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Conceptualizing Your Research: Developing Research Questions and Study Design

Conceptualizing Your Research: Developing Research Questions and Study Design. Research Methods. Look for a bigger picture.

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Conceptualizing Your Research: Developing Research Questions and Study Design

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  1. Conceptualizing Your Research: Developing Research Questions and Study Design Research Methods

  2. Look for a bigger picture “Fundamental questions are guidepost, they stimulate people. .. One of the most creative qualities a research scientist can have is the ability to ask the right questions” David Gross 2004 Physics Nobel Laureate

  3. Outline • How to select research projects • An example of a Social Science project • An example of a chemistry/biochemistry project

  4. What Don’t we know? Science, 2005, 309, 75-102 What are the limits of conventional computing? Why do humans have so few genes? How are Memories Stored and Retrieved? Single-Molecule Magnets forStoring and Processing Digital Information- is it a Dream or Reality? Are Political and Economic Freedom Closely Tied? What Can Replace Cheap Oil? Are there Smaller Building Blocks than Quarks? Science, 2005 What are Human Races, and how did they Develop?

  5. The Research Topic • It must be research • It must not have been done before • It must be significant • There must be higher than probability zero that you can do it • It must lend itself to a viable research plan • You must have the facilities to accomplish the research • It should fit into your strategic plan Source: Warren R. DeVries, Division Director, Directorate for Engineering, National Science Foundation

  6. Discipline specific culture • Natural, Health, Life Sciences • Engineering fields • Social Sciences • Humanities • Education • Business • Other disciplines

  7. Groundwork • Must be based on new ideas, new directions in the field • Check it out, do a thorough background literature search • Find out who are the key researchers in the field • Are there more important issues to be resolved? • Can you compete with established researchers in the field? • Is the field overpopulated? Can you create a new subfield?

  8. Selection of Research Project • Is this a hypotheses based proposal? If so, clearly formulate the hypotheses and explain how they can be tested • Design experiments to test your hypotheses or how exactly you will solve the problems formulated in the objectives • Make it a highly focused project • Link your project to societal benefits • Link your project to educational goals

  9. Intellectual Merit • The Intellectual Merit is the contribution that your research makes to the knowledge base • Questions: • What is already known? • What is new? • What will your research add? • What will this do to enhance or enable research in your or other fields? Source: Warren R. DeVries, Division Director, Directorate for Engineering, National Science Foundation

  10. Layout your Thoughts • Provide sound background/introduction Clearly document up-to-date information Delineate what has not been done What problems remain unresolved? What is the intellectual merit? • Formulate the objectives in unambiguous language • Layout flaw-less experimental design • Make sure statistical tools are available or can be developed to analyze data • Be aware of the drawbacks

  11. Reducing the Racial Achievement Gap: A Social-Psychological Intervention G.L. Cohen, J. Garcia, N. Apfel, A. Master, Science 2006, 313, 1307-1310 “Effect of negative stereotyping aimed at one’s group could undermine academic performance in minority students by elevating their level of psychological threat”.

  12. Experimental Design Tested whether such psychological threat could be lessened by having students reaffirm their personal adequacy and self-integrity • Double blinded experiments • Selection of Student populations • Selection of Teachers • Choice of Controls • Intervention mechanism • Replications

  13. Data Analysis, Imperatives & Conclusion • Sound Statistical analysis was required • “The intervention, a brief-in class writing assignment, significantly improved the grades of the African American students and reduced the racial achievement gap by 40%” • “The racial achievement gap could be ameliorated by the use of timely and targeted social-psychological intervention”.

  14. How do chromium compounds cause cancer? Over 60% workers who are exposed to chromium dust develop bronchial and lung cancer. • What are the biological targets • Do cellular milieu create the deadly carcinogens? • Why do the detoxification mechanisms shut-off? • What particular chromium species? • Are there model compounds we can test? • Design experiments that mimic in-vivo conditions?

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