Research Project means a discrete scientific endeavour to answer a research question or a set of research questions. A Research Project must include a description of a defined protocol, clearly articulated goal(s), defined methods and outputs, and a defined start and end date. For many postgraduate students, the research project is the quintessential part of their course and the basis of their dissertation/thesis. The project is not only integral in passing the course but also serves as the final test of students’ capability to work independently and think critically.
Because postgraduate research projects bear such high importance, we have compiled the most important information that you as a prospective postgraduate student need to know about starting your first research project.
To do a research project easily one must follow the below steps:
Orient yourself:
Planning and conducting research requires you to make a transition, from thinking like a consumer of information to thinking like a producer of information. That sounds simple, but it’s actually a complex task. As a practical matter, this means putting aside the mindset of a student, which treats knowledge as something created by other people. As students, we are often passive receivers of knowledge: asked to do a specified set of readings, then graded on how well we reproduce what we’ve read. Researchers, however, must take on an active role as knowledge producers. Doing research requires more of you than reading and absorbing what other people have written: you have to engage in a dialogue with it. That includes arguing with previous knowledge and perhaps trying to show that ideas we have accepted as given are actually wrong or incomplete. For example, rather than simply taking in the claims of an author you read, you’ll need to draw out the implications of those claims.
Define your research question:
Students often give this step cursory attention, but experienced researchers know that formulating a good question is sometimes the most difficult part of the research planning process. That is because the precise language of the question frames the rest of the project. It’s therefore important to pose the question carefully, in a way that’s both possible to answer and likely to yield interesting results. Of course, you must choose a question that interests you, but that’s only the beginning of what’s likely to be an iterative process: most researchers come back to this step repeatedly, modifying their questions in light of previous research, resource limitations and other considerations. Researchers face limits in terms of time and money. They, like everyone else, have to pose research questions that they can plausibly answer given the constraints they face. For example, it would be inadvisable to frame a project around the question‘What are the roots of the Arab-Israeli conflict?’ if you have only a week to develop an answer and no background on that topic. That’s not to limit your imagination: you can come up with any question you’d like. But it typically does require some creativity to frame a question that you can answer well– that is, by investigating thoroughly and providing new insights– within the limits you face.
Choose your data and methods:
Whatever your research question is, eventually you’ll need to consider which data source and analytical strategy are most likely to provide the answers you’re seeking. One starting point is to consider whether your question would be best addressed by qualitative data (such as interviews, observations or historical records), quantitative data (such as surveys or census records) or some combination of both. Your ideas about data sources will, in turn, suggest options for analytical methods. You might need to collect your own data, or you might find everything you need readily available in an existing dataset someone else has created. A great place to start is with a research librarian: university libraries always have them and, at public universities, those librarians can work with the public, including people who aren’t affiliated with the university. If you don’t happen to have a public university and its library close at hand, an ordinary public library can still be a good place to start: the librarians are often well versed in accessing data sources that might be relevant to your study, such as the census, or historical archives, or the Survey of Consumer Finances.
These are the three basic points you must keep in mind while writing a research paper and you must stick to these points as it will help you throughout your studies. By following these you will easily do any type of research paper. If you are still concerned about it you can easily hop on to our website and get help with our professional or you can tell us your topic and we will do it professionally for you .