China Debate Education Network
Introduction to Debate
Research: From Practice to
Product in Teaching Research
Presentation Overview
– Part I: Introduction to Research
• A. Research Definition and Importance
• B. Methods of Research (Practice)
– 1. Motion Based Research
– 2. Process and Methods of Research
• C. Tips on Conducting Research
• D. Internet and Database Research Tricks
– Part II: Teaching Debate Research
• A. Writing a Brief
• B. Potential Exercises
Research
• Simply put, in a debate, or educational,
context, research is the systematic
investigation and analysis of evidence for a
particular topic.
• Research is the production of arguments
founded with evidence to support and refute
claims.
• Research is a process of inquiry based on
asking questions rather than seeking a
predetermined answer.
Research
• Research adds depth to an argument giving
the argument more potential significance.
• Research enables new conclusions to be
drawn and new arguments to be developed.
Importance of Research
• Sound arguments require due diligence by the
arguer to ensure the completeness of that
argument.
• Research is also a responsibility of the
evaluator of argument. In a debate context,
opposing teams and the judge are better
served with some topical understanding.
Online Resources
• Preliminary data collection indicates students
are very comfortable with using online
resources and websites. They appear more
comfortable with the internet than with
journals, books and printed newspapers.
• This suggests teachers of research should
focus on improving student usage of
databases and information literacy of online
data.
Methods of Research: Types
• Open Ended Research: General reading of
information such as the news with no specific
goal in mind.
– Helps develop broad awareness of a number of
issues of public concern.
• Focused Research: Specific research with an
argument position in mind.
– Focused research usually begins with a question
about an issue. For example, what are the most
practical steps to reducing air pollution?
Motion Based Research
• Motions have certain components to them.
Break them down and think about their parts.
– For example, think of the following motion used at
a Chinese tournament. “China should increase its
efforts to reduce air pollution.”
– Break the motion into its elements realizing this is
a somewhat standard format that can guide the
type of research you conduct:
Motions: Background
• Overview/background: begin by examining the
background of the topic/motion.
• Example: “China should increase its efforts to reduce
air pollution.”
• What is the current status of air pollution in China?
• What are the consequences (or harms/ills) of air pollution?
• What prior solutions have been attempted? What
solutions are currently being considered?
• What is the current position of the Chinese government?
– Begin by outlining the issue for both government and
opposition arguments.
Motion components, continued
• “China should increase its efforts to reduce air
pollution.”
– Actor: “this house/China”
– Action: “increase its efforts to reduce”
– Object/Term of Art: “air pollution”
Motion: Actor
• “China should increase its efforts to reduce air pollution.”
• Starting with a research question or set of questions
focused on an actor allows you to narrow your
searches. You could replace China with a number of
other actors for more thorough research.
• How can the government control air pollution production?
What controls have been considered by national, central
or regional governments?
Motions: Action
• “China should increase its efforts to reduce air
pollution.”
• Research is also effective when focusing on the
action. In this case, reducing air pollution.
• Notice these questions parallel the background
information:
• How can the government control air pollution?
– Alert systems—Did the December 2015 “Red Alert” have a
positive impact on Beijing and surrounding areas?
• What controls have been considered by central or regional
governments?
Motion: Term of Art
• “China should increase its efforts to reduce air pollution.”
• Most motions have a term of art or a specific
phrase that will provide more information
about the actor and action.
• Researchers need to examine the literature on
“air pollution” as it is produced by experts
studying the topic—scientists, engineers,
climatologists, and so on. This literature is
likely to provide the most relevant
information.
Process and Methods for
Researching*
• 1. Always start broadly and then work to
narrow your point. Begin with a topic and
then follow with a specific question:
– In order to conduct research it helps to consider a
topic to allow focus (e.g. public health, pollution,
or corruption).
– *Following section is adapted from Creswell, John.W. (2008). Educational
Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative
Research, 3rd Ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, pp. 8-9.
Process, continued
• 2. From that topic, develop a research
question.
– Your question may be broad (“how should the
government improve public health?”) or narrow
("what are social costs of coal power plants?”).
• 3. Identify primary issues
– Determine what are the major issues in the
argument you are advancing or the argument you
are seeking to evaluate. (public health?
Economics? International perception?)
• 4. Identify central questions—here you ask
what information you need to understand a
given issue.
– For example, if the argument is to alter the pollution red
alert system by lowering the point where the alert triggers
you might want to know
• a) how often pollution exceeds the current and proposed
standard;
• b) what are the harms of pollution at various levels;
• c) what the are benefits of decreasing pollution;
• d) what are the costs of decreasing the standard.
• Central Questions
– In addition to the “fact based” questions
surrounding the collection of evidence to support
a claim, researchers need to identity central
questions regarding their approach:
• What are the primary arguments from a moral
perspective?
• What are the primary arguments from an economic
perspective?
• What are the primary arguments from a perspective of
public health?
• 5. Conduct a cursory literary review. Search for
the relevant material already published on a
subject.
– For example, if you want to argue that China
should send a manned space mission to the
moon, you would want to know what others have
written on the subject as a means of answering
relevant questions about costs and time-frame of
such a mission. Use this to refine your research
question.
• 6. Collect relevant information/data
• 7. Analyze data with attention to your
argument
– investigate the information you have for patterns
of relevance, sufficiency, applicability (RSA) and
consistency. Evaluate how the information you
have collected helps you support your argument
or requires you to continue your research process
by refining your inquiry.
• 8. Evaluate the research
– Evidence you gather from other sources should
also be subjected to thorough evaluation. Is the
evidence sound evidence from credible sources?
• 9. Integrate your research—insert your
research into your argument to support your
position.
• 10. Process Information
• Gather and process the information you
have found. To process information is more
than taking notes on your research, but
writing down the information from various
sources into organized formats that will
translate to debate arguments.
Tips for Researching
• Research with purpose or cut through the
chaff for the wheat:
– Once you have a basic understanding of the topic,
focus your research around a goal.
– For example, if you are researching the conflict in
with ISIS, perhaps you want to focus on broad
based international involvement. Rather than
research “intervention good” or “intervention
bad” you would research “why Chinese
involvement in ISIS is beneficial or not” or
“benefits and problems of UN involvement” or
“Islamic State response to a international action.”
More Tips for Researching
• Follow the literature:
– Conducting research often feels like falling into
wonderland: mysterious and confusing. But even
Alice had guides. Your guide is the literature.
– Look to what the literature supports.
– For example, the literature may not support China
intervening unilaterally with ISIS, but it may
provide evidence for a coalition of which China is
one part. It may support different forms of
intervention, e.g. aerial attacks are better than
ground troops.
More Tips for Researching
• Outline the Argument:
– Keep a written document of the argument as it
develops. Add to the document as you find more
information.
– Researcher’s name should be on the document.
• Cite Your Sources:
– even if you are not saying the source in the
debate, document where the material came from.
Tips on Researching Online
• Provide students with a list of online databases
to access from the following categories:
–
–
–
–
–
General Search Engines
News Aggregators
Specific News Sites
Topic Specific Journals
Think Tanks
Internet Search Tricks
• Learn how to use search engine shortcuts
• Shortcuts vary by the search engine, database,
etc.
• Some common shortcuts include:
– Boolean phrases (AND, OR, NOT)
– Search within a set number of word (e.g. “Beijing
w8 pollution”)
– Search by including or omitting words (e.g. cats
NOT dogs, or, cats –dogs) (communication +
rhetoric)
More Internet Search Tips
• Use quotation marks for exact phrasing (e.g.
“women athletes” will search for the words as
a phrase whereas women athletes will insert
“and” to find all sites containing the two
terms.
• Use truncation with an asterisk (*). (e.g. child*
will search for child, children, childhood, etc.)
• Use different search engines and databases.
Writing a Brief
• Keep briefs short—Two pages is plenty
• Keep briefs concise and ordered. They should
follow a clear outline:
– Background or effects/status quo—policy
arguments/Defense of status quo
– Reasons to take particular action—principal based
arguments
– Solutions/Problems with action
– Sources
Potential Exercises
• A number of potential exercises for research
are possible and fairly easy:
– Have students choose a particular topic and craft
a well-researched brief.
– Divide students into pairs and have them
independently research a topic from opposite
sides. Then have them compare their arguments
and assist each other in identifying strengths and
weaknesses.
– Require students to find sources that are both
online and offline (traditional sources).