2.Scientific Investigation

Q:3 What is your research topic? Basic Business Research Methods htmhttp:// htm

Research and information The Information Cycle : How today’s events are tomorrow’s information

research topic The first thing to do when looking for a research topic: find a subject area that interests you. After all, Make sure to select a topic that is not too broad,too broad but still has enough information on it to write a complete paper.enough information Example: Too Broad?

Narrowing a Topic: Too Much Information! If your topic seems too broad, consider questions like: What do you already know about the subject? Is there a specific time period you want to cover? Is there a geographic region or country on which you would like to focus? Is there a particular aspect of this topic that interests you? For example, public policy implications, historical influence, sociological aspects, psychological angles, specific groups or individuals involved in the topic.

SCIENTIFIC METHOD DEFINING THE STEPS THE QUESTION You must ask a question that is well defined, measurable, and controllable. Why is grass green? What is the cause of AIDS? Why does skin wrinkle with age?

A scientific investigation Relates to a problem that can be formulated as an hypothesis for testing Collects data for analysis that can be used to draw conclusions Is communicated to allow scrutiny through verification

An hypothesis A hypothesis is a statement that describes a relationship between two or more variables that can be tested

A literature review is an account of what has been published on a topic by accredited scholars and researchers. Besides enlarging your knowledge about the topic, writing a literature review lets you gain and demonstrate skills in two areas: information seeking: the ability to scan the literature efficiently, using manual or computerized methods, to identify a set of useful articles and books critical appraisal: the ability to apply principles of analysis to identify unbiased and valid studies.

Components Problem formulation—which topic or field is being examined and what are its component issues? Literature search—finding materials relevant to the subject being explored Data evaluation—determining which literature makes a significant contribution to the understanding of the topic Analysis and interpretation—discussing the findings and conclusions of pertinent literature

Example: LANGUAGE AND GENDER: –A brief Literature Review