Research Masters

This is a rather ugly part of our office …. hence me turning the picture 90% in the hope of making it ‘interesting’!  We have about 4000 books between us…. so for us research is not only about finding things IN the books, quite often it is more a case of finding the damn’ book in the first place!

That apart, as you know, Sämi is set to be away for a few weeks so colleagues are ‘filling in’ for him as best they can.  In terms of your Research Methodology Unit, you have drawn ‘the short straw‘: me!

No-one can fill Sämi’s shoes – so I’m not about to try!  Rather I will give you the best research grounding I can, bringing together my own teaching materials and some of Sämi’s.  All of this in just 9 hours!  That is a very ‘tall order’!

My background

As I said in my recent email to you all, I have been teaching Intro to Research for quite a long time to Master’s students here and in the UK, though not, I must admit, in the context of research into aspects of literature.  The research and research teaching I have done has tended to be in the context of business.  I have authored or co-authored research reports in a number of areas.  Some examples include:

• the impacts and implications of proposed new laws to protect the purchasor of UK insurance contracts.
• the identification and viability appraisal of multiple sites for potential UK timeshare development
• the technical feasibility and financial viability of a project to convert an old, listed, stately home (adjacent to the main Gatwick Airport runway) into a 4 or 5 star hotel
• an evaluation of the potential added value contribution to learning and teaching of the use of Information and Communication Technologies at universities (this subsequently became known as ‘Blended Learning’).
• research for Bournemouth Borough Council (UK) to identify the relative rates of return upon different investments in tourism development and promotion.
• research for the English Local Government Association to identify the feasibility and viability of developing online tourism resources
• research into the training needs of the Tourism industry in the South of England.

That said, I can tell you that, no matter what the context or the topic, all research has the same flow and process to it – even if sometimes people might use different terms to describe it!  I once recall a LONG journey with Ellen from here to the Eurotunnel in Calais when we spent the time discussing the supposedly ‘different‘ natures of research projects in business and in literature.  We concluded that the process was essentially the same from start to finish, even if certain titles or tools of analysis and evaluation might differ.

Sämi and Craig are happy that you also encounter some non-literature-context research, as you have two ‘strings to your bow‘: Research and (English) Literature.  In the future you may well find that you have the opportunity to put your highly-transferable, research skills to work outside the field of English Lit.  I will try to bestride both contexts (like a rather diminutive Colossus!)

Things we will be covering.

A. First of all, I will offer you  a ‘compass‘ with which you can guide yourself through the research ‘wilderness‘.

(NB.  Even though this is a wilderness of your own making, if you don’t take care it will be all too easy to get well and truly ‘lost’ in it!)

There are a number of dangers involved in any research project.

These include:

• not having a viable title
• not having clear, non-overlapping, aims and objectives (A&O) which cover 100% of the ground envisaged in the title (not 80% and not 120%)
• failing to systematically review (analyse and evaluate – not just describe/recount) the existing literature which relates to each A&O
• failing to identify any ‘research gap‘ (difference between what your title and A&O require and what the literature review might provide)
• failing to develop a suitable methodology with which to fill any research gap by means of primary research
• failing to present the primary research appropriately and correctly construe legitimate conclusions from the evidence
• failure to make recommendations (for example for further research).
• ‘Mission Drift‘ – an American military term meaning losing sight of your target and going uncontrollably or deliberately off-course. i.e. failing to deliver to your own title.

The ‘compass‘ I am going to offer you I call the ‘Driven Process‘, because each step ‘drives‘ the next one so that you can’t get ‘lost‘ en route.  I don’t so much want you copy it down or download it for future reference, rather I want you to ‘buy-in‘ to it, so that it is not in your memory but in your gut – it should become part of you.  I am going to work hard to get this ‘buy-in‘ on your part, because I honestly believe that failure to do so is likely to lead to potentially ‘fatal‘ errors and low marks.  You may write elegant English with style and accuracy, but if you don’t know where you are going or how you are going to get there, well the quality of your English won’t redeem you.  I am not saying that your English isn’t important – just that your beautiful English is a passenger in the research ‘boat‘, and if the boat is heading in the wrong direction and is taking on water then it is not going to make it to the right destination!  My Driven Process should act as your compass and lifeboat!  Effectively there is a ‘macro‘ side to all this and a ‘micro‘……..

B. ‘Macro’: the big picture and overall process.  I will take you through all the phases of research identified in the Driven Process and show you how to…..

• take an area / topic of interest and turn it into a viable title which has a discernable end point / target.
• get ‘under the skin‘ of the title in order to develop a number of distinct aims and objectives which are realisable within the operating constraints of the regulations and which cover 100% of the title
• write a really good introduction  (‘first impressions are lasting impressions’, as the saying goes – if you don’t set it up well from the outset, you will have disappointed the reader already and it will be dreadfully difficult to convince him/her otherwise thereafter).
• identify research sources which are valid and reliable and can be applied directly to the A&O.

The above four issues are addressed HERE.

• guage the extent to which the sources have in fact addressed each and every A&O.
• articulate any ‘research gap’ emerging from the above which may need to be addressed by means of primary research.
• develop a research methodology designed to close the research gap and enable you to fully address all aspects of your A&O

The above three issues are addressed HERE

• present, explain/interpret, analyse and evaluate the data/information that the primary research has uncovered.
• draw legitimate conclusions from the primary research evidence
• make recommendations as to further research perspectives and requirements
• use appendices correctly

The above four issues are addressed HERE

The problem is that if anything goes wrong early on in the above list, it is simply magnified throughout the delivery and writing…. one error followed by another one just serves to compound the process and it can’t be redeemed late on.

The above effectively deals with the ‘macro’: the overall shape, structure and process of your research, but in the writing other important ‘micro’ issues are involved……

C. ‘Micro’ Issues in writing and finessing.

This will involve quite a number of matters:

• Sämi’s preferred structure for literary research
• look and feel on the page.  Layout, use of space etc.  TJ
• Sämi’s preferred paragraph structure (Irving to critique),
• the introduction (‘You never get a second chance to make a first impression‘: the marker and how he/she forms his/her first impressions) TJ
• Sämi’s 80 ‘dos‘ and ‘don’ts‘ of expressing oneself in a research context.  William Safire and his fun way of illustrating the don’ts!
• figures, graphs, illustrations and how to handle them.  TJ.
• rounding off your work nicely, not abrumptly … leave things looking forward.  TJ
• role and position of appendices, index, glossary, acknowledgements etc.  TJ
• referencing systems:plagiarism (= citation without attribution) and its consequences. How to avoid it at all costs!  Plagiarism…. and yet more on plagiarism.  TJ
  
  • MLA (See a brilliant interactive guide by Purdue University which even provides an automatic MLA citation ‘app‘ on its webpage),
  • Harvard (See Bournemouth University’s guide to the Harvard system: it is simple and easy to read).  The need to provide complete and consistent citation and attribution of sources using a recognised system.
  • Automated citation tools like ‘citethisforme‘ can help you get it right – even with specific systems like Harvard and MLA.
• Babelfsh, Google Translate etc: totally unacceptable ( = plagiarism).    TJ
• Grammarly, WordReference, dictionary and spellcheck use: acceptable.  Grammarly also offers a free plagiarism checking service.  So there is no excuse now for unchecked errors or even ‘accidental‘ plagiarism. TJ
• double-check – comparing conclusions and recommendations to the promises offered in the title: did you deliver?  If you didn’t, then you tend  to have two options:proofing on-screen v reading aloud. TJ
  • to stick with your title and A&O and edit, re-write/re-tune accordingly …. OR
    
  • change your title and A&O to fit what you did deliver and edit the content accordingly.  TJ
• the role of your tutor: what he/she will be happy to do …. or not!  The most critical points at which seeking your tutor’s advice could really help! TJ

Will talk to you all when we meet about an individual assignment and things in class which I might also assess.

Best, Tony