Effective Management of Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Effective Management of Research - Essay Example that helps little in the meaningful scholastic development of students. Most research models, in effect, send out students with a shopping cart who go scooping up all the data they can find about the subject assigned to them - a state, a province, a foreign country, an historic battle, a famous person, a scientific issue. Most of the information collected in this manner is available in encyclopedias or books, such that it precludes diligence, care or the need to work "again." This kind of research puts students in the role of information consumers instead of information producers as befit a researcher in the true sense of the word. The implications are that this research, ending up as information consumption, demands little thought, imagination or skill on the part of the students. Working as information producers, on the other hand, the student researchers are encouraged to make up their own minds, create their own answers to the research questions and show independence and judgment. With all kinds of new information technologies around, the "cut-and-paste" method inherent to the topical approach to school research is proving more and more untenable. A new approach has thus emerged enshrining the rule that students cannot embark on a research project without an ideal research model selected for them by a search team composed of teachers, librarians and the school administrators. This team assists the student researchers in analyzing different models then settle for one that matches the projected needs and preferences of the project. The other method synthesizes the best features of all available models to go into the building of a new one. (Assiniboine SSD) Ideally, a research topic is considered worth the students' effort if it is controversial, has attracted much interest and debate, a first-of-its-kind process or product, involves innovative or new techniques, and has value in other disciplines. The work of an eminent researcher is another interesting subject for research, as well as any individual who has achieved prominence the hard way. In the new approach, the students are not only asked to turn in a paper on, let us say, the atrocities ordered by Hitler. They are also required to put together a template of questions that would shed light on many interrelated issues, such as why Hitler behaved the way he did, the history of both the Jews and the Aryan race, the lessons learned from the Holocaust, etc. There is a primary questions accompanied by a set of subsidiary questions to get to the bottom and all angles of the subject. (McKenzie, 2000) In this new perspective, research is a process in repetition (Olin Uris Libraries). The earlier phases of the research influence the later stages, while the later stages have some bearing on the earlier phases. Going back and forth is necessary to ensure the reliability and validity of the research, which can be done only through constant review and revision. Remember that at the end of your journey, your research will be subjected to