Choosing your research
Topic
&
Ethics in research
GEOG 366
JA Yaro
Selecting a Topic
Choose a topic that:
• Is original in formulation - Addresses new issues
• Is manageable and narrowly defined, one that can be
effectively presented within the parameters of the assignment.
• Touches your life in a significant way and that you have a
natural interest in.
• Allows you to bring insight to the situation and enlighten others.
• Lends itself to questions.
• Pick topics from courses/lectures and newspapers that touch
on contemporary issues
• Talk to your supervisor or lecturer who has discussed an issue
of interest to you
EXERCISE – FIND TOPICS
• Think about any problem and produce a topic for
research
• The research problem is the aspect the researcher
worries about, thinks about, and wants to find a solution
for. It explains in short the aim of the research
• Write it out – read it to the class
• Use key words such as: assess, analyze, the patterns,
evaluate, etc.
• Also, show linkages by using: effects on, consequences of,
relationship between, etc.
Where do you see problems that can ignite
your mind to think about research?
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Classroom
School
Community
Own teaching experiences
Classroom lectures
Class discussions
Seminars/workshops/paper presentations
Internet
Out-of-class exchanges of ideas with fellow students and professors
Reading assignments
– Textbooks
– Special assignments
– Research reports
– Term papers
Consultation with…
– Course instructor
– Advisor
– Major Professor
– Faculty member
Number ONE Requirement…
• You need to have an inquisitive and
imaginative mind
• You need a Questioning attitude
• Wonder why?
Characteristics of good topics?
1. Interesting – keeps the researcher interested in it throughout the
research process
2. Researchable – can be investigated through the collection and analysis
of data
3. Significant – contributes to the improvement and understanding of
educational theory and practice
4. Manageable – fits the level of researcher’s level of research skills,
needed resources, and time restrictions
5. Ethical – does not embarrass or harm participants
Is my project research?
• Does your project generate a research problem or a set of
questions that are worth asking?
• Originality: don’t cook up old ideas and methods
fashionable a decade ago
• Topicality: is your topic and subject of contemporary
interest to academics or public?
• Is the project geographical: does place or space matter or
make a difference? Show some spatial variation in
distribution, experiences
• Is the project practical: in terms of cost, time and
personnel
Ethics in research
• Research involving human
subjects in the Medical, Social
and Behavioral Sciences poses
complex ethical issues.
• It requires careful thought and
consideration on the part of both
researchers and research
participants.
But it
pays well
It has its
disadvantages
• Prospective participants must be
given adequate information on
both the possible risks and the
potential benefits of their
involvement to allow them to
make informed decisions
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Integrity of Research
• Research should be designed to meet
clear objectives honestly
• Should not be subject to undue or
improper influences…
– including conflicts of interest
• …or falsified, or contain plagiarised
material, or presented in ways that are
designed to mislead
Ethical concerns
• Respect for persons
• Informed consent
– understands what’s involved
– knows what will be done with the data
– can freely choose to take part or not
• Confidentiality; anonymity
– whether or not assurances given
– n.b. data protection implications
• Risk of other disadvantage or harm
– distress, embarrassment, loss
• Some respondents or data collection environments may pose risks to
the researcher (or other data gatherers)
• Foresees possible risks and provides a means of managing those risks
Ethical Issues
• Justification for the
research
• Access to
participants/Privacy
• Informed consent
• Potential harm
11
• With research involving
human subjects the risks
and costs must be
balanced against the
potential benefits
• Trivial or repetitive
research may be
unethical where the
subjects are at risk
After years of experimentation the
scientist proved that children
become addicted to nicotine
12
Autonomy
• The ethical principle of
autonomy means that each
person should be given the
respect, time, and
opportunity necessary to
make his or her own
decisions.
• Prospective participants
must be given the
information they will need to
decide to enter a study or
not to participate.
• There should not be
pressure to participate.
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Vulnerable participants
• Potentially vulnerable participants
such as children, the elderly, the
mentally ill may be incapable of
understanding information that
would enable them to make an
informed decision about study
participation.
• Consequently, careful consideration
of their situation and needs is
required, and extra care must be
taken to protect them.
• For example, how will you assess
the diminished capacity of an
elderly individual, who will be the
guardian, and how and when will
you involve another individual as
guardian in the process?
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Sources for further Reading
• P. A. Twumasi 1986. Social research in rural
communities: The problems of fieldwork in Ghana.
Ghana Universities Press. Accra. Pages 1-11
• Robin Flowerdew and David Martin (eds) 1997. Methods
in Human Geography. A guide for students doing
research projects. Longman. Pages 31-56
• Rob Kitchin and Nicholas J. Tate 2000. Conducting
research in Human Geography: Theory, Methodology
and Practice. Pearson education limited. Singapore.
Pages 1-44