CHOOSING A RESEARCH

PROJECT
CM SELEMANI-MBEWE
Lecture 5
 STRUCTURE OF THE
PRESENTATION
• What gives rise to the research project?
(Choosing a research project)
• The importance of the research
• The purposes of the research
• Is the research practicable?
• Research questions
• The scope of the literature review
CHOOSING A RESEARCH PROJECT
• A problem encountered in
everyday work or outside everyday
work;
• An issue that the researcher has
read about or seen;
• A problem that has arisen in the
locality, e.g. in response to
government policy or practices or
to local developments;
• An area of the researcher’s own
interest;
 CHOOSING A RESEARCH
PROJECT
• An area of the researcher’s own
experience;
• A perceived area of importance;
• An interesting question;
• A testable guess or hunch;
• A topical matter;
• Disquiet with a particular research finding
that one has met in the literature or a
piece of policy;
CHOOSING A RESEARCH PROJECT
• An awareness that a particular
issue or area has been
incompletely studied, and a wish to
plug the gap;
• A wish to apply a piece of
conceptual research to actual
practice, or to test a theory in
practice;
• A wish to rework the conceptual or
 CHOOSING A RESEARCH
PROJECT
• A wish to revise or replace the
methodologies that are often used
in researching a specific area;
• A desire to improve practice in a
particular area;
• A desire to involve participants in
research and development;
CHOOSING A RESEARCH PROJECT
• A desire to test out a particular
methodology in research;
• An interest in seeing if reported
practice holds true for the
researcher’s own context (e.g. a
comparative study);
• An interest in investigating the causes
of a phenomenon or the effects of a
particular intervention in the area of
the phenomenon;
 CHOOSING A RESEARCH
PROJECT
• A priority identified by funding
agencies;
• An issue identified by the
researcher’s supervisor or a
project team of which the
researcher is a member.
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE RESEARCH
• Is the research significant?
• What difference will the research make?
• Does the originality of the research render it
significant?
• How and where does the research move forward
the field?
• Where do originality and significance lie in the
research:
– Conceptually
– Theoretically
– Methodologically
– Substantively
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE RESEARCH
• What is the likely impact of the
research?
• What is the use of the research –
what will it ‘deliver’?
• What benefit will the research
bring, and to whom?
• Is the research worth doing?
THE PURPOSES OF THE RESEARCH

• What are the ‘deliverables’ in the

research?
• What does the research seek to
do?
• What do you wish to come from
the research?
EXAMPLES OF DIFFERENT PURPOSES
OF RESEARCH
• To test a theory/hypothesis
• To test practice
• To clarify concepts
• To identify common features
• To investigate and examine
• To examine effects of
causes
• To evaluate an intervention
• To examine causes of
effects
• To look at an issue in detail
• To generalize
• ...
 EXAMPLES OF DIFFERENT
PURPOSES OF RESEARCH
• To collect opinions • To look at long-
• To model term effects
• To compare • Classroom-based
• To look at trends research
• To collect views • To investigate
sensitive issues or
• To critique
groups
policy/practice
• To develop theory
• To see what
happens if
 FITNESS FOR PURPOSE: PURPOSES OF RESEARCH
DRIVE DIFFERENT KINDS OF RESEARCH

• Accounts • Grounded theory

• Action research
• Case study
• Comparative study
• Correlational research
• Covert research
• Historical research
• Ideology critique
• Interpretive research
• Literature-based research
• Longitudinal research
 PURPOSES OF RESEARCH
DRIVE DIFFERENT KINDS OF
RESEARCH
• Descriptive • Meta-analysis
research
• Multi-level
• Discourse analysis research
• Ethnography • Multiple regression
• Evaluative • Network analysis
research
• Observational
• Experiment study
FITNESS FOR PURPOSE: PURPOSES OF RESEARCH
DRIVE DIFFERENT KINDS OF RESEARCH

• Observational study
• Personal constructs
• Research synthesis
• Role play
• Simulation
• Structural equation modelling and causal modelling
• Survey
• Testing
 IS THE RESEARCH PRACTICABLE?
• Access
– People
– Institutions
– Data sources
• Permission
– People
– Institutions
– Review panels
• )
 IS THE RESEARCH
PRACTICABLE?
• Informed consent and ethical
issues
• Scope of research
• Disposition, commitment and
expertise of researcher
• Duration of research
• Availability of resources
(human, material, temporal,
administrative, supervision
 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Research questions must be operational, yielding concrete
answers to research purposes and research objectives.

• Clarity
• Complexity
• Comprehensibility
• Comprehensiveness
• Concreteness
• Contents
• Difficulty,
 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

• Ease of answering
• Focus
• Kinds of data required to answer
them
• Purposes
• Specificity
• Utility of the answers provided
 TYPES OF RESEARCH QUESTION
• ‘How?’ • How to achieve outcomes
• ‘Wh’ questions: who, • How to achieve something
where, why, what, what if, • How to do something
when • How to improve or develop
• Achievement something
• Alternatives to something • Prediction
• Causation • Processes
• Comparisons • Properties and
characteristics
 TYPES OF RESEARCH
QUESTION
• Correlations • Relations (e.g.
• Description between
• Evaluation variables,
people, events)
• Explanation • Stages of
• Exploring something
• Factors • Structures of
• Function or something;
purpose • Testing
• Types of
something
SCOPE OF THE LITERATURE REVIEW

• Gives credibility and legitimacy to

the research;
• Shows that the research is up-to-
date, focuses on key issues, is
aware of the theoretical,
conceptual, methodological and
substantive problems in the field;
• Clarifies key concepts, issues,
terms and meanings;
SCOPE OF THE LITERATURE
REVIEW
• Leads into the researcher’s study,
raising issues, showing where
there are gaps in the research
field, how to move the field
forwards, and justifying the need
for the research;
• Shows the researcher’s own
critical judgment on prior research
or theoretical matters in the field;
SCOPE OF THE LITERATURE REVIEW
• Provides new theoretical, conceptual,
methodological and substantive insights and
issues for research;
• Sets the context for the research and
establishes key issues to be addressed;
• The literature must inform the research, not
simply stand alone with no relation to what
comes after.