Developing the Study Readings

Wildemuth (Chapters 2,3,5)

Ch.2

     A research question is a statement of what it is that the researcher wants to know about some situation or problem.
     Symmetry of potential outcomes is a term meaning that regardless of whether one confirms or refutes a initial hypothesis, the research results will have utility.

Ch. 3
     Evidence-based information practice is the implementation of the idea that professionals in the information arena should use the strongest evidence available as a basis for their decisions.
     Practice-based questions: research inquiries that are closely linked with issues that arise from day-to-day work in a particular area, field, or practice.

Ch. 5.
    Hypotheses, while a significant part of the scientific method, are important enough to restate.  They are a statement of the expected relationship between two or more variables in a proposed study or experiment.
    A null hypothesis is a hypothesis that states that there is no relationship between two or more variables or that two things that might be different are actually not so.     


Williamson (Ch. 3)

     Sub-questions are components of major problems or research questions.  Each falls within the scope of their overarching or larger problem, but does not introduce any consideration outside of that scope.  Use of sub-questions can make research into major problems or questions much more manageable.

     Iterative process – an exploration or run-through of some process (in this case research into both literature and into unanswered questions) that provides greater success or understanding by returning to earlier stages with increased understanding of later stages.  In other and more relevant terms, a researcher would engage in an iterative research process by beginning, for example, with a literature review and moving to early stages of exploring what questions might be asked or what hypotheses might be proposed; armed with the information garnered from this process, the researcher would return to the literature (stage 1) and repeat in order to build greater and more detailed understanding over time.

 
Patten (Topics 14, 15, 16)

Topic 14:
     Strict replication of a study is that which attempts to repeat all important aspects of the original. 
     Modified replication introduces modifications such as changes to the research process, subject group, etc.

Topic 15:
     A record contains metadata about a single file in an electronic database, and the information contained in a record is stored and displayed in fields, or standardized positions for data based on what that data describes or contains.
     A thesaurus, in the context of electronic research, is a collection of descriptors used to identify digital resources.  The thesaurus helps to identify the descriptors in a controlled vocabulary based on search terms or topic terms that the user might readily seek.

Topic 16:
    Literature reviews should be conducted topic-by-topic, that is, relevant research cited in a literature review should be organized so that it groups research on particular topics together, and subordinately by importance, date, or some other organization scheme.
     It is important to note (and cite) the results of research studies covered in the literature review—discussing methodology is not enough and is often even unnecessary.  The results of a study are the confirmation or rejection of that study’s hypotheses.

 
Pyrczack (Appendix D)

     When making factual statements or assertions, it is important to cite sources.  The only factual statements that should not be cited are those that might appear outside of the literature review (for example, those assertions made describing the results of the study at hand).  Even many of those should cite specific data sources.
     Gaps in literature or in previous research are points of interest that have received little or no treatment by researchers.  These provide excellent sources for future study or research problems.



Bibliography

Patten, M. (2000). Understanding research methods: Overview of the essentials. 2nd ed.
Glendale, CA: Pyrczak Publishing.

Pyrczak, F. (2008). Evaluating research in academic journals: A practical guide to realistic
evaluation. Glendale, CA: Pyrczak Publishing.

Wildemuth, B. (2009). Applications of social research methods to questions in information and library Science. ABC-CLIO, Incorporated.

Williamson, K. (2000). Research methods for students and professionals: Information
management and systems. Wagga Wagga, NSW.