Developing a plan, primary research, and secondary research

Narrow Your Topic A focused topic will allow you greater depth of exploration BE SPECIFIC Too Broad: How can we fix the parking problem?

Plan Ahead Good research considers: Audience Purpose Subject Who are your readers? Writers? Purpose Why are you conducting this research? Subject What do you already know? What do you need to know?

Construct a timeline Time is (often) money Know your deadlines Know your research/writing habits Anticipate problems

How to Plan a Research Strategy Work out a schedule and budget Visualize the deliverable Determine what information will need to be a part of the deliverable Determine what information you will need to acquire Make a list of questions that you need to answer Conduct secondary research Conduct primary research Evaluate your information Do more research From Markel, M. (2004). Technical Communication. 7th ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martins, pp. 126-127.

Project planning is doubly important when you have set deadlines and multiple associates/collaborators

Secondary Research The Literature Review aspect of the study Shows the importance/need for your research Ties your study in to what others have done

Conducting a Literature Review Identify key words useful in locating materials Search library holdings, ERIC, PsychINFO, Sociofile, EBSCO, FirstSearch, etc. Consider using a specific database, such as JSTOR, where appropriate Adapted from Creswell, J.W. (2003). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 34-35.

Choose a set of articles as your preliminary reading While reading the articles, see who THEY cite/refer to as important “Map” how these articles relate to each other and your subject Draft summaries and precise references Assemble the literature review Adapted from Creswell, J.W. (2003). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 34-35.

A note on Internet Credibility: Pay attention to the URL suffix Sites that end with ".edu", ".gov", and ".org" are often associated with education, government, or organizations Avoid using sites that come from public Internet servers (Angelfire, Geocites, etc.) because the sites are not reviewed Public sites may be credible, but, as with all sites, you need to look for other credible, printed sources to back them up.   From Dan Cramer’s Communication Resources: http://cramer.ereunao.com/resources/internet-tips.htm

Find out who authored the site You need the name to: Site the source Check credentials Pay Attention to Site Design It is becoming easier for anyone to put information on the web, but not all people know how to design a site A good site design by itself does not mean a site is credible, but good design means the person who created the site most likely had some form of education From Dan Cramer’s Communication Resources: http://cramer.ereunao.com/resources/internet-tips.htm

Aspects of good design include: appropriate color scheme easy to read with standard writing and grammar easy navigation a way to contact the author a date last updated From Dan Cramer’s Communication Resources: http://cramer.ereunao.com/resources/internet-tips.htm

To test your ability to identify a credible site, view the eight sites below and identify which sites are credible and which are not. Behind the Typeface Demotivators Dow Ethics Mankato, Minnesota MAVAV Pets or Food XOSX Software Facts about Dihydrogen Monoxide From Dan Cramer’s Communication Resources: http://cramer.ereunao.com/resources/internet-tips.htm

Primary Research Research specific and unique to your study Interviews Surveys Ethnographies Case Studies

In ANY research… … be aware of audience, purpose, and subject Be able to answer that single, deceptively simple question:

So What?