Researching process
Researching is like conducting an investigation.
It can be done in three steps.
Step 1: Define
Lets see if we can help Jeff solve his problem.
Jeff: I can't print out my artwork.
Can you identify what the problem is?
We don't really know what the real problem is. It can be Jeff's printer, his computer, or his artwork. Jeff needs to narrow down the possibilities and isolate the problem before he can tackle it.
When we define the problem, we should make sure that it's small and contained. If the problem is too big it's better to break it into smaller chunks and conduct a separate research activity on each one. We should also be clear about what the problem is and what our goals are.
Jeff tries printing again on another printer and it works. We have isolated the problem. It is not the artwork or the computer, but the printer. Jeff also notices that the lights are flashing and the paper is not feeding through the printer properly.
He'd like to get his printer working again, its too new to be replaced. Now that Jeff has defined his printing problemn and his goal, he's ready for the next step.
Step 2: Locate
The next step is to look for the information that may help us solve the problem.
We're living in the information age. There's plenty of information readily available.
To work out how useful and reliable our information is, we need to know the sources of our information.
We can obtain information from two sources, primary and secondary. The primary sources of information are people who have direct experience with the same or similar problem.
These people can be:
In this case we can obtain information by interviewing them.
Information from primary sources usually focuses on details and can be subjective, therefore it is not always reliable.
Information from secondary sources, or secondhand information is compiled form a variety of sources. It's usually more reliable since its more generic and objective.
We can find information in various formats. It can be printed such as books, magazines, journals, manuals, encyclopedias and dictionaries. Or in audio-visual format, such as video tapes, audio tapes, film, slides and microfiche. Or in computer based format, which can be the internet, CD-ROMs and DVD.
Back to Jeff and his printer's problem.
Jeff has been looking around, and found a few resources including:
He also finds the phone number for the customer service hotline, and an address of the manufacturers web site.
Bill also offers to help, he had the same problem with a similar printer before. Jeff decides to accept Bill's offer for help.
Bill tries different things that he has used to fix other printers.
Unfortunately, none of his solutions works on Jeff's printer.
Since Bill's advice as primary source of information doesn't solve the problem, Jeff decides to look for a secondary source of information.
He's looking through the printer's manual booklet. It's 245 pages long. Where do you think Jeff should start? No matter what format our information is in, printed, audio visual or computer-based, we need to start with a keyword. A keyword is a word or a group of words that relate to our research topic.
What do you think Jeff's keywords can be? Once we have the keywords, we can start looking through our research materials.
What do you think Jeff's reading method should be when he tries to locate keywords in the manual? Jeff should use the selective reading method so he can quickly read through the table of contents, index and page headings to locate the information.
Similarly, we can use keywords to locate information in computer-based format. For an example, we can type in keywords in search engines to find information on the internet. Search engines are web sites that compare our keywords with their index database and give us a list of web sites that may contain our information. We can also use the search function inside a web site to locate the information.
Jeff is searching the printer manufacturers web site using one of the keywords. Notice there are quite a number of possible locations that match the keyword. It will take Jeff a long time to look through them all. If we make our keywords more specific the list of possible locations will be shorter and more useful.
Step 3: Analyze
After we locate the information, its time to put our reading skills in practice.
We should use the comprehending reading method to interpret and understand the information so we can work out what the answer or best solution is.
In this topic we've learned that researching is a three step process.
