The Key - Part 5

What’s in a title…….?

As promised, and after having witnessed so many crashes and casualties, here is the continuation to my previous article.

Just for the exercise, let us consider the following research proposal:

e.g. A STUDY ON THE ELEMENTS OF DESIGN FOR WEB SHOPPING CATALOG DESIGN.

A title such as above is too general and broad. It does not indicate exactly what is to be studied, do not indicate the importance of the subject to be studied, who are the parties that you are studying about, the extent, and the benefactor who will gain from this study.

Instead of the above, consider rewriting it the following format:

Eg. A Study to establish the essential design factors that constitutes to a successful Web-Shopping Catalog Design amongst Malaysian consumers that can be used as reference by design students and local Web Developers.

With the above, the whole sentence explains your intention as clearly and as precise as possible to the reader what you study will be on. It will also ensure that you do not sidetrack from this aims. To explain further what it means, try to understand the following explanation:

A Study = this will end up in a detail reporting of every aspect of Web Shopping Catalog Design

to establish the essential design factors that constitutes to a successful Web-Shopping Catalog Design = Search successful websites, Establish and define factors of a successful Web Shopping Catalog Design on the World Wide Web as a premise of to develop your hypothesis.

amongst Malaysian consumers = This are the people that you will eventually test your hypothesis with to prove the success of your design proposals.

used as reference by design students and local Web Developers. = The final group that will benefit from your findings. State how and in what form this finding of yours will be beneficial to them

Below are listed more directive words that may help you determine your research approach to the problem that you have identified at hand. Try and understand what the following directive words will entail:-

DIRECTIVE WORDS

Analyze, Interpret,
Argue, Justify,
Compare, Outline,
Criticize, Prove,
Define, Relate,
Describe, Review,
Discuss, State,
Enumerate, Summarize,
Evaluate, Trace,
Examine, Explain,
Illustrate.

ANALYSIS: Indicating the essence of something, by way of breaking it into smaller
components and to study each one in detail.

ARGUE: To present a case to support and/or to challenge against an issue

COMPARE: To look for similarity or differences in between issues

CRITICIZE: To give your evaluation regarding the merits of a theory or your opinion regarding the absolute truth of facts and to defend your evaluation by discussing on the supporting evidence.

DEFINE: To explain precisely the meaning of words or sentences. Needs to indicate the differences implicated by the definition.

DESCRIBE: To provide detailed analysis or by every steps.

DISCUSS: To investigate or to research through discussion, shift and debate, giving reasons for supporting or objecting the issue.

ENUMERATE: To list or provide specification and explain.

EVALUATE: Make an appraisal of the worth of something, in the light of its apparent truth or utility; include your personal opinion.

EXAMINE: Present in depth and investigate the implications.

EXPLAIN: Make plain, interpret, and account for in detail.

ILLUSTRATE: Explain and make clear by use of concrete examples, or by the use of a figure or diagram.

INTERPRET: Bring out the meaning of, and make clear and explicit; usually also giving your own judgment.

JUSTIFY: Show adequate grounds for discussion or conclusions.

OUTLINE: Give the main features or general principles of a subject, omitting minor details, and emphasizing structure and relationship.

PROVE: Demonstrate truth or falsity by presenting evidence.

RELATE: Narrate/show how things are connected to each other, and to what extent they are alike or affect each other.

REVIEW: Make a survey of, examine the subject critically

STATE: Specify fully and clearly

SUMMARIZE: Give a concise account of the chief points or substance of a matter, omitting details and examples.

TRACE: Identify and describe the development or history of a topic from some point or origin.

I hope that with the usage of the directive words outlined above, it has become very clear to you that it is possible for the same problem to be studied from many different angles. Whichever that you choose, it would dictate the method of how it is to be presented in your study.

More articles to come. Please comment and respond to these articles so that I can improve it further.

Good Luck!

Gate crashing .... Part 4

Hitting the wall and ceiling, and everything else along the way....


Many new students are encountering a strong rude-awakening and experiencing high anxiety after enrolling into the first semester of the Faculty's postgraduate programme. They are confronted with a sudden big twist in the teaching and learning make up, different from what they are used to during their undergraduate years. Most of them now realised that it won't be a repeat of those smooth sailing days of designing and creative endeavour but a serious task of researching into an unknown, uncharted territory and into exploring into new realm of knowledge.

Breaking away from the holds of your past experience will not always that easy. All throughout our schooling days, from kindergarten till our undergraduate days, we are always expected to use the education gained to deliver answers that conform to what is "right". The education system insisted that everything that we do must always yield a right answer. Wrong answers are being scorned-off by the system.

Let it be very clear that with research, we do not know what the final outcome will be, and we are about to find out the truth. What is important is that our research methodology must be appropriate, clean from BIAS and MANIPULATIONS. Research on the other hand is systematic enquiry, searching for the truth. Even if at the end, the finding indicates wrong, that's still the truth of your research findings and is still worth reporting in your thesis. All novice researchers are always scared of concluding their research with a negative finding. Reinforced by the mindset already embedded all along in all students’ mind since their early school and college education days, they concluded that if the finding is negative, they have failed in their course. DOOMED!

BAM!! Then you hit next the real brick wall..., the tough decision of how to look for research issue that is worthwhile for a Master's degree research work. Most novice researcher will immediately look back into himself for inspiration. A big mistake! This move will actually choke you because you will be too engrossed and possessed by your personal preferences of the topic, to the point that you cannot break away from the SELF.

GET OUT OF THE BOX! Look around; there are many issues and problems out there that await your contribution in solving the problem. Shift your mind and effort away from the rigid bond of the SELF into looking at the THEM. In THEM there are many issues and problem that needs resolving, and with extensive research potential awaiting.

Turn the focus of study away from the SELF because (especially if you are a first time researcher) your readers/ examiners may always tend to question or doubt about your authority in deciding on the significance of the proposed issue as being a true problem. Support all your proposals with hard facts.

But despite of all this, if you still have strong conviction about the research title, please quote and cite as many other writers as you can that can backup your case. With many articles in support of your case, if the readers/ examiner still have doubt about you, they will also doubt the authority of the other writers that you have quoted. If the topic you have chosen is so new, and you have exhausted all avenues to locate references or books to cite from, then start personally interviewing and quoting from several other recognized authorities you know that can provide support in defense of your research title. At master's level, there is more excuse of shying away from visiting the library or from reading, and reading, and reading. That is the very essence of your mastery of knowledge.

Very often most of the very early submissions of research problems are either too shallow in scope or too monumental in content to be researched within the short study duration. First time novice researcher tends to be extremely idealistic in their research intention, forgetting that they have only a short time to do all these works.

It is important to focus on a small but significant aspect of the issue, which is considered adequately important enough to justify the need for a research study to be undertaken by you. A tough expectation from a first time novice researcher to do, but do not worry, that's why the Faculty research committee is there for, to advice you on what is manageable and researchable.

Secondly, your research proposal must be directly relevant to your field of specialisation and qualification. If you are a designer by training, do not attempt to do a research on performing arts of "MakYong" because you will not have the breadth of knowledge needed to debate critically as an expert about something that you are not trained in. You might be qualified only to talk about it visual aspects, but not from the cultural or on the performance angle. Also remember that the Faculty is awarding a MA in Art & Design degree, not a Masters in Performing Art degree, or a Masters of Science, etc.

If you cannot explain in less than 5 minutes about your research design and research hypothesis to a knowledgeable friend or peer, it is clear that the whole design and hypothesis needs more works! Researching is not about showing off how smart, brilliant or of how high IQ you have. It is purely about a focused enquiry effort and true hard work. As a matter of fact, being secretive and keeping your research proposal to oneself may actually be to your disadvantage. Often we are all too clouded with our sentimentality, idealism and single-track mindedness about the research title that all we see is the forest, not actually the bushes that makes up the forest. Often at the early stages, we are confused and often tricked into barking at the wrong tree. It may take others to tell us otherwise.

Throw or buff around the title and methodology with your peers, friends or even lecturers. The more you discuss it out, the more your friends will be able to help point your potential mistakes and pitfalls, and the more polished will the title be as you continuously hone on the true issue. Wipe away that bad attitude about ashamed of being seen foolish with a weak proposal, because it is better to accept your foolishness earlier now than midway later down your research path. No one gets their proposal right the first time around, not even you. You are not the only one who's going through the LOST period, which is every researcher's experience. The LOST period will wipe away all your preconceived idealism, and eventually enable you to pursue a totally original line of study, and your literature review period will bring you back to the real world.

Deciding on the exact wording for your research title will greatly influence or dictate the method of data collection and analysis that will be most appropriate for your study. There is a guideline to doing this. I will discuss in depth in the next issue of my article. Just continue reading this blog.

Good luck!

Proposal format - Part 3

PROPOSAL FORMAT

To start off, each candidates are required to submit a list of at least 5 possible research titles for the preliminary deliberation and discussion. Why need so many? Usually a problem can be tackled from many angle, and be presented in many facets. To be safe, the Research Committee may need you to standby with alternative titles to approve just in case your proposed title does not qualify for a Master's level thesis.

To present a plan of study, it is important for your written proposals to be as clear and as concise as possible to explain about you intent. The proposal document is usually is not more than 10 pages and this is just long enough to explain your intention in writing. Anything longer than that may be just rubbish! It must include the following: Title, Problem area for Investigation, Context of Study (Related Fields/Previous Studies), Specific Research Questions and/or Hypotheses, Proposed Methodology and Plan of Action, Relevance to the Field and of course listing of Key Reference(s) List more than 10 in your proposal.

You must have some idea on the focused problem areas to be investigated for your research and to also indicate its significance.

Also to consider in the proposal is your methodology / plan of action for the research for the next 3 semesters.


SELECTING THE TOPIC TITLE:

Ask yourself, is the research you are about to undertake Novel, Feasible, Useful or Symmetrical?

When we say NOVEL, it means does it requires imagination; proving that it requires Literature Searching. FEASIBLE, consider whether, is the data available? Can your research design be pursued - i.e. do you have the opportunity? Can it be done in time? Have you the skills and knowledge needed or the time to acquire them. Money? Methodology? Is the risk of not finishing small enough to accept? USEFUL, a value judgment issue, but you'll be motivated to complete your research effort if you yourself believe in its usefulness yourself, because you might have to defend it some day, during your viva voce. SYMMETRICAL, What are the possible outcomes of your research? Prove/ disprove a theory? Conclusive / inconclusive in nature? And are both equally valuable? If not, is the less valuable outcome likely, and to a comparable extent?

PROBLEM AREA FOR INVESTIGATION. The need for an academic investigation usually arises from a recognized critical problem in society that warrants a satisfactory solution. Show the interrelationship between the problem situations and the would-be investigation activities in your proposal. Make sure to delimit the area in which you are working, and put it in context with the total problem areas, its neighboring research areas and perhaps even for methodology: if you need new skills, or are applying known methods in a new field.

A frequent criticism of most research proposal when first submitted is in some form, as 'this programme of work will keep three people busy for five years.' So don't let your ambitions become too grandiose.

CONTEXT OF STUDY (RELATED FIELDS/PREVIOUS STUDIES) Clarify the academic aim of the investigation. A description of the research to be undertaken, and the method to be used. Are the research methods and proposed work clearly described? Is there available the expertise that you can refer to, and what about the experience and compatibility between you and your supervisors on the topic. Put the context of your study with knowledge from related fields/or previous studies gathered from reading from books, journals, research papers, etc. by quoting it in your proposal.

A literature review is meant primarily to set the foundation for your study's hypothesis. It allows a reader to better understand the research problems in terms of historical background, theoretical framework, and current research development or trends. It is critically important that the literature review includes only the most relevant articles, (preferably of the last 10 years). On the Internet, use Keyword search via Educational Resource Index Center (www.eric.com) in the USA, or Allison Research Index in Art And Design (www.ariad.ac.uk), or the British Library, from UK.

The literature review is meant to describe background work of other researcher in the area, to establish the 'state-of-the-art' prior to the author's research effort and to appraise critically previous work undertaken and put that work in perspective in relation to its importance.


SPECIFIC RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND/OR HYPOTHESES:
Hypothesis : An assumption made by the researcher made at the begining of his proposal, still subject to verification or proof, as a conjecture that accounts for a set of facts and can be used as a basis for further investigations. If given a choice, always design measurable and testable hypothesis; it will greatly strengthen the research and reduce potential problems later.

Importance of the subject. How significant is the research problem to warrant a three semesters of study / investigation? Is it of national interest, or will it provide economic gains, a new syllabus, or will it benefit mankind?

Outline clearly all the assumptions underlying the research. What is your hypothesis statement on the issue to begin with?

PROPOSED METHODOLOGY AND PLAN OF ACTION:
METHODOLOGY needs to be considered at time of selecting the topic, not as an afterthought. It may well shape a topic, or make one impractical. Also, your objectives and your methods each influence, and may determine, the other. And in your choice of methodology, you have an opportunity to be creative, by devising new methods or of applying established ones in a novel context.

Assess, do the plan of work clearly reflects the aims? Can the research be done in time? Prepare a tentative timetable for attaining it, possibly using the Microsoft Project software.

RELEVANCE TO THE FIELD:
How significant will the value of possible outcome of this research be? Who will be the potential benefactor from this study? How relevant will this new finding be to the present practice?

KEY REFERENCE(S), List More Than 10
Show your familiarity with the current literature on the topics.In your Bibliography, provide a list of key references. Less than 10 references will just indicate to the Research Committee that you are still not well-read yet on the subject area, or not yet competent to make a good academic decisions in your research.


REMEMBER.
The Proposal is not to be carved on the tablets of stone which cannot be changed !!! So long as it is good enough to convince the Research Committee that it is practical, it is a start. It can still be slightly modified later on in your study, but not too extensive to warrant a totally new proposal document.



In conclusion, you are to submit a 10 page Research Proposal report and prepare a Powerpoint presentation to the Research Committee that includes:

1. Title

2. Aims and Objectives

3. Background of the problem

5. Statement of problem

6. Hypothesis

4. Literature review

7. Methodology adopted

8. Limitation/Delimitation

9. Bibliography.


A full text of this article can be downloaded by all registered MA students from Documentation section, in the Student's Shared Folder, in the ma-fssr-uitm.intranets.com website.

Be on the look out for more episodes to come soon........ God willing! Good Luck!

Where to begin..... - Part 2

WHERE TO BEGIN....????

At every corners and turn, I kept on being chased by my research students seeking approval for their research proposals.

Most of the time, many of them will come to me with two or three solution about what they wanted to do for their studies, but not on what they want to research on. Why is it not considered a proposal but instead a solution is because they came to me already prepared with some indication of how to answer it. Often they are usually already very confident that they can complete it during the stipulated study duration. Unfortunately, with an answer already at hand, there is not much research work left to do. What they are about to do next in the following semesters is to begin designing the answer. Where then is the actual research component?

My immediate reaction to this type of student's enquiry will be to probe deeper for more explanations about what the actual problem is. More often than not, they are not really clear as to what the actual problem is in the first place. For some of those who do, very often it is just based their personal hunch or a very subjective opinion, and not at all supported or substantiated by real facts. When questioned further, the whole argument will slowly crumple to pieces. This is a very dangerous thing to do because there is a very high risk of the argument collapsing prematurely. The danger of jumping to such a conclusion so early is that, it may be that the so-called problem is only so as perceived by the individual, but in reality it is really not such a big issue. This could be attributed to the researcher's own limited reading and knowledge about the subject. For all you know somebody has already written/published the answer in some journals somewhere. By then all your research effort spent will be wasted because of your own ignorance and lack or reading.

The reason for insisting that all novice researchers do their literature review is to give them a thorough understanding and revelation about the most current and the state-of-art information in the field. It forces them to be familiar with others out there whom, somewhere has done something similar. Most often, a novice researcher may be surprised by how much has been written about the issue/topic by some other writers, internationally. It may sometime even convince the researcher that his research proposal is no longer truly new or original, and may even be to the extent indicate that it is no longer relevant or valid to pursue that line of study.

However, just because the literature review had revealed that many other writers have written about it, there is no need for you to despair. Quote them in your research proposal because this will show to your reader that you are no the only one who think about it, others too agreed that it is a problem that is worth researching. You get to know who's who in the field.

You next responsibility is not to repeat what has already been done, but to establish a gap that may still exists in that knowledge domain that is still unanswered or unresolved. You may want to repeat exactly the same procedure done by earlier researcher in order to countercheck on the whether the earlier finding is still valid and relevant to the present time. You might also want to compare, challenge, evaluate or dispute earlier researcher’s findings. You may choose to to do an exploratory study seeking for an explanation to a new uncharted domain/ phenomena or just choosed to verify the relevancy of an existing fact in the light of some new changes in the variables.

Warning. Do not aim your research too high, there is definitely not enough time for you to solve the whole world's problem. Focus on a more manageable aspect of the bigger problem that can be researched within the available funding, logistic opportunities, and time that is available to you. There is no point in being too ambitious if at the end of the day you cannot complete it on time. Be realistic with yourself.

The Literature review findings will help you decide on an appropriate path of enquiry, that will put you on a more solid footing in you research venture. It is ok to change or amend your research topic because by now it is really established on some firm grounded theory.

To give your research proposal an impact, establish how significant the problem to be researched will be? Is it done merely just to satisfy the researcher’s ignorance or will it really helps improve society or mankind? Identify who will benefit from the findings? On the other hand, if not done, how detrimental will the consequences be to the society at large? Of course a research done to establish the effectiveness of the kindergarten next door to your home will be less significant compared to a comprehensive study of all kindergartens in rural areas of Mukim Sekinchan.

This is the early preparations needed before you embark on your long and lonely research journey. Many more preparations is needed along the way. I will be discuss it further in next episode........

The Devil Lurking - Part 1

THE DEVIL CALLED RESEARCH!

What is this devil called research all about? Isn't research just for the scientists? What's so fun about doing research?

We creative people feels more at ease with the self-expressive way of doing things. We often feel intimidated and sometime even repulsive when thinking about having to adopt to the regimented procedures of conducting a proper research activity. Truely, it is not about having to abide to the strict conformity of research methodology rules, but about pursuing a systematic process that ensures an unbiased enquiry into a new knowledge seeking activity. The ultimate objective of research in solving a problem is to seek for a truthful solution.

Ask any of those who has gone through the research journey, many will agree that it is an experience and new revelation that enhances your confidence in your viva presentation because all your decisions are substantiated by factual and proven findings. Research gets us to adopt a more critical and analytical way of looking at the world problem around us.

Research is not an activity centered around 'ME' the egoistic creator, but 'me' the unbiased observer and reporter of a phenomena. When we do designing, we planned what the final product will be like, right from the begining stage. We kind of knew already which direction it will go, and we keep refining the solution as we go along. In designing or art making, it is always at the end of the day about 'MY' personnal value judgements.

The entry premis to research on the other hand is simple..."Exactly what new information are you searching for? .... I don't know, but that's what I am about to find out... I only have an educated guess about what the answer is, but the research result will show me the truth." Embarking on a research is like a newborn child, hungery for knowledge and truth. With no special rucksack to carry on his back, he refrains from making any early judgements (usually are heavily clouded by his personal preconceived opinions), nor do he dictate the direction of flow. Every single stone is never left unturned, and he seeks for a satisfactory explaination to every phenomenom. Every observations, no matter how small, is noted and analysed because it become part of the building blocks to constructing a bigger knowledge structure. Although at the begining the jigsaw puzzle pieces looks baffling and seemed unrelated, but with the adoption of a keen and open-mind, eventually a pattern will emerge that will fit the pieces beautifully and coherently together into a new body of knowledge. If after subjecting the findings to many repeated tests, and the observed pattern still remains intact, than it confirms the existance of the relationship to a new theory.

Unfortunately, no matter how extensive a research activity was done, a researcher is not a researcher if he did not document it, because not everyone else is a mind-reader. His discovery or finding cannot be shared if not written down. Anyway, there's nothing so magical or so elitist in reporting about your research. The documentation is merely a direct reporting about what you do, what actually happened and the result is reported as it is, with no indication of data manipulation or tampering of the data to suit the researcher's personnal ego. Even with a perfect research methodology in place, the end result may still end up negative and contradicting your earlier hypothesis. That's the truth that you must accept, for that's your research findings. This does not however mean that you have failed in your research quest. Your research finding has successfully proven that the earlier hypothesis is null. Still, it is an important contribution to knowledge, and you will be reporting to the would-be future researcher who reads your thesis not to go down that same trail again. Despite the possible failure, we can still learned from the mistakes, and it own small way will still contributed to the wider body of knowledge in that field.

Now that the earlier imaginary growl, roars and howling from the forest has been lifted and demystified, there is no excuse why we artists and designers should not do research. One do not have to be a scientist nor engineer to be a researcher. What we do as an artist and designer is already a form of research, but what is missing in the equation is the documentation bit that will allow us to share with others our thought process, decision-making and justification when we created our artworks. How can we command the respect from others about our profession if we ourself are not ready to share the knowledge with others. Documentation helps to shows to others that we are not that free-wheelers and egoist people that they think we are. We do have solid base structure and we too have established methods when carrrying out our creative endeavours.

It is that simple. Clearly by now, you would have realised that the so called devil is just a ficticious shadow of some knowledgable ignorance.