Humanities step 1

• Mens & Maatschappij
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 5

What counts as a good research topic?

With your critical friend group, come up with 4 criteria for a good research topic

This week

Write first draft of introduction paragraph, including preliminary research question!

Create a mind map about your topic!

Pick one of your research topics and come up with 5 possible research questions (1 descriptive, 1 comparative, 1 explanatory, 1 design and 1 evaluation)   

With your critical friends, go to the KNAW onderwijsprijs website. 

Find research papers in the winners section that look interesting to you and read the introduction paragraph. Discuss what you can take away for your own introduction. 

https:

This week: methodology

• "Fits research"
• "Well thought-through"
• "Realistic within constraints. Measures are proposed to prevent/overcome obstacles."

1. Data collection methods

Which methods are most suitable for answering your research question? Why???

• Qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods? Primary research and/or secondary sources? Observations, interviews, focus groups and/or surveys? 
• How much data is enough?
• How will you select and gain access to participants and/or sources? How will you address potential obstacles?

2. Methodological reflection: limitations and ethics

a) Limitations

• Is your research feasible within the given limitations (time/resources/etc.)? 
• Did you acknowledge what your research is NOT able to do within the given limitations? (e.g. not generalizable)
• Are you transparent about the choices you made and why you made them within the given limitations?

What are the limitations of...

Interviews?

Focus groups?

Observations?

Surveys?

General tips and tricks

• Increase the reliability of your research through triangulation (confirming findings by showing that different methods, sources, etc. lead to the same results)!
• Be aware of how you - as a researcher - will influence the research process and outcomes!
• Research questions are not interview questions!

b) Ethics

• How will you make sure your research doesn't cause any harm?
  
• How will you ask for permission (informed consent) from and respect the privacy of the participants in your research? 
• Did you cite your sources appropriately to give credit to the original authors? 

Structure research proposal

• Frontpage
• Table of contents
• Introduction (including relevance and research question(s))
• Literature review (compare at least 2 academic sources)
  
• Methodology (including reflection on limitations and ethics)
• Bibliography
  

Today

Research poster or internship preparation

Research poster presentation

• Next Monday November 11th: poster fair (= presentation of the students who will not do an international internship) 
• Tips and tricks for creating a research poster: https://guides.nyu.edu/posters
• Explain your plans (relevance, literature review/theoretical framework and methodology)

Internship people - send me a status update:

• The place, time and organization you are planning to go to
• How you plan to present your research (video, podcast, poster, etc.)
• What is confirmed already? What do you still have to figure out? What help do you need?

Ready? Work on...

• Internship arrangements 
• Interview/Survey/Observation/Focus group questions