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Programs

Introduction to Research Writing

Research Writing

What is Research?

  • The researcher poses a question.
  • The researcher collects data to answer the question.
  • The researcher presents an answer to the question.

Importance of Research

  • Reason 1: Research adds to our knowledge.
    • Addresses gaps in knowledge
    • Expands knowledge
    • Replicates knowledge
    • Adds voices of individuals to knowledge
  • Reason 2: Research helps improve practice.
    • Educators gain new ideas for their job.
    • Educators gain new insights into approaches.
    • Educators can connect with other educators.
  • Reason 3: Research helps inform policy debates.
    • Research allows people to weigh different perspectives on issues.
    • Research enables people to make informed decisions regarding policy.

The Process of Research (in cycle)

Identify the research problem → Review the literature → Specify a research purpose → Collect Data → Analyze and Interpret Data → Report and Evaluate Research
  • a. Identify the research problem
    • Specify a problem
    • Justify a problem
    • Suggest a need to study the problem for audiences
    • Ask a research question that focuses the study
  • b. Review the literature
    • Locate resources (books, journals, electronic resources)
    • Choose resources to include in the review
    • Summarize the literature in a written report
    • Identify the purpose statement (the major intent of the study, the participants in the study, the site of the study, etc.)
    • Narrow the purpose statement to research questions
  • c. Collect Data
    • Determine the data collection method
    • Select the individuals to study
    • Obtain permissions
    • Design data collection instruments and outline data collection procedures
    • Gather data
  • d. Analyze and Interpret Data
    • Take the data apart to look at individual responses
    • Represent the data in tables, figures, and pictures
    • Explain conclusions from the data that address the research questions
  • e. Report and Evaluate Research
    • Report research
      • Determine the audience for the report
      • Structure the report
      • Write the report sensitively and accurately
    • Evaluate research
      • Assess the quality of research using recognized standards in a discipline
      • Standards can come from the academic community, school districts, or federal or state agencies

Types of Research

  • a. Quantitative Research
    • Describe a research problem through trends and relationships
    • Provide a major role for the literature to suggest questions and justify the research problem
    • Create purpose statements, research questions, and hypotheses that are specific, narrow, measurable, and observable
    • Collect numeric data from a large number of people using instruments
    • Analyze data for trends, group comparisons, and relationships among variables
    • Write the research report using standard, fixed structures and an objective, unbiased approach
  • b. Qualitative research
    • Explore a problem through obtaining a detailed understanding of a central phenomenon
    • Have the literature justify the problem and play a minor role
    • State the purpose and research questions in a general, open-ended way
    • Collect data from a small number of participants
    • Analyze the data using text analysis to obtain detailed descriptions and themes
    • Write the research report using flexible and emerging structures and incorporating the researchers’ subjective reflexivity and bias
  • c. Similarities Between Quantitative and Qualitative Research
    • Both forms of research follow the six steps in the process of research
    • Both forms of research have introductions that establish the importance of the research problem
    • Both forms of research use interviews and observations
  • d. Differences Between Quantitative and Qualitative Research
    • Quantitative data collection is more closed-ended; qualitative data collection is more open-ended
    • Quantitative data analysis is based on statistics; qualitative data analysis is based on text or image analysis
    • Quantitative reporting has a set structure; qualitative data reporting is more flexible