Researchmethodsarethetoolsweusetofindanswers.Wehavequestionsabouttheworld.Wewanttoknowwhythingshappen.Wewanttoknowhowthingswork.Researchmethodsgiveusaplan.Thisplanhelpsuscollectinformation.Ithelpsusunderstandtheinformation.Goodresearchiscareful.Itisorganized.Itishonest.

First,youmusthaveaquestion.Yourquestionshouldbeclear.Itshouldbefocused.Aquestioncancomefrommanyplaces.Youmightseeaprobleminyourlife.Youmightreadabook.Youmightwatchthenews.Yourquestionguideseverythingyoudonext.Aquestionlike"Isfruitgood?"istoobig.Abetterquestionis"Dostudentswhoeatanappleinthemorninggetbettertestscores?"Thisquestionisspecific.Itiseasiertostudy.

Next,youlookatwhatothersalreadyknow.Youreadbooksandarticles.Thisstepiscalledaliteraturereview.Youarenotthefirstpersontoaskaquestion.Otherpeoplehavestudiedsimilarthings.Youlearnfromtheirwork.Youseetheirmethods.Youseetheirresults.Youfindthegaps.Agapissomethingtheydidnotstudy.Yourresearchcanfillthatgap.Thisstepstopsyoufromrepeatingoldwork.Itbuildsyourknowledge.

Now,youchooseyourapproach.Therearetwomaintypesofresearch.Onetypeisquantitativeresearch.Thistypeusesnumbers.Itmeasuresthings.Youask"howmuch?"or"howmany?"Youusesurveyswithnumberedscales.Youcountbehaviors.Youusestatisticstoanalyzethedata.Theothertypeisqualitativeresearch.Thistypeuseswordsandmeanings.Itdescribesthings.Youask"how?"or"why?"Youtalktopeopleininterviews.Youwatchpeopleintheirnaturalsetting.Youstudyphotosordocuments.Someresearchusesbothtypes.Thisiscalledmixedmethods.

Youmustalsodecideonyourresearchdesign.Acommondesignistheexperiment.Inanexperiment,youchangeonething.Youseewhathappens.Youhavetwogroups.Onegroupgetsthechange.Thisisthetreatmentgroup.Theothergroupdoesnotgetthechange.Thisisthecontrolgroup.Youcomparethetwogroups.Forexample,onegroupeatsanapple.Theothergroupdoesnot.Thenbothgroupstakeatest.Youcomparethescores.Thisdesignhelpsfindcauseandeffect.

Anotherdesignisthesurvey.Youaskmanypeoplethesamequestions.Youcandothiswithpaperforms.Youcandothisonline.Youcandothisonthephone.Surveyshelpyoulearnwhatmanypeoplethinkordo.Theyaregoodfordescribingalargegroup.

Athirddesignisthecasestudy.Youstudyonethingingreatdepth.Youmightstudyoneschool.Youmightstudyonecompany.Youmightstudyoneperson.Youcollectmanykindsofinformationaboutthisonecase.Youwanttounderstandallthedetails.Thisgivesdeepinsight.

Youalsoneedtothinkaboutyourparticipants.Whowillbeinyourstudy?Thisisyoursample.Youcannotstudyeveryone.Youchooseagroup.Thisgroupshouldrepresentthelargerpopulation.Ifyoustudycollegestudents,yoursampleshouldbecollegestudents.Youmustfindpeopleforyourstudy.Youmustaskfortheirpermission.Thisiscalledconsent.Theyshouldknowwhatyourstudyisabout.Theyshouldknowtheycanleaveatanytime.Thisisethicalresearch.

Thenyoucollectyourdata.Dataistheinformationyougather.Inquantitativeresearch,dataarenumbers.Inqualitativeresearch,dataarewords,pictures,ornotes.Youmustbeconsistent.Youmusttreateveryparticipantthesameway.Youmustrecordeverythingcarefully.Gooddatacollectionisveryimportant.Baddatagivesbadresults.

Aftercollection,youanalyzethedata.Fornumbers,youusemath.Youfindaverages.Youfindpatterns.Youusesoftwaretohelp.Youtestifyourresultsarelikelytobetrue.Youseeifthedifferencebetweengroupsisbigenough.Forwords,youlookforthemes.Youreadtheinterviewnotesmanytimes.Youseewhatideascomeupagainandagain.Yougroupsimilarideastogether.Youfindthemainstoriesinthedata.

Thenyoulookatwhatyouranalysismeans.Yougobacktoyourfirstquestion.Didyoufindananswer?Youdiscussyourresults.Areyourresultswhatyouexpected?Aretheydifferent?Whymighttheybedifferent?Youconnectyourresultstotheliteratureyoureadbefore.Doyourresultsagreewithpaststudies?Dotheydisagree?Youtalkaboutthelimitsofyourstudy.Nostudyisperfect.Maybeyoursamplewassmall.Maybeyoucouldonlystudyforashorttime.Yousaywhattheselimitsmeanforyourresults.

Finally,yousharewhatyoufound.Youwriteareport.Youwriteclearlysootherscanunderstand.Youtellthemyourquestion.Youtellthemhowyoutriedtoanswerit.Youtellthemwhatyoufound.Youtellthemwhatitmeans.Sharingisimportant.Itaddstohumanknowledge.Otherpeoplecanuseyourwork.Theycanasknewquestionsbasedonyouranswers.

Researchmethodsareastep-by-stepprocess.Theyturncuriosityintoreliableknowledge.Theyrequirepatience.Theyrequirecarefulthought.Thegoalistoseetheworldmoreclearly.Thegoalistofindtruth,notjustopinions.Simplequestionsneedclearmethods.Complexquestionsneedcarefulplanning.Everystepbuildsonthelastone.Thestrengthofyouranswerdependsonthestrengthofyourmethod.Goodmethodsmakepeopletrustyourfindings.Theyallowotherstorepeatyourstudy.Repetitionconfirmsthetruth.Thisistheheartofresearch.Itisasystematicsearchforunderstanding.