Development of Ideas and
Refining Research Topics
Dr. Ahmad Tajuddin Othman
[email protected] 11 December 2006
Where did I study?
BSc Health & Physical Education,
Oklahoma State University, 1986
MSc Exercise Physiology & Physical
Fitness, University of Tennessee,
1988
PhD Health Promotion & Disease
Prevention, Purdue University, 2000
WARNING !!!
Few reminders before we begin …
There’s no “one” way of doing things.
Based on personal experience and
feedback from previous students.
Please bear with me if most of the
examples I used are not related to you.
Too much American influence …
Guess what?
Most probably you started off with
the wrong foot.
Do you remember “how” you’ve got
the “title of research” that you filled
in the USM application form?
Do you mind sharing your
experience? Anyone?
What to do? What to do?
Two “wannabes” common errors:
Noble laureate error
Unrealistically grand thinking, ambitious
Undergraduate research paper error
Unrealistically miniscule thinking, ‘aneroxic’
Both errors reflect poor reality
testing
Where do ideas come from?
Master’s student
Your supervisor might give you a
specific idea
Replicate and extend work already
published
Doctoral student
Idea should be original
Make a novel contribution to the
Finding a researchable topic
Step One
Identify the general area in which you
want to do research
Step Two
Come up with a research question and
hypotheses
Select a General Topic Area
First
Shop around
Get to know the faculty members, read
about their work, see what interest you
Criteria (identify, not a full plan ..)
It must interest you enough that you will
spend hours reading about it, writing
about it, analyzing data having to do
with it
You must find a faculty member
interested in supervising your project
Identifying an area ..
What topics interest you?
What do you find yourself stopping to read
in the library?
What academic topics come up frequently
when you are talking shop with other
students and faculty?
Identify faculty and share these interests,
you might ask if they have a project for
your thesis (master’s student).
Words of wisdom …
Better to choose a slightly
engrossing area that a faculty will
support than an exotic one that only
you find fascinating
Avoid going it alone
Remember the “guy” you used to call
your “supervisor” … develop ideas in
conjunction with your supervisor
Develop the Research
Question
Forget the form for now, first identify
the source of such questions
Ask questions that interest the
scientific community
Not because there is a lack of
research on a topic
Keep in mind that it should have a
place in the literature
Best Source of Ideas
The Best
Research that you are already doing
Suggestions from faculty involved or
collaborating with in a research
Research often stimulates more
questions than it answers
Worst Source of Ideas
The Worst
Own personal experience, something
with a degree of personal emotional
relevance
But, if you can approach them
objectively in a detached, relatively
disinterested, and unbiased manner, go
ahead.
Read, Read, and Read ..
Existing literature as a source of ideas
The simplest and logical place is from
recent literature in an area
Suggestions for future research
Look for these
Discuss with your supervisor
Contact the original author and find out what
he/she is doing currently in the area
Ask the author whether has already
researched it or knows of anyone who has
More suggestions …
Another good approach to
developing researchable questions is
to apply a paradigm used with one
population to another population.
Eg. Research on the leadership
styles of executive women might
easily suggests similar studies with
executives who are members of a
specific ethnic group
And more …
Reviews of the literature in particular
areas
Annual Review of Psychology
Developmental Review
Edited books that contain literature
reviews (authors point out gaps in the
research knowledge and correctable
flaws in existing studies)
Here’s A Tip …
ATO Matrix
Handout 1
Handout 2
Handout 3
Researchable Questions
Put the research questions in
researchable form
Criteria of a research question
Phrase it in the form of a question
Question should suggest a relationship to be
examined
Relationship in the questions is empirically
testable
Develop Scientific
Hypotheses
Hypotheses are declarative
sentences that conjecture a
relationship between two or more
variables (Kerlinger, 1986).
Well stated hypotheses are derived
directly from the research questions
Example 1
RQ = What is the relationship
between test anxiety and
performance on complex cognitive
tasks?
RH = Performance on complex
cognitive tasks will be an inverted U-
shaped function of level of anxiety.
Example 2
RQ = Are nonabused children interviewed with
sexually anatomically correct (SAC) dolls more
likely to describe sexual behavior than such
children interviewed with dolls without secondary
sexual characteristics?
RH = Nonabused children interviewed with SAC
dolls will describe sexual behavior more
frequently than nonabused children interviewed
with dolls without secondary sexual
characteristics.
Ho = There is no difference in the frequency of
descriptions of sexual behavior by children when
they play with SAC dolls or with non-SAC dolls
More about hypotheses …
Understanding the different type of
hypotheses
Research and null hypotheses
Characteristics of well-worded
hypotheses
Carefully phrased hypothesis will
indicate the specific relationships to be
examined and suggests the nature of
the relationship
Examples
There is a relationship between
education level and preference for
liberal causes
There is a positive relationship
between education level and
preference for liberal causes
There is a positive relationship
between education level and
preference for liberal causes in
executive women
Conclusion
Read, read, read
Meet your supervisor regularly
I thanked you all and GOOD LUCK !!!
QUESTIONS
Go ask your supervisors … hehehe!
