|As the flow chart to the right indicates, research begins with curiosity.
Academic research involves a special methodology that is not the same as that used by a journalist or the casual inquirer.
Nevertheless, as the diagram shows, a variety of forces can stimulate one's curiosity: something read in a newspaper or heard on the news, material covered in classes, personal experience....
We will begin the research process with a Concept Paper. This may also be known as an abstract or a proposal, although these usually have more substance.
Follow the steps below to develop a Concept
1. What are you curious about (within the general subject matter of this course)? List a few areas of curiosity.
For example, I am curious about these different areas:
2. Choose one of the areas of curiosity and develop some specific questions (this is called "question framing"). Many research questions can be classified as:
3. Do any of your questions lend themselves to a research hypothesis? If so, write out any hypotheses.
A research hypothesis is an "educated guess" about relationships that may explain behavior and phenomena. Sometimes we refer to our research hypothesis as our thesis or theses (plural).
If research hypotheses involve quantitative data, they may be tested
statistically through statistical hypothesis testing.
Note that developing hypotheses may require some preliminary research or prior knowledge (which is why a hypothesis is called an educated guess).
4. Identify the ideal evidence (data) and how you will probably try to gather that evidence (your methodology).
You are very likely to need multiple types of evidence (data).
For my example hypotheses, I need the following:
5. Write a Concept Paper.
Draw on what you have developed in terms of areas of curiosity, research questions, research hypotheses, data sources, and methodology.
See the Sample Concept Paper to the right for an example of what your
product should look like.
Sample Concept Paper
Racial Homogeneity in Portland, Oregon
This paper will explore the issue of the lack of racial
diversity in Portland, Oregon. First, it will describe
Portland's racial breakdown in the present and in the past,
using U.S. Census data, if available, for 1900, 1920,
1940, 1960, 1980, and the most recent data collected
in 1998. This paper will then go on to attempt to account
for why Portland's racial breakdown is what it is, looking
at possible explanatory factors such as geographical
location, economic activity, and social-cultural attitudes. The primary research hypothesis is that Portland's relatively
low percentage of non-Caucasian residents can be explained
by a combination of factors, including the city's geographical
location on the Pacific Rim (a point of entry for Asians),
north of California (a port of entry for Hispanics); the
historical development of its economy from logging, railroad
building, fishing, and agriculture, to the present emphasis
on high-tech service-sector activities; the relative lack of
available job opportunities in industry calling for unskilled
labor; and a social and cultural environment that has
historically been conservative, white, Anglo-Saxon,
Protestant, and intolerant of racial and ethnic diversity
(Abbott 1983). The methodology this research will employ includes a review
secondary sources about Portland's economic, social, and
cultural history; sources about the history of Asian, Hispanic,
and African-American immigrant; and sources about the history
of immigrants in certain sectors of the economy over time. An
examination of Census and other statistical data will provide
information regarding population rates and growth, employment,
and racial diversity. References:
Abbott, Carl. 1983. Portland: Planning, Politics, and Growth in A Twentieth-Century City. Lincoln, Nebr.: Univ. of Nebraska Press.
|6. Before turning in your concept paper, go
through this checklist to make sure your concept paper is of the
highest quality possible:
Key Points to Remember
This is not an opinion piece. The paper should
remain neutral, unbiased, non-
This paper should not be a program assessment (for example, does
This paper should not be a consultant's report recommending policies