Research Topics
Ellis and Levy (2008) state that “What makes research of interest is how it will impact future research and other researchers, not the author. This impact is most clearly evidenced by addressing a problem that has some manner of impact on the reader” (pg. 18). This single sentence may have been the most important sentence I’ve read thus far about research and its resulting impact on the reader. As I have stated in previous weekly takeaways, reading research is something that has long confused me and left me wondering why I would ever read some of the things I’ve forced myself to read for the sake of research. Again, I’ve been shown that my process of reading research has been incorrect all this time. Most of the research articles I’ve had to read, I can honestly say weren’t necessarily targeted at a problem that had impact on me as the reader. While it is not always in my control what types of research articles I should be reading, when it is in my control to choose I know now to select pieces that address a problem with impact to me as a reader. Building on my learning from previous weeks, I can more easily do this by checking out the abstract and conclusions of an article so as to maximize efficiency during this selection process.
My second takeaway for the week pertains to developing a research question of my own. When doing my own work, I always like there to be some aspect of wiggle room - room for improvement or change. I have always had anxious feelings about writing research articles, because of the need to narrowly focus my topic and create only one question to explore. Questions like “What if I select the wrong topic?” and “What if I create the wrong question?” make me feel like I might be trapped in the wrong direction with my research should I discover that my question doesn’t have answers or there was a better question to ask. In reading Choosing and Using Resources: A Guide to Academic Research by the Ohio State University Libraries (2015), developing a research question is “more like doing a rough draft and then improving it. That’s why we talk about developing research questions instead of just writing them” (pg. 21). This sentence gave me pause to breathe and feel more comfortable starting this process since I now know there is wiggle room to revise and edit in this process.
Developing Your Research Question. (2015). In Choosing & Using Sources: A Guide to Academic Research. The Ohio State University.
Ellis, T. J., & Levy, Y. (2008). Framework of Problem-Based Research: A Guide for Novice Researchers on the Development of a Research-Worthy Problem. Informing Science: the International Journal of an Emerging Transdiscipline, 11. Retrieved September 21, 2017.