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the US economy
(e) The 1989 Alaskan Oil Spill and its impact on the US
economy
Consider:
The following hallmarks of scientific research are
appropriate to research in all scientific and social science phrasing of research question (see iv: Hypothesis
disciplines. Read them and then consider your own formation, below)
research project. phrasing of survey questions
sample size (how many is needed?)
i. Purposiveness cause and effect (which is which?)
The research must have an aim; that is, it should be choice of relevant variables.
problem-based, unified and directed. Not pointless and
random. Rigour is also ensured by an appropriately wide search
and discussion of the literature in the area. This not only
A testable hypothesis is normally needed in scientific helps in making the study rigorous by avoiding problems
writing to consolidate purpose of study. This also in these areas that others might have made, but it
'narrows down' the project to a manageable size. (This ensures that the study is unique.
'narrowing' is also essential in order to complete the
project in a limited time.) iii. Isolating Variables
This also begs clarification and expansion. This may be (a) that the experimental/case aims and procedures are
used in an area where there has not yet been sound;
demonstrated that there is a significant relationship (b) that the report is written in clear and comprehensible
between variables, or when studies indicate contradictory manner so others can follow it (to this end a
Created by: Dr Martin Davies
TLU
nd
2 Floor, Babel Building
The University of Melbourne
Methodology or Methods section needs to be included 'If a researcher's findings that participation in decision
in the text). making enhances organisational commitment, is found to
A project which both 'stands alone' as a sound piece of be true in a variety of managerial, industrial and service
research and can also be repeated by others in other organisations and not merely in the one organisation
situations is obviously better than one which can't be studied by the researcher, then the generalisability of the
repeated. findings to other organisational settings is widened.'
(Sekaran, p. 13.)
v. Precision and Confidence
"The more precision and confidence we aim for in our There is a tension here, of course, with other aims: to
research, the more scientific the investigation, and the aim to complete a project that is both generalisable and
more useful the results." (Sekaran, p. 12) also manageably narrow in focus is a tall order. The
aim of generalisability is a regulative ideal rather than
This simply means that the results must be as close as being essential. If your research project is generalisable
possible (accurate) to the actual state of affairs that you as well as narrowly focussed, well and good.
are studying and that others can rely on those results to
a high degree. viii. Parsimony
Economy of explanation is preferred in research work
These requirements are obviously not static: that's why that you are undertaking. Aim to uncover a small but
research needs to be done constantly to improve our meaningful result in your work, not something vast and
knowledge and experimental accuracy in a changing complex.
world. For example, the exact reason why people buy
trouser braces is somewhat different now to the reasons Making a small, simple but significant point forcefully
people bought them three centuries ago (then they were (using a number of independent tests) is better than
needed to hold trousers up, now they can be just a trying to do too much and over-extending yourself.
fashion statement).
In research: Don't be miles wide but inches deep.
You may use statistics (e.g., alpha levels) as a measure
of significance (confidence) but the precision of your data Based on:
Sekaran, Uma, Research Methods for Business, NY: Wiley and Sons,
prior to submitting it to statistical analysis must be 1992.
constantly reassessed.
Perry, Chad, A Structured Approach to Presenting Ph.D Theses: Notes
vi. Objectivity for Candidates and their Supervisors. Unpublished paper presented to
the ANZ Doctoral Consortium, University of Sydney, 1994.
Conclusions should not be based on
subjective/emotional values but the facts resulting from Yin, Robert, Case Study Research: Design and Methods, Applied
the data analysis. "The data should be stripped of Social Research Methods Series Vol 5, Sage, 1994
personal values and biases" (Sekaran, p. 13.)
vii. Generalisability
The more that a given research project can be
generalised to other situations, the better.