MIDTERMS R. PROJECT

• Search strategy


  The strategy the researcher makes and takes in looking for relevant literature to review
• Conceptual framework


  The first in the four frameworks and is contained in the research statement or question
• Article


  Is used before nouns or noun equivalent and are type of adjective. The consist of "a," "an," and "the"
• Definite article


  Is used before a noun to indicate that the identity of the noun is know by the reader, "THE"
• Indefinite article


  Is used before a noun that is general or when its identity is not known, "A," "AN"
• Research process


  1. Begin with an idea. Refine that idea

  2. State research question/statement in one sentence

  3. Specific aim and objectives

  4. Literature review

  5. Select methodology

  6. Devise data collection methods

  7. Gather data

  8. Analyze data

  9. Draw conclusions

  10. Complete write-up of thesis/report
• The problem should not be one of having no ideas; the problem should be in deciding on which idea to focus for your research project.
• Generating ideas for research projects

  1. Identify potential research projects

  2. Think critically about your ideas
• Documentary research or documentary analysis


  Is a research focused on analyzing documents. Any documents can be used as the focus of a documentary research and both quantitative and qualitative research can be used in gathering and analyzing data for docu research
• Documents used in documentary analysis

  • Company reports
  • Government reports
  • Files
  • Records of meetings
  • Diaries
• Conceptual framework


  A conceptual framework illustrates the expected relationship of your variables. It defines the relevant objectives for your research process and how they come tgt to make coherent conclusions
• Steps in developing a conceptual framework

  1. Choose your research question

  2. Select your independent and dependent variables

  3. Visualize your cause-and-effect relationship

  4. Identify other influencing variables
• Limiting the scope of a research project


  • One of the most critical steps in any research project
  • A researchable problem is one where the researcher has the time, money, and the access to the data required to complete the project
• Word count - useful indicator of the expected scope of the research project
• It is also important to know what it is that you, as the researcher, want to accomplish with the research. Once you know what is expected, and what it is that you want to do, it often becomes somewhat easier to decide on which particular research project to develop.
• Aims and objectives


  • Re-state the research question/statement as an aim
  • Minimum - 2 objectives
  • Maximum - 6 objectives
• Theoretical framework


  Key concepts - focus of the research, and consequently of your literature search
• Sample literature review


  A sample, or a small example, of the actual or proposed literature review. In general, the sample literature review would consist of 300-800 words, depending on the overall word count given for the research proposal.
• Methodological framework


  It is the third framework within the four frameworks approach. It is fully detailed in the chapter on research methodology in the thesis or in the report of the research. In general, this is Chapter 3 of the thesis, or the written account of the research. A synopsis of the methodological framework is presented in the research proposal.
• Methodological framework


  • A set of procedures, methods, and tools that guide the research process in a systematic and structured manner
• Research methodology


  The first element of the methodological framework
• 4 important issues/concepts when writing a research proposal

  • The validity
  • The reliability
  • The concept of triangulation
  • The ethical issues and potential ethical issues
• Literature in the context of research

  • It is a research that has already been carried out and published. Such research is published in journal articles, books, theses, government response the reports of NGOs, conference reports, online and in the media.
  • The literature in a field or area of research constitutes the body of knowledge in that field or area of research; it contains the theory in that field.
  • Literature is published in many different places, including the media. Media reports of research projects tend to be very short.
• Purpose of undertaking a review of literature

  • To develop their own expertise and scholarship on the topic or phenomenon
  • To establish what is known and what is not known in the field
  • To highlight gaps in the knowledge base in the area or on the topic; the researcher may decide to use their research project to try to fill in one or more of those gaps
  • To create a theoretical framework for the research project, contained in the literature review.
• Theoretical framework


  1. Conceptual

  2. Theoretical
• Writing the literature review

  Introduction - should thoroughly and succinctly introduce the reader to the content of the chapter & to the main argument to be developed in the literature review and the same goes for the SUMMARY

  Literature review is divided into sub sections

  Each sub sections is headed by a subheading

  The subheading indicates the content of the sub section
• Seminal authors


  Made a founding contribution to any area of knowledge
• Contemporary authors


  Most up-to-date authors
• Content analysis


  It is a research methodology that is used when the research calls for the analysis of the content of any text or set of texts. Using content analysis, researchers search the text for the presence of particular words, phrases and concepts. Any text that is language-based can be used as data in a research project using content analysis as the research methodology.
• According to Neuman (2000), content analysis is a technique for analysing the content of texts. Neuman states (2000, 283), that using content analysis the researcher can compare content across different texts and analyze the content using quantitative techniques.
• When used quantitatively, content analysis can establish the objective meaning in texts from the manifest content in texts. The researcher interprets what is written in the texts.
• Reading literature: some key points

  • Think critically

  Take critical perspective

  Using the model of the research process - read & critically examine every element of the research
• Referencing


  It is critically important and much of the work of the literature review is in referencing all of the relevant research that you have used in developing the theoretical framework for your study. It is essential that the literature review be properly referenced.