Read Understanding Research Online
Authors: Marianne Franklin
In light of
Box 2.1
,
Box 3.1
below unpacks these required elements as distinct, albeit overlapping
stages
. Different institutions, departments, and modes of research will expect each stage to be completed differently. This schematic is a general guide, not a one-size-fits-all.
If research can be considered as an uphill journey, one that includes learning particular customs, norms and values, and vocabularies along with a swathe of formal – written – regulations and informal – unwritten – ones, then this journey can be uncomfortably steep. For everyone, research brings with it personal and professional challenges. Like all journeys though, there will be times when it is wise to stop, take stock and, perhaps, even retrace your steps. Like others I too would stress that this process is not a linear one per se; it is more likely to be a spiral motion than a straight line onwards and upwards (see Berg 2009, M. Davies 2007, Blaxter et al. 2006). Besides, with any steep incline, ascending in a spiral is often the more efficient way of getting to the top. If that is the case, let’s break down this large chunk of work down into its composite two stages:
Stage 1
: Once you have a topic or if you already have an idea for a research topic you need to start refining the topic-area as you develop a research question.
Chapter 2
outlined this decision-making process in detail. To recall, these early stages are when you take time to become familiar with research in your chosen area. This process is a line of continuity throughout but particularly as the research plan takes shape, along with your grasp of the literature – the ‘field’ or fields in which you are working. As you make use of such tips, and even after you have narrowed down your options, you can also make a point of:
BOX 3.1
THE MAIN STAGES IN A RESEARCH PROJECT
Enter: first decisions and commitments
Stage 1
Stage 2
Exit: draw things to a close and disseminate
**TIPS: Browse through journals for new work; keep up to date by reading the latest published articles that are relevant to your research. Attend research seminars on related topics and engage in the discussions where you can. And if not, take note of classes in courses you are still attending that are particularly relevant for you by reading the literature provided and seminar discussions. As you do the above, ask yourself questions such as:
Stage 2
is where a different sort of work gets going: the data-gathering, analysing, and presenting/dissemination; topics for the second part of this book. For now though, the key to not becoming bogged down in abstract details, or going around in ever-decreasing circles of indecisiveness in these earlier moments, is twofold:
Let’s now turn to the role that work-planning and formal research proposal and outline writing play in research projects.
Chapter 4
will then look at what is meant by the ‘literature review’ and its role in helping you firm up your plans, and move them into action.
Work-plans can be informal documents or an element in preliminary evaluations or supervisory sessions. Getting your first formal research plan together, particularly when submitted as a formal
research proposal
, creates its own output-related pressure. Despite this sort of document being a stage in the larger project, it often becomes an end-goal in itself; indeed, funding applications and sometimes mid-way grades are given for this piece of work.
Apart from this sort of performance-based output, research plans are tough for other reasons; below are some common conundrums and ways of coping with them.
First, because the level of difficulty is raised when you have to turn an idea into a clear research question that is anchored then in a doable plan of work. It is often at this moment that your initial grasp of the terrain starts to become unsteady, not only as you read more and discover more about what others may have to say about the matter, but also as you start working out the practicalities, realize what is possible, or what is not given the time, resources, or skills you have at your disposal. Not only do new ideas and challenges arise, but so does the often discomforting awareness of how much you still need to learn about your topic before proceeding.
Coping: The sooner you get started, the better. How you decide to go about doing it, from the earliest stages of designing and writing the research in a
proposal
form, has implications for not only the end-product but also for how it is perceived and assessed by others along the way. Realizing this will enhance your chances of being at home with your own decisions, give you some space to ‘own’ what you are doing, recognize and set your own limits and then be able to manage your level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction afterwards.
2
Whilst researchers, starting out or longer
in the tooth, are often impatient to get going, time spent planning in the beginning is saved later on.
Second, for newbies however, these initial steps and decisions they entail do create anxiety. The time-pressures of completing a higher research degree these days sees many students underestimating the value of planning, as they rush headlong into their data-gathering phase or try to write up their work before they have a clear idea of what it is they are doing.
Coping: Rather than seeing the design phases, and this includes the preparation of a research outline – proposal – as something to be got over as quickly as possible in order to get on with the ‘real thing’, it is more productive to consider the planning phases as integral to the larger process and eventual product.
3
Those great ideas you discard, various methods and techniques you hope to employ that may have to be left out for the sake of time, lack of institutional, or supervisory resources, will stand you in good stead another day. This is because deciding, eliminating, setting limits and continually refining terms and techniques
is
doing research. You have started already!
Third, forward-planning also needs to allow for contingencies. Becoming so wedded to an initial idea, work-plan, theory of choice, or particular method/s can also lead to rigidity. You need to be open to making changes, adjusting core ideas or approaches. And, if need be, set up a pilot project, or be ready with a Plan B. Sometimes even the best-laid plans do not get off the starting blocks or have to be abandoned later on.
Coping: There is no reason for anyone to be confined to, or defined by the one research topic, theoretical inspiration, or method/s until the end of time. It is often only afterwards that some things will become clear. Rest assured, mistakes and missteps, underestimations of time needed and overestimations of our wherewithal to achieve initial ambitions do happen. The decisions you make and course you plot, or diverge from, will evolve during the course of the project. Your intellectual acumen, ability to absorb new ideas and analyse complex data, and practical skill-sets for accessing knowledge and resources (e.g. how to use electronic databases, conduct interviews, make statistical inferences) will also ripen.
There are also specific ways of working productively in the planning phases for quantitative and qualitative approaches respectively:
For
quantitative research
: after defining your research topic and as you work on developing a research question, your review of the existing research in the area will most likely guide you towards a particular data-gathering approach. This too contributes to your understanding of the field in terms of the literature (see
Chapter 4
), pre-existing research findings, and research designs.
For qualitative research
: The above rules of thumb hold true here as well. That said, because many qualitatively inspired projects take research to be a cumulative and open-ended process in the round, you may find that there is less concern with strict protocols.
Time now to move into the exigencies of work-planning and its role within the larger research design.
Getting through a research project in good shape often hinges on how much thought you put in ahead of time about how to investigate your ideas in practical terms. This is where the formulation of a self-contained research proposal – or outline – comes into its own. Whilst it may be difficult to think how the research will be carried out before actually starting on gathering any data, doing any extensive reading, or deciding how you intend to go about either of these undertakings, a successful research project (defined here as meeting research objectives within a certain timeframe with given resources) requires a thought-out research plan. As there is limited time and resources to complete the research, plans may need to change, so having a plan also allows room for revising initial ideas. Indeed, you should take the need to do this as part of the process; one that involves various levels and degrees of supervisory and peer-to-peer feedback (see
Chapter 8
).
The proposal in formal terms (for funding and applications), or outline in informal terms, aims to present the above key elements of the research project before substantial data-gathering or analysis has taken place. Sometimes previous research or
pilot research
informs a new project proposal. The point here is to anchor the research in some structured work-plan and rationale. The writing sees the use of the future tense: ‘This research project will investigate . . .’. Whilst initial research may well have been undertaken, indeed this often strengthens the research design, a formal proposal, or outline is composed, and assessed as a project-under-construction.
Even though a research plan is the outcome of several stages in itself, a finishing line in its own way, at some point we all need to ‘let it go’
4
in order to be able to set out into the terrain of the research-proper. Depending on your institutional and/or supervisory connections, in addition to the sections outlined below, even the earliest research plan can be asked to provide an initial chapter outline in substantive terms (not simply functional), timeline, and ethical approval. This checklist is flexible and adaptable; see
Box 3.2
below.
BOX 3.2
ELEMENTS IN A RESEARCH OUTLINE
Note how the above schematic resembles the elements of a research project as shown in
Box 2.1.
The difference is that a proposal, or outline, arranges these key elements into a narrative; hopefully one that is persuasive and feasible. Departments, research schools, and institutions vary amongst themselves as to the form and tone this narrative takes; from the lyrical, through to the declamatory, through to the executive summary. In all cases, proposals are concise; strict word-lengths force the writer to be brief, clear and inclusive.
Why this particular stage can take on a life of its own is because proposals are also used to gauge output and quality in postgraduate and advanced research; as research skills or methods, course examined papers, but most particularly as part of applications to research places or funding. At a simple level committing your ideas to paper (or screen) in the form of a proposal/plan is a powerful way to move you forward, put some foundations in place and confront you with any gaps in your thinking. This is the moment and the means by which you convince not only others, but also yourself that the project is ‘doable’.
Proposal writing is in itself a certain genre of academic writing; in the USA in particular, grant-writing is a career path itself and an invaluable service for nonprofits, politicians, and academics who can afford the services of a professional proposal writer. Initially, notions of style and persuasion are less crucial than getting all the above elements together in a coherent yet concise whole; most outline or proposal formats have strict word-limits (1,000–2,000 words maximum). The aim here is to convince and engage supervisors and others (your peer group) that this project has a point, a plan, and a rationale behind it. Sounds simple? In theory it is; practice makes perfect, however. Once again different disciplines weight this stage, and its elements, differently; students discover these differentials quite quickly.
How these sections are organized differs. For instance, research outlines in some parts of qualitative research tend to front-load the more abstract elements: theory/ theories as they pertain to thinkers/literature, or fields. The specifics about method often come right at the end and when broached are often in broad methodological terms. Conversely, research based on large-scale surveys or experimental work, front-load the data-gathering method in terms of the layout of a questionnaire, design of the experiment, and statistical foundations.
Even though a research question is integral to all approaches, in qualitative research a cursory look over many students’ first research outlines can give the impression that ‘theory’ is in the driving seat; method is understood primarily as methodology in its more abstract terms (see
Chapter 2
on theory and method). The risk here is that there may be a coyness about laying out how exactly the ‘data’ (texts, images, interview responses) is going to be gathered, under what conditions, and to what ends.
On the other hand, those outlines that indicate that a large amount of time and effort has gone into showing precisely how quantitative empirical data are going to be collected, as is the case in surveys or questionnaires, can give the impression that there is less interest in articulating a theoretical – conceptual – framework, less concern for underlying methodological debates. Like it or not, sooner or later any research design, and its presentation as a formal research proposal or mid-project research report, needs to take into account all the key elements in terms of how they relate to
your
research; it is now time to tailor-make these general rules for your enterprise. This much both sides of the quantitative–qualitative divide have in common.
As noted earlier, this is one reason why the completion of a research proposal, even a first draft of an outline, is often a project in itself, its own end-result. The key thing to note here is that getting over this hurdle is an important milestone; getting past this point can help move (even push) your project into the next phase. It also requires you to move on from that point. For however well presented it may or may not be, neither research proposal nor outline will be the same as the final report, or dissertation.
Within these broad parameters, different traditions go about formulating a research question, an aspect that is distinct from a research topic, in various ways as well. Included here are those sorts of research questions often common to quantitative approaches but not exclusively: hypothesis formulation.