Page 154 - DLIS401_METHODOLOGY_OF_RESEARCH_AND_STATISTICAL_TECHNIQUES

Unit 11: Nominal and Operational Methods

5. Identify the key independent and dependent variables of your experiment. Alternatively, Notes
specify the phenomenon you want to study.
6. State your hypothesis or theory, if any. For exploratory or phenomenological research,
you may not have any hypotheses. (Please do not confuse the hypothesis with the statistical
null hypothesis.)

7. Set the delimitation or boundaries of your proposed research in order to provide a clear
focus.
8. Provide definitions of key concepts. (This is optional.)

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:
1. The quality of your research proposal depends not only on the quality of your proposed
project, but also on the quality of your ................... .
2. A good research project may run the risk of rejection simply because the proposal is ................... .
3. The main purpose of the introduction is to provide the necessary background or context
for your ................... .
4. If the research problem is framed in the context of a general, rambling literature review,
then the research question may appear ................... and ................... .

11.2 Literature Review

Sometimes the literature review is incorporated into the introduction section. However, most
professors prefer a separate section, which allows a more thorough review of the literature.
The literature review serves several important functions:
1. Ensures that you are not “reinventing the wheel”.
2. Gives credits to those who have laid the groundwork for your research.
3. Demonstrates your knowledge of the research problem.

4. Demonstrates your understanding of the theoretical and research issues related to your
research question.
5. Shows your ability to critically evaluate relevant literature information.

6. Indicates your ability to integrate and synthesize the existing literature.
7. Provides new theoretical insights or develops a new model as the conceptual framework
for your research.

8. Convinces your reader that your proposed research will make a significant and substantial
contribution to the literature (i.e., resolving an important theoretical issue or filling a
major gap in the literature).
Most students’ literature reviews suffer from the following problems :
• Lacking organization and structure,
• Lacking focus, unity and coherence,

• Being repetitive and verbose,

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