R2. Research Requirement, Methodologies and Surveys

If you’ve ever travelled on the Underground (Metro) in Central London, you’ll be smiling about now because you will have been to the ‘Embankment’ platform (which is on a curve so there is inevitably a bit of distance between the carriage and the platform) and heard the announcement: « MIND THE GAP »…

Q. what ‘GAP’ am I talking about here in research terms, then?

A. the ‘GAP’ between: X – all that you have to know to be able to meet 100% each and every one of your aims & objectives and Y – what you do know as a result of a thorough review of secondary sources (i.e. those already in existence and accessible to you: books, journals, periodicals, reports, websites etc)

It is a simple sum conceptually: X – Y = Z (The ‘Research Gap’ or ‘Research Requirement’)

The point about this is that this is a sum that you HAVE to DO, and you have to be highly specific about what it is that you still need to know.  This then becomes the target for your Primary Research.   Again, this is another ‘pinch-point’ where things have a propensity to ‘go wrong’.  We teachers have formed the general impression that students don’t much care for Literature Reviews (too stuffy, time-consuming and ‘academic’) o they tend not to see the point of it and to rush stright on to data collection.  This is a fundamental error because without a full understanding of ‘Y’ (knowing what relevant material already exists), ‘Z’, the Research Gap cannot be properly identifed.  I’ll say it again: the sum has to be done.

Once in possession of  ‘Z’,  you are then setting out to answer the question: ‘OK, so that’s what I still have to find out….. but, given my constraints (time, finance, geography, communication access etc) and the nature of this information (quantitative or qualitative) etc, what is the best way of getting such information which is both valid and reliable?’ The process by which you resolve this matter will be your Methodology.

The paper below seeks to put together some thought on the matter which I will develop in class with you.