C Studies IA Guide

8/12/2019 C Studies IA Guide

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The research process and our Internal !ssessment

Step one " Choose a Topic

ere you identify a theme for your research paper. ! theme is a broad area o# stud such as crime,technology or health. ages twenty three to twenty fi!e of the syllabus outlines the themes from which yourtopic must be chosen.

Criteria for topics selected

*t must be pertain to +aribbean society

*t must be reflected in the syllabus

-ust be practical, current rele!ant necessary / ustifiable

-ust be of some interest to you as a student and an indi!idual

Should not be a social studies or sociology study title. At this level, a fifth form study isunacceptable.

Step t$o % Narro$ocus the research

he result of this process is the formulation of a problem statement and a statement of the problem. his will

be recorded in 1 introduction and purpose o# the research' worth #i#teen mar%s (see research paperoutline) (

)o$ to #ocus the research

Read

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o fter identifying the topic of interest, familiarize yourself with the e&isting literature. his includestheories about the topic, studies done on the topic, facts reported in the news and other acceptablemedia.

o Sources of information include te&t boo%s, ournals, pre!ious studies, archi!es and internet sources.

o ll sources must be e!aluated for rele!ance, authority, authenticity, credibility, currency datedness,

Reading allo s you to determine

o "hat is already %nown and what we don3t yet %now

o +urrent, rele!ant problematic dimensions of the topic worthy of study

o sources, and methods for primary data collection

ssential "as#s

o 4ormulate a problem statement / should identify the issue !ariables of the study, the uni!erse to be

co!ered, the nature of the relationship to be e&amined and the li%ely method to be used. his canbe written as a statement or a question.

o 5utline the issues of the study / write the statement of the problem

6ac%ground (7escribe the problem issue with statistics and other e!idence highlighting whyit is worthy of attention)

-a or ob ecti!es of the study

8esearch questions (ma or questions which must be answered in order to fulfil the purposeof the study)

ypotheses 9 tentati!e statements about the relationships or associations between two ormore !ariables. hese should be informed by your literature re!iew and your prior%nowledge of the population under study.

:eneral hypothesis / 1a statement which suggests the possible answer to yourproblem statement;.

Specific hypotheses / tentati!e answers to the research questions.

$ducational !alue of the study (!alue to you and other students and the rele!ant academiccommunity)

5perationalization of %ey concepts (define %ey terms according to how they will be used inthe study)

7elimitations of the study (brief note on the scope of the study)

o $rite literature revie % a succinct and logically de!eloped summary and critical e&amination ofthe ma or readings that influenced your thin%ing in planning your study. his is the third section ofthe study and is worth #i#teen mar%s.


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his is enhanced if reading is done with a specific purpose in mind. 8ead abstracts, table ofcontents and scan through te&ts in order to determine the rele!ance, reliability, of the te&t orarticle.

his is critical re!iew of the e&isting literature on the topic (greater focus on the literaturepertaining to the research problem)

*nclude both empirical and theoretical literature

Summarize and e!aluate literature.

ttend to what is said about the topic, the sources of information presented as wellas the methods used to collect data information presented in the article te&t. *ecritical(

5rganize literature re!iewed in terms of your research questions or researchob ecti!es. !+oid doin, a boo- b boo- re+ie$(

Note references carefully

he essence of the literature re!iew is familiarize yourself with the related issues and attain informationneeded to design a meaningful study (formulate hypotheses choose appropriate data collection techniquesand sources as well as analytical tools). I# ou can ade.uatel ans$er the research problem #rom thee/istin, literature0 then the stud is unnecessar (

Step Three % 1esi,n the Stud

t this step you ma%e critical decisions about to reduce biases and produce and ob ecti!e, reliable and !alidstudy.

!( Primar Sources

=our primary sources are those which pro!ide first hand e!idence and or testimony about the topic beingstudied. hese include autobiographies, memoirs, diaries, emails, oral histories, letters, correspondences,e e$itnesses , legal cases, treaties, statistics, sur!eys, opinion polls, scientific data, transcripts, records oforganizations and go!ernment agencies, original wor%s of literature, art or music, cartoons, postcards,posters, photographs, films, ob ects and artefacts that reflect the time period in which they were created.

Note that #or our stud 0 our -e primar source is li-el to be persons $ho ha+e direct e/perience $ith the issue2s3 bein, in+esti,ated 2,i+en the use o# .uestionnaires0 obser+ation and inter+ie$s3(*earin, this in mind decisions ha+e to be made about the #ollo$in,4

Sources of data for the study & Sampling

o

Sampling is the process by which the researcher identifies participants (specific sources ofprimary data) for the study. She draws a subset of cases (the sample) from the larger pool of alleligible rele!ant cases (the population) of the study.

o he researcher may use a probability technique, a non9probability technique, or a combinationof both techniques to select her sample.

o t this stage in your study you should report on>

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he population from which the sample was selected (characteristics, location, rele!anceto the study)

he sampling technique and how it was used

8ationale for using the sampling technique chosen

he actual size and composition of the sample selected

'ethods and instruments of data collection

o method of set of principles and procedures which informs the data collection process. heresearcher may use a combination of .uantitati+e or .ualitati+e methods. -ethods includesur+e 0 inter+ie$s0 case studies0 obser+ation and archi+al research . $ach method isaccompanied by a specific instrument(s).

o *nstruments are the actual tangible tools used to collect the data. hese include questionnairesand chec%lists.

orm of Results

o his spea%s to the type of answers the research will produce, whether numbers, words,photographs, maps or drawings.

ll decisions made must be informed by the nature of the topic and the rele!ant population. Secondarily,decisions should also be informed by whether or not the study is qualitati!e or quantitati!e, and applied orbasic.

ote the table belo

5ethod Instrument Sample techni.ue Sample si6e 7orm o# resultsSur!eys @uestionnaire

-ay be administeredby se!eral means.

ypically probability(enhance ability togeneralize)

?0 / '00 Numbers

Anstructured *nter!iews

Schedule ypically qualitati!e(enhance !alidity bychoosing the mostinformede&perienced informed persons)

7ependent onthe topic andpopulation

"ords, te&ts,charts, tables

5bser!ation +hec%list ypically qualitati!e "ords, te&ts,

charts, tables,pictures

rchi!al ersonal inquiry $ither qualitati!e orquantitati!e

e&ts to bee&amined

Numbers,

+ase Study nalysis+hec%list

@ualitati!e +ase to bee&amined

"ords, te&ts,charts, tables,

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picturesNumbers maybe used

8epresenting decreasing amounts

*( Secondar Sources

Secondary Sources are materials that digest, analyze, e!aluate and interpret information contained

within primary sources or other secondary sources;. hese will feature prominently in your literaturere!iew and include boo%s, such as biographies (not an autobiography), te&tboo%s, encyclopaedias,dictionaries, handboo%s, articles such as literature re!iews, commentaries, and research articles in allsub ect disciplines, criticism of wor%s of literature, art and music.

t the end of this step you would ha!e completed section three of your internal assessment 1 1ata CollectionSources' . he section is !alued ten mar-s . ere you gi!e a 1description of the different sources from whichinformation was collected and was obtained and how these sources contributed to an understanding of theresearch problem;.

7escription / *n this conte&t means that you spea% to author(s), organization and nature of each source, as well as spea% the !alue (quality) of the each source. =ou also describe the primary sources attending to thesample and its selection and the method of data collection.

Step 7our % Collect data

7o not begin data collection until your research design has been appro!ed

t all times be guided by ethical principles

:aining access

o 5btain consent

o Set dates and %eep them

o $&ercise care, sensiti!ity, courtesy

*nteracting with the participants

o +onsideration for the nature of the sample should be reflected in your speech, dress andgeneral demeanour

o 6e obser!ant (engage your eyes and ears Cacti!e listeningD)

o llow for the participant3s need for comfort and pri!acy.

Step 7i+e " !nal 6e the 1ata

*n this section the researcher ma%es sense of the data by dissecting it to see what patterns (trends,correlations, causal relationships, etc) emerge. 4or your internal assessment it spea%s to how you organizethe raw data and subsequently, how you present the patterns you unco!er from the data.

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Tips

ttend to !ariables of importance when organizing information. *f socio9economic status is an important!ariable for e&ample, ensure that the data are dissected in terms of socio9economic status.

hin% of possible ways of presenting the trends patterns themes you unco!er while you are analyzingthe data.

+onsider the ob ecti!es and research questions when analysing the data. t the end of this section youshould be able to pro!ide answers to each research question or hypothesis.

+onsider the method of data collection it defines the %ind of data collected and consequently suitablemethods of analysis and presentation.

roperly label and reference the diagrams.

Sequence diagrams in relation to the research questions that they answer.

fter completing this tas% you must find creati!e ways of presenting the patterns and consequent answers toyour research questions. his will constitute the fourth section of your internal assessments the Presentationo# 7indin,s which has a !alue of ei,hteen mar%s.

1ia,rammatic presentation o# #indin,s

Note that there will be some differences in how qualitati!e and quantitati!e data are presented. 6ecause theformer emphasizes the thematic information, the presentation must highlight rich te&t, !erbatim reports andfoster detailed descriptions of the phenomenon being studied. hus pictures, maps, simple and comple&tables, cartoons and comic strips and flow charts are among the more suitable ways of presenting qualitati!e

data.

*n presenting quantitati!e data, you are required to use numbers to describe the phenomenon studied (showtrends, relationships etc.). he following tools may be more suitable for presenting such data.

6ar graph / horizontal and!ertical

istogram

ie charts

#ine graphs

Simple tables

-atri& (comple& tables)

!t this le+el ou are e/pected to do more than report on the ans$er to indi+idual .uestions o# a.uestionnaire8 ou are re.uired to anal se all our data0 note relationships 2causal relationships0correlations3 and present the data in $a s that hi,hli,ht these(

Interpretation o# #indin,s

*n this section you e&plain the answers to the research questions that you deduced from the analysis of thedata. hat is, for each research question you>

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5utline the general finding

ighlight the data that support each answer conclusion (referring to the presentation of findings)

ro!ide possible e&planations for the answer from within the study

+ompare answer to the related hypothesis.

1iscussion o# #indin,s

ere we loo% at the answers deduced in comparison to the literature re!iewed, re!isit your hypotheses, ande&amine the implications of your findings for all sta%eholders.

Conclusions0 recommendations and Limitations

+onclusion 9 Summarize your purpose and findings as well as the implications of those findings.

8ecommendations 9 :i!en the answers emerging from the study, what do you suggest be done to secure thebest outcomes in the area of studyG 8ecommendations may include suggestions for further study ways ofdealing with identified challenges or ways of impro!ing on or maintaining positi!e outcomes. hese must bepractical, flow from the findings of your study and suggesti!e of how the recommendations can beimplemented.

#imitations 9 his section highlights those factors that limit the scope and application of your study. hey alsohighlight those factors which may ha!e an impact on the reliability of the data. These do not include time,i+en complete the paper or $ord limit o# the stud ( Thin- seriousl about the intended used o# thestud 0 the area o# the topic co+ered0 the sample used and the data collection techni.ue used in termso# ho$ the a##ect the ,enerali6abilit and accurac o# the #indin,s(

)elp#ul Te/ts

'. -ustapha, N. (200F). Sociology for +aribbean Students> society and culture. Holume one. Iamaica,*an 8andle publishers.

2. Neuman, ". #. (2000). Social 8esearch -ethods> @ualitati!e and @uantitati!e pproaches (? th $dition). llyn and 6acon.

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C Studies IA Guide