Basic Library Research

How to Conduct Research

 

Once you have chosen to proceed with a research topic, you must take the necessary steps to guide you into research, these you can find on the Process of Research page. Once you get to the step of determining a strategy it is important to look over the following types of research. Remember that these are only a few examples, and if these don't suit you, you can always find more by clicking this link:

 

Positivist: Positivist research deals with using a scientific method, being concerned with objectivity, controllability, and predictability. This type is often known of as experimental research.

 

Naturalistic: Naturalistic research deals with exploring nature, and understanding from the inside. This type of research is often done by immersing oneself in the environment of the topic.

 

Quantitative: Quantitative research deals with recording information in forms of numbers. These numbers could be measurements, counting and scaling, comparing, or many other types.

 

Qualitative: Qualitative research deals with recording information in non-numerical forms. Non-numerical forms include oral accounts, interviews, observations, artifacts and many others, usually seeming less structural than quantitative research.

 

As you pick through these types, it is important to understand that the type you choose completely depends on the research you wish to accomplish.

 

Once you have chosen a type, you need to decide what method you will use. When doing this it is very important to make sure the method you pick will be compatible with the type of research you have chosen.

 

Methods include:

 - Interview

 - Recording

 - Experiment

 

Once you begin research one of the most important steps is taking very detailed notes or observations. Though you may think you only need a portion of the information when you are researching, you never know what you will need for your analysis. In this situation it is more important to take detailed notes of everything rather than focusing in just yet.

 

To find out what to do next with your information click here: