What is research?
What questions do we use in research?
Who, what, where, when, why, and how
What is primary research?
original data collected
What is secondary research?
Studies
What is already known
Once you have your question, what's the next stage?
Confirm the question is appropriate
Name 3 primary research methods.
Surveys
Observations
Experiments
Name 4 types of secondary sources.
Academic journals
Research reports
Conference papers
Books
- focus on research problem
- use various methods
- tries to reveal objective reality
- what will work best?
- progressive semi-positivistic nature (increase existing knowledge)
- Mixed methods research
Pragmatist Research
Five steps of research
1. select topic and question
2. select research methods
3. ??
4. Analyse about data
5. Write findings
Collect data
What is an advantage of using primary research?
Researcher controls design
Data assembled to answer a research question
Name websites that are credible sources.
government sites
non-governmental organisations
educational institutions
businesses
newspapers
- participatory research
- social interaction
- exploratory
- inductive method (data first, construct theory to fit the data)
- usually qualitative research
Social Constructivism
What are the three things to do in research?
Ask questions
Find answers
Present findings
Expensive
Uncertain
A detailed study of a specific subject - usually qualitative focussing on people, events, organisations, and is great to learn more about the real world.
Case study
Believes in...
- objectivity
- cause and effect
- neutral observer
- deductive method (hypothesis, test theory with data, reject or confirm hypothesis)
- usually quantitative research
Post-positivism
To find facts and new conclusions is part of this
systematic investigation
Name 3 types of primary research
exploratory (inductive reasoning/making decisions)
descriptive (classification/ systems)
explanatory (getting new facts from data)
Research that studies patterns in recorded communication by using existing texts.
Content analysis
- helps to improve people's lives
- explains development of culture through imitation of things (meme theory)
- represent marginal perspectives
- data supports political agenda (focus groups)
- both qualitative and quantitative research
Advocacy research