Today’s Plan:
- Overview of Research Methods
- Reading Proposals
- Homework
Overview of Research Methods
Since I’ve asked you to begin designing a research component for your proposals, I wanted to take a few minutes to overview some options.
- Surveys: To collect attitudes of a specific population
- Focus Groups: To engage an idea in a group, to solicit reactions
- Interviews: To explore expertise
- Field Observation: To track behaviors and changes
- Archival/Textual Research: To explore the past; to analyze present operations
Homework
First, remember that you need a complete draft of your research synthesis in class on Wednesday for peer review. We will be meeting in the Ross computer lab. It is probably easiest if everyone has their draft as a Google Doc.
Second, read one of the following. We will discuss your readings in Wednesday’s class:
- Rowley, Conducting Research Interviews
- Totten et al, “Basics of Research: Survey Research Methodology”
- Davies and Laing, “Designing Choice Experiments Using Focus Groups: Results from an Aberdeen Case Study”
- Dulock, “Research Design: Descriptive Research”
