1. Developing your research question Emma Coonan Information Skills Librarian e.coonan@uea.ac.uk

2. Overview What is research? What is a research question? Narrowing your focus What – why – how

3. What is research?

4. Gathering information to answer a question that solves a problem Booth, Colomb & Williams, The Craft of Research, p.10

5. What is research? Original image © John White 2001; subsequent unauthorised amendment in 4chan ; reproduced under fair dealing for educational purposesJohn White4chanfair dealing

6. Mapping new territory instead of following a path Research feels like …

7. Mapping new territory instead of following a path Putting another brick in a wall Research feels like …

8. Mapping new territory instead of following a path Putting another brick in a wall Having a conversation or dinner party Research feels like …

9. Mapping new territory instead of following a path Putting another brick in a wall Having a conversation or dinner party Coaxing an octopus into a glass Research feels like …

10. What research isn’t Miller & DeJoy, 2010 ‘Assessing collaboration’Assessing collaboration

11. “It’s the movement back and forth between information and what you think of that information … that will involve you in the process of knowledge making, rather than simple information retrieval and reporting.” Bruce Ballenger, The Curious Researcher, p.126

12. What is a research question?

13. “… a clear, focused, complex and arguable question [or statement] around which you center your research.” George Mason University Writing Centre http://writingcenter.gmu.edu/?p=307

14. What is a research question? “You should ask a question about an issue that you are genuinely curious about.” George Mason University Writing Centre http://writingcenter.gmu.edu/?p=307

16. Narrowing your focus RIA Novosti archive, image #854874 / Anatoliy Garanin / CC-BY-SA 3.0image #854874

17. Narrowing your focus ‘Ballet’, Gavin Golden, CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0Ballet

18. Narrowing your focus Example from Capella University, Library Research HandbookLibrary Research Handbook

19. War and Peace Free will in War and Peace The conflict of free will and historical inevitability in Tolstoy’s description of three battles in War and Peace Example from Booth, Colomb & Williams, The Craft of Research, p.43 Narrowing your focus

20. Type 2 diabetes Patient adherence in type 2 diabetes sufferers Alcohol consumption and adherence to self-care behaviours in type 2 diabetes: the inclusion of brief interventions for alcohol in diabetes care Katy Knott (2013) University of Leicester PhD thesis Narrowing your focus

22. What – why – how CHANGING ROOMS CHANGING ROOMS

23. What – why – how What is your research? What question does it answer (or ask)? Why are you doing it? Why will it make a difference to the research field? How are you doing it? What’s your approach or method?

24. The ‘why’ of your research

25. The ‘how’ of your research

26. Uri Alon (2009) ‘How to choose a good scientific problem’ p.728 Where next?

28. Dr Liz Clarke: SCI e.clarke@uea.ac.uk Rachel Henderson: SCI & Research rachel.henderson@uea.ac.uk Sarah Elsegood: HUM s.elsegood@uea.ac.uk Carly Sharples: SSF c.sharples@uea.ac.uk William Jones: FMH w.jones@uea.ac.uk Expert support: Library and LET www.uea.ac.uk/ services/students/let

29. "If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?” – Albert Einstein (allegedly) See: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Talk:Albert_Einstein

30. portal.uea.ac.uk/library/information-skills infoskills@uea.ac.uk UEA Information Skills