Module 13: Researching

Question 1

Research includes

Answer 1

finding, analyzing, and crediting information

Question 2

Secondary research

Answer 2

retrieves data that someone else has gathered: library research and online searches are well-known kinds of secondary research

Question 3

Primary research

Answer 3

gathers new information through personal observations, experiences, experiments, interviews, focus groups, and surveys. These methods allow you to gather and analyze new information.

Question 4

To research effectively, you need to know

Answer 4

Where and how to find information

How to evaluate and analyze the information you find

How to use that information professionally and ethically

Question 5

How Do I Begin My Research?

Answer 5

Focus your search: Identify your objectives(s) and draft a working thesis or purpose statement.

Question 6

A thesis/working purpose statement

Answer 6

Narrows your research parameters: you search for and find the relevant information more efficiently

Structures your document or presentation

Becomes part of your document or presentation introduction

Question 7

How Can I Find Information?

Answer 7

Learn what resources are available, and learn how to use them

Question 8

How Can I Search Efficiently?

Answer 8

Use keyword searches.

Question 9

Keywords

Answer 9

are the terms the computer looks for in a database or on the Web.

Question 10

How Do I Analyze the Information I Find?

Answer 10

Ask questions to examine data critically.

Question 11

For your critical analysis

Answer 11

Start with the most credible sources
Look for an author
Look for the date
Check the source
Compare the information with other sources
Look for the bias

Question 12

How Do I Decide Whom to Survey or Interview?

Answer 12

Use a random sample for surveys, if time and money permit. Use a judgment sample for interviews.

Question 13

CONVENIENCE SAMPLE

Answer 13

is a group of respondents who are easy to reach: students who walk through the student centre, people at a shopping mall, workers in your own unit. Convenience samples are useful for a rough pre-test of a questionnaire.
NO GENERLIZATION

Question 14

A judgment sample

Answer 14

a group of people whose views seem useful. Someone interested in surveying the kinds of writing done on campus might ask each department for the name of a faculty member who cares about writing and then send surveys to those people

Question 15

How Do I Create Surveys and Write Questions for Interviews?

Answer 15

Use free online survey software. Create clear and neutral questions.

Question 16

survey

Answer 16

questions a large group of people, called respondents or subjects.
-Best type is a questionnaire

Question 17

Closed questions

Answer 17

those questions to which people can answer only yes or no—limit information

• faster to answer
• easier to research
• basic and non-probing

Question 18

Open questions

Answer 18

the journalism or “W” questions (who, what, when, where, why, how)—encourage information and do not lock the subject into any sort of response.

Question 19

Branching questions

Answer 19

direct different respondents to different parts of the questionnaire based on their answers to earlier questions.

Question 20

How Do I Analyze the Data I Collect?

Answer 20

Evaluate your sources; understand your sources; look for patterns and emerging stories.

Question 21

Causation

Answer 21

means that one thing causes or produces another

Question 22

Correlation

Answer 22

means that two things happen at the same time. One might cause the other, but both might be caused by a third.