III. STEPS in CONDUCTING RESEARCH

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III. STEPS in CONDUCTING
RESEARCH

• (Miller, 1977)

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A. Define the Problem

• 1. this is the critical step
• a. what is it you are actually trying to
  do?
• b. the research question
• 2. your research is your experiment
• a. your DEPENDENT variable
• b. What are you are actually interested
  in?
• c. this is the focus of your research
  intentions
• 3. identify your perspective
• a. what is your point of view?
• 1) will you be attempting to solve
  a problem or explain it?

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• 2) are you examining your issue as a
  particular kind of
• researcher?
• gt psychologist,
  sociologist, economist, political scientist,
• public administrator, law
  enforcement practitioner...?
• b. this matters
• 4. degree and definition
• a. how broad is your problem?
• gt individual, local, state, national,
  international?
• b. how do you define your key
  variables?
• 1) must itemize your operational
  definitions
• 2) these
  definitions must be exact, as explicit as possible

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Develop Theory (explanation / solution)

• 1. what is the explanation / solution to
  your problem?
• gt based on your perspective, what
  are you proposing?
• 2. a statement of what you believe
• 3. identifies what it is you will examine
  as well as what it is
• you will not
• 4. the library should be your first stop
• 5. work with what you know (epistemology)
  along with
• how you find out (methodology) in
  response to what it
• is you do not know

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C. Conceptualization / Measurement

• 1. understanding specifically what you intend
  to examine
• 2. what do you see when you see someone
  doing what
• you intend to examine?
• 3. what information are you actually seeking
• gt what do you want / need to prove your
  point?
• 4. a more thorough discussion of this area
  will be
• conducted later (in the research design
  section), but
• this is thinking about your problem

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D. Identify Methodology / Data Collection
Strategy

• 1. how will you seek the answers to the
  questions you
• must ask to prove your point?
• gt what questions need to be
  asked?
• 2. what are your options to generate
  the best
• information?
• 3. typical social science strategies
• a. secondary analysis
• b. face-to-face interviews
• c. self-report questionnaires
  
• d. unobtrusive measures

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E. Data Analysis/Presentation

• 1. what strategy best shows
  your efforts?
• a. various levels of
  statistical analysis are the most
• popular in social science
  research
• 1) univariate, bivariate,
  multivariate statistical analyses
• 2) tables

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3) graphs

• 3) graphs (pictograms)

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• b. narratives (growing in popularity post
  modernism)
• gt written, verbal descriptions
• c. multi-media presentations
• 2. purpose is to illustrate what it is you did

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F. Summary

• 1. based solely on the problem you
  address, the sources
• of your information, and the data
  generated from
• those sources...what did you find out?
• gt this is the only reasonable
  conclusion possible
• 2. speculation about what if, or perhaps
  if, can only be
• an addendum to your basic conclusion