Primary Research Methods

Ultimately, for the IMRAD paper you will need to conduct primary research. Below
you will learn about three primary research methods that often work well for MS-ISI
students. For the IMRAD paper you will have to write a section called Methodology
that explains to your readers the methods you use in the paper. So, you cannot avoid
thinking about this.

Note, that each question or sub question that you ask in the paper will require its
own method. It is entirely possible to use a different method for each question
and/or sub-question. Or, you may use the same method for all questions.

Be careful to choose a research question on which you can conduct primary

research. If your question is great but you are not skilled enough to conduct the
primary research, or your primary research requires resources that you do not
have, then you will need to choose a new question. For example, I may write a great
question about the NSA servers. But, without access to them, I cannot conduct the
research.

Note: The document was originally created by D. Blakemore and revised by N.

Garrelts.
 Method 1: Surveys
Conducting a survey may be appropriate if your question relates to what people
think, act, do or feel. For example, you may wonder: How do university employees
feel about restrictive IT policies? What things do they do to subvert them? How does
this put the institution at risk? The first two questions could be answered with a
survey. The last question would need to use a different research method. Here is
how you would prepare for a survey method:

1) Build the survey I suggest you work with someone who has developed a
survey instrument to get input.

2) EVERY question in the survey has to relate to help answer the research
question(s) in your paper. Demographics might be the only exception to
this but demographics just allows you to examine your data from
different perspectives

3) The survey must be tested and then approved prior to deployment and
NEVER goes out without instructor approval. This is an absolute.

4) Know how many surveys you will need to be a significant amount. There
are several web pages for finding sample sizes. Use one of them and
reference it for determining how many surveys you need to send out.

5) Determine your method of delivery in person, web delivery, email, etc.

6) Describe how data will be examined

a. Decide how information will be presented and summarized
b. Decide what tables or graphs will be developed if any
c. Decide what will be compared/contrasted
d. Blooms Taxonomy gives several key action words for things you could
potentially do in more advanced activities related to research.
http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html

7) A complete copy of the survey including the header information on the

survey must be included in an appendix.

Note: The document was originally created by D. Blakemore and revised by N.

Garrelts.
 Method 2: Analysis of Public Data or Documents
This method is appropriate if your question can be answered by carefully selecting
data from publically available sources and analyzing it. This is not the same as
secondary research. For example, you may wonder: How do cloud service providers
address confidentiality, integrity, and accessibility in their Service Level Agreements
(SLA)? What are the implications for customers of any differences? I would then
develop a strategy for finding and examining the different SLAs that I found on the
internet. Here is how you would prepare for a data analysis method:

1) Explain what you are going to be searching for list the key word
searches.

2) Explain where you will be searching list the databases you will be
exploring (i.e. google, bing, yahoo, Ferris library, etc.)

3) Explain what filters you will be applying to limit the number of hits (i.e.
only refereed journals, only white papers, only scholarly works from
nationally known sources)
a. Explain how you will determine if you have an acceptable source
to address your question.

4) Discuss the number of sources you intend to accept (similar to the survey
issue, how many sources will you need to make this a valid search). The
numbers will not always be the same as in a survey since the number of
quality resources can be much smaller depending on the question. As in
all cases, the greater the number you can get that meet your criteria the
more valid your answers will be.

5) Describe how data will be examined

e. Decide how information will be presented and summarized
i. Decide what tables or graphs will be developed if any
f. Decide what will be compared/contrasted
g. Blooms Taxonomy gives several key action words for things you could
potentially do in more advanced activities related to research.
http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html

Note: This is not the analysis of different articles on a topic. Instead, it is the analysis
of a common type of document, like contracts or policies, or the analysis of
information in a database. It would be possible to conduct certain types of
sophisticated research on different articles, but that would probably require
statistical training and software.

Note: The document was originally created by D. Blakemore and revised by N.

Garrelts.
 Method 3: Experiments
This is the most exciting method for some students because it often involves
conducting research with different hardware and software. However, working with
technology can be difficult and time consuming too. This method may be
appropriate if your question can be answered by studying how something works (or
doesnt work), evaluating the features of two or more products, or testing a
particular use case. For example, you may wonder: What are the default security
settings of the most popular open source operating systems? Which open source OS
is most appropriate for home users? The first question may be answered with an
experiment. However, the second question may require a qualitative approach as
described in Method 2. Here is how you would prepare for an experimental method:

1) Explain the nature of your project and exactly how it will address your
research question.

2) What resources will be needed? Also include time estimates needed.

3) What permissions will be needed if this is done in conjunction with another

company (including any project done with Ferris itself).

4) Explain the steps needed to conduct the research be VERY specific.

5) Describe how data will be examined

a. Describe how information will be recorded.
b. Describe how results will be presented and summarized
i. Explain what reports will be generated this includes a list of
potential screen shots if it is a computer based project.
ii. Explain what graphs will be developed if any
c. Decide what will be compared/contrasted
d. Blooms Taxonomy gives several key action words for things you could
potentially do in more advanced activities related to research.
http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html

Note: The document was originally created by D. Blakemore and revised by N.

Garrelts.