Doing Research: A Roadmap Janine Matts
To Start‌ Read
Read some more Keep reading Reading helps you to see what has already been done in the field as well as give you an idea of a study that you may want to replicate Ask yourself if you will do an experimental (treatment) or non-experimental (no treatment) study?
Research Purpose or Research Question Research purpose: “The purpose of this study is to determine to what degree linguistic self-esteem influences the usage of Kichwa in Spanish-Kichwa bilinguals.” Research question: “To what extent does linguistic self-esteem influence the usage of Kichwa in Spanish-Kichwa bilinguals?” Try to avoid simple yes/no questions and aim for whquestions with sub-questions. Sub-questions: “What influences their linguistic self-esteem?” “What types of comments do these speakers hear about their language use that may contribute to building or damaging their linguistic self-esteem?”
Literature Review From general to specific Organized by topics and subtopics, not authors Be sure to include recent publications; theory as well as empirical studies
Only include relevant information and cite accordingly (APA or MLA, depends on journal) Literature review should lead to gap in literature that your study fills. This is also called the A BUT B STATEMENT. Ex.: “Many studies have been conducted on linguistic self-esteem in bilinguals and on similar topics with other populations, HOWEVER none have been done in Ecuador on the KichwaSpanish--speaking population.�
Methodology Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? If you are working with human participants (not “subjects�), who is your sample? How and why did you choose them? Is there a bias to your sample? (Yes, there is.) What research tools did you use? (Interviews, pre- posttest, questionnaires, observations, etc.) Are they valid and reliable? When and where was the research carried out?
Data & Analysis It is preferred to have qualitative and quantitative data whenever possible How will you organize the quantitative data? Charts? Graphs?
Consider using computer programs to help in quantifying tokens (Varbrul, Goldvarb, R stats, etc.) Explain the data in prose in the Analysis section
Conclusions Answer your research question(s) from the beginning Tie the results of your study back to other similar studies or findings Consider internal and external validity of your study Internal – In an experimental study, can you attribute your findings without a shadow of a doubt to the treatment? External – Can the results of your study be generalized to a larger population?
Areas of Future Research During the course of your research, you probably realize many things that you could look at in the future, or that other scholars might want to investigate related to your topic. Include these at the end of your paper.
…When you are finished, go back and write the abstract. It is much easier to do at the end when you know exactly what is in your article!!
Take a break to laugh!!