J421–© J.T.Johnson 2001-2004

Research Planning and Proposals

Week 4

The Research Process

J421–© J.T.Johnson 2001-2004

Research Planning and Proposals

AJ Breaking News

CBS and Bush documentshttp://homepage.mac.com/cfj/newcomer/index.htm

J421–© J.T.Johnson 2001-2004

Research Planning and Proposals

J421: Analytic Journalism

Project Proposal Objectives Keyword searching as an intellectual

tool Managing the search process and

results

J421–© J.T.Johnson 2001-2004

Research Planning and Proposals

Story Project Proposal Objectives

Immediate objective: “sell” the story Query letter

Lead Nut graf, i.e. significance Sources/data Deliverable product

Text and ???

J421–© J.T.Johnson 2001-2004

Research Planning and Proposals

Proposal

What is the topic? Narrow, narrow and narrow again

Is it do-able? Time between now and deadline Cost Skills: research, access, reporting,

analytic

J421–© J.T.Johnson 2001-2004

Research Planning and Proposals

Story Proposal

The key to all of this is "DEFINITION" of your terms.

NEVER write a proposal with phrases such as “I plan to…” or “I am interested in doing something on XYZ.”

Everyone should go to the IRE/NICAR web site -- www.ire.org or www.nicar.org -- and search for conference presentations related to your broad topic.

J421–© J.T.Johnson 2001-2004

Research Planning and Proposals

Project Proposal

Break aspects into fine-grained detail. This is necessary to help you focus on the

scale of the project and its particulars and to get a feel for exactly what can be done in the time available.

Vital to narrow your focus. Proposals should NEVER have a

question mark

J421–© J.T.Johnson 2001-2004

Research Planning and Proposals

Story Proposal

When you build a timeline, don't just list the large segments -- Research and info gathering; Contacts and interviewing; Bibliography and source list, etc. Use Excel or even Word “outline” and

break down steps.

J421–© J.T.Johnson 2001-2004

Research Planning and Proposals

Working with the idea of a “researchable” question

One that is answerable by data Is do-able but not trivial At the beginning, not written in

stone, i.,e. it will morph into something else as research/data process proceeds.

Literally write that question down.

J421–© J.T.Johnson 2001-2004

Research Planning and Proposals

First Steps

Think of data/documents that will answer your question.

Think of a single word that will be found in all those documents, BUT not other documents. Probably is no one such word, but don’t

give up thinking about it because once you’ve found that word, the focus is now made clear.

J421–© J.T.Johnson 2001-2004

Research Planning and Proposals

“First-Word” example

To what extent does the concept of “civil rights” apply to American Indian tribes that don’t have that concept in their culture? Most documents that will get at this

conceptual phrase will have the legal case Martinez v. Santa Clara Pueblo (1st case wherein the idea in context comes to the courts, ergo a root case that everyone cites.)

J421–© J.T.Johnson 2001-2004

Research Planning and Proposals

Probably no single word, but constellation of words

Searching is usually more productive if you use more “required” words than fewer. Six to 8 ain’t bad, so long as they are the right words.

Be sure to keep truncation in mind Some search engines do it

automatically, others do not. If not, then how many letters can you

“wild card”

J421–© J.T.Johnson 2001-2004

Research Planning and Proposals

Too broad thinking will work against you “Bill of Rights” will get documents with terms

“civil rights” but too much more. Need to go to AND and NOT Boolean terms. Use “OR” as well, i.e.

(Manhattan OR “New York County”) (Polic* OR “law enforcement” NOT Rock)

But by going down this path of process and thinking, being conscious of what you are doing and why, the focus of the research will present itself.

But only if you make the journey of discovery.

J421–© J.T.Johnson 2001-2004

Research Planning and Proposals

Importance of finding terms; defining terms How to find the “terms of art”

pertaining to your topic? What’s your process? How do you manage your

information?

J421–© J.T.Johnson 2001-2004

Research Planning and Proposals

Find some classic articles/books in the field

If digital, academic journal articles, popular articles, books, reports, NGO studies will have keywords associated with them. Journal editors more interested in

being inclusive in the abstract than exclusive. So some of these words may be less-than-helpful.

If book, there’s the index.

J421–© J.T.Johnson 2001-2004

Research Planning and Proposals

Research tips

Do literature search NYTimes-index strategy Consciously collecting keywords,

phrases, potential sources Determine how you’re going to organize

your research

J421–© J.T.Johnson 2001-2004

Research Planning and Proposals

Major point

If your question is non-trivial, then you are going to need several search chains to get the results. Separate packages Combine to make source list,

bibliography

J421–© J.T.Johnson 2001-2004

Research Planning and Proposals

How will you handle the results?

How will you find the data again? Searchable bookmark programs Think in terms of searchable “Fields” for

your notes. In Word, see INSERT | FIELDS

J421–© J.T.Johnson 2001-2004

Research Planning and Proposals

How will you handle the results?

Searchable text databases AskSam at www.asksam.com Can install AltaVista on your HD Use the “Find” function in Windows Find specialized programs:

Bibliographic Software

J421–© J.T.Johnson 2001-2004

Research Planning and Proposals

Evaluation

What data do I want to have? What data MUST I have? What are the sources of that data? What data is in hand What tools do I need to know to

analyze data

J421–© J.T.Johnson 2001-2004

Research Planning and Proposals

Research Matrix

Desired Data?

Must-Have Data?

Sources for Data?

What Data is in hand?

Analytic Tools?

J421–© J.T.Johnson 2001-2004

Research Planning and Proposals

ProjectMgmt

Brief tutorial on Gantt chartshttp://www.me.umn.edu/courses/me4054/assignments/gantt.html

Chart www.me.umn.edu/courses/me4054/assignments/gantt.pdf

Project Kickstarthttp://www.projectkickstart.com/html/education.htm

Tutorial for Gantt Charts http://www.smartdraw.com/resources/centers/gantt/tutorial1.htm

Tutorial on how to make a Gantt Chart in Excel http://www.microsoft.com/mac/excelx/excelx_main.asp?embfpath=howtox&embfname=xl_ganttchart.asp

J421–© J.T.Johnson 2001-2004

Research Planning and Proposals

Project Management

Project Management using ProjeXhttp://www.waa-inc.com/projex/index.htm