EDU 510: Inquiry into Teaching, Research and Technology
When learning how to read scholarly articles, it is important to know that researchers often report their studies in a systematic way. The following information provides a general outline of the way that researchers organize their writing when publishing a study:
TITLE: A good title will provide concise information on who was studied and the topic of the study (answering who? And what?)
AUTHOR: One, two or many authors publish studies.
ABSTRACT: The abstract provides the reader with an overview of the research topic, who was studied and what the findings were. It is meant to provide a brief overview of the study.
INTRODUCTION: The introduction has three main components. They are:
Prior research: This part of the introduction begins with an umbrella of information about the topic and then narrows to the specific focus of the new study. At times, definitions of key terms are provided. This is the section where the researcher will establish a theoretical framework of the study. In this section of the article, the researcher carefully selects previously published theoretical articles to establish a foundation for the new study that is being reported. This helps the reader contextualize the study’s topic(s) and findings.
Gap between what is known and what needs to be known: In this component of the introduction, the researcher begins by writing a concise literature review by stating findings of previous studies that specifically pertain to characteristics of the study being reported. Near the end of this section, the researcher establishes a gap in the previously reported studies and what questions still need to be answered. This is an important part of the published study because it tells the reader how the new study’s findings relate and add to the knowledge base.
Question(s) or inquiry for this study: This is one of the most important elements of the introduction. It provides the reader with the inquiry question(s) that the researcher used for the study. Sometimes the inquiry question(s) or statement will be in its own paragraph; other times it will be attached to the previously mentioned component (gap).
METHOD: This section describes the details of the study including who was studied, their setting(s), how data were collected, and how data were analyzed.
Participants: The researcher identifies particular characteristics of the participants in the study. The researcher will identify how many participants were studied along with any other characteristics (variables) of the participants that are relevant to know for the study’s design.
Setting: The researcher will identify where the data collection took place. At times, only one setting was used, while at other times, researchers collect data at various settings.
Data Collection: There are different ways that researchers collect data. Whether qualitative, quantitative or mixed design, researchers will identify what kind of data they collected. In addition, researchers will report how they collected the data as well as the duration of data collection.
Data Analysis: There are many different ways to analyze data to determine findings. In this section, researchers will establish the methodology that was used to make sense of the data they collected. If quantitative data were collected, the researcher will establish a systematic way to analyze the numeric information that was gathered. If qualitative data were collected, the researcher will report how data were coded and identified as themes, findings or results.
Limitations: This is an important part of the methods section. In this section, researcher’s concerns regarding some of the study’s specific design elements are identified to help readers interpret findings. Sometimes the researcher will put this information in the discussion section of the article.
FINDINGS/RESULTS: This section is used to report the findings (sometimes called results) of the study. The findings come from the collected data. No interpretations of the findings are made in this section. If the data were quantitative, findings will be reported numerically. If the data were qualitative, findings will be reported using narratives (usually quotations). If the data were quantitative and qualitative, both numeric and narrative representations of findings will be reported here.
DISCUSSION: This section is where the researcher interprets (or makes meaning) out of the study’s findings. Usually each finding will be discussed in detail. In this section, the researcher attempts to teach the reader about what the findings mean. Connections are usually made back to the knowledge base established in the introduction, showing how the new study’s findings narrowed the knowledge gap.
FUTURE RESEARCH: This section is used to establish a call for future research that would likely extend the reported study’s findings. Researchers often use this section to establish a knowledge gap for their own planned future research.