[NOTE: I am sending this to be posted before Christmas for those of you who want a sense of what will be addressed in Week 3. However, it is not yet complete–the final version will be posted in early January. Meanwhile, if you have any questions you may contact me at <haggerty@uwo.ca> I shall be checking my e-mail regularly throughout the holidays]

By now some of you will have a good idea of what you want to do for your dissertation. Others will be struggling to come up with that one, best research topic. Because you are all at different stages, some of the comments, ideas, suggestions that follow may not be relevant to you and your work. If that is the case, just ignore that bit. I hope no one feels insulted if some of this seems too obvious for words. Because I don’t know most of you at all, I may be starting at a level that is beneath you. Please bear with me, and just pass over things that don’t apply to your situation. However, I do expect everyone to respond to the questions I pose below as they form the basis for the WebCT discussion on this module of the course–even if the questions seem trivial!

In this section I am trying to present a variety of tips, suggestions, reminders, etc. Hopefully, every one of you will find something useful as you navigate through the process from defining your research question to submitting your research proposal. There are a number of books that provide guidelines for this process as well. Click here for a list of some examples that are available at most university libraries.

THE RESEARCH QUESTION OR PROBLEM STATEMENT

The first step is to decide on a general area of research. This may or may not be a problem for you.  Remember, your dissertation will occupy a significant portion of your life for the next couple of years or so. Don't settle for a topic that you don't feel passionate about--otherwise it will drag you down. Choose carefully and choose something that will keep you fascinated for the next few years. If you choose wisely, this topic can set the stage for an on-going program of research throughout the early years of your life as a university professor. Even if you think you have chosen your area, I hope you will find it helpful to work through some activities [Download Activities Page] to help you structure and focus your research--step number 2. These activities follow through a progression from identifying an area of concern right up to defining your researchable question.

Almost always, one of the really big challenges is to move from the research topic to the actual research question or problem to be addressed. The biggest difficulty for most of us is to narrow the question or problem statement sufficiently. If we don't do that, we end up wasting an incredible amount of time and effort, often not only our own time, but the time of the poor souls who have agreed to become our research subjects or participants (not to mention a PhD student's long suffering supervisor and committee members). Your supervisor will work with you on this; we will also be taking a look at your research question in this module. 

Here are some examples of research questions that have been addressed in education theses:

Using the following criteria (along with any other criteria you think are relevant), critique at least three of the above questions. Enter your critiques in the QUESTION CRITIQUE discussion on WebCT (WebCT Lakehead) and respond to at least five critiques presented by at least five different students in the class, and addressing at least three different questions (i.e., minimum of 5 responses, all to critiques by different students, and in reference to at least 3 different research questions):

REVIEWING THE LITERATURE

DESIGNING YOUR RESEARCH STUDY:

SOME QUESTIONS/ISSUES TO GRAPPLE WITH

Human beings seem to have some sort of inner drive to organize, categorize and/or label everything. The bottom line is that doing so helps us make sense out of various aspects of our lives--it simplifies things. At least, it simplifies things if we use an appropriate system of organizing. Imagine trying to shop in a supermarket that had the products shelved in alphabetical order; or a telephone directory that listed people by the street they lived on, etc.; or imagine that the supermarket or the directory had no system whatsoever.

In the same way, organizing different sorts of research can help us develop and navigate through our research plan if we think about how our research might be categorized. Such is the realm of research methods courses, and we assume that you will either have already completed one or more courses that survey a variety of research methodologies. We also assume that once you have determined the appropriate methodology for your research question, that you and your supervisor will ensure that you either have or will acquire the necessary expertise to conduct that research. For some of you that may mean taking another course; for others, it will be a matter of some intensive reading!

METHODS/METHODOLOGY

There is sometimes debate over what should be called method and what should be called methodology. Throughout this discussion I shall refer to the theoretical framework that structures the research as the methodology.  And I shall refer to the strategies, techniques or activities that are involved in the collection, interpretation and/or analysis as the methods. 

What comes first? The methodology comes first! But the methodology comes after the question--sometimes students are tempted to first think they want to do a particular kind of research and then they go looking for a question that they think fits. My advice is don't let yourself fall into that temptation--it can lead you down the garden path! The question, if properly stated, will dictate what methodology or methodologies are appropriate. 

What methodologies might be appropriate for the questions stated above?

What are some common methodologies? Some examples might be: grounded theory, phenomenology, narrative, hypothesis testing, critical theory, ethnography and so on. What others can you name?

You will probably find that there tend to be concise names for methods of quantitative analysis, but that qualitative methods of analysis require a rather detailed description of what the researcher intends to do. For example, some data collection methods are: interviews, questionnaires, classroom observation, attitude scales, etc. Some examples of interpretation/analysis methods are: tallying distributions, anova (analysis of variance), t-tests, constant comparison, etc. It is very important to remember that all statistical tests rest upon a particular set of assumptions. Be sure you understand and consider those assumptions before you decide on the statistics you will use for your analysis. Some methods can be used within a variety of methodologies. Which methods might be most appropriate for which methodologies?  

What do you want to be able to claim when you are finished? Habermas (1971) has identified three categories of human interest that he says underscore knowledge claims: prediction, understanding, emancipation. Do you want your research to allow one to predict future outcomes? Do you want your research to lead to a better understanding of your problem area? Do you want your research to lead to change of some sort? Lather (1991) has added an additional category: deconstruction. The kind of knowledge claims you wish to make also help you decide on the most appropriate methodology and methods for your research.