Guideline.doc

Group Project (Book 2)
Each group is to choose a topic from the list given at the beginning of the term. Then you are expected to discuss on it in your group and decide on your purpose, research questions, research methods and process, division of work and so on. Include all these in a proposal (your research design/plan) and email it to your teacher. As soon as it is approved of, you are to start your research and get it prepared according to your schedule. By the time you are to conclude your project, you should be ready for
- a written report of your group project
- a PowerPoint slide show on an outline of your research and findings
- a presentation in which each group member takes a small part

Possible Methods of Doing the Research:
1. Reading the literature
By literature, we mean all the printing materials, such as books, articles etc on the related topic. Literature reading may help clarify your ideas and narrow down your topic. You may locate reading materials either by a manual search or a computer search. Once another person’s ideas or expressions have been used in your research, you must refer to the source and include the original source in your bibliography.
2. A survey study
The questionnaire is one of the most widely used techniques for collecting data. To design a good questionnaire, you must take into consideration the kind of data you intend to collect, the question structure, the question wording and the order of the questions etc. There are two common ways in which questionnaires are distributed to the respondents: by person and by email. If the survey study is a major part of your project and the main purpose of your study is to reveal a general pattern or a tendency, then you have to choose a large sample.
3. Interview
Interview may be used as the primary research tool, or alternatively in an ancillary role, as a checking mechanism to triangulate data gathered from other sources. Interviews are just another way of asking questions, this time in face-to-face interaction. There are three types of questions used in a structured interview: (1) fixed alternative: i. e. dichotomous yes / no (2) open-ended: some response flexibility possible (e. g. ‘What TV program do you watch?’) (3) scale: usually degrees of agreement-disagreement. If possible and permitted, make a video recording of your interview as data collected.