On most courses you will be required to undertake some type of research for your studies. This may be a small piece of research for a group project, or it may be a major piece of research for an undergraduate dissertation. Also, you will have to undertake research in the form of literature and information searches in your library and on the internet. This chapter offers advice and guidance on conducting effective research for your studies.

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY RESEARCH

As a student you may be required to undertake two types of research – primary research and secondary research. Primary research involves the study of a subject through firsthand observation and investigation, such as interviewing people or searching through statistical data. Secondary research involves the collection of information from studies that other researchers have made of a subject, such as research papers published in journals or on the internet. The different sources of primary and secondary research are listed below.

As most students find that they have to undertake secondary research before they conduct primary research, this chapter will begin by discussing secondary research.

HOW TO CONDUCT SECONDARY RESEARCH

As you noticed in the previous chapter, when you are asked to complete an assignment you will need to begin by collecting information to help you to develop your arguments. This information is most commonly found in your college or university library, or on the internet.

Using the Library

The best way to become familiar with your library is to make sure that you go on the library tour arranged by your tutor at the beginning of your course. The librarians will show you the different sections of the library. This could include the reference section, short loan section, journals and periodicals, study areas, archives, newspapers and magazine section. You will also be shown how to use the library catalogue system. If you are unable to attend a tour, some tips for using your library catalogue appear in the box below.

Your library may offer an Interlending and Document Supply service which means that you can access books, journals, maps and other documents from other university libraries if they are not available in your library. Most libraries will place a limit on the amount of requests you are allowed to make through this service. For more information about college and university libraries see Chapter 18.

Researching on the Internet

The information available on the internet is unstructured – there is no central index or contents page to help you to find what you are looking for. Instead there are four main ways to find information on the internet:

• Find out the web address and enter it in the ‘address’ box on your browser. If the web page is not found, check that you have typed the address correctly.
• Think of keywords and enter them in the ‘search’ box on your search engine. There are a variety of search engines available – you will soon find that you prefer some to others and that some are more efficient than others (see below).
• Follow the headings and links offered by your preferred search engine. Click on each heading to refine your search.

• Follow the links which take you to other sites that may be relevant to your original search.

Think about your learning style (see Chapter 1) – this will help you to get the most out of the internet. Do you like to begin a project by brainstorming ideas and then searching out the literature that helps you to develop these ideas? If this is the case, use your brainstorm list to develop keywords that can be entered into the search bar. You will then be presented with a list of sites with information that may help you to develop your key ideas.

Or perhaps you prefer to go to the literature first and develop your ideas from what you read? If this is the case, try surfing the net by going to one site and following the links to another and then on to another. The information you come across may help you to develop and refine your ideas.

Whichever method you adopt, be disciplined – many student hours are wasted each day when people get side–tracked when surfing the net. Keep focused and stick to the task.

When you are surfing the net, there are some precautions you can take to check the reliability and quality of the information you have found:

• Try to use websites run by organisations that you know and trust;
• Check the About Us section on the web page for more information about the creator and organisation;
• Use another source, if possible, to check any information of which you are unsure – find two or more credible sources that say the same thing;
• Note whether the information has been provided to promote the sale of a product;
• You should check the national source of the data as information may differ between countries, especially legal issues;
• Look for a corporate profile or citations to previously published work;
• Always keep an open mind about any information you read – what assumptions are being made? Can the author prove that the information is correct? What methods were used to generate the information?
• Look for clues about who might have funded the research or who is sponsoring the website. Might these organisations have a vested interest in the research or results?

HOW TO CONDUCT PRIMARY RESEARCH

Before you go on to conduct your own primary research, it is useful to distinguish between qualitative research and quantitative research.

• Qualitative research – this explores attitudes, behaviour and experiences through such methods as interviews or focus groups. It attempts to get an in–depth opinion from people taking part in the research. Attitudes, behaviour and experiences are important, so fewer people take part in the research – but the contact with these people tends to last for a lot longer.
• Quantitative research – this generates statistics through the use of a large–scale survey research, using methods such as questionnaires or structured interviews. If a market researcher has stopped you in the street or you have filled in a questionnaire which has arrived through the post, this falls under the umbrella of quantitative research. This type of research reaches many more people, but the contact with those people is much quicker than it is in qualitative research.

Research methods are the tools you use to collect your data. The five most common tools used by researchers are listed below:

• Interviews – there are several different types of interview used in research. The most common of these tend to be unstructured, semi–structured and structured interviews.
• Focus Groups – these may be called discussion groups or group interviews. A number of people are asked to come together in a group to discuss a certain issue led by a moderator or facilitator who introduces the topic, asks specific questions, controls digressions and stops breakaway conversations.
• Questionnaires – these are used for many different types of research. There are three basic types of questionnaire – closed –ended, open –ended or a combination of both. Increasingly, the internet is being used to distribute questionnaires.
• Observation – there are two main ways in which researchers observe – direct observation and participant observation (where the researcher immerses themselves into the culture of the people who are being studied).
• Experimentation – this is a popular research method used in the sciences such as chemistry and physics.

To find out how to use these different research methods, consult A Practical Guide to Research Methods (details below).

BEGINNING A RESEARCH PROJECT

When you start to think about your research project, a useful way of remembering the important questions to ask is to think of the five W’s:

WHAT? WHY? WHO? WHERE? WHEN?

Once you have thought about these five W’s you can move on to think about HOW you are going to collect your data.

WHAT?

What is your research? This question needs to be answered as specifically as possible. One of the hardest parts in the early stages of research is to be able to define your project. So much research fails because the researcher has been unable to do this. A useful tip is to sum up, in one sentence only, your research. If you are unable to do this, the chances are your research topic is too broad, ill–thought out or too obscure.

WHY?

Why do you want to do the research? What is its purpose? Think very carefully about why you are doing the research as this will affect your topic, the way you conduct the research and the way in which you report the results. If you’re researching for a university dissertation or project, does your proposed research provide the opportunity to reach the required intellectual standard? Will your research generate enough material to write a dissertation of the required length? Or will your research generate too much data that would be impossible to summarise into a report of the required length?

WHO?

Who will be your participants? What type of people do you need to get in touch with and how will you contact them? If you have to conduct your research within a particular time scale, there’s little point choosing a topic which would include people who are difficult or expensive to contact. Also, bear in mind that the internet now provides opportunities for contacting people cheaply.

WHERE?

Where are you going to conduct your research? Thinking about this question in geographical terms will help you to refine your research topic. The venue is also important – where would be convenient to carry out your interviews or focus groups? Is there a room at your institution which would be free of charge, or are you going to conduct them in participants’ own homes? Would it be safe for you to do so? Would you be comfortable doing so? If you’ve answered ‘no’ to either of these last two questions, maybe you need to think again about your research topic.

WHEN?

When are you going to do your research? Thinking about this question will help you to sort out whether the research project you have proposed is possible within your time scale. It will also help you to think more about your participants – when you need to contact them and whether they will be available at that time.

Once you have thought about these five W’s, try to sum up your proposed project in one sentence. When you have done this, take it to several people, including your tutor, and ask them if it makes sense. Do they understand what your research is about? If they don’t, ask them to explain their confusion, revise your statement and take it back to them.

KEEPING RECORDS OF BACKGROUND RESEARCH

When you begin any type of background research, keep accurate records of the data you have gathered from a particular source – this will save you plenty of time and frustration later, especially when you come to write an assignment or start a research project. A useful way to organise your background research is to have two files – one for primary research and one for secondary research. Each file can be divided into topics with the relevant notes slotted into each.

For the primary research file, notes from each contact can be separated by a contact sheet which gives the name of the person, the date and time you met and a contact number or address. In the secondary research file, each page of notes can be headed by details of the publication in the same format that will be used in the bibliography (see Chapter 11).

FURTHER READING

I have written a book for people who are new to research which covers all the areas mentioned above in much more depth. It explains clearly and concisely how to go about conducting a research project.

As your course progresses you might find it to be a useful resource, especially if you are expected to undertake a large research project or dissertation.

Dawson C. (2006) A Practical Guide to Research Methods: A User–Friendly Guide to Mastering Research Techniques and Projects, 2nd edition. Oxford: How to Books Ltd. (£9.99).