1. Describe appropriate approaches to finding research problems. (advisor, areas of controversy, faculty and grad. students, reviews, personal interest)
2. Describe the five criteria for choosing a problem (workability, critical mass, interest, theoretical value, practical value)
3. Identify differences between, and examples of, inductive and deductive kinds of reasoning (specific to general versus general to specific)
4. Describe strategies for searching the literature (review papers, use advisor, computer searches, etc.)
5. Distinguish essential information when taking notes from literature. (problem, subjects, instruments/tests, testing procedures, variables, treatments, design and analysis, findings, questions, citations and references)
6. Describe how to take notes using index cards and computers.
7. Describe the process of writing using the computer. (jigsaw analogy, outlining, writing techniques, and how to review and edit)

It was mentioned earlier that research problems exist all around us. While that may be true many graduate students have great difficulties coming up with something that satisfies their curiosity (or desire to graduate as fast as possible). The closer a student gets to graduation the more stressful this problem identification becomes. The moral then is to begin searching for problems early. Your text includes the following suggestions:

1. What research is currently being conducted by your advisor or members of your department? This is a smart move because you can build on existing knowledge and know that you have someone with somewhat "expert" knowledge to guide your study. You have a much better chance of avoiding design errors if you are building on past research.

2. What are the areas of controversy in your field? Obviously controversial areas could use some research. Ask yourself however if you are qualified or willing to become qualified to explore these areas. Also, who will be able to give you advice on your study? Faculty members may have general knowledge but not the kind of specialized knowledge that you really need.

3. Talk to other graduate students and professors. This approach will not only generate some ideas but you will learn about the types of problems current graduate students have encountered. You will learn about the faculty and get a better idea for who you would like as the chair of your committee and committee members.

4. Locate and read a review paper. Suppose you are interested in goal setting. You could probably find an article in which the author reviews a number of previously conducted studies. Reading this review might stimulate an idea for a topic that could build on existing knowledge.

5. Read research papers listed in a review or article. The reference page of any article is one of your best sources for additional information on a topic. It saves hours of searching if you simply copy the titles of articles on your topic of interest. Eventually, when you find the same authors are constantly being quoted you can have some confidence that you have found all there is to know on your topic.

6. Begin to list unanswered or debatable questions. Wow! This is really using your head. Unfortunately, it's also probably the hardest way to approach research because you are beginning with nothing but an idea. While creative thinkers have undoubtedly added volumes to our knowledge you should ask yourself if as a graduate student (usually in a hurry to graduate) you have the time and patience to pursue this type of quest (a kind of "Holy Grail" quest!).

Q. Be sure you can explain the importance of the following criteria.

1. Workability (can it be done?)

2. Critical mass (so what? what's the importance?)

3. Interest (to you!)

4. Theoretical value (does it fill gaps in knowledge?)

5. Practical value (will the findings affect anyone?)

Although it's unlikely that any single study will perfectly meet all these criteria, consideration of the five criteria will at least help you evaluate your ideas.

Q. List some of the ideas you thought of as you read the text. Be prepared to discuss the pros and cons.

Finding research problems also involves two kinds of reasoning - inductive and deductive.

In other words you will probably find yourself thinking about problems from one of two basic approaches. Suppose, for example, you are a coach and notice that some of your athletes seem to get sore after weight training using free weights. You might hypothesize that free weights lead to greater muscle soreness than weight machines. You design an experiment to test this hypothesis and based on your results you develop a theory to explain your findings.

Is this an example of inductive or deductive reasoning? Did you begin with the observation of events and develop a theory or begin with a theory and test it through observations of specific events? Suppose you read an interesting article in a psychology journal in which the author theorizes that intelligence is related to physical fitness. You decide to test this theory through a carefully designed experiment. Is this an example of inductive or deductive reasoning?

In any study both types of reasoning are used typically in some sort of feedback loop.

deduction - proceeds from the general to the particular

induction - proceeds from the specific to the general

deduction - involves hypothesis development

induction - involves theory building

Q. Be prepared to distinguish between deductive and inductive types of reasoning using an imaginary research example you have created (just an example in your head is fine!).

Supposing that you have a reasonable research problem the next step is to consider how you can use the literature to help develop your problem.

Q. What useful information will you hope to get from the literature review. Here are some possibilities:

A literature search will provide you with:

a. Background information

1. Has the study already been done?

2. Is a similar study in progress?

3. Is there any related research?

B. Hypotheses

1. What have been proposed by others?

2. Do these studies provide ideas, theories, explanations or hypotheses useful in understanding and formulating the problem?

C. Methods and analysis

1. What research procedures and methods of analyzing the data were used by others?

D. Interpretation

1. Will these studies provide comparative data useful in interpreting your results?

2. Do these studies help to justify the significance of your research?

Thomas and Nelson noted in an earlier edition of their text that:

There are several different approaches. Which is best for you depends on your familiarity with the topic. If your advisor is an expert on your topic you'd be smart to ask for references to current literature (that's why it helps to choose a topic your advisor knows a lot about).

There are several suggestions in your text on locating literature. Obviously you'd be wiser to spend your time reading the literature rather than searching for it. Aim to use the fastest method for locating information. It might mean speaking to your adviser, it might mean conducting a computer search, or it might mean locating a review of completed research - it depends on your topic. Other than your adviser, the staff of the library are often your best bet for advice. They know how to find information and can advise you on possible search strategies.

Six steps recommended when searching the literature

1. Write the problem statement

2. Consult secondary sources

3. Determine descriptors

4. Search preliminary sources

5. Read and record the literature

6. Write the literature review.

The literature searching part of your study can easily become the most time consuming if you aren't organized. Your goal is to find out anything that is directly relevant to your topic. Remind me to give you a chart to help you make that decision:

As you can see you have to be very disciplined or you can waste a lot of time. It's easy to find yourself reading something that is "interesting" but not necessarily "relevant" to your study. Unless you have lots of free time stick only to the relevant information.

Many articles that are relevant may be up to 30 pages long. How much of the article is important to you? Often you just need to review the abstract and take a few short notes. Remember, you don't have to read the entire article. In fact I suggest that you learn to skim articles - the author will forgive you!

Contrary to popular belief it is not necessary to xerox every article that contains interesting information. You just end up with an empty wallet and an overflowing garbage can. Rather than xerox the article learn to record the essential information either on note cards or if you are really into technology, directly onto a laptop computer.

Usually, when reviewing experimental studies all you need to record is the following information:

1. Statement of the problem

2. Characteristics of the subjects

3. Instruments and/or tests used

4. Testing procedures

5. Independent and dependent variables

6. Treatments applied to subjects

7. Design and statistical analysis

8. Findings

9. Questions raised for further study

10. Citations/references to additional studies (not yet reviewed)

Recording information from books and articles is extremely time consuming. That's one of the reasons you need to train yourself to be rigorously disciplined.

1. Do not read anything that is not essential for your study.

2. A second time saving method I mentioned above is to record your information directly into a laptop computer. Why write it once then have to write it again? It makes sense just to input the information then edit it later as you put your paper together. Realistically however not too many graduate students have laptop computers (they're not as expensive as you think - I just bought one for $300.00).

3. If not writing directly on a computer you should use note cards or paper. I recommend 5" x 7" note cards, stored in a plastic box, divided up according to topics. Sheets of paper are fine but often you will only need to record a few details in which case you are left with a mass of blank space. Paper is also harder to handle because it flops around and is larger than the cards.

4. Regardless of your choice remember to only take notes on one side of the card or paper. You will later want to compare information and group similar aspects together. This task becomes extremely frustrating if you have different aspects on either side of a page!

5. Before starting to take notes you must write the source of the information on the reverse of your card. Discipline yourself to do this before starting any new card. There are few things worse than getting into the writing process, finding some useful information, then turning the card and discovering that you forgot to include the source. It may take hours relocating the source compared to the few minutes it would have taken writing the source before note taking. Remember this advice. The first time you don't follow it you can think of me smiling!

6. Be brief in your notes but include the essential information recommended above. If you need to use two note cards be sure to number the cards and reference the source on the reverse of the second card too! It's easy to get lazy and omit a reference, then when you rearrange the cards you have no idea who said what. When this happens you will probably be feeling like you don't have much free time and will be annoyed that you now have less.

7. When to stop? How much information do you need to record? It depends a lot on your topic and the quantity of previous research completed. If your study has already received a lot of research interest there will be more to review. If you choose a somewhat original study there may not be much written. As a general guide you'll know that you have done a thorough review when article authors begin quoting studies you have already reviewed.

8. Keep your cards in a plastic box according to topic. Then when you start the writing process you have at least conducted a preliminary sorting of your information. Just as in the old days you will probably want to spread the cards out within each topic and reorder them, then make decisions about which topic to present first. Fortunately, the ability to move information on a computer makes any changes a simple matter of a few keystrokes.

Research writing does not have to be boring. Many editors would argue that there is no such thing as an "academic" writing style. There is good writing and bad writing. People often claim to be writing in an academic style as a way to excuse the fact they are poor writers! You should view the literature review the same way as you can remember the children's stories your parents used to read to you.

Q. What are the key parts of a children's story or in fact any story?

The should be a beginning (introduction to get the reader's interest), main body (the nitty, gritty substance of your story), and a summary (in which you remind the reader what you just said).

The use of computers has changed the way we now write.

1. Less concern about initial writing errors. In the past most people would take notes on cards or paper, spread them out on a large table, then reorder according to a logical writing sequence. Sometimes we'd cut and paste information so that we were sure everything was in the correct location before beginning to type. Because errors could not be easily erased we would type very carefully and attempt to get a finished paper in one effort.

Q. Writing with a computer is like completing a jigsaw puzzle. What's the best way to approach solving jigsaw puzzle?

Computers have eliminated this fear of making writing errors. Instead we can view the process of writing a paper similar to that of completing a jigsaw puzzle. Remember how with jigsaws it's usually easiest if you construct the outside frame then begin to fill in the middle. Writing a paper is the same. You first need a frame then can fill in the missing details at your leisure. There's no need to be concerned about early errors because you can catch and correct them later. The great advantage of a computer is that you can now edit your work as many times as you want without the fear of spoiling its appearance.

The first step in writing should be to construct an outline. I find it easiest to use an outlining program on the computer. Most major word processors have outlining programs or you can get specialized outliners. These programs allow you to insert information in any order then quickly reorder according to some logical sequence. In most literature reviews you will cover several aspects of your main topic. It's not always easy to decide which aspect should be described first until you have all your information gathered and can sit back and think about the sequence. The beauty of an outliner is that you can quickly reorder your information in many different ways, see how each arrangement works, then choose the best.

Q. So let's think of an example. Think of a topic of personal interest write a brief outline. Bring to class and be prepared to discuss.

For example, let's suppose your study is on the effects of different training programs to develop strength. Consider some of the possible aspects of this topic:

* Strength, what is it and how can it be developed?

* Weight training studies, different types

* Conditioning studies, different types

* Combined weight training and conditioning studies

* Studies in the same sport you are investigating

* Studies in different sports other than the one you are investigating

Where would you begin in your literature review? Using a computer makes this decision rather unimportant. Many writers who don't understand how to use the computer are paralyzed at the initial writing stage. They just don't know how to begin and the more they worry about the start the more agitated they become. It's at this stage that the use of an antiperspirant-deodorant often become essential. Alternatively, you can follow my advice and just begin with anything that appears relevant and worry about where its going to fit later.

Once you have an outline, remember my jigsaw analogy. Now your task is to fill in the blanks. Depending on the depth of information in your outline you might be able to begin by writing links between the sections.

All writing should be done on the computer. Do not write by hand. This may be a new skill for you but it is essential that you pursue it.

More guidelines:

1. Don't get stuck on a first sentence. Leave it out or accept something less than perfect.

2. Write without a care for errors. As long as there are thoughts in your head keep writing.

3. SAVE regularly. Set your computer to remind you. Save on a floppy as well as the internal drive. For extra security run a hard copy!

3. When the thoughts dry up - quit, run a hard copy and take a break.

4. Editing is often easier on the hard copy rather than the screen.

5. Edit yourself. Move information first before any heavy editing. Make changes to your file and run off new copy.

6. Edit it again and keep editing until you are reasonably happy.

7. SAVE, SAVE, SAVE copies.

8. Share with a willing critic (not a spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend, or great buddy!)

9. Repeat the process, then spell check, then consider giving it to your adviser.

10. Expect to be asked to make lots more revisions. As long as it's safely on disk this task is relatively simple. Each time you are perfecting the jigsaw puzzle until at last all the pieces come together.

Example: Show class the draft copies of my article on the Soviets. Illustrate the many copies and the revisions that were made. Emphasize to expect several revisions.

Example: Let's go back a bit and think about the problem locating process. For many students this is one of the greatest challenges. Let's assume you wisely chose a general area that was of interest to another CWU faculty member. Other than asking directly "What can I do for my study?" which is okay but not very impressive, what might be your steps of investigation?

1. Locate sources of information on the topic. This is where a good advisor saves you lots of time.

2. Read previous studies and take brief notes of main facts. Be especially vigilant for suggestions the authors might make for future studies..

3. You don't want to reinvent the wheel but it's okay to think of improvements to the vehicle. In other words, look for some small changes that will make your study unique but not so unique that you can't learn from previous mistakes. Based on this experience you might chat with a faculty member then write a proposal.

4. This proposal is the first formal step in the research process. You must present it to at least 3 graduate faculty members willing to serve on your committee. So right now as you begin this process you should be thinking about who you would like for your adviser and two other committee members.

(Revised 12/15/01)

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