Scribd
Upload
65 views4 pages

Definitions: Novel - Ethical - Feasible - Interesting

1. Research is defined as the systematic pursuit of knowledge through observation and experimentation. It involves gathering data to test theories, solve problems, and answer questions. 2. A good research problem is well-defined, important, solvable, and matches the researcher's strengths. It should have potential solutions and be ethical. 3. The steps of doing research include choosing a topic, defining the problem, reviewing literature, developing hypotheses, designing an experiment, analyzing data, and interpreting results.

Uploaded by

KareemAdel
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
65 views4 pages

Definitions: Novel - Ethical - Feasible - Interesting

1. Research is defined as the systematic pursuit of knowledge through observation and experimentation. It involves gathering data to test theories, solve problems, and answer questions. 2. A good research problem is well-defined, important, solvable, and matches the researcher's strengths. It should have potential solutions and be ethical. 3. The steps of doing research include choosing a topic, defining the problem, reviewing literature, developing hypotheses, designing an experiment, analyzing data, and interpreting results.

Uploaded by

KareemAdel
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 4

Definitions

Science = “to know”


• The systematic pursuit of knowledge through observation
• Scientists gather data to test theories
Theory
• Set of propositions developed to explain what is observed
Hypotheses
• Specific predictions about what will occur if a theory is correct

What is “Research”?
A combination of most of the following:

Reading - Collecting Data - Interpretation of Data - Scientific investigation - Doing Experiments - Creative
process - Organized and systematic way to find answers to questions - Gaining some familiarity with a topic
- Discovering new knowledge.

Conditions of a good topic of Research


Novel – Ethical – Feasible – Interesting

1
What is a good research problem?
(From: C Zhai, Introduction to IR Research Methodology, University of Illinois)
• Well-defined: Would we be able to tell whether you’ve solved the problem?
• Highly important: Who would really care about the solution to the problem?
• Solvable: Is there any clue about how to solve it? Do you have a baseline approach? Do
you have the needed resources?
• Matching your strength: Are you good at solving this kind of problems?

Advices for researchers:


(From: C Zhai, Introduction to IR Research Methodology, University of Illinois)
-Research is about discovery and increase our knowledge
-Curiosity, critical thinking and creativity are extremely important
-Work on important and interesting problems to you.
-Aim at becoming a top expert on one topic area
-Obtain complete knowledge about the literature on the topic (read all the important papers
and monitor the progress)
-Write a survey if appropriate
-Publish one or more high-quality papers on the topic
-Don’t give up!

Steps for doing research


• Choose a subject J
• Based on an idea, experience, reading or advice.

• Choose a question/ a problem to investigate (Define the


problem)
• Divide the principle problem into small problems

• Do literature review
• Check that your idea is original

Should contain the most pertinent studies and


point to important past and current research
and practices in the field.

• Identify a hypothesis related to the question/ problem

• Design an experiment/model/data collection technique to


answer the question

• Collect data from experiment or results from model

• Analyze the data

• Check that the results support the suggested hypothesis

2
begin with a problem-an
unanswered question
interpret the meaning
clearly indicate the
of the data
goal of the research

divide the principle


collect, organize and
problem into more
analyze data
manageable sub
problems

develop a specific
plan for addressing Identify the
the problem and sub hypotheses and
problems assumptions
Leedy and Ormrod
Practical Research 2001

Some types of research


Experimental Research
• Do lab experiments
• Engineers, scientists, physicians, …
Theoretical (Basic) Research
• No experiments
• To determine or establish fundamental facts and relationships within a discipline or field
of study. Develop theories.
Predictive Research
• Making projections about what may occur in the future.
• E.g. Phone companies and insurance companies
Descriptive (Survey) Research
• e.g. questionnaires
• To discover facts and reality
• The questionnaires ask Who, What, When, Where and How
• E.g. What does the people feel about traffic crises?

How to Start?
(From: C Zhai, Introduction to IR Research Methodology, University of Illinois)
- Scan most recently published papers to find papers that you like or can understand
- Read such papers
- Track down background papers to increase your understanding
- Brainstorm ideas of extending the work
- Can you think of questions that aren’t answered?
3
- Is there a better formulation of the problem‫؟‬
- Is there a better method for solving the problem‫؟‬
- Is the evaluation solid?
- Pick one new idea and work on it.

Formulate Hypotheses
(From: C Zhai, Introduction to IR Research Methodology, University of Illinois)
• Study existing literature to figure out where exactly you can make a new contribution
(what do you want others to cite your work as?).
• The more specialized a hypothesis is, the more likely it’s new, but a narrow hypothesis
has lower impact than a general one, so try to generalize as much as you can to increase
impact.
• Avoid over-generalize.
• Define the hypothesis to be tested (include any necessary conditions).
• Design the right experiments to test.
• Analyze results.
• Unless you’ve got a complete understanding of everything, always attempts to formulate
a further hypothesis to achieve better understanding.

When to write a paper?


(From: C Zhai, Introduction to IR Research Methodology, University of Illinois)
Survey/Review paper:
• An emerging field or topic has appeared (i.e., a hot topic) but no survey is available, or
sufficient new development has occurred such that existing surveys are out of date.
•
• You’ve read and digested enough papers about the topic.
•
Original research paper:
• When you have sufficient results to draw an interesting conclusion or answer an
interesting research question, i.e., you’ve got a basic story to tell, e.g.,
• A new problem, a solution, and results showing how good the solution is
• An old problem, a new solution, and results showing advantage(s) of the new solution
over the old ones.
• An old problem, many old solutions, and results showing an understanding of their
relative performance.
• In general, a research question and an answer.

You might also like