PR1-METHODOLOGY

• Review of literature


  A comprehensive survey of what researchers have already done in your topic area
• Review of literature


  • Depending on your topic area, it can be a fairly limited exercise with only a handful of studies, or an overwhelming task with thousands of published research studies
• Primary sources


  Scholarly journals where the relevant research is published
• Secondary sources


  Book chapters or entire books that summarize a large number of studies
• Good review of literature

  • Works with primary sources - original research studies published in scholarly journals
• A student new to the research process often responds "I couldn't find anything on my topic!" when undertaking a library search for relevant research review
• Figuring out keywords by which to conduct the search is very important, as a given phenomenon is captured in the research literature through multiple keywords
• A student new to the research process often responds "Nothing has been done on my topic!" when undertaking a library search for relevant research review
• This is because the student has defined the population of participants or the setting too narrowly
• Replication


  The independent replication of research projects is a standard procedure in the physical sciences, and it's just as important in communication, although researchers tend to overlook that
• Triangulation


  The use of several different research methods to test the same finding
• Organizing the review of related literature (RRL) in a thematic way

  Used if the literature review has recurring themes. The RRL can be organized into subsections that will address different aspects of the topic.
• Organizing the RRL in terms of prominent authors


  Used if the topic has established authors that have different perspectives, opinions, and findings.
• Organizing the RRL in terms of contrasting schools of thought


  Used if the literature review has contrasting schools of thought on the fields of social sciences.
• Determining RRL's purpose: To explore


  A research is conducted to explore the chosen topic, or to provide familiarity. This approach is typical when a research examines a new interest or when the subject itself is relatively new.
• Determining RRL's purpose: To describe


  A major purpose of social scientific studies is to describe something about the communication process. The researcher observes and then describes what was observed.
• Determining RRL's purpose: To explain

  Research provides causal or functional explanation. In causal, it addresses why questions, and functional explanation addresses how questions.
• Determining RRL's purpose: To understand

  Qualitative research moves beyond description and strives for understanding. It is description to observe that people greet someone they know, while understanding knows the social group's rules that produce this pattern of action.
• Theoretical framework


  The researchers adapt from pre-existing theories to apply to the research. It explains the relationship of different concepts and terms that the researchers will relate based on the theory to be used.
• Conceptual framework


  It links important concepts and domains of the research; how a variable is related to another variable.
• Difference between theoretical and conceptual framework

  Theoretical framework is usually based on pre-existing theories and studies that can be applied to a research topic, while conceptual framework is the researchers' own concept map on how to relate different factors of a topic.