January 8, 2007
- Interpreting No Difference Findings
No matter how well planned and well executed your dissertation study, you may find that your results are not statistically significant. This can induce a feeling of stress and disbelief: all that work!?!? and my results aren’t even useful??
Wait a second. Stop that train.
April 3, 2006
- More good questions to evaluate research.
More questions to ask yourself when evaluating information: c) Does the information represent a broad section of the current knowledge? Or is it related to just one small piece of the puzzle? If it only relates to one small piece, it’s not solid enough to bolster a main point and should, instead, be used [...]
March 31, 2006
- All research is not good research.
In the course of your research process, you will be confronted with both "good" research and "bad" research. For your purposes, "bad" research is that which is out of date, does not discuss current advances or current trends in the field. To help you evaluate whether a certain piece of research is relevant or not, [...]
March 29, 2006
- Avoid the “kitchen sink” approach.
When researching, avoid the “kitchen sink” approach- don’t just throw everything in there to see what works. Have a clear sense of your question, the issues surrounding your question, and the manner in which you will conduct your research and/or literature review.
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December 8, 2005
- Use article bibliographies to track down other resources.
Ok- so, you’ve chosen a topic, gotten it approved, and now you’re involved in researching it. You’ve obtained some information, but need more. What to do? Here’s a simple, but really effective tip: look through the bibliographies of the articles you already have- make notes of any articles that sound promising- and then get these [...]
December 6, 2005
- Do your research in 3 waves.
Consider completing your research in 3 waves. Wave 1: General Overview, broad information Wave 2: More specific information related to your topic Wave 3: Quotations/citations/very specific facts related to your topic. So, if you’re just starting out, your research might look like this: Let’s say your topic is on rate of language acquisition for English [...]
November 18, 2005
- Set up your organization first.
It’s best to set up your research organization before bringing home tons of articles. If that didn’t happen, don’t worry- it’s not too late. I always recommend that you organize your research either by files or using a large 3 ring binder. You’d set up separate file folders (the expandable ones are best) or separate [...]
November 10, 2005
- How much research is enough?
I’m often asked, "How much research is enough?"- and I have a rule of thumb I like to share about this. I suggest that, for every major point, you should have at least three, but no more than seven, sources to support that point. Usually, if you have found the same point supported in numerous [...]