Finding a research idea Quantitative methods and experimental

1. Finding a Research
Idea

2. To find a research idea,
students need to:
1. Personal Interests and
Curiosities
2. Reviewing the literature in
that area to identify the
relevant variables and find
an unanswered question.

3. Common
Sources of
Research Topics
• Personal Interests
• What interests you?.
• Casual Observations
• Observing people’s behavior around you can be
an excellent source of idea.
• Practical Problems or Questions
• Ideas for research will arise from practical
problems or questions you encounter in your
daily life, such as issues from your job, your
family relationships, your schoolwork, or
elsewhere in the world around you
• Research that is directed toward solving practical
problems is often classified as applied research;
• In contrast, studies that are intended to solve
theoretical issues are classified as basic research

4. Continue…
• You may decide, for example, that you are
interested in the topic of obesity and want
to examine the variables that contribute to
overeating.
• Ideas for topics can come from a variety of
sources including everyday experience,
books, journal articles, or class work.
• It is important that a researcher be honestly
interested in the chosen topic.
• Without intrinsic interest to sustain
motivation, it is very easy for a researcher to
get tired or bored, and give up before the
research is completed

5. Continue…
• General topic area is simply a starting point that
eventually will evolve into a very specific idea for a
research study.
• Your final research idea will develop as you read
through the research literature and discover what
other researchers have already learned.
• Your original topic area will guide you through the
literature and help you to decide which research
studies are important to you and which are not
relevant to your interests.
• Eventually, you will become familiar with the
current state of knowledge and can determine
which questions are still unanswered.

6. Research questions
• As you become familiar with an area of
research, you will learn the different variables
that are being investigated and get some ideas
about how those variables are related to each
other.
• At this point, you should be looking for an
unanswered research question.
• Published research reports often include
suggestions for future research, or identify
limitations of the studies they are reporting.
• More often, however, the unanswered
question is the result of critical reading

7. Research Questions
• In some situations, the research question may simply
ask for a description of an individual variable or
variables.
• For example, a researcher might be interested in
the sleeping habits of college students. How
much sleep do college students typically get?
What time do they get up each day?
• More often, however, the research question concerns
a relationship between two or more variables.
• For example, a researcher may want to know
whether there is a relationship between portion
size and the amount of food that people eat.
Does serving larger portions cause an increase in
food consumption?

8. Form a Hypothesis
and a Prediction
• if your question concerns the relationship
between variables, the next task is to form a
hypothesis, or a tentative answer to the question
• For example, if your question is whether
serving larger portions leads to overeating, a
hypothesis could be stated as follows:
Increasing portion size will cause an increase
in the amount of food eaten.
• When you are selecting an answer to serve as
your hypothesis, you should pick the answer that
seems most likely to be correct
• Remember, the goal of the research study is to
demonstrate that your answer (your hypothesis)
is correct.

9. Form a
Hypothesis
and a
Prediction
• The likelihood of a hypothesis being correct
is often based on previous research results.
• If similar research has demonstrated the
importance of one specifi c variable, it is
likely that the same variable will be
important in your own study.
• It is also possible that you can develop a
logical argument supporting your
hypothesis.
• If you can make a reasonable argument for
your hypothesis, then it is likely that the
hypothesis is correct.

10. Form a
Hypothesis and a
Prediction
• Because the hypothesis identifies the specific
variables involved and describes how they are
related, it forms the foundation for your research
study
• Conducting the study provides an empirical test of
the hypothesis. The results of the study will either
provide support for the hypothesis, or will refute the
hypothesis
• Therefore, it is essential that you develop a good
hypothesis

11. Form a
Hypothesis
and a
Prediction
• Logical
• A good hypothesis is usually founded in
established theories or developed
• from the results of previous research.
Specifically, a good hypothesis should the
logical conclusion of a logical argument
• Premise 1: Academic success is highly valued
and respected in society (atleast by parents and
teachers).
• Premise 2: Being valued and respected by others
contributes to high self-esteem.
• Conclusion (hypothesis): For a specific group of
students, higher levels of academic success will
be related to higher levels of self-esteem

12. Form a Hypothesis and
a Prediction
• Testable
• In addition to being logical, a good
hypothesis must be testable; that is, it
must be possible to observe and
measure all of the variables involved
• In particular, the hypothesis must
involve real situations, real events, and
real individuals.
• You cannot test a hypothesis that refers
to imaginary events or hypothetical
situations.

13. Remember, the scientific method requires an
objective
and public demonstration.