What do we research

Research & More
Dr. Liang Men
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● What did you do since our last talk
● what do you ﬁnd
● what do you plan to do
Discussion
Dr. Liang Men © All rights reserved, DO NOT SHARE!

Our Plan

Course Content
Review & Refine
● Review the paper and
improve it together
● 2 hours for maneuver
Research
Methods
● Define Research
Question
● Experiment design
● Data collection &
analysis
● Tools, ethics
Academic Writing
● Literature review
● Literature search
● Outline of academic
paper
● Submitting your first
paper
● Presenting your work
● Tools
~ 7 hours ~ 4 hours ~ 2 hours

Topics to be covered
Face-2-Face Communication Assignment
15 hours Face-2-Face
communication
Mini-Tasks (30h+)
For you to practice and
understand the topics
covered in the lectures

Introduction of
Research

Why research
● A systematic investigation into and study of materials and
sources in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions.
● “Research is a systematic inquiry to describe, explain, predict,
and control the observed phenomenon.”
--- Earl Robert Babbie (American sociologist)

Why research
● To prove theory
● To contribute to developing knowledge in a ﬁeld or study
● To inform action
● Research is all about generating knowledge

Why research
● Quantitative research method
● Qualitative research method

What is research
Research is generating knowledge.
Disciplinary perspectives
● What is research?
● Scientiﬁc research: the nature and properties of the world
● Humanities research Practice-based artistic research

What is research
Think of a question
● How, what, why, when, who, where .... ?
● The form of a question places conditions on what could count as an answer
A background domain of understanding
● The interests or theoretical perspective of their author
● Questions usually reﬂect
● The most important aspect of research is developing a research question.
PRINCIPLE 1: always start with a question and choose methods that are appropriate to the
question.

What is research
Think of an answer to the question.
● What would count as an answer?
● What method is used to obtain the answer? Can it be checked or veriﬁed? By whom?
● Can it be tested against other possible answers?
Note that most interesting research questions do not have a single monosyllabic answer.
● Has the question already been answered?
PRINCIPLE 2: Always check the literature thoroughly before starting to answer a research
question.

What is research
AHRC guidelines on research proposals.
Research must deﬁne:
● research questions or problems to be addressed
● objectives in terms of seeking to enhance knowledge and understanding relating to
these questions.
Research must specify:
● the context for the questions or problems to be addressed.
● why it is important that these particular questions or problems should be addressed,
what other research is being or has been conducted in this area and what particular
contribution this project will make.

What is research
Who is the research for?
Knowledge as a public good
Research must deﬁne:
● “In Economics, a public good is a good that is both non- excludable and non- rivalrous in that individuals cannot be
effectively excluded from use and where use by one individual does not reduce availability to others.”
● “Examples of public goods include fresh air, knowledge, lighthouses, national defence, ﬂood control systems and
street lighting”
This implies that research necessarily includes publication in an accessible form
○ Publicly repeated, tested and agreed
PRINCIPLE 3:Always target research towards an output (usually a written article) appropriate for the
intended

Research Methods
● Research question
● Literature review + revising research question
● Designing a study + start writing the paper
● Conducting the study
● Analysing the results
● Finish writing the paper
● Submission, peer review, revision, acceptance, publication, access questions, citation

Research Methods
Experimental design and data collection
Remember methods are tools not ideologies
● Choose the right method for answering the question
● Don’t treat everything as a nail just because you have a hammer
Two basic approaches
● quantitative
● qualitative

What do we research

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