1. Developing a plan, primary research, and secondary research

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

3. 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?

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

5. 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

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

7. 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

8. 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,

9. 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,

10. 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:

11. 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:

12. 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:

13. 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:

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

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

16. So What?