doing a research project

by Aminah Sri Prabasari on Friday, 28 November 2008 at 16:35

1) Choosing a topic

If u able to select your own research project you have only yourself to blame if you are bored with what you choose. The best research topics are often those that are based on students’ own academic or personal interest. The ideal topic is something specific and highly focused. But it is often easiest to begin by brainstorming general areas of interest to identify a theme of topic. This can then be narrowed down to produce a set of specific research questions.

2) Preliminary research

Your projects should begin with a review of the literature in your chosen field (the guides to further reading at the end of each chapter might help you to get started). This will enable you to set your own work in the context of what has done before and to evaluate the conclusion from your own empirical work in the light of existing understanding of the topic (for example, by outlining to what extent your findings confirm or challenge previous studies).
If there is not much literature on your specific chosen subjects this can be a good sign because it suggests that this is an original topic which has been not researched. This does not mean that you can stop looking for previous work.

It is important to identify literatures on other related topics or work from other disciplines that u might be usefully draw upon. Although the ideal projects are specific and highly focused, you must be able to relate your work to broader areas of the disciplines and to understand the wider implications of your research.

3) Research Design

Once you have read around your topic and have a sense of what are trying to achieve, you need to identify your research questions and to think about choosing and appropriating methodology. The philosophy and methodology you adopt will shape the sort of questions you can ask; the type of data you collect; and the sort of findings you will generate.

Depending on the topic you have chosen, your project may include quantitative (questionnaire surveys) or qualitative methods (interviewes, observation, focus group discussion, self-directed photography, textual analysis, etc) or the combination of them both.

4) Writing

It is never too soon to begin writing up your project, it is always longer than you think. ^^