1. Ch. 2: Planning a Study

2. PICK A STUDY TOPIC  something “generalizeable”  featuring social patterns  that applies to “aggregates” (i.e., a collection of people or other units)  that is empirically observable

3. REVIEW PAST STUDIES  to focus research question  for examples of research designs, measures, and techniques  to learn key ideas, factors, terms, and issues re: topic, in order to replicate, test, or extend what others have found  for examples of content and style in research reports  for FUN – to stimulate creativity & curiosity

4. Where Do You Find the Research Literature?  Peer-reviewed scholarly journal  Semi-scholarly professional publication  Practitioner magazine or newsletter  Opinion magazine  Mass market magazines for the public

5. Where to find reports on empirical research?  Scholarly journals  Books (monographs, readers, edited collections)  Government documents  Ph.D. dissertations  Policy reports  Presented papers

6. Lit Review: the Six-Step Process  Refine the topic  Design your search  Locate the research reports  Read and take notes on reports found  Organize notes, synthesize, and write the review  Create the reference list

7. FOCUSING ON A RESEARCH QUESTION  Inductive research in which you start with many specific observations and move toward general ideas or theory to capture what they show  Deductive research in which you start with a general idea or theory and test it by looking at specific observations

8. Fig. 2.8: Inductive or Deductive Approach  Deductive  Inductive IDEAS Observed data