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Step 1. Research Question.
Inventory needs, select the most important needs, identify relevant
literatures, acquire and review key literature, synthesize known
knowledge, generate multiple questions, evaluate the questions, and
select one more questions. Your question needs to be only good
enough so that you can move forward with the next steps. Step 2.
Writing. Begin writing the paper in parallel with
the research process. For early drafts, use lists of ideas. Write in
organized sections--these section describe the present situation,
needs for the research, research question, literature review, methods,
results, analysis and discussion of data, and conclusions. Write the
abstract last. As you write drafts, write just enough to allow you to
move forward.
Step 3. Research Strategy. Select the
epistemology and theoretical perspective (see Creswell. 2003). Select
an approach from one of three categories: qualitative, quantitative,
or mixed methods. Select the specific methods with the category.
Determine how to achieve validity and reliability (as appropriate).
Design, build, and test instruments. Note--consulting with an expert
in social science research methods is helpful in this step.
Step 4. Plan the Research. Organize the research
in phases, organize each phase into specific tasks, balance project
resources with the requirements on the tasks, organize tasks along a
time line, define key milestones, assign owners to each task, obtain
committment for each team member, develop a document management
system, and create a simple Gantt chart that will guide the project.
Step 5. Gather Data. Follow the project plan,
modify as needed, hit key milesones, and end up with the raw data.
Step 6. Process Data ==> Construct Knowledge.
Organize raw data into a format suitable for presentation, interpret
data, make inferences, relate inferences to existing knowledge, test
for and challenge validity, synthesize inferences into main finds.
Step 7. Present Results. Write final
draft of paper. Peer review with colleagues. Modify.
Submit for presentation and publication. Process peer reviews
and improve the paper. When a paper is rejected, fix the
problems and resubmit, learning in the process.
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