I had no idea there were specific ways to do research. I always thought it was a frenzied scramble for information. The Questioning Method-beginning with a broad question, and then by answering sub-questions, narrowing the topic- and the Chaining Method-having a general topic, then by doing some research narrowing the topic- were ones that I normally do, and find most useful.
The types of research were very interesting. I personally, am not a fan of surveying. The questions seem tedious and unreliable for I feel that, in my experience, people lie and only do what’ll give them a good laugh at the end of the day. Observing, also seems unreliable unless it’s done for a while, like over a period of weeks or months. If I observed a playground for one day, and found a child’s behavior interesting, it could be that the child could be in a mood at that particular time or some other factor had changed the child’s usual behavior for that one day. Interviewing I feel depends on the person being interviewed. Due to memory loss, short attention spans, the answers are sometimes faulty, but that is once again, in my experience. The note taking example however seemed like a good idea, though I never would have thought to put the person’s actions with the things being said. With this paper in mind, I don’t think it’s of any consequence whether the person I interview, if I interview, taps his or her fingers, but I can see when interviewing for something more professional, it could be useful.
I had experience with the types of bibliographies, although I was unaware that there were other documentation styles other than MLA and APA and whatever one used depends on the subject matter. I wonder how they all differ, and why the difference? Why not one general style? And why were most students taught MLA format but not the others? Isn’t it important to learn the other types of documentation styles? The teachers of middle school and high school don’t expect their students to know what their career is going to be, so shouldn’t they teach all styles to prepare the students for all majors?
Good question: why are the documentation styles different?
ReplyDeleteThe answer can be extrapolated when you look at what differences there are between the styles- and notice what is highlighted most prominently, and think about how that is important in each kind of research.
I only know MLA and APA well, and one difference I noticed with APA style is that the in-text citations contain the year of publications. Why all that info right in the text? Because in the social sciences, it is the ever changing body of research you're citing. Something relevant in 2000 might be proven wrong or taken in a new direction by 2004.