Cohesion and Cooperation

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Cohesion and Cooperation

• Planning for Regional Development Across Borders
• Project Research Methodology
• Hanna Björklund 2006

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Deadlines

• Tuesday, 21 March, 09.00 1st lit. seminar Paper
  due
• Tuesday, 21 March, 17.00 Outline of project work
• Tuesday, 28 March, 09.00 2nd lit. seminar Paper
  due
• Wednesday, 29 March, 17.00 First project draft
  due
• Monday, 15 May Deadline for final report

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Planning Your Research ProjectPartly
based on Ulrika Gunnarssons lecture 20 September
2005
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Consider the task at hand

• Analyse current trends in regional development
  along borders within the enlarged EU
• Describe and evaluate the emerging links and
  co-operation for improved common competitiveness
  and cohesion between selected regions in two or
  more countries in the Baltic Sea Area

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What is a good research topic?

• A good research topic
• Answers an interesting question (why and how)
• Is focused the subject must be limited in
  scope not a tour guide of the subject.
• Should be based on personal interest

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How to find a research question

• Brainstorming
• Web research
• Talking with others
• Outlining
• Reading
• Mind-mapping
• Doodling
• Creating lists
• Writing journals and creating story boards

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How do I choose a good research question?

• Your interests, possibilities and limitations
  including time, resources, past experiences, your
  purpose, focus, aims, audience (for whom are you
  researching) and relevance (why is this research
  of particular interest what does it contribute
  to the field of knowledge)
• Brainstorm with your group

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Deductive vs inductive approach

• Deductive Starts with a theory (the world is
  round), which is then tested by facts or
  empirical evidence and thus theory is confirmed
  or rejected or a case
• Inductive Starts with observations or empirical
  evidence (curvature of the earth) and then
  builds up to a theory
• Most research is a combination of both methods.
  But the main approach depends on the question you
  are asking.

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Think about research method

• Qualitative in-depth interviews, literature
  studies, document analysis, observations, case
  studies, comparison studies
• Quantitative GIS, mapping, statistical
  analysis, surveys and questionnaires

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Interviewing

• Informal conversational interviews relies on
  spontaneous questions during informal
  conversation where the person being interviewed
  may not even notice
• Interview guide list of question or issues
  that are to be explored in the interview
• Completely structured interviews where all
  questions and answers are prepared in advanced

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When interviewing, remember

• Before
• - Avoid interviewing people you know
• Be prepared!
• Questions
• Types of questions experience/behaviour,
  opinion/ belief, feeling, sensory,
  background/demographic
• Do not ask leading questions
• Do not pose questions that can be answered with
  a yes or a no
• During
• If you did not understand ask the respondent to
  clarify
• Create a pleasant and professional atmosphere
• After
• It takes time to process interviews

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Resources

• Relevant literature government reports, EU
  documents, journals, newspapers, books
• Contact people and/or organisations in Estonia
  early on
• Lectures (past courses and lectures in CoCo)
• Past experiences/knowledge
• Websites relevant institutions, organisations,
  authorities and statistic bureaus

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Some useful websites

• www.esprid.org European Spatial Planning Research
  Institute Database
• www.spatial.baltic.net Baltic Sea Region Interreg
  IIIB
• www.espon.lu European Spatial Planning Network
• www.nordregio.se Nordic Council of Ministers
  Spatial Development Research
• www.sweden.gov.se The Swedish Government
• www.valitsus.ee The Government of Estonia

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Working in groups

• Open mindedness
• Flexibility
• Creativity
• Compromise
• Effective communication
• Responsibility division of labour
• Encouraging one another

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A good report is

• Informative new information, qualitative or
  quantitative, credible and convincing.
• Readable professional but not jargon laden,
  lively but not emotional, committed but not
  biased.
• Organised there is a clear story and a road map
  for the reader beginning, middle and end.

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When you write the report

• Consider contradictory or supporting points of
  view
• Is there a conflict of interest in this topic?
• Do authors have biases?
• Do some opinions refrain from theoretical
  references?
• Would different conclusions be arrived at if the
  study was focused on another population,
  location, time period?
• ? Be critical!

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Structure of report

• Title
• Abstract or summary
• Acknowledgements
• Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Methods
• Description
• Theory
• Results
• Discussion
• Recommendations
• Conclusion

• Endnotes
• References
• Appendices

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Description

• Tells the story of your research from a more
  or less objective viewpoint
• Sets the background for the analysis
• Description or empirical information should not
  take up more than one-third of the report!
• Only relevant empirical evidence should be
  included

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Theory

• Sets the framework for linking the empirical
  information with the analysis
• Helps with alternative explanations
• Puts empirical evidence into a broader or
  narrower context
• Aids in formulating research question(s)

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Assessment of the report

• Formulate a research question
• Address the initial task
• Quality of research
• Clear logical structure
• Quality of analysis
• Policy recommendations and implications
• Referencing
• Presentation
• Opposition

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Plagiarism? Whats that?

• Plagiarism is the expression of others ideas in
  your work without citing them as the source.
  Sometimes plagiarism is unintentional, for
  example faulty note taking.
• Always acknowledge a source of ideas in your work
  even if you do not directly quote from a source
  or only if you have generally referred to
  anothers ideas or concepts.