Finding and Evaluating Information

Unless you formulate a research question, heading off to the library to "do some research" can easily become a frustrating and fruitless stroll through the stack. Why? Sheer information is not enough. Because any library will have far more information than you need or can use, you must be able to relate information to your own problem-solving concerns. If you don\'t, library work can become a dis­traction, not a helpful research tool. To set your question in relationship to the work of others, keep these points in mind.

When you look for information, you will find that the library organizes its holdings by subject categories-in other words, topics. To tap the li­brary\'s rich resources, you\'ll need to relate your research question to sev­eral of these categories. The danger here is that you might shift your attention to the subject headings themselves, in which case you\'ll quickly have far more information than you can-handle. Remember, you are not looking for information on a topic, you are looking for answers to in­creasingly specific research questions.

If you feel the need to do some general background reading to make sense of more technical information about your research question, keep in mind why you are reading. Don\'t content yourself with reading about your research question; read to find answers to the question or to ask your question more intelligently If you don\'t, background reading can easily become a way to keep busy while keeping your research at arm’s length.

Your research question is more than a tool for gathering material. Also use it as a screen by which to sort and evaluate the relevance of the mate­rials you find. Because you will come across more articles and books than you can possibly read in depth, look through them quickly with your research question in mind. Glance at the table of contents, skim the preface or introduction, and check the index for topics related to your con­cerns. Look for clues that tell you how or even whether you should read any one article or book. ­

As you find sources related to your research question, you must do more than read them for the information they contain; you\'ll also need to evaluate them in terms of the intellectual case their authors present, and in terms of the analy­sis or argument you yourself are developing.

The importance of your own research question should remind you that other articles and books do not describe information neutrally or aim­lessly. To collaborate with researchers who have gone before you, you must recognize that they themselves are asking specific questions and as­serting and justifying answers. Don\'t read for content alone; you\'ll also need to recognize how other authors place information in the service of their own analytic or argumentative projects. Look at the introduction and conclusion of an article or book to help you recognize the shape of its ideas-its occasion, thesis, and main supporting points.

Once you have understood a source in its own terms, you can then evalu­ate it in terms of your own purposes. How does its question at issue relate to your own? How does its thesis relate to the hypothesis you are begin­ning to form? How does the evidence marshalled in support of its point contribute to or question your own case? In short, how has the material affected your own understanding of the questions you are posing and the answers you are beginning to arrive at and defend? In turn, be sure to re­late each article or book to your other sources. Does it reinforce or dispute other findings`? How credible does your source appear to be? Remember that research requires active, purposeful reading. Look beyond discrete nuggets of information that you might passively note down to the relation­ships you might form among pieces of evidence. Before you record infor­mation, ask yourself why and how it might fit into your own project.

Although I have focused chiefly on library sources (or secondary research), essentially the same process goes on as you engage in primary research where you are collecting data yourself.

Before you collect data, formulate your research question carefully. The method and design behind your experiment, interviews, or survey instru­ment will determine the data you collect. If you don\'t know what ques­tion prompts your work, the information you collect will either confuse or confound you.

Keep careful notes. If secondary research requires that you find sources, primary research asks that you collect and record detailed observations or raw data. Don\'t put of writing down these observations in a notebook, for memory can easily trick you into recording what you would like to have seen or heard.

Evaluate what you are doing. Every so often, take a step back from your work and ask yourself what it means. Does the data confirm your work­ing hypothesis, or do you need to revise the questions you are asking orthe tentative conclusions you are forming? What sort of information does your research design screen out? What remains ambiguous?