1. How to Generate Research Ideas

2. Where do you find research ideas?
What interests you?
Personal experiences
(2) The World Around You
Asking “why”?
Media – radio, tv, movies, newspapers, magazines, etc.
Observing and engaging in the world around you
Common sense
Real-life problems

3. Where do you find research ideas?
(3) Existing Research
Replicate previous studies
Improve previous studies
Reconcile studies with conflicting results
“Future Research” section
Change methodological approach
(4) Theories
Generate a new theory
Refine existing theory
Update an older theory
Connect two or more theories

4. Where do you find research ideas?
(5) Connections between fields, disciplines, sub- disciplines, perspectives, etc.
Pick a topic and look at how different fields would approach it?
How would different disciplines research the same topic?
How would each perspective explain the topic?
(6) Talking to others
Ask laypersons what they want to know – family, friends, etc.
Talk to professionals who are experts on the issues
Have conversations/discussions with colleagues
Attend conferences
Brainstorming sessions with others

5. Where to ideas come from?
Philosophers like John Locke and Henri Poincare say that new ideas are an association or combination between two or more simpler ideas.
So we generate new ideas by combining simpler parts into the formation of a new complex whole.

6. How to generate Research Questions
Perspectivist Worksheets
Types of Research questions
Descriptive
Relational
Causal

7. How to Translate Questions into Research Hypothesis
Some Guidelines…
Testable/Falsifiable
Precise/Specificity
Direction & Magnitude
Based upon type of research
Descriptive
Relational
Causal
Research Hypothesis vs. Null Hypothesis

8. How to choose which idea to pursue?
Some Guidelines…
Internal Motivations
External Motivations
Practical Concerns
“Importance”
Part of Program of Research

9. How to conduct a “Program of Research”?
A “Program of Research” is a game-plan for conducting multiple studies on a single topic that comprehensively addresses all the implications and extensions of a single research idea.

10. Advanced sources of information
McGuire, W. J. (1997). Creative hypothesis generating in psychology: Some useful heuristics. Annual Review of Psychology, 48, 1-30
Special Issue of "Personality and Social Psychology Review" on Theory Construction, 2004, Vol8, No.2