Research Methods

Pick a topic to research. For example, you might be interesting in how different people
have a different sense of space.

Narrow the topic down as much as you can: Who are these “different people”? Which
space: intimate, personal, social, public? In what context? Be as specific as possible.
Reduce as many variables as you can, so that you can test a specific factor.

Develop a research question and hypothesis: this is a question you want to answer;
e.g. Do Russian women and Americans women between the ages of 18- 25 have a
different scope of personal space in casual social settings? Note: age, gender and
context are the same (you have narrowed your scope and reduced variables), which
means any different results can be attributed to ethnicity alone.

Describe previous research relating to your hypothesis. This means research and
reading. You should provide a ‘literature review’ of these scholars you use; it should
briefly summarize, evaluate and state the relevance of their work to your project. You
will need to do this for your final report.

Develop a methodology: that is your research design; it outlines the specific steps you
will undertake to answer your research question. Determine whether to do a qualitative,
quantitative or mixed methods study. The qualitative method uses the researcher’s
personal observations of the data to draw inferences. This must be based on substantial
(lengthy and in-depth) observation. The quantitative approach uses statistical analyses
of the data. This must be based on a substantial number of tests/ questionnaires etc.
For example, for the hypothesis proposed above, you cannot observe only 2 or 3
women and then draw a general conclusion; you need a larger sample. Mixed methods
design is the incorporation of both quantitative and qualitative methodologies.

Collect data carefully following your methodology. You should gather data yourself
(first-hand data). You may also use public data gleaned from reliable sources, such as
academic journals, books, online library databases or government reports.

Analyze and draw conclusions from the data using your own observations and/or
statistical analysis. Qualitative methods generate new insight into the specific subject
you studied. Quantitative methods allow you to generalize your conclusions, which
means using your findings to predict similar outcomes in cases not included in your
study. Mixed methods research results in subjective and objective findings that can help
explain a complex research topic that is broad in scope.