Școala doctorală

Modulul „Tehnologia informației în cercetare”

Elaborarea şi managementul proiectului ştiinţific

Tema 9. Proiectul de cercetare ştiinţifică: componente

structurale și etape de elaborare/ Research Planning:
Content, Steps, and Structural Components

Valentina TEOSA, prof., dr.hab.

Val.teosa@gmail.com
Tel.079681413

USM - 2020
 Introduction
Objectives
• Describe what constitutes a research
process, and identify the advantages and
disadvantages of scientific research;
• Determine the content and characteristics of
the research process and develop an
organizational plan;
• formulate the stages of the research process
and design the structuring of the research
process;
• Build the main working hypotheses of
research on international relations.
 Practical task:
- to formulate the main working hypothesis of
a graduate study
Main points/results
• Definition of the research process. Specific
of scientific research: advantages and
disadvantages.
• Content and characteristics of the research
process development.
• Stages of the research process. Structuring
the research process step by step.
Key terms: research process, research,
organizational plan, stages of the
research process, definitions,
assumptions, argument.
Research proposal as a first step in
scientific study
Motivation - you have to prove you are capable of
making such a contribution
Argumentation
Content
Activities planning
Rezults
Evaluation
Structure of research project

The research question and scientific

problem you want resolve
Theme formulation
Argumentation of research. (Introduction)
Activities implementation (organizational
plan)
Bibliography (main sources)
Research success is based on:
what research problem will you undertake – well
formulated project title
why is important to know that thing – actuality and
necessity of your research
how will you proceed to make that research – planning
of activities
deep bibliography, historiography and theory study –
the base for applied research
Logical conclusions and recommendations
Professional using of scientific methods
Following to Guide for elaboration of this kind of
scientific work – as well as in content and technical
aspects
Successful Research content:

Research begins with

 an introduction with impact, and that leads to the
formulation of your hypothesis
 a problem which need not be Earth-shaking.
Identifying this problem can actually be the
hardest part of research.
In general, good research projects should:
Address an important question.
Advance knowledge.
Next step to success – defining delimitations

The next step in your argumentation of your choice of

theme, problem and subject for research is to prove
that that particular piece of research has not been
done yet
All research has limitations and thus certain work that
will not be performed.
The work that will not be undertaken is described as
the delimitations of the research.

Notes: This section is usually based on Literature Review

Relevance & Importance of the Study argumentation
Many research problems have a kind of theoretical feel
about them. Such projects often need to be justified:
What is the research project’s practical value?
Without this justification, it will prove difficult to convince
others that the problem in question is worth study.
Finally, you have proven you have a research idea, that you are
familiar with the field, and that your idea is new, you argued
why should your project be worth researching, (because it
advances knowledge, ok), but is this knowledge that anybody
will need?
Scientific Research elements:

Research proposals are documents that describe

the intended research including:
Object, Problem and subproblems.
Hypotheses.
Delimitations.
Definitions.
Assumptions.
Importance.
Methods
Literature review.
Scientific Process Step 1: A Question Is Raised

A question occurs to or is posed to the

researcher for which that researcher has no
answer.
This doesn’t mean that someone else doesn’t
already have an answer.

The question needs to be converted to an

appropriate problem statement like that
documented in a research proposal.
Step 2: Suggest Hypotheses

The researcher generates intermediate

hypotheses to describe a solution to the
problem.
This is at best a temporary solution since there is
as yet no evidence to support either the
acceptance or rejection of these hypotheses.
Step 3: Literature Review

You have to enumerate and critically analyze an

impressive list of boring bibliography.
The conclusion you should - objectively! - reach is that
your idea of research has not been undertaken yet.
Pay attention in your analysis to those you will build
on. The available literature is reviewed to determine if
there is already a solution to the problem.
Existing solutions do not always explain new observations.
The existing solution might require some revision or even be
discarded.
Step 4. Research Methodology - the most difficult
part of the research elaboration
Research Process.
Common Methodologies.
Methodology Comparison.
Definitions
Assumptions
Data analysis
Definitions are important for research!

Define each technical term as it is used in

relation to your research project.
This helps remove significant ambiguity from the
research itself by ensuring that reviewers, while
they may not agree with your definitions, at least
know what you’re talking about.
What are Assumptions?

Assumptions are those things that the

researcher is taking for granted.
For example: a given test instrument accurately
and consistently measures the phenomenon in
question.

As a general rule you’re better off

documenting an assumption than ignoring it.
Overlooked assumptions provide a prime source
of debate about a research project’s results.
Step 5: Acquire Data, its Analysis & Interpretation
The researcher now begins to gather data relating to the research problem.
The means of data acquisition will often change based on the type of the
research problem.
This might entail only data gathering, but it could also require the creation of
new measurement instruments.
The data that were gathered in the previous step are analyzed as a first step in
ascertaining their meaning:
this is basic number crunching.
the analysis of the data does not constitute research.
The researcher interprets the newly analyzed data and suggests a conclusion.
This can be difficult.
Keep in mind that data analysis that suggests a correlation between two
variables can’t automatically be interpreted as suggesting causality between
those variables.
Generalization: Research Process specific

Research is an extremely cyclic process.

Later stages might necessitate a review of earlier
work.

This isn’t a weakness of the process but is

part of the built-in error correction machinery.
Because of the cyclic nature of research, it
can be difficult to determine where to start
and when to stop.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Mija, Valeriu. Metodologia și etica cercetării în științele politice = "Methodology and
Ethics of Research in Political Science" : Suport de curs / Mija Valeriu ; redactor
ştiinţific: Coadă Ludmila ; Universitatea Liberă Internaţională din Moldova, Facultatea
Relații Internaționale, Ştiințe Politice și Jurnalism. – Chişinău : S. n., 2020 ([MS
Logo]).- 134 p.
Căldare Gh., Stercul N. Elaborarea referatului ştiinţific. În: Relațiile internaționale în
curriculumul universitar: bazele teoretico-metodologice. Coord. V. TEOSA, Gr.
VASILESCU , V. ROTARU. Chișinău: CEP USM, 2016, p. 459-467.
Ciobu E., Ejova C. Teza de an – modalitate de cercetare ştiinţifică a studenţilor. În:
Relațiile internaționale în curriculumul universitar: bazele teoretico-metodologice.
Coord. V. TEOSA, Gr. VASILESCU , V. ROTARU. Chișinău: CEP USM, 2016, p. 477-
492.
Teosa V., Ciobu E. Relaţiile internaţionale ca obiect de cercetare: evoluţie şi
perspective. În: Studii internaţionale. Viziuni din Moldova. Vol.1, nr.1. Chișinău: CEP
USM, 2006, p. 9-16.
Teosa V., Moşneaga V. Studii universitare în relaţii internaţionale: unele consideraţii
privind aspect teoretice, applicative şi civice. În: Studii internaţionale. Viziuni din
Moldova. USM, col. Red. V.Teosa, vol. VII., nr. 2-3, Chișinău: CEP USM, 2008, p. 14-
27.