The material below is generously shared by Professor Miriam Stark who notes that “… her colleague at U Arizona's American Indian Studies
Program, Nancy Parezo, generously shared her version with me (she teaches Research Design) and I've modified it to make it more applicable to
our students.”
ANTH 711 RESEARCH CONCEPTION WORKSHEET NO. 1: WHAT DO YOU WANT TO LEARN? RESEARCH TOPIC OR
PROBLEM
What is the general topic of your proposed research?
What is your central research problem?
General:
Specific:
What would you like to know by the time you complete your research?
How does this differ from other scholarly research on the subject?
What is the rationale for this research?
What is the purpose of this research? What purposes has previous research on this subject already met?
What theories have been developed on the subject? And how have these theories affected interpretation of the subject?
Are you testing existing theory? What are the faults with extant theories?
What methods have already been applied? Why were they effective, or ineffective?
What new research tools or techniques are available to test this research?
In one sentence write down the main idea of the proposed research project without any technical jargon.
Is this research based on an established body of knowledge or a recognized theory? If so, what is it?
ANTH 711 RESEARCH CONCEPTION WORKSHEET NO. 2: WHY DO YOU WANT TO UNDERTAKE THIS RESEARCH AND
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? RELEVANCE
Why is the general aim of this research worth pursuing?
Why are the specific aims of this research worth pursuing?
List each aim/general and specific research problem or hypothesis should be listed.
How would the proposed research fill important gaps in our knowledge?
How does the proposed research contribute to the evolving structure of knowledge in general?
How does it contribute to knowledge in the areas you are studying?
How does it contribute to the culture you are working with?
Does the research involve a disciplinary/interdisciplinary paradigm shift?
What paradigm shifts have already occurred in this area?
Is this research timely?
Expected benefits of the research
If successful, what will this project do for:
a. Specific knowledge about an event, situation, field locale, time period, etc.?
b. Other fields?
c. Knowledge in general?
d. To use as a society/people/race/ethnic group/community - humanistic aspect in general and most importantly for the people with
whom one works?
Could this research benefit the people being studied?
When writing ask yourself:
Why is this research important?
In general and for myself
What is the intrinsic merit of the work?
Who will benefit?
ANTH 711 RESEARCH CONCEPTION WORKSHEET NO. 3: WHAT DO WE ALREADY KNOW ABOUT THE RESEARCH
PROBLEM? BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW
How important is the general problem to the discipline?
Is it a legitimate area of research?
Who else has studied this problem?
In general terms
Specifically
Who else has worked in the same culture/community under review?
What is currently known and not known about this topic?
What are the prevalent assumptions underlying research in this topic?
Have these assumptions been challenged already; did they prove erroneous?
Based on a critical and thorough analysis of existing knowledge-what are the main directions taken by researchers in this area? What are the
main issues in methodology, analysis and interpretation?
When writing ask yourself:
Have I referred to the literature thoroughly and thoughtfully?
Have I insulted anyone in my critiques of existing work?
State your organizing framework
ANTH 711 RESEARCH CONCEPTION WORKSHEET NO. 4: FORMULATING A RESEARCH QUESTION OR HYPOTHESIS
In a single sentence write a formal statement of exactly what you want to do. Be very specific.
Write the previous sentence as a research question.
Is it a who, what, when, how, where or why question?
Does the research involve culture change, directional causation, or the formulation of a prediction?
Is the problem culture-specific?
Is the research question testable? State how
How clear have you been? Restate your central problem/research question without using any technical language
Have you eliminated all ambiguity?
Is anything confusing?
Can these variables be measured? How?
How will you operationalize these variables?
What are the data/information collected during the course of the research expected to reveal?
What assumptions underlie this research?
What will you assume to be true and not study during this project?
Would you like to generalize to the end of the study? If not then what do you believe will be the major contribution of your study?
ANTH 711 RESEARCH CONCEPTION WORKSHEET NO. 5: HOW WILL IT BE DONE? RESEARCH METHODS
List the quantitative data collection/analysis methods that your research involves. List the qualitative data collection/analysis methods that your
research involves.
Do you combine these methods?
Why is each important and appropriate?
How are the methods suited to the stated objectives of the research?
What will you look for in your research?
If you will use multiple methods and techniques how will these be combined? Do you anticipate that some will be more valuable than others?
Are all central or are some supplementary?
Are there any special problems, concerns, constraints with particular methods you wish to employ?
Are there any potential biases inherent in the research design? If so, how will these be dealt with?
If there is a model to be tested, how will this be done?
What is the nature of your database?
Assume that you have gotten sick and you want a friend (with equal knowledge of your research topic) to collect the data for you. Write out a set
of specific instructions.
ANTH 711 RESEARCH CONCEPTION WORKSHEET NO. 6: WHERE WILL YOU UNDERTAKE THE RESEARCH? RESEARCH
SETTING
In what type of settings/institutions/situations/locale(s) will the research be conducted?

library

museum

home

indigenous community

other
Why has each setting been chosen?
Is the research site specific to the research problem or can the research be undertaken at more than one locale?
Where is the geographic and cultural site of your research?
Why did you choose the site(s) you have chosen?
Why is this locale the best place for you to answer your research question?
Is it representative?
Is it unique?
All good research questions can be undertaken in more than one setting. If you cannot go to your chosen locale, where else could you study in
order to answer your research question?
What is the research climate in the country/place?
How does the local community feel about researcher?
How do you know this?
What will you do if they do not let you in or stop your research?
Are there any national, state, corporate, tribal, or local restrictions that will affect your work?
ANTH 711 RESEARCH CONCEPTION WORKSHEET NO. 7 :HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO ANSWER YOUR RESEARCH
QUESTION(S)? SCHEDULE AND LOGISTICS
What is the scope of this research?
Are there time constraints on the research?

old people to be interviewed?

field seasons -- agriculture

weather conditions

people being in a certain place at a certain time

stories can only be spoken of in certain seasons?
Are there phases to this research?
Do they need to be undertaken in a certain order?
Does the research need to be undertaken sequentially?
What do you have to know first?, second?, third?
How long will it take you to get your data/information (as opposed to analysis and write up)?
under ideal conditions? under less than ideal conditions?
each phase?
Have you factored in time for illness, family obligations, tiredness, etc.? Sleep?
Do you need to learn the language?
How fluent are you before you begin?
Will you need to locate someone to teach you?
How long will it take you to:

get the necessary governmental / tribal permits?

make necessary contacts?

find your community?

obtain community authorization?

Buy and test; i.e. tape-recorder, cameras, etc.

find a place to live?

become accepted by the community?
ANTH 711 RESEARCH CONCEPTION WORKSHEET NO. 8: WHO ARE YOU GOING TO STUDY? RESEARCH POPULATION
AND SAMPLE
After you have chosen your research community, who will you work with there?
Describe your research or population. Who or what are you studying?

a culture, a formal organization

a community, an informal group

an occupation

children, men, women, etc.
What is the appropriate research universe for your problem?
Justify in light of your research problem
How will you sample this universe?
How large does your sample need to be?
Justify the total sample size and its composition
How was the size chosen in relation to accomplishing the specific aims and minimizing costs of research?
How will you choose this sample?
Will you do a comparison?
a controlled comparison?
what is the scale of your comparison?
What ethical/political/racial/other considerations can affect your choice of a sample?
Are there any potential biases inherent in the sampling design, and if so, how will you deal with them?
Do you have contingency plans if your research methodology does not work out (for example, your key elder consultant dies)
ANTH 711 RESEARCH CONCEPTION WORKSHEET NO. 9: HOW WILL THE DATA BE GATHERED? DATA COLLECTION
METHODS
What techniques and research instruments will you use to obtain your data?
List the data collection methods you plan to use (e.g., questionnaires, surveys, key consultant interviews, life histories/biographies, visual data
(photographs [stills, video], maps, remote sensing data), kinship analysis, open-ended or semi-structured or structured interviews, phoneme or
word lists, oral history, conversations, participant observation, documentary records [court records, land claims, archives], excavations, mapping,
other (specify).
Provide a brief description of, and justification for, each technique or research instrument chosen.
What will constitute an observation, a piece of evidence?
How will the data be collected?
Any special language issues for what is chosen?
How will the data be stored?
Will your data need to be coded? If so, what are the coding procedures?
How will data reliability and validity be obtained?
Will gender, age, ethnicity, etc. affect which techniques you use? How?
Are any ethical issues (special considerations) involved in data generation, choice of research techniques, data storage?
Do any of your research techniques require anonymity?
If so how will you ensure this?
Will transcription and translation be required?
ANTH 711 RESEARCH CONCEPTION WORKSHEET NO. 10: DATA INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS
How will you known if/when you have answered your question?
How will your research be conducted to achieve each specific aim of the research project?
How will you know when you have enough data?
What preparations are there for ensuring that the research results are available to the research conferences, publications, etc.
Who is the intended audience for the research results?
How will the results be reported?