PROCESS: First — Identify a general topic area that is interesting to you. Second — Explore previous research in that topic area to discover a specific research idea or question. COMMON SOURCES OF RESEARCH TOPICS; Personal Interests and Curiosities. Casual Observation. Reports of Others' Observation. Practical Problems or Questions; ○ Applied Research — Intended to answer practical problems. ○ Basic Research — Intended to answer theoretical questions to gather knowledge for the sake of new knowledge. 2.2 SEARCH THE EXISTING RESEARCH LITERATURE IN A TOPiC AREA; Find a specific research idea or question. THINGS YOU CAN DO TO START A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE; Do Your Homework — Read books and journal articles to familiarize yourself with the topic. ○ Do not Panic; You do not need to know everything. Read enough to gain a basic understanding of the topic. Narrow your research topic from a general area to a very specific idea. Keep an Open Mind— Begin with a general topic area and then let your background reading lead you to a more specific idea. Focus, Focus, Focus — The goal is to develop one research question and to find the background information that is directly relevant to that question. Take One Step at a Time — It is not necessary to do the whole thing at once. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SOURCES; Primary Source — Firsthand report of observations or research results. ○ Ex: Empirical journal articles, theses and dissertations, and conference presentations of research results. Secondary Source — A description or summary of another person's work. ○ Ex: Books and textbooks in which the author describes and summarizes past research, review articles or meta- analyses, newspaper and magazine articles that report on previous research. THE PURPOSE OF LITERATURE SEARCH; Each research study is part of an existing body of knowledge. TWO BASIC GOALS; To gain with the current research in your specific area of interest. To find a small set of research studies that will serve as the basis for your own research idea. USING ONLINE DATABASES; Typical database contains about 1 million publications, or records, that are all cross- referenced by subject words and author names. ○ Full text — Each record is a complete word-for-word copy of the original publication. ○ Non full text — Provides more complete coverage of a topic area. SCREENING ARTICLES DURING LITERATURE SEARCH; Use the title of the article as your first basis for screening. Use the abstract of the article as your second screening device Look for a full-text article. Read the article carefully and/or make a copy for your personal use. Use the references from the articles that you found. CONDUCTING A LITERATURE SEARCH; Narrow down your general idea to a specific research question. Find all the published information documenting and supporting the question. Start with a recently published secondary source in your idea. ○ HELPING STARTING POINTS; Subject Words: List the correct terms, or subject words, sed to identify and describe the variables in the study and the characteristics of the participants. Author Names. 2.3 FINDING A RESEARCH IDEA FROM A PUBLISHED ARTICLE; FINDING RESEARCH IDEAS; Find Suggestions for Future Research; ○ Look for explicit statements in the journal articles you already have. ○ Usually, a set of suggestions for future research is at the end of the discussion section of most research reports. Combine or Contrast Existing Results. COMPONENTS OF A RESEARCH ARTICLE — CRITICAL READING; Ideas for new research studies begin with careful reading of past studies. INTRODUCTION; ○ Discusses Previous research that is fundamental to the current research study. ○ Presents a clear statement of the problem being investigated. METHODS; ○ Presents details regarding the participants and the procedures used in the study. RESULTS; ○ Presents the details of the statistical analysis. DISCUSSION; ○ Begins by summarizing the results of the study, stating the conclusions, and noting any potential applications. REFERENCE; ○ Lists complete references for all items cited in the report. 2.4 USING A RESEARCH IDEA TO FORM A HYPOTHESIS AND CREATE A RESEARCH STUDY; CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD HYPOTHESIS; LOGICAL; ○ Founded in established theories or developed from the results of previous research. ○ Logical conclusion of a logical argument. TESTABLE; ○ One for which all the variables, events, and individuals can be defined and observed. REFUTABLE; ○ It must be possible to obtain research results that are contrary to the hypothesis. Falsifiable hypotheses — a critical component of the research process. POSITIVE; ○ It must make a positive statement about the existence of usually a relationship, the existence of a difference, or the existence of a treatment effect. Using a Hypothesis to Create a Research Study; ○ Transform the general hypothesis into a specific research study.