Lecture 3 of the Research Methods Lecture series. See notes for this lecture, also uploaded here : http://www.slideshare.net/lenallis/research-methods-lectures-notes This lecture series aims to cover the basics of research methods for undergraduate students. By the end of the series students should understand: -Why research is important -How to identify good and bad sources of information -How read critically -How to write clearly -Quantitative and Qualitative research -The basics of experimental method The overall point should be for students to take the activity of research seriously, but also to be motivated to go and conduct research and engage critically with material.

1. Research of the day
Giving rats a massage helps human infants
survive.
http://www.goldengooseaward.org/portfolio-view/2014-rat-and-infant-massage/
Penis size is a predictive factor in what women
find attractive.
Mautz, Brian S., et al. "Penis size interacts with body shape and height to influence male attractiveness." Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences 110.17 (2013): 6925-6930.

2. Homework Review
Jonathan Swift: A Modest Proposal
●Summarise his argument
●Summarise what you think his opinion is
●Summarise any counter-arguments or problems he
addresses in the text.
The aim of this exercise is to deconstruct Jonathan Swift’s
argument, so that we can evaluate it.

3. A Modest Proposal
1) Do you think this is a good argument for
eating babies?
2) Do you think Jonathan Swift really wants us
to start eating babies?
2) Why do you think he wrote this?
3) Do you think this text is relevant today?

4. Recap
●You must evaluate the validity of your
information
●Be skeptical and ask critical questions as
you research
●Most of what is known in science is ‘just a
theory’ - but some are more valid than others
●You must cite your sources, to demonstrate
their validity

5. Research
3. Argument
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by Helena Hollis, 2014

6. Why write?
● Writing allows you to explore and absorb
more than just a practical activity alone.
● It displays your thoughts and feelings about
a subject, and gives you a concrete voice.
● It can also help give structure and depth to
your ideas.

7. Writing as a mental
workspace
“It is natural to suppose that words are always rooted in the
fertile soil of pre-existing thoughts. But sometimes, at least, the
influence seems to run in the other direction... By writing down
our ideas we generate a trace in a format which opens up a
range of new possibilities. We can then inspect and re-inspect
the same ideas, coming at them from many different angles and
in many different frames of mind. We can hold the original ideas
steady so that we may judge them, and safely experiment with
subtle alterations. We can store them in ways which allow us to
compare and combine them with other complexes of ideas in
ways which would quickly defeat the un-augmented
imagination.”

8. The Dual Purpose of
Writing
● For Yourself: as a workspace for your ideas.
● For an Audience: to convey and show-off
your ideas.

9. Purpose of Structure
Every creative process has a structure and
rules. When writing essays, remember:
● For Yourself: to keep your idea workspace
organised and tidy, and therefore easier to
work in.
● For an Audience: to present your ideas in
the clearest, best possible manner.

10. Plan your written work.
Please plan your written work before you start
writing.
No matter how easy you may think it is to just
improvise a whole essay from your
notes/research, planning will make it better.
Your reader will be glad you planned.

11. Essay Requirements
oCover Page
oDeclaration
oAbstract
oTable of Contents
oIntroduction
oEssay
oConclusion
oReference list
oAppendixes (if needed)

12. Abstract
A very short ( <250 words) summary of your
essay.
This is a bit like the blurb at the back of a book,
though it gives away the ending.
Think about the key elements of the work, and
include them here.

13. Introduction
o Clear, concise and to the point
o Should set the scene for the project
o Establish tone and style
o Clearly state the main ideas, themes, headings,
intentions
o States the hypothesis, research problem and/or
questions
o Do not begin with the ‘history of’

14. Chapters
● The main body of your work, laying out your
thoughts step by step, needs to be in
chapters.
● Chapters can also have subsections
● Chapters are effectively mini-essays on sub-
topics which build up the whole picture you
are aiming to convey

15. Pre-plan your chapters
You should make a rough table of contents
before you start writing.
This can change, as by writing you may begin
ordering and altering your thoughts (remember
the Clark quote - let your writing formulate your
thoughts, as well as vice-versa).

16. Weighting
Think about what is most important, interesting,
and imaginative about your essay. This should
be given the greatest weighting, and therefore
the greatest space in the essay.
Don’t fill up your word count on filler and fluff.

17. Conclusion
o Read your introduction
o Refer to each of the main ideas, questions as stated
in the introduction
o What were the outcomes?
o Did you fulfil your objectives and goals?
o Can you offer new insight or significance?
o Future predictions / outcomes?
o Were you successful? Or not?

18. Starting writing
The first few paragraphs are often the hardest.
There are some options for overcoming that:
● Don’t start at the beginning. You can write
your Introduction later.
● Think of the best thing about your project,
the reason you chose it, what you love about
it, and start with that.

19. Some general principles
1. Say exactly what you mean.
2. Continually keep in mind your primary objective in writing
your paper, and focus your discussion accordingly.
3. Provide an overview of what you will be talking about.
4. Organize your ideas into general and more specific
categories, and use headings and subheadings to
guide your readers through your discussion of these
categories.
5. Provide transitional phrases, sentences, or paragraphs
that help your readers follow your train of thought.

20. ...
6. Use concrete examples to make abstract ideas more
understandable.
7. Use appropriate punctuation.
8. Use figures and tables to help you more effectively
present or organize your ideas and findings.
9.At the conclusion of a chapter or major section,
summarize what you’ve said.
10. Anticipate that you will almost certainly have to write
multiple drafts
(Leady and Ormrod, 2010, pp 38-40)

21. Remember Occam’s Razor
A simpler theory is more likely to be valid.
(Baker, 2013)
A simpler essay is more likely to be readable.
So don’t use unnecessarily flowery language,
convoluted sentences, long drawn out
examples, etc.

22. Read
Read. Read as much as possible, as often as
possible.
Read a variety of materials
● Autobiographies
and biographies
Interviews
Newspapers
Magazines
Blogs
● Novels
● Poetry
● Diaries
● Short stories
● Philosophy
● History
● Non-Fiction
● Textbooks
● Classics
● Modern
Research
● Papers and
essays

23. Read outside your comfort
zone
“If you only read the books that everyone else
is reading, you can only think what everyone
else is thinking. That’s the world of hicks and
slobs. Real people would be ashamed of
themselves doing that.”
(Murakami, 2000)

24. Writing Argument
Your essay should have an argument, or some
message or point it is trying to make.
This is similar to putting across an argument in
a conversation, but much more formalised.
In a sense, this is a little like going away after a
conversation, and being able to think up all the
best things you could have said.

25. Balloon Dilemma
You are in a hot air balloon. It has a slow leak, and
is slowly losing altitude. You must throw somebody
overboard in order to save yourselves.
Who do you throw out?
Write a short argument for why you should be
saved. Make at least 4 points for your survival.

26. Opposing sides
Even in an essay where you get to present your
viewpoint, you must still acknowledge the
opposing side.
If you do not, your work will be bias.
The strongest arguments give as much
credence as possible to the opposition, and
then disprove it anyway.

27. Remember confirmation
bias
“a tendency for people to favor information that
confirms their preconceptions or hypotheses
regardless of whether the information is true”
(princeton.edu, n.d)
Always pay attention to the opposition.

28. Dialogue
Dialogue is sometimes used in philosophy to
present opposing viewpoints. The writer
creates two (or more) characters, and has them
debate an issue. However, the real goal for the
author to argue his own point of view. The
characters are merely puppets.
Good examples of this are the Platonic
dialogues (available for free on project
guttenberg).

29. ...
It can be useful to think of the opinions and
arguments that will go into your essay as if they
were from different characters.
Play devil’s advocate, and run through the
arguments of the opposition as if they were
your own.
Then question and take them apart.

30. Voice
You cannot write your essay in dialogue form. You
will have to rely upon your own voice only.
Just because you must write academically, and you
must not use the first person perspective (“I
think…”), does not mean you cannot have your own
voice in your essay.
Establishing your own writing style and voice comes
with practice.

31. Fallacy
A fallacy is an argument which is poor, and does
not stand up to scrutiny, because it follows a bad
argument pattern.
There are many examples of common fallacy
(sometimes referred to as logical fallacies as they
have invalid logic).
Have a look at this for examples:
http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/rhetological-
fallacies/

32. Correlation / Causation
(Andersen, 2012)

33. Correlation/Causation
(Vigen, no date)

34. Post hoc ergo propter hoc
post hoc ergo propter hoc

35. Ad Hominem
(Almossawi, 2013, p. 46)
Judging or attacking the
person, rather than the
argument itself.
(This is related to an
‘Argument from
Authority’ in which an
argument is accepted
just because of the
person making it).

36. Argument from Analogy
William Paley asks us to imagine finding a watch on the ground. The watch is
complex, has many parts, and serves a specific purpose - we would therefore assume
it must have been designed and made. It did not just appear on the ground.
He argues that human beings (and the whole planet) exhibit these same properties as
the watch.
Therefore, says Paley, we and the planet must also have been designed and made
by some intelligent maker, just like the watch.
“there is precisely the same proof that the eye was
made for vision as there is that the telescope was
made for assisting it.” (Paley, 1802, p.13)

37. …
An analogy is a good starting point for research. It alone is
not a valid reason to accept the conclusion however.
A dog is very similar to a cat. They share many properties.
Cats can climb trees.
This is not a good reason to think that dogs can climb trees
too.

38. Homework
I am going to give you a logic puzzle.
I will then give you the correct answer.
I will not explain the answer.
Your homework is to explain / research the
solution, or construct a good argument to
disprove it.

39. The Monty Hall Problem
You are on a game show. The host (Monty)
shows you three doors. Behind two doors there
are goats. Behind one door there is a car.
A B C

40. … pick a door...
Pick a door. You must tell Monty which door
you picked. (Let’s imagine you picked A)

41. … goat number 1...
Monty reveals one goat behind one of the other
doors (not the door of your choice).

42. Change or Stay?
Now Monty asks you, do you want to stick to
your original door, or do you want to switch to
the other one?

43. The real question
The game always works this way. Monty always reveals
one goat - not behind your door - and then asks if you want
to stick to your first choice or switch. The car and the
second goat stay hidden, and are not tampered with. Is it
better to:
a) Always switch to the other door
b) Always stick to your original choice
c) There is no difference

44. The answer
a) Always switch to the other door
You a more likely to win if you switch.

45. Homework
Your homework is to explain / research the
solution, or construct a good argument to
disprove it.

46. Reference List
Almossawi, A (2013) An Illustrated Book Of Bad Arguments. Available at: www.bookofbadarguments.com (Accessed : 25th
September 2013)
Andersen, A. (2012) True Fact: The Lack of Pirates Is Causing Global Warming ,in Forbes, Available at:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikaandersen/2012/03/23/true-fact-the-lack-of-pirates-is-causing-global-warming/ (Accessed : 25th
September 2013)
Baker, Alan, "Simplicity", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2013 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), Available at:
http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2013/entries/simplicity. (Accessed : 24th September 2013)
Clark, A. (1998) ‘Magic Words: How Language Augments Human Computation’, in Carruthers, P. and Boucher, J. (ed.) Language
and Thought: Interdisciplinary Themes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.162-183.
Leady, P. and Ormrod, J. (2010) Practical Research Planning and Design, 9th edn. Boston MA : Pearson Education
Murakami (2000) Norwegian Wood. USA: Vinatage
Paley, William, 1802. Natural Theology, Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill.
princeton.edu (No Date) Confirmation Bias. Available at:
http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Confirmation_bias.html (Accessed : 24th September 2013)
stormmovie (2011) Tim Minchin's Storm the Animated Movie. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhGuXCuDb1U
(Accessed : 23rd September 2013).
Vigen, T. Spurious Correlations. Available at: http://www.tylervigen.com/view_correlation?id=359 (Accessed: 13th September 2014)