Research Coordinator Blog

  Before we begin, a reminder that a research question is a specific, testable question that clearly identifies the variables of interest. It identifies the scope and goal of your research project. Last time, we looked at how to develop a research question from scratch. This time, I will outline some other places you can find inspiration for a research question. Your favourite journal article. Do you have a favourite journal article? Oh. It’s just me then? Okay, well…if you have ever read a journal article that you really liked, that’s a good place to start! Specifically, focus your reading on their discussion section for ideas. Most papers identify shortcomings of their research (e.g., “We couldn’t address this possible confounding variable, so we can’t provide a strong conclusion.”), gaps in the literature which still exist (e.g., “Although we showed that …it is still not clear whether….”), and/or directions for future research (“Building on this research, future studies should e...

  Today, I’d like to provide some guidance about research questions. This will be a two-part feature. Part 1 will include a description of research questions and guidance to help you develop your own. For Pat 2 (in 2 weeks), I will focus on how to use other sources as inspirations for your research questions. A research question is used to clarify the scope of your research project. It is a narrower version of the topic that you’re interested in studying. A good research question should be specific, include the variables you are interested in studying, and be testable in a finite amount of time. Your variables should also be operationally defined. It’s not enough to say “children” for example; you should specify “5-8-year-olds”. Similarly “do better” is not a good way to operationalize student success because it’s not easy to measure; instead, phrase it as “earn higher scores on Test 3” because that is how you will measure whether they have done better. Although specific, “When w...

  Today, I’m continuing on the topic of journals and publishing your work in Part 2 of this blog. Part 1 was posted a couple of weeks ago and included a description of various types of publications, types of article reviews, and a brief overview of the publication process. This time, I will focus on responding to reviewers and editors and I will also give you some tips to help you along the publication process. Reviewing and responding          Last time, I briefly discussed the publication process. Essentially, you will receive some feedback from the editor or a some reviewers and you will have to decide whether you address their concerns and make the suggested changes or whether you wish to send your article for consideration to another journal. Assuming you wish to pursue publication in the same journal who sent you the review, you’ll need to edit your submission.          You’ll want to m...

  Today, I’d like to provide some information about journals and publishing your work in journals. This will be a two-part feature; Part 2 will be sent in a couple of weeks. Part 1 will include a description of various types of publications, types of article reviews, and a brief overview of the publication process. Next time, I will focus on responding to reviewers and editors and give you some tips to help you along the publication process. Types of publications          There are so many different types of publications that I’m confident that there will be something that appeals to you! The gold standard of scholarly publication is a data-driven empirical article where you collect and analyse data to answer a research question. Most journals will have a category for this type of article, typically called a “research paper” or simply “article”. Some journals also publish shorter versions of these research papers (sometimes called “rese...

Much like being a student or teacher, a key skill to avoid feeling overwhelmed with research (or missing deadlines) is to stay organized. There are many, many methods to doing this, but I have explained a few of my favourites below. I use multiple of these methods simultaneously…as you might have guessed if you know me well.             Filing system: An elaborate hierarchy of folders and specific file names can help keep things organized. For example, you might have a folder named “research projects” and/or one named “publications”. Within those, each folder would refer to a specific project and could include information about the status of the project such as “final draft” “revision 1”, etc. Additionally, you can include information about the status of the project in the folder name of file name such as “under review” or “awaiting REB approval” etc. Master list: Another way to keep things organized is to have a Word docume...

Have you been thinking about research? Do you feel overwhelmed on where to begin? Below, I outline my step-by-step guide to getting ready for research. You just need to take one little bite at a time. Before you begin conducting research, you need to complete the TCPS2 Core Certificate ( https://tcps2core.ca/ ). Click on the purple button to create an account. Then, work your way through the modules. This does take a little while to complete (up to 8 hours or so if you are brand new to research), but you can save your progress and return later. Then, you need a research idea. Your idea doesn’t need to be ground-breaking or brilliant (though if you have one of those, don’t discard it!). Your research idea will likely be something that begins with “I wonder if…” That is, you’ll come up with a question or problem and then a possible solution. For example, I wonder if using polling in class will improve test performance (or attendance, or something else). Likely, your question will be rela...

First, thanks to everyone who submitted research-related questions in the SurveyMonkey earlier this month. You brought out important questions that I am excited to answer! I have copied each question below (verbatim), followed by my answer. If you’d like a more detailed answer to any of these questions (whether it was the question that you asked or that someone else asked), please send me an email or a message on Teams.   “Why is Durham College bothering with research? Research is the job of universities. Workforce development is the job of community colleges.” Good question with a complex reply. First, research helps to improve student learning (especially SoTL research). While universities can study the same questions, we have a unique student population. I would argue that college students are probably unlike university students in learning habits and desires and university research rarely includes our learners as part of their sample. So, their conclusions cannot necessarily b...