Research Methods First Day

Research  Systematic  Collection and analysis of data  Creates new knowledge  Informs actions and decisions

Scientific method  Making observation  Forming an hypothesis  Making predictions based on the hypothesis  Testing the hypothesis  Revising the hypothesis based on the findings  Does this apply to technical communication?

Hypothesis, theory, and law  How are all three defined?  Does technical communication have laws?  “Our goal must be to communicate an increasingly accurate understanding of our world and of the limitations of this understanding. We must never forget that our understanding is provisional” (Hart)

Paradigm  So, what’s a paradigm?  But we assume there is AN answer. How does the idea of paradigm come into play for defining THE answer.  See Kuhn. T. The structure of scientific revolutions.

Applied versus basic research  Do Hughes & Hayhoe and Martin & Bateson differ in their definitions?  Where do the definitions fit into the ideas of the scientific method?  Hughes & Hayhoe also use terms like: theoretical, empirical, and interpretivist research

Secondary versus primary research  How do they differ?  When are each applicable?  Which is a –literature review –usability study –an analysis of when a text failed to communicate

Practictioner research  What would be its definition?  How is it different from applied research? (I’ll take as a given it’s not basic research.)  Concept of research also carries with it the assumption that the knowledge created is applicable at a generalized level and is repeatable over multiple instances producing the same results. (Hughes & Hayhoe). Does this apply here?

Qualitative and quantitative research  Define each?  How do you do perform each?  What type of data gets collected?

How versus why questions  What is the different between these two types of questions?  Which does technical communication care about more?

The research question  Martin & Bateson make a comment that you must have clear research question. I’ll rephrase it to claim the research question must be one sentence. Why?  Where in the development of your research project do you need a single sentence research question?  What happens if you don’t have a clearly thought-out research question?

Detail level and level of analysis  Martin & Bateson consider doing research at the proper level of detail and collect data for the proper level of analysis you want to research.  What is meant by level of detail and level of analysis?  What are pitfalls for either collecting your data at too low or high a level? How will this effect data analysis?

Individual differences  Each individual in the population being studied will have a distinct set of behaviors. How do you ensure the study results are not biased by those sets of behaviors? (i.e., Individual behaviors overriding or obscuring the average behavior of the population.)  What is the connection between this question and detail level of data collection and analysis?

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