Technical Research
Chapter: 9
3. Possible sources:
• Memos, reports, and other M-Global documents related to the use
of hybrid cars in the organization’s Asian offices
• Directories (of periodicals, newsletters, newspapers, electronic
journals, organizations)
• Journal and newspaper articles found in indexes, abstracts, and
electronic databases
• Bibliographies and literature reviews
• Government documents
• Books
• Web sites
• Surveys
• Interviews
Before starting your research, you ask yourself the
following questions, to give direction to your work:
• What questions must be answered during the research
phase?
• What information might be most useful?
• What print and electronic sources would be most
appropriate?
• What format must be used to document material borrowed
from sources?
Secondary sources
Information about a topic that has been shared through print,
recorded media, or presentations. Secondary sources provide
researchers and readers with the background information they
need by establishing the professional and intellectual context
for an issue or problem.
Using Resources
• What are the author’s academic or professional qualifications?
• Who is the publisher, and what is its reputation?
• What are the scope and content of the work?
• How does this information fit in with what you know about this
topic?
• What are the trends in information on this topic, and how does
this book, article, journal, or Web site fit in?
• How current is this information?
Online Search
• Author or Title Search
• Subject Search
• Keyword Search
Library Resources
• Books
• Periodicals
• Newspapers
• Company Directories
• Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, and Other General
References
Conducting Primary Research
• Interviews
• Focus groups
• Surveys/Questionnaires
• Laboratory experiments, or field observations
• Original works such as diaries, company reports, and
correspondence, as well as documents that are the
subject of analysis, such as user’s manuals and Web
sites.
Quantitative Research
• In technical communication, this step often involves answering
questions about how long it takes to perform a task. Technical
communicators may also collect and analyze statistics from surveys and
interviews. Quantitative research is judged by validity and reliability.
• Research is valid if it measures what it was designed to measure.
• Research is reliable if it can be repeated with the same results.
• Quantitative research collects data that can be represented in numbers.
Information Gathered Through
Surveys
Questionnaires
Qualitative Research
• Qualitative research is common in technical
communication. Qualitative data cannot be represented
in numbers. Instead, qualitative research analyzes words,
images, processes, or objects.
Information Gathered Through
Interviews
Focus Groups
Field Observations
Document Analysis
Using Questionnaire and Interviews
A part of your research may include collecting first hand information
yourself, such as, questionnaires or personal interviews
Step 1: Designing a questionnaire:
1. Keeping reader’s need while preparing the questionnaire
It benefits them personally of professionally/it is easy to fill out and
return
2. Write a precise purpose statement
E.g. “The purpose of this survey is to find out ways in which…..”
3. Limit the number of questions
Every question must serve the purpose/ resist the temptation to clutter
questionnaire with irrelevant questions
4. Ask mostly objective questions
So that the questions are easy to answer and responses are easy to
compile
Types of Questions Examples
Either/Or Questions Would you or your technical staff find it useful to
receive a technical newsletter on acid rain?
a. Yes
b. No
Multiple Choice Questions If you answered “yes” to preceding question, what
publication schedule would best meet your needs:
a. Monthly
b. Quarterly
c. yearly
Grade-Scale Questions
Acid Rain is an issue that has strong impact on your day-to-
day business:
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree
Short-Answer Questions List any environmental newsletters you already
receive that you find helpful in business.
Designing a questionnaire…
4. Provide clear questions that are easy to answer:
Avoid four common problems:
1.Biased in phrasing
2.Use of undefined terms
3.Use of more than one variable
4.Questions that require too much homework
5. Include precise and concise instructions at the top of the form
6. Test the questionnaire on a sample audience (Pilot)
Step 2: Conductions the Survey
1. Choose an appropriate audience
2. Introduce questionnaire with a clear, concise cover letter
3. Encourage a quick response
Step 3: Compiling the Results
INTERVIEWS
Besides questionnaires, interviews are another common way to gather
primary research.
Step 1: Preparing for the interview
1. Develop a list of specific objectives for the interview
Know exactly what you want to accomplish
2. Make clear your main objectives when you contact for the interview
1. Stress the importance of the person’s contribution
2. Put him or her at ease with your goals and general content of
proposed discussion
3. Set a starting time and approximate length for the interview
3. Prepare and interview outline
It includes:
1. A sequential list of topics you want to cover
2. Specific questions you plan to ask
4. Show that you value your interviewee’s time
Showing up early to begin on time/staying on track and ending on time
Step 2: Conducting the Interview
1. Ask open questions
Questions that require your respondent to say something other than “yes” or
“no”
2. Ask closed-ended questions when you need to nail down an answer
3. Use summaries throughout the interview
It helps in clarification and recording the interview accurately
Results
Questionnaire Interviews
• Percentages • Themes
• Statistical Tests (for significance) • Presented in the written form (Paragraph/s)
• Presented through
• Tables
• Graphs
Documenting Sources
Avoiding Plagiarism
With the exception of common knowledge, you
should cite sources for all borrowed information
used in your final document, including quotations,
paraphrases, and summaries.
▪ In-text Citation
▪ Reference List
You must document a source, when:
• Use facts or statistics
• Refer to ideas and information by other writers
(paraphrase or summary)
• Cite tables, charts or graphs
You do not need to document these types of
information:
• Your own observation, experiences, ideas
• Factual information available in a number of reference
works (known as “common knowledge”)
• Proverbs, saying, and familiar quotations
• A reference to the source of borrowed information
in called a citation.
• There are two components of documentation:
1. In-text-citation
2. List of works cited
IN-TEXT CITATION
SUMMARY OR PARAPHRASE
• A trenchcoat and mask can easily disguise a few owls
as a human, as experimentally shown by Smith [1],
[2].
• Italian owls are suspicious of outsiders, as noted in
[3]–[5].
• This is disputed by Civetta [6] and Strix [7], who are
not owls in masks.
• The city of Florence is under an ancient curse, as
repeatedly and exhaustively described in [8], [10],
[13]–[17], [20].
SHORT QUOTATIONS
• “... as shown by Brown [4], as previously stated.”
"The theory was first put forward in 1987 [1]."
• “For example, see [7].” "Several recent studies [3,
4, 15, 16] have suggested that..."
• The example above may also be formatted as:
“Several recent studies [3], [4], [15], [16] have
suggested that…”].
Citations/references with Multiple
Authors
• During their research, Fan, et al. [4] discuss
lasers in detail.
• However, in general you do not need to mention
the authors by name, just use the numeric
citation in square brackets.
• In full reference list at the end however, you
always give the authors’ names. In the reference
list you can only abbreviate these using ‘et al.’ if
there are six or more authors.
Reference List
In IEEE style your reference list should be
formatted in the following way:
• Align references left Single-space each entry,
double-space between every new entry
• Place number of entry at left margin, enclose
in square brackets Indent text of entries
• Your reference list should appear at the end of
your paper.
• It provides the information necessary for a
reader to locate and retrieve any source you
cite in the body of the paper.
• Each source you cite in the paper must appear
in your reference list; likewise, each entry in
the reference list must be cited in your text.
Book [Ref number] Author’s initials. Author’s Surname, Book Title, edition (if
not first). Place of publication: Publisher, Year.
[1] I.A. Glover and P.M. Grant, Digital Communications, 3rd ed. Harlow:
Prentice Hall, 2009.
Journal [Ref number] Author’s initials. Author’s Surname, “Title of article,” Title
Article of journal abbreviated in Italics, vol. number, issue number, page
numbers, Abbreviated Month Year.
[4] F. Yan, Y. Gu, Y. Wang, C. M. Wang, X. Y. Hu, H. X. Peng, et al., "Study on
the interaction mechanism between laser and rock during perforation," Optics
and Laser Technology, vol. 54, pp. 303-308, Dec 2013.
E-Journal [Ref number] [5] Author’s initials. Author’s Surname. (Year, Month). “Title
Article of article.” Journal Title [type of medium]. volume number, issue number,
page numbers if given. Available: URL M. Semilof. (1996, July). “Driving
commerce to the web-corporate intranets and the internet: lines blur”.
Communication Week [Online]. vol. 6, issue 19. Available:
http://www.techweb.com/se/directlinkcgi?CWK19960715S0005
• IEEE General Format
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/ieee_style/i
eee_general_format.html