Your team’s Research paper will not have the same

The methodology as it will be for your team’s Research paper

Your team’s Research paper will not have the same scope as a more indepth research publication, so your methodology will not be quite the same. The scope of your Research paper for this course is explained in more detail here.

Recall from last week’s lecture, that we discussed the two main approaches to doing research, these being inductive and deductive. Your research paper reflects these, in that the first sections use the inductive process to arrive at your specific claim, (aka conjecture or postulate), i.e. they motivate and set the scene for your postulate. Then the later sections use the deductive process to demonstrate that the postulate can be supported by the evidence.

You have a main theme that the group has chosen, and within that theme, each person will now each suggest a specific sub-theme, or postulate, that the group will be considering at the week 8 Writing session. Your postulate will be something you have observed in your readings on the topic so far. This will need to be something for which you can make a valid argument and find evidence to support.

To start your methodology, you need to outline your postulate/conjecture as a set of formal research questions. These questions should address all the relevant points, and should be expressed clearly. So for example, if your conjecture is that “X is a better way of doing Z than Y”, then your set of questions could look like:

RQ1 Is X a better way of doing Z than Y?

RQ1.1 what are the advantages of doing Z with the X method?

RQ1.1.1 can this advantage be gained by using any other method to do Z?

RQ1.1.1.1 If so, what are the other methods and how do they compare with X?

RQ1.2 what are the disadvantages of doing Z with the X method?

RQ1.2.1 Do any of these disadvantages make the X method unreliable?

RQ1.3 what are the advantages of doing Z with the Y method?

RQ1.3.1 Does this advantage make Y a better method of doing Z than X? If not why not?

RQ1.4 what are the disadvantages of doing Z with the Y method?

RQ1.2.1 Do any of these disadvantages make the X method unreliable?

Note that is this one way of formalising research questions. You may come up with another set of research questions that are equally valid.

When you have completed your methodology and have applied it, your discussion will be similar to the essays in Persuasive writing that some of you may recall from NAPLAN tests in secondary education.

In persuasive writing, you generally follow this structure:

you state your postulate or conjecture
you give a list of arguments and evidence that support it
you then list of counterarguments and your response to them, showing why they may be important or influential but do not change your overall belief in the postulate/conjecture
summarise your postulate and the main arguments in its favour

Note that if your counterarguments are stronger than your arguments in favour of your postulate, you may wish to change your mind about the postulate!