Work out the purpose of your research
Find out what is already known or published about the issue or problem you seek to address. If you are commissioning research, the research ‘brief’ you develop should identify the gap in evidence that you wish the study you’re commissioning to address.
Start by asking the following questions
- What exactly do we want to do? (Research topic, questions and objectives)
- Is our work exploratory, descriptive, or does it address cause and effect?
- How can we do it? (Study type, methods of data collection and analysis)
- Can we do it? (Skills, support, staff, resources)
- Should it be done? (Ethical issues, professional issues, theoretical/ conceptual issues)
- Has it be done before? (Literature reviewing, networking etc
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