Term 4, 1st year

Question 1

what are the steps to designing a scientific research question?

Answer 1

1. Identify a Broad Area of Interest:
   Start with a general topic that you’re curious about or passionate about, like a subject in environmental science, psychology, biology, etc.
2. Do Background Research:
   Explore the topic to understand existing research, debates, and gaps. Reading recent studies, reviews, or articles can help you refine your focus.
3. Narrow Down the Focus:
   Pinpoint a specific aspect or subtopic within the broad area. Consider focusing on an unresolved question, a controversial area, or something that interests you and has practical significance.
4. Define Your Purpose:
   Ask yourself: What is the goal of my research? Are you aiming to explore, describe, compare, or explain something? Your purpose will help shape the question’s structure.
5. Formulate a Preliminary Question:
   Create an initial version of your question based on the specific area and purpose. This question should be concise but open enough to allow exploration.
6. Ensure It’s Feasible and Ethical:
   Consider whether you have the resources, time, and permission (if needed) to investigate this question. If the study involves people, animals, or the environment, ensure it adheres to ethical guidelines.
7. Make It Specific and Measurable:
   A good scientific question should be clear and focused. Avoid vague terms and ensure that the question can be investigated with measurable outcomes.
8. Check for Relevance and Novelty:
   Think about the potential impact or relevance of your question. Will it contribute new insights, build on existing work, or address a gap?
9. Refine the Question:
   Adjust your question based on feedback from peers, mentors, or further reading. Ensure it’s clear, concise, and testable.
10. Turn It into a Hypothesis (if Applicable)
    Once you have a well-formed question, you can often transform it into a hypothesis—a statement predicting the outcome based on previous knowledge or theory.

Question 2

What is the methodology?

Answer 2

The methodology describes how you will go about your research to find the answer to your question.

Question 3

Types of Methodology

Phenomenology

Answer 3

Study a phenomena as a whole. In this type of study you are really just observing the whole system. You are not really focusing on any specific variables, more getting general observations to understand the system.

Question 3

Types of Methodology

Ethnography

Answer 3

This is the study of people, behaviours and reactions. When you do this type of study you ideally become accepted as part of the group and so you presence is not impacting the behaviours, making sure your observations are valid.

Question 4

Types of Methodology

Case studies

Answer 4

In this type of study, we just observe what is happening. We cannot impact the system itself. Eg astronomy, people, measuring bacteria on café tables, ecology, climate.

Question 5

Types of Methodology

Quasi - experiments

Answer 5

In this type of method, we are looking for relationships, but we cannot control all the variables. To improve this type of quasi-experiment we can use controls. These studies may go for an extended period of time and are often more authentic than completely controlled experiments as the situation has a complexity closer to the real-world situation.

Question 6

Types of Methodology

Highly controlled experiments

Answer 6

We can carry out refined structured experiments on large groups, collecting a large amount of background data. All variables are controlled.

Question 7

What are the requirments to write a good methodology?

Answer 7

• a clear and precise description of how an experiment was done
• the rationale for why specific experimental procedures or data sets were chosen
• explanation of what was done to answer the research question
• how the question was answered
• a justification of the experimental design
• an explanation of how the results were analysed
• Scientific writing is direct and orderly. Therefore, the methods section structure should:
• describe the data used in the study
• explain how the data were located for the study
• describe the research protocol around use of data – what was selected, what was discarded
• explain how themes/patterns/outcomes were determined from the data and what calculations were performed,
• state which statistical tests were done to analyse the data.

Question 8

How do you write your research methodology?

Graph

Answer 8