Research skills

Dr Aleksej Heinze

Salford Business SchoolUniversity of Salfordwww.business.salford.ac.uk

Friday 2nd October 2009

Based on earlier work of Frances Bell, Janice Whatley and Mark Jones

Outline

• Identifying a “research problem”

• Refining a research aim and objectives

• Selecting a data collection method

• Conducting interviews

• Critical review of data collection options

What is research?• The Oxford English Dictionary defines research as: “A

search or investigation directed to the discovery of some fact by careful consideration or study of a subject; a course of critical or scientific inquiry” (Oxford English Dictionary 1989).

• Why do we need to develop research skills?

…

to become an independent thinking person

Where do we start? • Identifying and refining a “research

problem”• External

– an assignment topic given to you by a teacher– your friend is looking for a new mobile phone– something you read in an article– assessment requirements i.e. word limits etc

• Internal• You are looking for a new game console • You want to increase your knowledge in an area

where you would like to work or have a hobby or…

Is this a valid research problem?

1. Stopping global warming2. Tonight’s dinner3. Selecting the best mobile phone handset

• Importance of context/research settings• Focus of the research aim:• Do the findings of this work help with our

understanding?

Activity

Working in pairs:

• Define a “research problem” which you would like to solve

• Share this “research problem” with your peer and decide:– a) whether it is of an internal or external nature … or

is it both? – b) does it fit within the requirements of your

assignment?

Break

What to consider before research starts• Research problem• Research aim and objective• Relevance• Cost• Currency• Timescales and deadlines• Convenience/accessibility

– finding– re-use and referencing

• Availability• Credibility/quality

How can we conduct research?

• “Do” or “borrow”?• Primary sources

– Unpublished data gathered by researcher from interviews, questionnaires, observations, etc.

• Secondary sources– Materials previously published– Books, journal articles, web

pages, reports, theses

Information sources

• The Web– sites– discussion groups

• Books• Academic journals• Conference proceedings• Trade journals/magazines• Newspapers

• Popular magazines• Television• Conversations with

friends/colleagues• May be paper-based or

electronic

Assessing quality• Audience of the publication

– academic (peer reviewed or not?)– trade– general public

• Potential for bias – e.g. vendor publications

• Publication process– open forum vs peer review process

• Are articles from Wikipedia of good quality?

Primary data

• Collected by the researcher

• E.g. through observation, surveys, interviews, focus groups

What to consider before research starts• Research problem• Research aim and objective• Relevance• Cost• Currency• Timescales and deadlines• Convenience/accessibility

– finding– re-use and referencing

• Availability• Credibility/quality

Smart Objectives

SpecificMeasurableAchievableRelevantTimely

Research Aim and Objectives

• Aim – broad statement of what needs to be achieved

• To establish the latest trends in school healthy eating• Objectives – to reach the aim…• Specific – students from secondary schools in Greater Manchester

area• Measurable - survey of at least 100 students to be undertaken• Achievable - you have the necessary resources to undertake this

study• Relevant - links with the aim and is relevant to the assessment

requirements• Timely - to be achieved by end of Semester 2, 2010

Activity• Working in pairs refine the “research

problem” identified earlier and write down: • Research aim: • Research objectives:• S• M• A• R• T

Break

Interviews• “An interview is a purposeful discussion between two or

more people” (Saunders, et al 2007)• Like a verbal questionnaire• Can be structured, unstructured and semi-structured• Dangers of getting false consensus:

– interviewee can be telling the researcher what they think she/he wants to hear

– interviewer steers participants by asking leading questions

• But– opportunity to ‘probe’ more deeply and develop a

dialogue– possibility of revealing other areas to investigate

further

Interviews• What do you want to find out?

– Views on school lunches from students.

• Open questions– What do you think about the school lunches?

• Closed questions– On a scale of 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest) rate your

experience of school lunches

• Data: interview notes, sound recording or video recording

Interviews• Structured

– You have a specific set of questions that you want answers for

– What is your typical lunch meal?

• Semi-structured– You have some vague idea of what you want to ask– e.g. you said that you like salad, please can you tell me

more about the salads that you like?

• Unstructured– You are not sure of the situation and would like to explore

an issue– e.g.: Tell me what you think about school lunches

Observations• Purposeful note taking of a certain

situation/behavior– Observing the number of people who choose a

healthy meal for their school lunch

• You have a framework of themes or issues you are looking for and you are making notes of these

• Data: Making notes, video recording, pictures

Observations• Covert

– the participants are not aware of your observation– CCTV, user website behavior …

• Overt– The participants are fully aware of your presence

and your activity– Census checking points

• What are the drawbacks/ advantages to both?

Activity• In groups of three:

• Roles:– Interviewer: Decide on the research objective and

three questions that you can ask of your interviewee– Interviewee: answer the questions of the interviewer– Observer: observe the way in which the questions

were asked – what worked and what could be improved?

Break

Secondary data sources• Already exist and have been

collected and published by other people– e.g. official statistics e.g. Social

Trends survey, Census

– books, journal articles, electronic journal articles etc.

– mass media e.g. videos, newspapers

– diaries and letters

– company documents

Quantitative vs Qualitative data • Quantitative:

– Primarily concerned with numbers

• Qualitative: – “…includes all non numeric data – words, images,

sounds and so on – found in such things as interview tapes, researchers’ diaries, company documents, websites and developers’ models.” (Oates 2006)

Questionnaires• Often used for surveys• Printed lists of questions answered either personally by the

respondent or by the interviewer• Increasing popularity of online surveys • Strengths

– relatively cheap and quick– comparisons can be easily made– free online options allow for wide geographic reach and large sample

size– Analysis is usually much quicker and inbuilt in some of the online

data collection tools• But…

– cannot guarantee honesty of responses– possibility of interviewer influence– response rates often very low (about 5% - 10%)

www.surveymonkey.com example analysis

Research: Critical success factors:

• Identifying and scoping a “research problem”• Reviewing critically existing literature

– Establishing the latest knowledge position– Identifying similarities and differences

• Justifying and designing data collection tools• Conducting and recording primary data collection

– Research logbook etc

• Analysing and discussing primary data in relation to secondary data– Identifying similarities and differences

• Drawing conclusions– Recommendations, identifying limitations of the study and

proposing further work in the area

Practical advice • Students should

– make a note of all the details needed for the reference– Include citations as they write the essay/report– Learn Harvard referencing style

• More information here:– http://www.isd.salford.ac.uk/help/general/

srchstrat.pdf – http://www.isd.salford.ac.uk/help/general/bibcit.pdf – http://www.palgrave.com/skills4study/studyskills/

personal/research.asp– http://www.neilstoolbox.com/bibliography-creator/

index.htm– http://scholar.google.co.uk/

Summary• Identifying a “research problem”• Refining a research aim and objectives• Selecting a data collection method• Conducting interviews• Critical review of data collection options

?

References• Oates, B. J. (2006). Researching Information

Systems and Computing. London: Sage Publications.

• Oxford English Dictionary, (1989), Oxford University Press, Oxford.

• Saunders, M., Lewis, P., & Thornhill, A. (2007). Research methods for business students. Harlow, Essex, UK: Pearson Education.