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The Importance of Research

⊗ The purpose of research

is to inform action.
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The Goals of Research

⊗ Research draws its power

from the fact that it is
empirical.
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The “Iterative” Process of Research

⊗ the process of returning again

and again to the research
questions, methods, and data.
How to Select a
Research
Topic?
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Selecting a Topic
It must be narrow and focused enough to
be interesting, yet broad enough to find
adequate information.
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Selecting a Topic
⊗ Before selecting your topic, make
sure you know what your final
project should look like.
Process of
Selecting a
Research Topic
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 Process of Selecting a Research Topic

 Choose a topic
1. Brainstorm that interests you.
for ideas  Be aware of overused
ideas when deciding a
topic.

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 Questions to help generate topic
ideas

﹡ Do you have a strong opinion on

a current social or political
controversy?

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 Questions to help generate topic
ideas

﹡ Did you read or see a news story

recently that has piqued your
interest or made you angry or
anxious?

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 Questions to help generate topic
ideas

﹡Do you have a personal issue,

problem or interest that you
would like to know more about?

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 Questions to help generate topic
ideas

﹡ Do you have a research paper

due for a class this semester?

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 Questions to help generate topic
ideas

﹡ Is there an aspect of a class that

you are interested in learning
more about?

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 Process of Selecting a Research Topic

2. Read  Reading a broad

summary enables you to
General get an overview of the
Background topic and see how your
idea relates to broader,
Information narrower, and related
issues.

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 Process of Selecting a Research Topic

3. Focus  A topic will be

very difficult to
on your research if it is
too broad or
topic narrow.
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 Ways to Limit a topic

Example: What
By


environmental
geographical issues are most
important in the
area Southwestern
United States?
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 Ways to Limit a topic

Example: How
By


does the
environment fit
culture into the Navajo
world view?
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 Ways to Limit a topic

 Example: What are

By time the most
prominent
frame environmental
issues of the last
10 years?
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 Ways to Limit a topic

 Example: How
By does
environmental
discipline awareness effect
business practices
today?
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 Ways to Limit a topic

By  Example: What
population are the effects of
air pollution on
group senior citizens?

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 Process of Selecting a Research Topic

4. Make a  Keep track of the

List of Useful words that are
Keywords used to describe
your topic.

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 Process of Selecting a Research Topic

5. Be  Be aware of the
depth of
Flexible coverage needed
and the due
date.
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 Process of Selecting a Research Topic
6. Define Your
Topic as a  You will often begin with a word,
develop a more focused interest
Focused in an aspect of something
relating to that word, then begin

Research
to have questions about the
topic.

Question
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 Example

﹡ Ideas = Frank Lloyd Wright or modern architecture

﹡ Research Question = How has Frank Lloyd Wright influenced modern
architecture?
﹡ Focused Research Question = What design principles used by Frank
Lloyd Wright are common in contemporary homes?

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 Process of Selecting a Research Topic

7. Research  Find more

and Read information to
help you answer
More About your research
Your Topic question.
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 Process of Selecting a Research Topic
 This may be the
8. Formulate a answer to your
Thesis research question
and/or a way to
Statement clearly state the
purpose of your
research.
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 Process of Selecting a Research Topic

Thesis
 One or two sentences
that states precisely
what is to be answered,
Statement proven, or what you will
inform your audience
about your topic.

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 Gathering
Information
and
Conducting
Research
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Gathering Information and
Conducting Research
﹡ To support the planning
of your organization's
work to become more
fully inclusive.

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A. Developing your Scope and Strategy
﹡Decide what facts to
gather in each of three
areas: your community,
your field, and your
organization.

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A. Developing your Scope and Strategy
﹡ Helps you realize what you are
doing well, illuminate areas for
improvement, and establish a
mechanism to learn from others
about their successes and
challenges.

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B. Description of Information-Gathering Tools
﹡ You can use one or more,
or a combination, of the
following tools for different
groups.

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Sources of Information

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 Primary Sources of Information

﹡ The first published records of original research and development or

description of new application or new interpretation of an old theme or idea.

﹡ There are original documents representing unfiltered original ideas.

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Examples
﹡ Print ﹡ Electronic
﹡ - Diaries ﹡ E-mail communication
﹡ - Letters ﹡ Interviews (e.g., telephone, e-
﹡ - Speeches mail)
﹡ - Patents
﹡ Video recordings (e.g.
﹡ - Photographs television programs)
﹡ - Newspaper articles
﹡ Audio recordings (e.g. radio
﹡ - Journal articles
programs)
﹡ - Theses and dissertations
﹡ Web sites

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 Secondary Sources of Information

﹡ Are those which are either compiled from or refer to primary sources of
information.

﹡ The original information having been casually modified selected or

reorganized so as to serve a definite purpose for group of users.

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Examples
﹡ Bibliographies (also considered tertiary);
﹡ Biographical works

﹡ Commentaries

﹡ Criticisms

﹡ Dictionaries

﹡ Histories

﹡ Textbooks

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Information-Gathering
Tools

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 1. Surveys
﹡ Surveys can be widely disseminated and are the most
time-efficient tool.
﹡ People generally respond to surveys anonymously.
﹡ Most surveys include some yes/no questions.
﹡ Need to have a fairly sophisticated computer skills.

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 2. Interview
﹡ Use to gather in-depth information
﹡ Allows you to ask follow-up questions of interviewees
when you need clarification about a particular response.
﹡ Ask value-neutral questions only

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 3. Focus groups
﹡ Helps gather a lot of information from a group of
stakeholders during a short period of time.

﹡ Includes 8-15 people and lasts for 90

minutes.

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C . Compiling the Information
﹡ Depending on the depth of your
information-gathering process, compiling the
information you collected may be simple or
more complex.

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D. Analyzing the Information
﹡ Overall: Are there clear themes that came from a
majority of your stakeholders regarding the
organization's strengths and challenges in regards
to inclusiveness?

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D. Analyzing the Information

﹡ Inconsistencies in Existing Data: Are

there inconsistencies between the
community, field, and organizational
data?

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D. Analyzing the Information

﹡ Inconsistencies in Stakeholder Perspectives:

Are there inconsistencies between
stakeholder groups?

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D. Analyzing the Information
﹡ Strongly Held Beliefs of Stakeholders: Are
there any stories or strongly held beliefs
about the organization that are preventing
the organization from moving forward on
inclusiveness matters?

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 THE
RENAISSANCE
PERIOD

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WHAT IS RENAISSANCE?
✗ It means ‘REBIRTH’.
✗ It is the rebirth of ART and
LEARNING.
✗ It has begun in NORTHERN ITALY.
✗ It has started in 1350 and ended
around 1600.

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WHAT IS RENAISSANCE?
﹡ Jules Michener described it aptly as “
the discovery of the world and man.”

﹡ For many historians, the Renaissance

Period marked the rebirth of the human
spirit. This rebirth made all the great
achievements of modern man possible.
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 RENAISSANCE
lITERATURE
﹡ Instead of focusing on the
dreams of the future,
Renaissance men and women
were concerned with the “here
and now”.

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 RENAISSANCE
lITERATURE
﹡ Johannes Gutenberg
﹡ - Printing Press in 1440
manuscripts were no longer
maliciously copied and were able to
be printed and delivered to the mass
public inexpensively and swiftly.
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 RENAISSANCE
lITERATURE
﹡ English Literature came into
full bloom during this period.
﹡ Renaissance swept through the
European continent, eventually
making its way into England.

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 RENAISSANCE
lITERATURE
﹡ Instead of focusing on the
dreams of the future,
Renaissance men and women
were concerned with the “here
and now”.

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Renaissance in England
﹡ Two events that signal the
change in the British Isles:

- The rise of the Tudor Dynasty

- The Printing Press
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 The tudor dynasty
﹡ Henry Tudor, the King Henry VII was declared as the
new king and was given the tittle of Henry VII.
﹡ He then established the powerful Tudor Dynasty, an
absolute monarchy which would rule Britain for over
100 years.
﹡ It made possible the flowering of England as a
European political power and as a center of literacy
culture.
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The Printing Press
William Caxton was
the person who
introduced printing
in England.

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English
renaissance
authors

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 William shakespeare
﹡ English poet and playwright
﹡ Well-known plays include:
Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet
﹡ He expanded the dramatic potential of
characterization (his characters were very complex),
plot, language (creative), and genre.

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 Christopher marlowe

﹡ Born 1564 (same year as Shakespeare)

﹡ England’s original freethinker and
greatest dramatist.
﹡ He wrote in blank verse (which Shakespeare also
emulated)

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 Christopher marlowe

﹡ His most famous writings involve

tragedies (He was the first to write a
tragedy in English, which soon inspired
Shakespeare to do so as well)
﹡ He was arrested for being an atheist

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 Sir Thomas More
(1478-1535)
﹡ English Humanist
﹡ Wrote: Utopia
﹡ A book about a perfect society in which men
﹡ and women live in harmony, there is no private
property, no one is lazy, all people are educated and
the justice system is used to end crime instead of
executing criminals

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 John milton
﹡ English Poet, polemicist, man of letters, civil
servant
﹡ Poem: Paradise Lost (epic poem written in
blank verse)

A mind not to be changed by place or time

The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a
heaven of hell, a hell of heav’n.
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 Ben johnson
﹡ Born 1572
﹡ He popularized the comedy of humors.

“True happiness consists not in the

multitude of friends but in the worth and
choice.”

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 Dante Alighieri
﹡ Famous Italian poet during the Renaissance
﹡ He wrote his poems in the Italian vernacular
rather than in Latin, a choice that would later
influence literary development all over
Europe.
﹡ Divine Comedy is considered his greatest
literary work

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 Miguel de cervantes

﹡ He is a Spanish Influential writer

during the Renaissance Period.
﹡ He wrote numerous plays and
fictions.
﹡ His novel, “Don Quixote de la
Mancha”, made him extremely
popular in Spain
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GEOFFREY CHAUCER
﹡ Famous Italian writer who wrote
in the English vernacular.
﹡ The English that he used in his
writings id the ancestor of
today’s everyday English
language.

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