First things first.. Let's get organized. A short summary of the Chapter 1 from the textbook. This is great help to get familiarised with research. 

Chapter 1
The Nature of Research

n   General Research Types

Ø  Descriptive (describe state of affairs using surveys, ethnography, etc.)

Ø  Associational (goes beyond description to see how things are related so can better understand phenomena using correl/causal-comparative

Ø  Intervention (try intervening to see effects using experiments)

Quantitative v. Qualitative

    Quantitative (numbers)

Ø  Facts/feelings separate

Ø  World is single reality

Ø  Researcher removed

Ø  Established research design

Ø  Experiment prototype

Ø  Generalization emphasized

n   Meta-Analysis

Ø  Locate all the studies on a topic and synthesize results using statistical techniques (average the results)

n   Critical Analysis of Research (some say all research is flawed)

Ø  Question of reality (are only individual perceptions of it)

Ø  Question of communication (words are subjective)

Ø  Question of values (no objectivity only social constructs)

Ø  Question of unstated assumptions (researchers don’t clarify assumptions that guide them)

Ø  Question of societal consequences (research serves political purposes that are conservative or oppressive; preserve status quo)

n   Introduction chapter

n  Problem statement that includes some background info and justification for study

n  Exploratory question or hypothesis (relationship among variables clearly defined); goes last in Ch.

n  Definitions (in operational terms)

n  Review of related literature (other studies of the topic read and summarized to shed light on what is already known)