GUIDELINES FOR SMALL-RESEARCH PROJECT

GUIDELINES FOR SMALL-RESEARCH PROJECT

Small-research has become one important component of my class teaching, at all levels of the undergraduate programme. It used to be done individually, but now is made easier as a group work.

The requirements for working as a team to produce a research paper needs not be detailed again. You only have to refer to the paper in this collection titled “How to write a group semester paper in a large-class”.

The types of small-research works with which we are teaching are those which honestly set out to make contribution to our knowledge and increase the literature for our learning in a collapsed University System

It is, therefore, very important to record that in the last five years, in the classes of POL 4301; POL 4313; POL 3314; and POL 2204; some students, though with difficulties, produced reasonable composition of knowledge which can be a source of reading materials (attached to teaching programme of each academic year for POL4301; 4313; and 3314 are selected best essays as information to the students if they want make a request to read). These selected essays with some editorial work could be compiled and circulated.

There are many others whose work does not meet the minimum standard of a scientific research. In order to produce a scientific research certain principles, methods, and procedures are employed to produce knowledge which could be called scientific knowledge.

As Margaret Stacey observes “it is useful for social research to be done by more than one person in collaboration, quite apart from the technical reasons, such as the scale and complication of the work and the number of skills needed (1969:4). Perhaps as beginners in research my students might find it very difficult to organise themselves to come out with something reasonable for their colleges to use. Some of the problems readily noticeable include: (a) inability to give a focus by a definite problem and objective of the study; (b) there is no review of literature relevant to the direction of the essay, so many works ended up without substance; (c) subsequently, there is problem of the acknowledgement of the texts used in compiling the essay (d) in some few cases there used not be references at all, while in some others the references are not listed according to standard.

The pressures and disorganisation that group work can produce among beginners cans till be controlled to give better results. As Margaret Stacey (Ibid.) further noted “team work can help to reduce individual biases”. Therefore, team work will continue in writing the small-research project and I want recommend that two other pieces of notes in this collection can guide you. One is titled “Introducing Team/Group work in large classes” and the other is “How to write group semester paper is large classes”.

Let us not be worried and confused by the mention of small-research project. Indeed, the definition of research as it goes in the mini reference dictionary is a study and investigation to discover new facts. This does not matter whether you are conducting a research to write a book or you are merely writing an essay to meet the requirement of continuous assessment in the class of POL4301, POL3314, or POL2204.

The difference may be on sourcing of data. In a broad sense a researcher whether for writing a book or an essay, would have two lines of gathering data:

1. One is that a researcher may have to gather original data by use of either survey method, or experiment or field research.
2. Secondly, there is already existing data which are already made and found in various texts.

Students who are writing a simple essay could be fixed into methodology number two above. In other words they are to source texts (either from the website or in the library) relevant to the topic and modify them to create new knowledge.

One thing which may seem very easy is that sourcing and use of available data in form of various published and unpublished texts are quicker in conducting research. This looks so, but it is not correct. Because the process of finding a body of data relevant to a research problem may be difficult, be a slow one and time consuming as the researcher would have to process the data for the specific purposes. As Theresa Baker (1978) notes since the texts were collected for different purposes, these data must be reconceptualised and manipulated so as to specifically address researcher’s concerns. Above all, they must not be used inappropriately. That is to say, issues of validity and reliability become of central concern in studies on already collected data. The researcher must understand the data well and not use them in ways which ignore or subvert their meaning.

In methodological language this is called secondary analysis. This merely involves carrying out additional analysis beyond those made by the original writer on already sourced texts. Hakim (1982) defines secondary Analysis as any further analysis of an existing texts which present interpretation, conclusions, or knowledge additional to, or different from those presented in the first texts.

Scholars often doubt the scientific criterion passed by secondary Analysis. However, as Hashim (Ibid.) observed, the advantage of secondary Analysis is that it forces the researcher to think more closely about the theoretical aims and substantive issues of the study rather than the practical and methodological problems of gathering new data. Thus, a major contribution to knowledge there may be in theoretical reconstruction of the available texts to come out with another understanding of social relations from the already existing published and unpublished materials. This is also a contribution to knowledge.

Another area of confusion is that normally, a researcher should know what to study before going for the data. But in Secondary Analysis, it is a reverse. Because in this case the texts or the data is to be selected and read before the research problem is set.

Accordingly the following steps are the proper order you would always follow:
1. Select a topic with a clear focus on the subject-matter of what we are doing (normally I have to approve the topic).
2. Once you have your topic with a desired focus you can go ahead to search for appropriate available texts
3. The third stage is of re-creation of the texts which will address the needs of the topic and its conceptualisation, but in direction which will not overwhelm you.
4. Lastly, is analysing the data from the texts and composing the essay.

In view of the issues raised above the structure of each small-research project (a seminar semester paper) is to look like as follows.
1. Abstract
2. Keywords: identified and listed
3. Introduction
4. Objectives of the study i.e. the focus
5. Review of Literature
6. Theoretical perspectives on the topic
7. Discussion of the issues (This section can be in sub themes)
8. Conclusion
9. References

This structure is necessary in view of the problems I have observed over the years in the way many of you composed the semester eassy which is a requirement in my classes. These problems are even worst among my postgraduate students. So, it is better to arrest the trend from the undergraduate levels.

M.M. Yusif
July, 2007

This is a draft: It is allowed to be used by my students for learning. I hope it will be acknowledged by any other person who cites or uses it for any other purpose.