20 August

Question 1

What are the capability attributes of a good research topic?

Answer 1

• Does it fascinate you
• do you have research skills to undertake the topic
• achievable within available time?
• Still relevant when project ends?
• Financially viable?
• Able to gain data?

Question 2

What are the appropriateness attributes of a good research topic?

Answer 2

• Comply with standards set by examining
institution?
• Topic have issues with clear link to theory?
• Can you state research questions, aim and
objectives clearly?
• Will research provide fresh insights into topic?
• Topic relate clearly to idea given by institution?
• Topic match career goals?

Question 3

How do you generate research ideas (creative)?

Answer 3

• Keeping notebook of ideas
• Exploring personal preferences using past projects
• Relevance trees
• Brainstorming

Question 4

How do you generate research ideas (rational)?

Answer 4

• Examining own strengths and weaknesses
• Examining staff research interests
• Looking at past project titles
• Discussion
• Searching existing literature
• Scanning the media

Question 5

What are the techniques for refining your research topic?

Answer 5

Delphi
Preliminary enquiry
Integrating ideas
Refining provided topics

Question 6

Explain the Delphi technique.

Answer 6

It involves group of people who are involved/interested in research idea to generate and choose a more specific research idea.
How it works – each member generates up to three research ideas and distribute all collected ideas (non-attributably). Repeat cycles of commenting on ideas and revision of contributions in light of others’ input until consensus is reached.

Question 7

Explain the preliminary enquiry technique

Answer 7

review of literature including news. First iteration of literature review. Goal is to gain greater understanding so that research questions can be refined

Question 8

Explain the Integrating ideas technique

Answer 8

use techniques from other methods of refining. Classifying each research idea into its area, then field, and finally precise aspect in which interested. For example – do preliminary enquiry and then use delphi technique.

Question 9

Explain the Refining provided topics technique

Answer 9

balance personal interest with organizational demands.

Question 10

Define a problem statement.

Answer 10

A research problem is a clear statement about an area of concern, a condition to be improved upon, a difficulty to be eliminated, or a troubling question that exists in scholarly literature, in theory, or within existing practice that points to a need for meaningful understanding and deliberate investigation.

(A research problem does not state how to do something, offer a vague or broad proposition, or present a value question.) [extra info]

Question 11

What are the characteristics of a problem statement?

Answer 11

• Precisely defined (gives proper direction for subsequent research)
• More specific than research topic (some aspect of topic area)
• Indicates need for the study – some problem, situation we want to confront
• Gapbetween what we already know and what we want to know

Question 12

How do you define research questions?

Answer 12

• Need clearly defined questions that allow you to say exactly what issue is that you wish to study (find out, explain or answer)
• Questions can be exploratory(new topic-understand what is happening), descriptive(describing process or event), explanatory(why did something happen) or evaluative (how good, how bad, quantifying something)
• Goldilocks test (too big, too small, too hot, or just right) questions right for investigation at this time, by this researcher in this setting.
• Must generate new insight
• Strip away unnecessary layers
• Russian doll principle

Question 13

What are the criteria that research questions must meet?

Answer 13

• Clear
• Researchable
• Connect with established theory and research
• Linked to each other
• Potential for making contribution to knowledge
• Not too broad or narrow