RESEARCH CHAPTER 4

Chapter Overview: Initiating Research

This chapter guides researchers on how to start a research project, focusing on problem identification, formulation, and question posing. It emphasizes gathering background information through literature review and details factors to consider before starting a project. Key objectives include sourcing research problems, initiating projects, formulating questions, searching literature, compiling reviews, and understanding systematic reviews and meta-analysis.

Sources and Identification of Research Problems

Selecting a research problem is challenging due to the vastness of social reality. General guidelines and criteria are provided for a successful project, as precise directives are difficult given the diversity of topics.

Sources of Research Topics

1. Observation of reality: Direct contact and observation of the external world, leading to many scientific advances (e.g., Newton's discovery of gravity).

2. Theory: Testing predictions derived from existing theories. For example, Piaget's theory of cognitive development suggests research on cross-cultural or education-independent cognitive development.

3. Previous research: New studies inspired by contradictions, ambiguous results, concerns about procedures, or a need to repeat studies with different participant groups (e.g., retesting findings with non-verbal tasks or in mother tongue).

4. Practical concerns: Research stemming from real-world problems in a community (e.g., investigating curriculum relevance if graduates face unemployment). This leads to applied research.

5. Personal interest: Projects undertaken for curiosity or to generate knowledge, often falling under basic research. Researchers must not pigeonhole projects strictly as applied or basic.

6. Researching topics of interest to another party: Contract research paid for by businesses, government departments, or civil society organizations. This raises moral and ethical challenges regarding knowledge generation and use.

Identifying a Research Problem

This involves three narrowing steps:

1. Selection of a topic area: Influenced by intellectual, practical, or personal interests, often by social conditions or 'fashionable' research areas (e.g., HIV/Aids, war and violence, governance). Financial incentives also play a role.

2. Selection of a general problem: Within the chosen topic, a problem of scientific/intellectual interest or practical concern is identified, aiming for more information or to explain relationships between facts.

3. Reduction of the general problem to specific, precise, and well-delimited questions: Social research can be complex, so a general problem must be broken down into manageable research questions, possibly into sub-questions for separate studies. Novice researchers should simplify questions.

Constraints in Research Problem Identification

• Empirical testability: Problems must be empirically based and deal with observable reality, excluding subjective issues like moral judgments.

• Feasibility of data collection: Data collection must be possible without harm or excessive interference (e.g., separating children from parents), and within a reasonable timeframe (longitudinal studies over generations may not be feasible).

• Lack of literature/theory: Limited existing knowledge may require initial descriptive and exploratory research to define concepts and develop methodologies before other study types are possible. Novice researchers should be cautious in uncharted territories.

Criteria for a Well-Chosen Problem

A problem or question should ideally satisfy many of the following:

1. Be timely.

2. Relate to a practical problem or question.

3. Relate to a wider population.

4. Relate to an influential or critical population.

5. Fill a research gap.

6. Permit generalization to broader principles or enhance understanding.

7. Sharpen the definition of an important concept or relationship.

8. Create or improve an instrument for observing and analyzing data.

9. Provide possibilities for fruitful exploration with known techniques.

10. Have implications for a wider range of practical problems.

General Criteria for a Research Study

Before proceeding with the study, a researcher should check for:

1. Empirical testability: The question must refer to empirical facts and be answerable through observation, not based on moral/ethical judgments or cultural beliefs.

2. Feasibility: The study must be manageable considering time, literature, funds, sample size, and available methods/instruments (e.g., not investigating all nurses in a large town within one month without funds). Questions shouldn't be too personal or dangerous to answer honestly (e.g., asking about treatment under a dictatorship or by warders in prison).

3. Critical mass: The problem should not be too narrow, specific, or trivial to be worthwhile (e.g., not only studying contraceptive use among female university professors in an African country).

4. Interest: Strong researcher motivation is essential for sustained effort due to the demanding nature of research. Deep-seated interest improves research quality.

5. Theoretical value: The research should contribute to advancing knowledge in a field.

6. Social relevance and practical value: Research results should effect positive change in society, especially in developing countries. It means defining a vision for society where citizens can realize their potential, linking research to social development. Ethical considerations arise when external parties fund research, influencing topic choice.

Literature Review

Literature review involves searching and studying current writings relevant to the research problem to provide necessary background information. It is an ongoing process as new information emerges and new aspects arise during research.

Purpose of the Review

A literature review aims to:

1. Sharpen and deepen the theoretical framework: Study related theories, adopting an interdisciplinary perspective.

2. Familiarise with latest developments: Understand problems, questions, hypotheses, and results from other researchers to avoid duplication and extend existing work.

3. Identify knowledge gaps and weaknesses: Determine what has been done and what needs further study or improvement (e.g., testing findings from one cultural context in another, such as Accra vs. Los Angeles).

4. Discover connections, contradictions, or relations: By comparing various investigations.

5. Identify variables: Determine relevant variables for the research, often by comparing studies in different contexts.

6. Study definitions and population characteristics: Adopt correct and unbiased definitions and population characteristics from previous works to facilitate comparisons.

7. Study research methods: Analyze advantages and disadvantages of methods used by others to adopt or improve them, respecting cultural relativism (e.g., some research topics are easier in certain cultures than others).

Potential Dangers of Literature Review

• Being unduly influenced by previous results, accepting chosen characteristics/explanations uncritically.

• Failing to discover new possibilities or observe without preconceptions.

• Emphasizing established frameworks instead of exploring new approaches. Some qualitative researchers delay literature review until after data collection to mitigate these dangers, but most conduct it early to build upon existing work.

Sources of Literature

To overcome the overwhelming multiplicity of non-relevant literature:

1. Information centres, subject abstracts, indexes, or reviews: Start with library indexing systems, discuss with librarians, consult subject-specific abstracts (e.g., Sociological Abstracts), bibliographies (e.g., International Bibliography of the Social Sciences), and indexes (e.g., Book Review Index). These are often available electronically.

2. Subject-specific databases: Numerous online databases exist (e.g., ERIC for education at $www.eric.ed.gov$, PILOTS for PTSD at $www.ptsd.va.gov$).

3. Professional, peer-reviewed journals: Important for recent technical work and book reviews (e.g., African Journal of Health Professions Education, Africa Research Bulletin). Many offer online access, abstracts, and email updates (e.g., Africa Research Bulletin at `$http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/$ (ISSN)1467-825X).

4. General search engines on the internet: Useful for initial searches (e.g., Google Scholar at $http://scholar.google.co.za/$, Science Direct at $http://www.sciencedirect.com/$, Highwire Press at $http://highwire.stanford.edu$).

5. Discussions with social scientists: Engage experienced researchers in the field, utilizing email and social network groups.

6. Expanding the search (snowball process): Once an initial list is established, read relevant items, and use their bibliographies and references to find new, more precise sources. Consulting journals cited in articles is particularly useful.

Reviewing Techniques

For selected relevant publications, abstract the following information:

1. Full reference: Topic, author(s), journal/book, date, place, internet address. Reference management software is helpful.

2. Purpose of the study: Including hypotheses, research questions, and variables.

3. Methodology: Brief summary of sampling, research design, sample/population, instruments, and data analysis approaches.

4. Summary of findings and conclusions: Including implications and methodological weaknesses.

An interdisciplinary approach is encouraged due to the complexity of social issues (e.g., economic variables in factory productivity also have sociological, political, and psychological aspects). A literature review should integrate material from various sources into a discussion of key issues, presenting different researchers' views in an integrated manner, not just a list of summaries.

Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis

New approaches to reviewing literature for summarizing large bodies of research:

• Systematic review: Aims to comprehensively locate and synthesize research on a question using organized, transparent, and replicable procedures. It follows a detailed design specifying objectives, concepts, and methods. For example, a researcher might read over 60 papers on education campaigns' impact on mother-to-child HIV transmission, recording specific data points from each to summarize findings systematically.

• Meta-analysis: A statistical form of systematic review that combines quantitative results from multiple studies to produce an overall summary of empirical knowledge. It involves calculating an 'effect size' for each study, allowing comparison across studies (e.g., comparing the impact of education campaigns on mothers' nutrition knowledge across 24 studies by calculating effect sizes).

Other Background Information

Besides scientific literature, vital unpublished information and personal experiences can be gained by:

• Talking to people: Discussions with individuals involved in similar issues who have accumulated experience (e.g., nurses on family planning, foremen/union officials on working conditions).

• Direct observation or participation: Sharing the life of villagers to deepen understanding of problems and aspirations, informing research question formulation.

Conclusion

After a thorough literature review and gathering other background information, the researcher should have an overview of relevant theories, models, and previous research. This enables the identification of a theoretical framework and model for the planned research, leading to a deeper understanding of the topic.