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Research Databases
Research Databases
Here's a curated list of the databases available to CAS students -->
Some notetaking tips:
Some notetaking tips:
Download PDFs (when possible) and highlight
Have your MyBib page or extension open while you're research. SAVE all sources as you go.
When reading a new article, write the Title at the top, followed by the MLA citation.
Pull out and write down direct quotes
Put the full intext citation (copied from MyBib) after the quote
Step 4: How to Take Notes After refining your research questions, you can lay out the foundations of your research design, leading to a proposal that outlines your ideas and plans.
Step 1: Create a Research Design
A research design is a strategy for answering your research question using empirical data. Creating a research design means making decisions about:
Your overall research objectives and approach
Whether you’ll rely on primary research or secondary research
Your sampling methods or criteria for selecting subjects
Your data collection methods
The procedures you’ll follow to collect data
Your data analysis methods
A well-planned research design helps ensure that your methods match your research objectives and that you use the right kind of analysis for your data (Scribbr).
Qualitative vs. Quantiative
Qualitative vs. Quantiative
Qualitative Approach:
Understand subjective experiences, beliefs, and concepts
Gain in-depth knowledge of a specific context or culture
Explore under-researched problems and generate new ideas
Qualitative research designs tend to be more flexible and inductive, allowing you to adjust your approach based on what you find throughout the research process.
Qualitative research example:
If you want to generate new ideas for online teaching strategies, a qualitative approach would make the most sense. You can use this type of research to explore exactly what teachers and students struggle with in remote classes (Scribbr).
Quantiative Approach:
Measure different types of variables and describe frequencies, averages, and correlations
Test hypotheses about relationships between variables
Test the effectiveness of a new treatment, program or product
Quantitative research designs tend to be more fixed and deductive, with variables and hypotheses clearly defined in advance of data collection.
Quantitative research example
If you want to test the effectiveness of an online teaching method, a quantitative approach is most suitable. You can use this type of research to measure learning outcomes like grades and test scores (Scribbr).
Choose a type of research design
Choose a type of research design
Types of quantitative research designs
Types of quantitative research designs
Quantitative designs can be split into four main types.
Experimental and quasi-experimental designs allow you to test cause-and-effect relationships
Descriptive and correlational designs allow you to measure variables and describe relationships between them (Scribbr).
Types of qualitative research designs
Types of qualitative research designs
Qualitative designs are less strictly defined. This approach is about gaining a rich, detailed understanding of a specific context or phenomenon, and you can often be more creative and flexible in designing your research.
Some examples are:
Case study: Detailed study of a specific subject (e.g., a place, event, organization, etc).
Ethnography: Detailed study of the culture of a specific community or group. Data is collected by extended immersion and close observation.
Grounded theory: Aims to develop a theory inductively by systematically analyzing qualitative data.
Phenomenology: Aims to understand a phenomenon or event by describing participants’ lived experiences.
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