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Research Perspectives
• Identifying a Research Topic • Format for a Proposal • Writing Tips • Publishing Your
Results • Ethical Issues
Identifying a Research Topic
• Read, read, read (record notes) • Observation (record notes) • Talking with others (record notes) – Mentors – Colleagues – Stakeholders
• Seek to identify a problem – Something causing a problem for people, resources – Phenomena that are not well understood
Format for a Proposal
• Introduction – Statement of the problem • Problem stated in one concise sentence • Significance
– Who would be interested in your study? – Place your study in the context of bigger problems
Format for a Proposal
• Introduction (continued) – Purpose and objectives (or research
questions) • Overall purpose stated in one sentence • Itemize objectives (specific tasks) that must be
achieved • Objectives could be replaced by research
questions
Format for a Proposal
• Introduction (continued) – Research questions or hypotheses • Research question: what do you want to know
(could be redundant with objectives) • Hypotheses: predictions
– Null hypotheses vs. alternate hypotheses – Directional vs. non-directional alternate hypotheses
Format for a Proposal
• Introduction (continued) – Definition of terms • Define all terms in proposal: title, problem
statement, purpose & objectives, theory, research questions & hypotheses, literature review, methods
• Define when first used
Format for a Proposal
• Introduction (continued) – Delimitations and limitations • Delimitations: narrow scope of your study
(variables, location, approach) • Limitations: potential weaknesses of your
study
Format for a Proposal
• Review of the literature – Organize your note-taking by “central
argument” – Write-down ideas in your words – Demonstrate that you are familiar with the
literature on this topic – Summarize what is already understood and
what is still NOT well understood – Do competing schools of thought exist?
Format for a Proposal
• Review of the literature – Has the topic been studied anywhere? If
so, what was found? What remains to be understood?
– Has it been studied in your study area? If so, previous findings? If not, what might be different about your study area?
Format for a Proposal
• Methods – General research approach • Quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods • Field, lab, maps, remotely sensed imagery,
archival… – Techniques of data acquisition • What variables: how many samples, where, how
often
Format for a Proposal
• Methods (continued) – Techniques of data analysis • lab work, statistics, computer analyses, etc.
– Justify why each procedure is needed and why that particular method is best suited
Format for a Proposal
• Expected Results – Preliminary studies, pilot studies – How will raw data be reported? • Tables, maps, figures, descriptive statistics,…
– How will data interpretations appear?
Format for a Proposal
• References Cited • Appendices – Timetable • list of tasks for each objective and when that
work will be undertaken – Budget • outline the expected costs & sources of funding
– Where will findings be reported? • thesis, journal publication, professional
meeting
Writing Tips
• Getting started – Take the notes from your literature and set
next to guidelines for proposal writing – Develop an outline of ideas, sentences – Track objectives/research questions
through proposal (“coherence”) • Literature review • Methods • Expected results
Writing Tips
• Write your first draft – Shift and sort your ideas – Share your ideas with friends, colleagues,
advisor
Writing Tips
• Readability – Voice tense (in proposal) • Past/present tense in problem statement • Future tense in purpose and objectives: “The
purpose of this study will be to… • Past tense in literature review: “Jones (2006)
found…” • Future tense in methods
Writing Tips
• Readability – Does each paragraph develop one idea
fully? – Smooth transition between paragraphs? – Proper use of subheadings?
Writing Tips
• Critique – see Marston handouts – See example of copyediting
Writing Tips
• Grammar – The word “data” is plural • Write “…the data show” not “the data
shows.” – Be consistent in using terms: avoid
synonyms
Publishing Your Results
• Co-Editor-in-Chief, Geomorphology
• Member of Editorial Board, Annals of the AAG
• Frequent reviewer • Edited 1500 manuscripts
• 261 manuscripts, excl. editing
• 217 research grant proposals
Publishing Your Results
• Why should you publish? • Sense of
accomplishment
• Making a contribution
• Getting that first job
• Promotion (and tenure in academia)
• Brunn (1987): Five levels of research-oriented faculty…seek a good match…you & employer • Publish in 4-5 major disciplinary and
interdisciplinary journals each year • Publish 1-3 major papers per year • Publish a paper every other year
Publishing Your Results
• Brunn (1987): Five levels of research-oriented faculty…seek a good match…you & employer • Conduct research but rarely present papers at
meetings and rarely publish • “Professionally inactive:” no research, do not
attend meetings, never publish
Publishing Your Results
• Where should you publish? • Disciplinary journals • Annals of the AAG, The Professional
Geographer • Geographical Review
• Interdisciplinary Journals • Mountain Research and Development • Journal of the American Water Resources
Association
Publishing Your Results
• Where should you publish? • Specialty journals • Geomorphology • Physical Geography
• Regional journals
Publishing Your Results
• Manuscripts must be author’s own original research • Not previously published elsewhere • Not being considered for publication elsewhere • Properly credits meaningful contribution of co-
authors • No “shingling”
• Authors shall not plagiarize the work of others
Publishing Your Results
• Manuscripts must be prepared in the format for the journal • Abstract & keywords, text, figures, tables
• Manuscript must be free from grammatical errors • Authors whose native language is not English
• Recommended general reference: Geowriting (5th ed., 2004), by Robert Bates, Marla D. Adkins-Heljeson, and Rex Buchanan
Publishing Your Results
• Why manuscripts are rejected • Not appropriate for
journal • Lack of rigor in
methods • Interpretations not
supported • Format, grammar
Publishing Your Results
• If your manuscript is rejected… • Revise and resubmit!
• Provide editor with detailed list of how you addressed the comments of reviewers (item-by-item) and comments from editor
• Submit to another journal
Publishing Your Results
Publishing Your Results
• Thank the editor!
Ethical Issues
• Deception in problem statement, purpose, research questions
• In data collection: letter of disclosure – Permission to access site – Will site be disturbed? – Possibility of information developed during
the study that could be harmful to landowners
Ethical Issues
• In data collection: Institutional Review Board (IRB) when human subjects are involved – Must assess risk for damage: physical,
health, psychological, social, economic, legal, groups?
Ethical Issues
– Must develop Informed Consent Form for participants to sign before they are engaged • Right to participate is voluntary and they can
withdraw at any time • Purpose, methods identified • Participants have right to ask questions, privacy
will be respected, can obtain copy of final study • Benefits of study to individual, groups?
Ethical Issues
• In data analysis & interpretation – Need to protect anonymity of participants? – Archive data for 5-10 years, then discard • Who owns data? Funding agency? Researcher?
Ethical Issues
• In data analysis & interpretation (continued) – February 2010 issue of The American Naturalist
announced an important development in Open Data within biology. The essentials of the policy are…
– Data underlying an article needs to be archived by the authors at the time of publication.
– The appropriate form of the data is the final processed form used in analysis..
Ethical Issues
• In data analysis & interpretation (continued) – The essentials of the policy are…
– The data must be archived in an approved repository (one that makes it publicly available, has a guarantee of persistence, etc).
– The author should provide sufficient details so that a third party can reasonably interpret the data correctly.
– Embargoes of up to one year may be permitted, depending on the journal.
– Exceptions may be granted at the discretion of the editor, especially for sensitive information such as human subject data or the location of endangered species.
Ethical Issues
• In disseminating results of research – Are results proprietary? – Avoid language that express bias against
groups on basis of gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, disability, age, …
– Anticipate repercussions of reporting results to individuals, groups
Ethical Issues
• Research fraud – Plagiarizing • Plagiarism is easy to avoid; credit your
sources. Always credit your sources. Always. • Plagiarism is easy to detect--your professors
simply pop over to the Google line (Google classic, Google Scholar and Google Books) plus a few of the journal article databases the Libraries subscribe to like Expanded Academic and JStor.
• And, in the classic phrase of third-graders everywhere, "Don't be stupid.”
Ethical Issues
• Research fraud – Fabricating results • Suppressing • Inventing • Falsifying