Applied Linguistics Research Methods and Thesis Writing This semester, I read a book called Applied Linguistics Research
Methods and Thesis Writing. It is written by Wen Qiufang, a professor of Nanjing University.
Generally speaking, I think it is a very useful book for graduate student, because its structure is very clear and the issue mentioned in this book is very practical.
The report is composed of two parts, the restatement of the book and my thought.
1. The theme and structure of this book
Graduate students face difficulties not only in actual research but also in writing up their dissertation. This book is concerned with both how to conduct research and how to write a thesis or dissertation. This book also addresses questions that have actually be experienced by researchers and provides us with solutions.
This book, as the writer says, can be divided into three parts. They are introduction, “What is research? Fundamental Concepts”; researching, “Developing research questions, Reading the literature, Selecting research designs, A survey study, An experimental study, An experimental study, A case study, Basic statistics, The Analysis of quantitative data, The analysis of qualitative data”; thesis writing, “An overview of thesis writing, Writing up a thesis, Writing Style”.
1.1 Introduction
Research is defined as a systematic approach to find answers to questions. For a piece of work to be qualified as research, it must meet three requirement: questions that are significant, original and answerable; explicit and transparent research procedures that can be justified in terms of established principles in the disciple concerned; answers that address the questions being asked. The process of research may be metaphorically described as a wheel or a flow chart. The metaphor of a wheel emphasizes the dynamic aspect of research while the image of a flow chart stresses six distinct activities that have to be carried out in a sequence. A novice researcher is recommended to first follow the sequence of these activities and later show flexibility. Research can be classified in terms of aims as theoretical or practical or in terms of its sources as primary or secondary. Graduate students are expected to learn to do various types of research. However, in Master’s theses for research program, primary research is usually the major component. Fundamental research concepts discussed here include hypothesis, theory, model, population and sample, variable, levels of measurement, conceptualization and operationalization. A hypothesis is a conjectured answer to the research question that is developed out of research findings or theories and is expressed in the form of a declarative statement. It may be tested in a new study, or generated from a study to be proved in the
future research. A null hypothesis explicitly or implicitly stated in a study is a statement in which no relation is assumed between two or more variables. Alternative hypotheses are either directional or non-directional. A set of hypotheses with specified relation among the variable form a theory, which can be described verbally or graphically. A population is the whole of whatever a researcher is investigating and a sample is a representative portion of the target population. Variables are attributes of a person or an object that can be varied. In terms of the levels of measurement, variables are grouped into nominal variable, ordinal variables and interval variables. A conceptual definition is a theoretical explanation that helps clarify people’s understanding. 1.2 Research
Developing research questions starts by identifying a research topic that needs narrowing down to obtain the focus of research. The strategy that can help you narrow down the topic is to keep on asking question beginning with “who, what, how”. Reviewing the literature while discussing with other people is necessary in both obtaining a research topic and determining the focus. Once the focus of research is specified, general questions are expected to develop together with a sub-set of more specific ones.
Reading literature is a task frequently undertaken by a research through the whole process of research. There are various kinds of literature
Applied Linguistics Research Methods and Thesis Writing
