Research Topic

Usual ways of knowing

Tenacity Intuition Authority and tradition Scientific method

Techniques for narrowing a topic into a research question

Examine the literature Talk over ideas with others Apply to a specific context Define the aim or the desired outcome of the study

Problem
A situation that is considered unclear or undesirable after conducting initial investigation and describing the situation

Questions to ask yourself

Is this problem really important Will this make a difference to whom? Why? Will the research result be interesting? Will it be relevant to an idea that has widespread implications?

Questions to ask yourself

Will it challenge common sense truisms or reverse the inadequacies of accepted views? Will the research be immediately useful? Will it help guide or change social policy or practice? Will it provide needed information or new insights into a social issue?

Research Problem

An interrogative statement that asks what relations exist between or among variables/concepts

Characteristics of a good RP

Concrete and specific Observable States the relationship between two or more variables Linked to a theory Geared to a practical problem Relevant to the times

Relates to a significant number of people or to a number of significant people Fills a research gap Permits generalization Sharpens the definition of an important concept or relationship Creates or improves an instrument for gathering and analyzing data

Review of Related Literature

Definition

An examination of previous studies that have related topics, methods, and theories to a research project, the literature review helps identify what is known and unknown in the body of knowledge about a topic and assists in conceptualizing new research problems and objectives.

Searching for the materials

For the introduction Quotations from popular media Tabular, graphic and visual material from non-academic publications Baseline and historical data For the related literature Edited books, book chapters Academic journals Papers in peerreviewed conferences Research anthologies

Searching and citing

www.elib.gov.ph http://www.mainlib.upd.edu.ph/web opac/ www.findarticles.com http://scholar.google.com http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/re source/560/01/

Note-taking for the review

Search for all possible related studies thematically, methodologically, and theoretically Do a quick read of the studies, noting patterns in topics, methods, and theories Create a working outline of the patterns from your quick read Filter studies to those that are most pertinent to your research Put flesh to your outline by taking verbatim notes from the filtered studies. Remember to put always the author, year, and page numbers for each note. Use key words to identify possible links across literature Create a separate file where you can enter the bibliographic citation for each source article

Writing the review

1.

2.

3.

Introduce the literature: point our major research topics, the central idea, and the general importance of the topic for communication scholars Cover research that have topics, methods, and theories that are relevant to what you are studying Pick out research most relevant to the topic and your question, and then pull out the ideas that are most useful

4. Assess the literature being studied by looking at the following:

Clarity Verifiability Accuracy Recency Relevance Sufficiency Internal consistency External consistency Comparative quality Contextuality Statistical validity

5. Structure the review of literature according to any of the following patterns:

Topical Chronological Specific to general General to specific Known to unknown Problem-cause & solution Comparison & contrast

6. After reviewing the body of literature, summarize what has been done, what has not been done, and what needs to be done 7. Explain how your own research links to previous studies thematically, methodologically, and theoretically.

Bad review
Smith (1980) conducted an experiment on fear and self-esteem with 150 undergraduates. In the study, he tested subject self-esteem and then exposed subjects one at a time to fear-inducing situations. He found out that those with lower self-esteem felt greater fear. Jones and Jones (1982) surveyed elderly residents. The respondents who had the greatest independence, self-esteem and physical health had the lowest degree of fear of being the victim of crime.

In a study of college women, Rosenburg (1989) found out that the greater independence one felt, the less the fear of being left alone in a darkened room. De Sallos study (1984) of 45 college males found that those who had the greatest self-esteem felt the less degree of failure. Yu (1988) found the same for college females. Hong (1980) conducted a telephone survey of 200 welfare recipients and found no relationships between feelings of independence and fear of crime.

Good review
People with greater self-esteem appeared to be less fearful. Laboratory studies with college students (Yu, 1988; De Sallo, 1984; Smith, 1980) found a strong negative relationship between self-esteem and fear, similar to the relationship that was determined from a survey of elderly people (Jones & Jones, 1982). Only one study contradicted this finding (Johnson, 1985), presumably because prison inmates comprised its population. In general, self-esteem and fear were negatively related.

Self-esteem was strongly related to feelings of independence (see Zarnoth, 1985; Gomez, 1977), and independence was found to decrease feelings of fear of crime (Jones, 1982; Rosenberg, 1979). Hong (1980) did not find a significant relation between independence and the fear. It was the only literature that studied welfare recipients.