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Producing your Research Project - Page 3
Collecting data
There are many ways of collecting data, and most projects combine more than one method of data collection.
The 'data collection' page of Bryman and Bell (2006) takes you through many of the possible methods with some very helpful exercises in judging the value of those methods, avoiding ambiguity in the questions you ask, and the type of language which should be used overall.
To use that page, click here
Survey Monkey is a very useful web site where you can carry out online surveys. You can create surveys free of up to 10 questions, and the site offers a good range of analysis tools. Well worth considering if an online survey is likely to work for you. At http://www.surveymonkey.com/
Analysing your data
You may be surprised at how much (or even how little!) data you can collect from a relatively small number of questionnaires, discussions, focus groups or interviews. Once you have got you data, there are many ways of analysing it.
There are some key questions to ask about the data which should help in your analysis.
- Have you answered your research aims / objectives / questions ?
- Have you made sure that you have presented only analyses that are relevant to your research aims / objectives / questions?
- Have you used the most appropriate and powerful techniques for answering your research questions?
- Do you have data from more than one method which you can compare and triangulate? (The meaning of 'triangulate' is "The use of a combination of assessment methods in a study. An example of triangulation would be an assessment that incorporated surveys, interviews, and observations."
Source: (online) www.niu.edu/assessment/Resources/Assessment_Glossary.htm - accessed 02/03/08What are the patterns in your data, and what do they tell you?
As you work through data, categorising and coding the results can help. There is an example of coding of qualitative data at a web site called Online QDA (Qualitative Data Analysis). Although it is over technical for many of our research projects, it is worth reading, to see how conversational or narrative data can be coded, and how this can help analysis.
To access this item click here
You may find representing patterns in your data by using drawings, images or mind maps could be helpful (an example of a mind map format is below.
Questions to help you analyse your data
- What is happening here?
- What are people doing?
- What do people say they are doing?
- What does this item of data tell me about my research topic?
- Does it fit into any pattern of results (e.g. is it similar to other items of data)?
- Can you find other items which confirm or contradict this?
- What else can the data tell you?
- How does this data relate to what came out of my literature review?
Writing up the Project
There is a detailed writing up checklist which you can download by clicking here
The format for this project is in the student handbook (p 32), and is:
Structure of Report
The following is a suggested structure for your report, which should be adapted to the particular circumstances of your project:
Introduction / Rationale / Research Question: why is this topic important and significant at a personal and professional level? What is your research question? i.e. What you are trying to find out? Aim to formulate your topic in terms of a question or questions which you want to find the answer to (650 words).
Bryman and Bell (2006) suggest your introduction should:
- explain what you are writing about and why it is important - simply saying that it interests you because of a long-standing personal interest is not enough
- indicate in general terms the approach or perspective you will be using and why
- outline your research aims / objectives / questions
Literature Review: what's already been written, what's already been found out, how does your topic fit in this context (1000 words)
Bryman and Bell (2006) suggest your literature review should:
where appropriate, be critical in approach
use your review of the literature as a means of showing why your research questions are important
bear in mind that you will want to return to the literature you examine in the discussion of your findings and conclusion
do not try to get everything you read into a literature review. Trying to force everything you have read into your review (because of all the hard work involved in uncovering and reading the material) is not going to help you
Approach and method: what did you plan to do and why, how are the approach and method intended to help you answer you enquiry question, what actually happened (400 words)
Data presentation: describes the evidence by breaking it down, identifies how many or who said/did what, lists what respondents actually said/did
Bryman and Bell (2006) suggest your data presentation should follow this advice:
- Whichever approach you take, try not to present and discuss all of your results, only include findings relating to your research questions
- Do not just summarize what a table shows. You should point to salient aspects of the tables, graphs, or other forms of analysis you present from the point of view of your research questions
- Avoid simply presenting graphs, tables or sections of the transcript of a semi-structured interview or focus group session without any comment whatsoever, because the reader is left wondering why you think the finding is important
- It is good idea to vary the method of presenting quantitative findings, e.g., provide a mixture of diagrams and tables
- Be selective with data and use only those sections that relate directly to your research questions
Data Analysis / discussion / implications / critical analysis: makes sense of the evidence in relation to the questions asked, relates responses/findings to concepts, literature or expectations (1700 words)
Conclusions / recommendations (250 words)
Bryman and Bell (2006) suggest your conclusions and recommendations should take account of these points:
- The discussion should bring out your arguments and key resuts so far, which are then summarised in the conclusion relating your findings and discussion to your research questions and demonstrating to your readers the significance of what you have done.
- You :-
- should clarify the implications of your findings for your research questions
- might suggest ways in which your findings have implications for theories relating to your area of interest
- might suggest ways in which your findings have implications for practice in the field of post compulsory education
- With the benefit of hindsight you might draw attention to any limitations of your research.