This is the chapter 1 of research writing

1. INTRODUCTION CHAPTER IN
RESEARCH WRITING
By
ATIKA ABID
Mphil Chemistry

2. Steps in the Research Process
Choose
analysis
Implement plan
Prepare report
Identify sample
Design data collection plan
Select collection procedures
Identify question
State hypotheses
Review
literature
Narrow to
specific problem
Develop
approach

3. Selecting the Problem - Tips
1. While reading, attending lectures,
write down ideas immediately.
2. Research a subject for a paper.
3. What questions seem unresolved?
4. Challenge commonly accepted
beliefs.
5. Look at master’s & doctoral studies.
6. Discuss ideas, topics with
professors or other researchers.

4. Defining the Problem
• Literature search
– conceptual literature
– related research
• Consider your interest in the problem
• Consider the “importance” of the
problem
• Consider whether researching the
problem is a feasible task

5. Developing the Research Proposal
• Title
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Literature Review
• Chapter 3: Procedures

6. Chapter 1: Introduction
• Statement of problem
• Significance of study
• Delimitations
• Limitations
• Assumptions
• Hypotheses
• Definition of Terms

7. Statement of problem
• problem statement: declarative
statement indicting question
addressed in research project
• Example: The focus of the study was
to determine whether particular
variations within the CHRNA4 gene
are associated with smoking
behaviors.

8. Purpose of the study
• purpose statement: indicates why the
study was done
• Example: The purpose of the study
was to facilitate identification of
individuals at risk for becoming
addicted to nicotine.

9. Significance of the study
• Possible reasons:
1. Gaps exist between theoretical and
practical aspects of the problem.
2. More & better knowledge is needed.
3. Current knowledge needs to be
validated.
4. Current practices need to be
clarified/improved.
5. There is no known solution to the
problem.

10. Delimitations – scope of study
• Description of subjects
• Description of variables
• Description of tests, instruments,
procedures
• Description of special equipment
• Type of training
• Time and duration of study
• Analytical procedures

11. Limitations (weaknesses)
• Approach, design, method, techniques
• Sampling problems
• Uncontrolled variables
• Errors in test administration or data
handling
• Generalizability of data
• Representativeness of subjects
• Compromises to internal and external
validity
• Reliability and validity of research
instruments

12. Assumptions
• Usually drawn from literature or
previous experiments
• Example: We assume the same genes
are important in different populations
for mediating smoking behavior. We
assume the genes contribute enough
of an effect to the behavior to be
able to be observed.

13. Hypotheses
• Statement of what you predict the
results of the study will reveal.
• Example: There is an association
between a variant in the CHRNA4
gene and the number of cigarettes
smoked each day.

14. Definition of terms
• Important for terms that may have
multiple meanings
• Example tobacco use: ever tried,
tried at least 5 times, used on a daily
basis, used only in bars, used five
years ago…

15. Working bibliography
• Listing of all sources pertinent to the
problem
• notecards, notepads, computerized
reference databases
• Include author, title, year, journal or
book, volume, issue, publisher, page
numbers, etc.

16. Chapter 2: Literature Review
• Needs to present broad background
of the research related to the
problem
• Not a simple listing of other works
• Should bring together results from
multiple studies to draw conclusions,
relationships
• Should facilitate identification of
problems, gaps that need to be
addressed

17. Chapter 3: Procedures
• Aka Methodology, Experimental
Procedures, Survey Procedures
• Data collection plan
• Step-by-step instructions
• Extremely detailed, so someone else
could replicate the study

18. Procedures: General Guidelines
• Restatement of problem
• Overview of organization of chapter
• Description of subjects, sampling methods
• Description of tests, instruments,
measures
• Description of study design
• Description of administrative procedures
• Description of analysis of data

19. Steps in the Research Process
Choose
analysis
Implement plan
Prepare report
Identify sample
Design data collection plan
Select collection procedures
Identify question
State hypotheses
Review
literature
Narrow to
specific problem
Develop
approach