Putu Gede Widiana

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Doing Research

In this final chapter, I shall outline some of the practical procedures to be followed in planning,
carrying out, and evaluating research project. While the size and complexity of projects will
vary, from relatively modest, action – oriented studies carried out by classroom teachers and
others involved in professional practice through to major investigations by university based
researchers, all research. I believe, can benefit from the considerations contained in this chapter.
The following questions are dealt with ??

 How do I go about developing a research question ?

 What is a literature review, and how do I carry out one ?
 What should a research report contain ?
 What are some of the practical problems associated with carrying out research,
and how might these be dealt with ?

Developing a Research Question

A minimum requirement for an activity to be considered research is that it contain three

components :

1. A question
2. Data
3. Analysis and interpretation

The first component, and the key to the others, is the formulation of a question. It is this
initial step which often causes researchers, particularly those who are new to the research prcess,
the most trouble. It is worth spending as much time as is necessary to get the question right, and
in this section, we shall look at some of the considerations which will facilitate this process.

Before formulating a question, one needs to determine the general topic area one is
interests, from one’s experience in the field, from reading widely, or from a combination of
these.
 There are many questions or issues which are eminently capable of being researched, but
which may not be worth asking. For example, it would be technically feasible to determine the
number of Spanish interpreters who wear designer jeans, or the relantionship between the
wearing of rubber thongs and academic achievement. However, it is highly dubious whether
these questions are worth asking.

On the other hand, there are many questions worth asking which cannot, in any practical
sense, be answered. So in formulating a research question we need to strike a balance between
the value of the question and our ability to develop a research proposal we are capable of
carrying out.

Research questions can come from many different place. Usually they result from our
reading around in an area that is of interest focus. If we are lucky, we may find a piece of
published research which we can either take one step further or apply to a different context. For
example , we may come across a study demonstrating that background cultural knowledge has a
significant effect on reading comprehension. This may prompt us to ask, “ what is the effect of
background knowledge on listening comprehension ? “ Or, we may come across research which
shows that the order in which German morephosyntax is acquired is relatively fixed, impervious
to instruction, and determined by speech processing constraints. This may prompt us to ask
whether the same constraints exist for English.
The Literature Review

An essential step in any research project is the literature review. The function of the
literature review is to provide background information on the researchquestion , and to identify
what others have said and / or discovered about the question. It may well be that in course of
carrying out the literature review , you come across a study which answers the very question you
are proposing to investigate. The literature review, if carrie out systematically, will acquaint you
with previous work in the field, and should also alert you to problems and potential pitfalls in the
chosen area.

A good way to begin a literature review is to prepare an annotated bibliography. As the

name suggests, an annotated bibliography contains a list of relevant studies relating to the
research question or issue. There may range bfrom brief research reports to books. Each entry
contains a summary or abstract of the particular work. The following sample extract from
commercially published literature review provides some idea of the length and detail of the
annotations.
Implementing The Research Project

Most of this book has been devoted to an analysis of different methods of collecting and
analysing data, and in this section, I should like to summarise some of the main points which
have made in greater detail in the body of the book.

We looked at different traditions in research, and i contrasted psychometric with

interpretive research.While the distinction between these tradition is, in many ways,
oversimplistic, I agrued that the distinction was a real one, and that different conceptions of
reality and the nature of evidence underlay the different traditions. I also took pains to points out
that, despite the impression which is sometimes conveyed by proponents of the different
approaches, there is no intrinsic superiority in one rather than the other. In selecting a general
orientation, it is important to match one's data collection methods and methods of analysis to the
question one is asking. Some question, particularly those positing a strong casual relantionship
between variables, suggest some form of experimental research design and the use of statistical
tools to analyse the data and make inferences from one's sample to the larger population. Other
question, particulary those concerned with investigating behaviour in context, suggest descriptive
and interpretive research.

In additional to ensuring consistency, and to ensure that the data collection and analysis
are going to answer the question , there are several other keys considerations to be borne in mind
during the data collection and analysis phases of the research. In particular, one needs to ensure
that adequate care has been taken over the constructs underlying the research and the way in
which these have been operationalised. You will recall that this involved defining the constructs
and developing operational meansures of the constructs which are accessible to the outside
observer. It is also important, not only during the planning but also during the implementation
[hases of the project, to be aware of possible threats might to the validity and reliability of the
research, and ways in which these threats might be dealt with.
Presenting The Research

There are many ways of presenting research. The traditional way is in the form of paper
presentations at coferences and , in written model as theses, journal articles, or monographs. In
the case of research carried out as part of a formal tertiary award, there is a requirement that the
research be presented in writing. The writer has found that many students have great deal of
difficulty when it comes to writing up their research. The process itself is greatly facilitated if
one has a clear idea of the audience for whom one is writing.