Chapter 02 The Research Process: Getting Started

The Research Process: Getting StartedChapter 2Considering theory in researchResearch is the basis for developing or challenging theoryTheory describes, predicts, or explains communication phenomenonResearch  Theory linkDeductive reasoningInductive reasoningDeveloping theoryDescribe event or observationCreate explanation for eventMove from specific to more generalized formDerive predictions from explanationsDeductive research model Inductive research modelIdentifying the research problemResearch ideas are based onTheoriesExperiencesCurrent eventsTurn broad topics into preliminary questionsWhat do your questions assume?Rephrase for clarityEvaluating your questionsClearly stated?Do others agree about its clarity?Asks only one question?Communication orientation?Any bias in the way the question is asked?Can it be observed or measured?Time and resources?Who would be interested?How could the information be used?Library and database resourcesScholarly journalsScholarly booksOnline resourcesAs you gather information, you may have to adjust your questionUsing resourcesRead title and abstractRead the problem statement in the literature reviewFind an interesting idea, track it in the referencesWhat questions or hypotheses did they pose?Organizing resourcesStart reading With an author(s) that is regularly citedFrom older to newer literatureThe article or chapter that provides a summaryArranging and Summarizing resourcesMajor and minor pointsChronological orderFind answers to your questionsBroad questions to narrow questionsUse deductive approach Broad to narrowUse inductive approachSpecific to generalbeginning the literature reviewPosition problem statement in introductionWhat is the communication issue?What are the research objectives?Works as a roadmap What you are going to coverWhat you hope to accomplishBody of literature reviewGood literature reviewsInclude latest researchDescribe and analyze what researchers have reported in previous studiesPoint out gaps in the literatureDevelop new argumentsCreate relationships with previous researchWays of organizing literature reviewChronologicalGeneral to specificContrast-comparisonTrend identificationMethodological focusProblem-cause-solutionTopical orderConcluding the literature reviewPresent research questions or hypothesesIs the summary of your analysis of the literatureUse H1 H2, RQ1, RQ2