Introduction to Research
Faculty Workshops 2015
Matthew O Adigun
Research as a Sign of intelligence
• Intelligence: ‘the adaptation of an environment to suit
needs’, therefore humans are acknowledged as the
most 'intelligent' of species.
• Humans observe, identify, plan and then effect change.
Humans have social gain through information as well as
resource sharing.
• The Human specie is distinguished by complex
language structures and the written word to share
information from one person to another. Literate
societies with well structured, permanent means of
communicating information have immense
evolutionary advantage.
We Research every day
• Humans are 'intuitive' scientists ....
• always asking questions and
• testing theories about themselves, others,
events, the environment and
• the world around them
What is Research?
• Research… is asking a question and finding out
the answer.....
• - looking into something.
• - looking for something.
• - comparing and contrasting things.
• - finding out more information...it is counting
things ...making enquiries...being curious...finding
out what people think...finding out what people
do....finding out what works.... finding out what
doesn't work...finding out what people want...
What research have you conducted
recently?
• What decisions have you made about your
day?
• What decisions have you made today?
• What influenced your decision to take this
course?
• How do you prepare and write assignments?
• How do you decide how to provide the best
quality of service for your service users?
What do we research?
• We research people and their behaviour, opinions,
attitudes, trends and patterns, also politics, animals, health
and illness. Research can be conducted either informally for
our own benefit, through asking questions, watching,
counting or reading and formally, for medical or academic
purposes, as a marketing strategy, to inform and influence
politics and policy.
• Research may be carried out in our own lives, through the
media, in our place of work, with our friends and family or
through reading past research.
• Our views - personal, social, community and worldwide and
our own identities are socially constructed through our
own theorising.
What does research tell us?
• Research gives us information about:
– Thoughts and opinions
– Attitudes
– Habits
– Culture
– Norms
– Scientific facts
– Medical information
What do we do with research?
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Have it as interesting fact
Use it to make decisions
Use it to persuade influence others
Use it to affect change
Use it to change behaviour
Use it to better use...medical ...improve customer
care...write better funding applications....monitor
and evaluate our provision....
In a nutshell….
• We research in order to
– understand society and social processes,
– as well as to test and or create theories
– in order that we are better able to inform about
social action and potentially 'improve' social
conditions.
Knowledge, Interpretation and
dissemination
• Gathering data from direct and indirect sources:
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observations
questionnaires
interviews
experiments
other research
• Processing data for interpretation numerically
and or verbally:
– statistics
– themes or perspectives
Dissemination of findings
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written reports
presentations
seminars
supply to media
When we conduct research, It should
be…
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Systematic
Non-discriminatory
Open to criticism
Independent and free from and direct and or
indirect censorship
Research Theory
• Research is approached in a variety of
ways...in its methods, analysis and
presentation...which may be influenced by the
theoretical approach the researcher takes.
• The appendix of "Research theory" offers a
brief introduction to some of the theoretical
positions as well as some links which you can
use to research further.
In Closing…..
• All academic subjects require research to reach
conclusions and establish theories, or simply to
find out more about a particular situation or
phenomenon.
• You will need to learn more about research
methods and data in both an academic context,
for when you are researching for your Degree as
well as a professional context in order to give you
a better understanding of the role and uses of
research within the voluntary and community
sector.
Orientation to Knowledge
Production
(How Information is Created and Organized)
Faculty Workshops 2015
Knowledge Production
(Scientific Experimentation or Research in a Library)
• Somebody thinks of an idea (researcher and his
team)
• Decide to pursue the idea further (funding
proposals/applications )
• Ready to invest time and money to germinate the
idea (find a funder on short or long term basis)
• This process can take years and cost a lot of
money (multiple funders with varying interests)
Resources needed to Produce new
Knowledge
• Large Institutions ONLY can provide such
resources.
• Universities
• Government Agencies: ARC, MRC, NRF, CSIR etc.
• Large NGOs
• Large Corporations
• Partnerships can be key to new knowledge
production. E.g. Richards Bay IDZ + Unizulu
Information Produced by Government
• Elected officials need info about Society in order
to make economic, social and political policy
decisions.
• Therefore, agencies at federal, state and local
government levels are tasked with conducting
research using Tax Rand.
• Obligation to provide citizen access to
Information at little or no additional cost.
• Federal Depository Libraries/ the Internet is now
significant mechanism for doing this.
Information Produced in Academic
Institutions
• Academic in Sciences, Humanities, Social
Sciences produce new scholarly knowledge;
• Scholarly research produces results that can
be used to solve practical and social problems.
• Scholarly Knowledge is published in Books and
Scholarly journals.
• Can locate this knowledge by searching library
catalogs and scholarly journal indexes;
To be published in a scholarly journal
or Book
• Researchers submit their findings to a
publication's peer review board;
• Faculty researchers try to match the content
and style of their research to a particular
journal's focus and audience;
• Evaluated by a panel of experts in the field for
the merit of its ideas, originality, thoroughness
in research, accuracy, and contribution to the
body of knowledge in the discipline.
Acceptance or Rejection stage
• The peer review board then makes a
recommendation to accept or reject the work
for publication.
• Accept implies one of two options:
• Often the peer review board makes
suggestions for revisions or
• further clarification that may require rewriting
and additional research
Larger Purpose of Knowledge
Production
• The publication of an article or book
encourages other scholars to further explore
the research to corroborate or dispute it.
• This exchange and debate of ideas and
findings contributes to the production of the
larger body of knowledge within a discipline.
• Note: It is very rare in today’s ‘cheap’
dissertation and thesis to see corroborating or
disputing contributions.
Knowledge Searching needs to be
learned
• The way academic disciplines structure
knowledge affects searching.
• If you wish to effectively locate information
you must have some idea of how academic
disciplines and libraries structure knowledge.
• This skill will also be handy if your research
requires you to re-arrange existing knowledge
when answering your research question or
testing an hypothesis.
Information Produced in the Private Sector
(Non-governmental sources of information)
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Commercial newspapers,
magazine and book publishers,
the film and television industry,
corporate laboratories,
business research firms, associations,
advocacy groups, and think tanks,
• all gather data and produce information.
Forms of Private Sector Knowledge
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magazines,
books,
bulletins,
conferences,
pamphlets,
videos,
technical reports, and
company annual reports etc.
Purpose for Private Sector Knowledge
• For internal use within the organization and
may not be available to the general public.
• Companies and laboratories often patent or
trademark information that is the result of
their research.
• Patents and trademarks give the holder of the
patent or trademark exclusive rights to the
information.
Note of Warning: Don’t use Private
Sector Information anyhow
• When using any publication, it is important to
know as much as possible about the organization,
its goals and motives, and its reputation.
• Points of view, as well as goals and motives, are
reflected in the information organizations
produce.
• You might be endorsing an organisation’s
ideology or contaminated reputation without
knowing it.
Politics of Private Sector or Corporate
World
• Business publication--primarily concerned with
the research, development and promotion of a
product--differ from that of a consumer advocacy
group;
• Even advocacy groups or organizations which are
formed around particular issues, political or social
agendas, have differing and conflicting
perspectives of the same issue;
• A good researcher will avoid pitching their tent
with conflicting perspectives.
Forms of Packaging Information
• Periodicals, newspapers, films, television, and
radio all have different audiences and are
accessible to different people in different ways.
• Most serious scholarly research is published in
books and journals because these forms of
publication have been defined by our culture as
appropriate for scholarly communication.
• Occasionally serious research will be presented in
the format of a documentary film, but usually the
film medium is reserved for entertainment in
‘American’ society.
Vital Information about a Book
• A Scholarly Book is either A Fiction or non-fiction
• Works of fiction contain material that is not true
to life even though the events reported may be
based on the real life experience of the author.
• Characters and scenes are invented by the author
to tell a story.
• Novels, short stories, and poems are examples of
fiction.
Organisation of Non-Fiction Scholarly
Books
• Non-fiction books deal with more factual
information.
• All reference books, history, literary criticism, and
science books are classed as non-fiction.
• A non-fiction Book consists of a Title Page, a Table
of Content plus preliminary materials and the
main Body of the Book.
• The back of a Scholarly book consists of Glossary,
Appendices, Bibliography and or index.
Main Body of a Scholarly Book
• The main body of the book is generally divided
into chapters.
• Each chapter may identify the sources used in the
form of footnotes (at the bottoms of the pages),
or endnotes (and the end of each chapter).
• In many books, the notes appear at the back of
the book.
• Scanning footnotes and endnotes is a productive
and efficient way to find additional sources for
your research
Back of a Scholarly Book
• glossary--a list with definitions of unfamiliar terms used in the
text
• appendices--supplemental materials, charts, tables, maps,
statistics
• bibliography--a list of all the books, articles, and other
resources the author used in writing the book.
• Scanning the bibliography is one of the best ways to find
additional high quality sources for your research.
• Index--an alphabetical list of terms, subjects, names discussed
in the book to aid in locating information within the text of
the work.
What is a Periodical?
• The word periodical means ‘published at regular intervals’.
Specific examples of periodicals include popular magazines,
scholarly journals, industry and TRADE magazines,
newsletters, newspapers and e-zines.
• When doing research, it is important to be able to distinguish
between the various types of periodicals--especially between
popular magazines and scholarly journals.
• The type(s) of periodicals you use for a project depends on
the focus and purpose of your research.
How Do You Select Appropriate
Periodical?
• As a rule, you should be using scholarly
journals in your projects.
• Yet, there are instances in which it is
appropriate and necessary to use popular
magazines, TRADE and industry journals, and
newspapers.
• How can you tell the difference? Here is a
printable chart listing the features of different
types of periodicals.
Popular Magazine
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Articles written with the general public in mind
Current events, hot topics, social and political commentary
Written in non-technical, easy-to-understand language
Articles edited or reviewed by employees of the magazine
Author is a journalist, freelance writer, layperson, or not
listed at all
• Few or no references or notes
• Published weekly, or monthly
• Glossy appearance, many photographs, many
advertisements
Scholarly Journals
• Articles written primarily with other scholars in mind
• Complex writing, specialized language of the discipline
• Articles reviewed and edited by other scholars in the
field
• Author is an expert in field of study
• Many footnotes, lengthy bibliography
• Serious appearance, few if any advertisements
• Title contains words like: Journal of, Review, Quarterly
Finally….
• Research should be about applying our
intelligence: adapt your environment to suit
needs;
• Our students should learn to ask interesting
questions. ‘How’ is good if you are looking into;
‘what’ is better if you are looking for something;
but ‘why’ is the winner if you want to explain a
mystery or tackle complex problems.
• Only lazy researcher ask ‘Can’ questions.
Research is meant to be published..
• Otherwise, why do research?
• Contributions should endeavour to
corroborate or dispute existing knowledge.
• Finally, rigour is the ONLY PROOF that your
contributions are not cheap political
campaigns.
• Thanks for LISTENING!!!!!