Overview of beginning an Academic Practice research project from literature searching to selecting research methods and conducting some research

1. Researching Academic Practice
Diane Bell, Research Librarian

2. Stages of research
■Define your research question.
■Consider your research approach/methods.
■Conduct a literature review.
■Critically read and evaluate the literature.
■Design, conduct and analyse any original
research.
■Synthesise the literature and your research
findings.
■Write your dissertation or paper.

3. Defining your research question
■Develop a research question or hypothesis that
interests you to explore or answer.
■It can be related to your own area of work or
practice.
■It should be connected to the field of Academic
Practice/ Education.
■Follow the guidance and assessment criteria in your
module handbook.

4. Do some background research
■To ensure your topic is viable, do some preliminary research
on it.
■Choose some keywords and search CityLibrary Search to
see if you can find any useful results to begin exploring.
■This should allow you to change or re-define your topic.

5. Plan your research.
Bell, J. (2014) Doing your research project. 6th
ed. Maidenhead: McGraw Hill.

6. Literature review
■A literature review is a search, evaluation and synthesis of
the available literature in your given subject or chosen topic
area.
■It often forms the basis of a dissertation.
■You may wish to use a range of sources eg. books,
databases, journal articles, reports, websites.
■The Academic Practice Library Guide is a good starting
point.

7. Stages of a literature review
■Select your research question
■Select your sources
■Choose your search terms
■Run/ re-run your search
■Analyse/ evaluate your results
■Save/ export useful results
■Write your report

8. Database search tips
■ AND &, + – combines terms. Narrows results
■ OR , – locates results containing either of the
terms. Use ‘or’ for synonyms. Useful for US/UK
Spellings. Broadens results
■ NOT – excludes terms. Discards results that contain your excluded term
(even if the results contain your chosen search term)
■ Phrases – enclose in quotation marks “third way”
■ Proximity – WITH, SAME, NEAR – locates results in same sentence or
paragraph
■ Truncation – replaces multiple characters at the end of a word e.g.
pension*– finds pensioner, pensions, pensioned
■ Wild card – replaces a single character organi?ation – locates either
spelling
■ e.g. wom?n finds woman and women
■ wom* finds both along with womb, wombat, womble etc.
■ Check help pages for the correct symbol. Can be * ! + $
■ Subject headings & Thesauri e.g. MeSH

9. Consider your keywords
■Break down your topic into key concepts. You might wish to
use lists or a mind map.
■Think about: Synonyms (e.g. violence or aggression;
currency or cash or money). Alternative spellings (e.g.
organisation or organization) related terms or broader terms
(e.g. personnel or human resources). This will assist with
your searching.
■Consider the type of documents you may require: articles,
news, date ranges, geographical area etc.

10. Academic Practice Library Guide

11. Key resources for Education

12. Database example: Academic Search Complete

13. Abstract & article PDF – explore other references
from this.

14. Manage your references

15. ProQuest RefWorks – reference management
software

16. Choosing your research methods
■ There are many different types of research methods for example:
qualitative, qualitative, mixed methods. The methods you choose depend
partly on your research question and expertise and preferences. See
your EDM114 course reading list.
■ A useful resource for exploring research methods is Sage Research
Methods Online available on CityLibrary Search.

17. Consider your research methods
■Qualitative research based on feelings, opinions, feedback,
transcripts: interviews, focus groups, observations, oral
histories, participant observation, document analysis etc.
■Quantitative research based on statistics, facts, data:
surveys, observations, experiments, data analysis, statistical
analysis.
■Mixed methods: a combination of different methods.
■There are many other approaches.

18. Planning your data analysis
■Your choice of approach and data collection tools and
techniques will influence any data you collect.
■This will affect how you conduct your data analysis.
■You may wish to use data analysis software such as SPSS
or NVivo or analyse your results yourself depending on
complexity.
■See our Digital and Social Media Tools guide for more
information: http://libguides.city.ac.uk/digital

19. Synthesise the literature and your research
findings
■Address your research question or hypothesis.
■ Your literature review should provide a good basis for this.
■Produce outcomes/ data relating to your research question.
■ Synthesise your literature review with your research
outcomes.
■Draw conclusions/ recommendations and areas for future
research.
■Reference your work accurately and consistently and leave
time for formatting, editing and proof reading.

20. Cite Them Right Online

21. Harvard referencing style example
There are 2 parts to Harvard:
1. Citing in your essay (author-date):
Research methods can be categorised into two broad
approaches, induction and deduction (Partington, 2002).
2. In your reference list:
Partington, D. (ed.) Essential skills for management research.
Sage: London.

22. Reference formats
■ Each type of source (eg. a book, journal article etc.) has a
pre-defined format.
■ Use Cite Them Right Online to identify:
■ which elements you need to include
■ which order to put them in
■ which punctuation to use
■ The format of the reference tells the reader at a glance what
kind of source it is.

23. Examples of sources to reference:
■ Books
■Chapters or sections of books
■Journal articles
■Websites
■Government publications
■Personal communications eg. emails or telephone calls.
There are many more types of source and specific layouts for
them on Cite Them Right Online.

24. Including a citation in your work
■There are different ways you can use the author’s surname
and date in your writing, as long as both are there and near
each other. This makes your work easier to read and the use
of language more natural.
For example: According to McTaggart (2010) …
Research is important (Paterson, 2015).
■Include page numbers when you refer to a specific point in
the text, such as a direct quote.

25. Questions and where to find help
■ Your course or module handbook and your supervisor.
■ Library website.
■ Academic Practice Library Guide.
■ Email us: library@city.ac.uk