Research Guide
 

What is a research? Ideas and Research Topic Literature Review                Research Methods Research Report What LRC can support students Endnotes What is a research?  “Research is an inquiry that has clearly defined parameters and has as its aim the: discovery or creation of knowledge, or theory building; testing, confirmation, revision, refutation of knowledge and theory; and/or investigation of a problem for local decision making.”1 (Peter Hernon, 1991)  As the definition indicated, a research is a systematic process and data collection for investigation serves for a specific purpose.  Ideas and research topic      -         A good research topic is initiated from good ideas.     -         Ideas come from many sources: observation, understanding, knowledge, experience, and need of problem solving. To develop new ideas, students need to have a mind of curiosity, observation to everyday behavior and phenomena, and learn and think critically a problem. 2  -       It should not be hurry to decide a research topic. The topic should cover research scope and convey a question for investigation. A research topic can be conducted by an individual or a team for a particular purpose.  Literature Review  Literature review is the foundation for the search. To accumulate good literature, it is needed to collect and research documents as mush as possible. Based on the ideas or topic formulated, students must search and retrieve relevant documents, read, select, generate and organize them logically and systematically in the literature. During the process of reviewing literature, they may discover new ideas, unsolved problems or topics when they are stuck in selecting a topic. Students must indicate in the literature review that their topic has not been investigated before or their research examines another aspect of a former research3. It is noted that students should record sources to be cited in literature review to make the bibliography.  Sources  Information is divided into two main sources: primary and secondary.      -         Secondary is the source providing full research report. -        Primary is the secondary source to be summarized or synthesized. Some examples of secondary source are: articles summarizing researches, lecture notes, television programs or films etc..4 A research should not be relied on secondary source. It may be interpreted based on author’s perspective, which may not reflect exactly primary source. Students therefore need to distinguish these sources and combine them in their research harmoniously.  The following types of documents can provide primary source: -         Monographs -        Scholarly or peer-reviewed periodicals (printed and electronic) -         Proceedings.  Steps of Reviewing Literature:     -         Define keywords from ideas or topics -         Carry out keyword searches on both primary and secondary sources -         Read and select documents relevant to topic -         Synthesize, summarize and organize literature, and record sources for catation -         Make a conclusion from literature to state problem for research.  Research Methods  In this stage, students must select an appropriate research method to collect data. Some common research methods:  -         Quantitative method: empirical method where data are in form of numbers. Doing survey with questionnaire are commonly used in this method.  -         Qualitative method: empirical method where data are not in form of numbers. Interview is commonly used in this method.  -         Quantitative and qualitative method: combination of quantitative and qualitative methods.5  Differences between Quantitative and Qualitative Method6 Factor Qualitative Quantitative Data collected Soft data Hard data Data collection techniques Active interaction with sample population Passive interaction through questionnaire and/or experimental design Sample population Small Large Data collection On-going observation or interview Before and after training or experiment Relationship Intense and long term with Subjects Distant and short term Research context Uncontrolled Controlled Data analysis Content analysis (narrative, synthesis, using coding and descriptive statistics) Statistical analysis (using software to process statistics such as Microsoft Excel or SPSS). Research Report  Outline Outline of research report is followed instructions of colleges or departments. A research report is generally included: -         Title page: name of colleges and university, research topic, full name of researcher and supervisor, graduation year and place. -         Acknowledgement       -         Table of contents -         Abstract -         Body: introduction, research questions, literature review, research methods, data analysis, findings and conclusion. -         Bibliography -         Appendix: presenting tools to collect data, e.g. interview question list or questionnaire.  Writing Style Research report should be written in academic style. Writing academically is to present research in an objective and serious way and reflect real empirical research.7  What LRC can support students     -         Providing information sources: printed documents (reference sources, books, periodicals), electronics resources (articles, research reports, conference reports, ebooks via databases, electronic journals và ebooks), audio-visual collections (video, CD-ROM v.v.). -        Information service and instructions: students can ask college liaisons for support in information seeking or research consultancy (in person or email), or through website, e.g. Ask a librarian or Guides and Help.   Endnotes 1 Hernon, Peter. 1991. The elusive nature of research in LIS in Library and Information Science Research: Perspectives and Strategies of Improvement. Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 3-4. 2 Bordens, Kenneth S. and Abbott, Bruce B.. 1999. Research design and methods: a process approach. California: Mayfield Publishing Company. 3 Creswell, John W.. 2003. Research design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. California: Sage Publications. 4 Vũ, Cao Đàm. 2002. Phương pháp luận nghiên cứu khoa học. Hà Nội: NXB Khoa học và Kỹ thuật. 5 Sogunro, Olusegun A.. 2002. Selecting a quantitative or qualitative research methodology: An experience. Educational Research Quarterly 26 (1):3-10. 6 Ibid. 7 Vũ, Cao Đàm. 2002. Phương pháp luận nghiên cứu khoa học. Hà Nội: NXB Khoa học và Kỹ thuật.

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