Review of the week

The focus of this week has been on how research plans are put into action.

The first activity looked at how a research problem is converted into a clear research objective and how this can then be broken down into research questions or hypotheses.

The second activity examined how these research questions could be answered through the collection of data and its analysis. It finished with a summary of the main features of a research dissertation and some hints and tips about how to manage the research.

It is worth revisiting the main theme of this week as well, namely that it is the research objective and research questions/hypotheses that are the driving force of any piece of research. If you spend time refining these and making sure that they effectively express your research problem and will work to guide you through the data collection and analysis stage, it will pay dividends as you continue. Remember, you might not get them right first time, but if you keep coming back to the objective and the questions, you will be able to work out where they need to be updated to reflect new issues and ideas that emerge as you go.

Combined with the activities in the first week, you should be in a position to draw together a coherent proposal which outlines the core elements of a research project. There is inevitably a great deal of different things to learn and to reflect upon as you begin to draw a proposal together. Therefore, you can use this short course as a reference guide to the core issues as and when you are making these decisions.

We have provided a resource list for this course which you will find useful in your studies.

Time to reflect

Now that you have come to the end of the second week, it is again useful to reflect on what you have learned.

What was good or useful this week in preparing you to develop a research project?

What questions arose for you?