Design Process: The Process of Doing Research 2

After getting some initial, quick research for my Baseball brief, we were put into groups of 8. As individuals, we then had to make a list of the 10 most interesting facts I had found within my research:

1. Each club plays 162 games- only 1 days break every 10 days
2. 2 Major Leagues in Major League Baseball- American and National
3. Runs from Beginning of April to End of September
4. Games are played consecutively in a series of 3 or 4 in a row
5. One major difference between the 2 Leagues- 'The Designated Hitter Rule'
6. Field is known as a 'Diamond' and has 3 corners
7. There are 3 methods of getting someone out; Field Out, Put Out or Strike Out
8. The American and National Leagues are split into 3; East, Central and West
9. The World Series is when the winners of the American League and National League play a championship against each other
10. An All Star Game is when the best players from the American League and National league go against each other

From the 10 things we have collected as individuals, how many are facts and how many are opinions altogether in our group:

Facts- 71
Opinions- 9

Methods of Research Undertaken as a Group;

• Listening to Audio (Music/ Radio Stations)
• Reading Articles via Internet and Books
• Documenting and Collecting Findings
• Watching Documentaries and Videos

As a Class;

• Reading Books
• Watching Videos
• Talking to People (Asked what they knew)- Interviews (Written and Audio), Emails, Letters
• Looking at Images
• Listening to Audio Books
• Searching the Internet
• Dissection
• Emailed the Subject

Forms of Source Materials we have as a Group

• Images
• Quotes
• Facts
• Statistics
• Graphs/ Charts/Tables
• Statements
• Opinions
• Lists
• Dates

Source Material we have as a Class:

• Quotes- Photocopies, Articles from Magazines, Interviews, Transcripts
• Images- Drawings, Print Outs, Scans, Blogged, Primary/Secondary Photos
• Dates
• Videos- Clips, Screenshots, Opinions, Observations- Written Note Taking

Problems you face when you attempt to research as a Group:

• Not knowing where to start
• Prioritising other things before research (eg. briefs that have an earlier due date)
• Time Scale/ Time Management
• Not having enough money
• Not living in the country for the subject matter
• Biased Research articles
• Questioning the reliability of the source

As a Class:

• Reliability of Sources
• Geographical Restraints- Send Emails, As People who have been there, Google Maps Street View, Do Something similar to it
• Legal Restrictions
• Limited Time/ Too Much Money
• Insufficient Funds
• Dead People or Past Events- Relatives/ Music/ Films
• Lack of Motivation due to lack of Interest
• Co-Operations of Others
• Outside Limitations
• Lack of Prior Knowledge
• Lack of Confidence

Research gives you evidence and proof

What do you need to get out of this?

Only do what is relevant

Study Task:

From this, we were given a sheet which we had to fill in with 5 examples for each box of possible pieces of research we could conduct on our topic:

Qualitative/ Quantitative Research Sheet

This was so that we would have some focus onto aspects of research we could go into.