Learning Objectives
     • What is research?
     • Generating a proposal
     • Project management objectives
     • Project life cycle
     • Diagram networks of project activities
     • Estimate the completion time of a project
     • Determine how to reduce the length of a project effectively
                              
         “if you want it done right, 
          you may as well do it yourself”
                                       
                    Research?
      •Basic Research
      •Applied (Action) Research
     Action research --  a form of self-reflective enquiry 
                        undertaken by participants 
                        in social situations 
                        to improve the rationality 
                        understanding the practices,
                        and the situations in which carried out
                                  
             TOPIC                                                      FORMAL RESEARCH                                            ACTION RESEARCH 
             Training needed by researcher                              Extensive                                                  On own or with consultation
             Goals of research                                          Knowledge that is generalizable                            Knowledge to apply to the local situation
             Method of identifying the problem to be studied            Review of previous research                                Problems or goals currently faced 
             Procedure for literature review                            Extensive, using primary sources                           More cursory, using secondary sources 
             Sampling approach                                          Random or representative sampling                          Students or clients with whom they work 
             Research design                                            Rigorous control, long time frame                          Looser procedures, change during study; quick time 
                                                                                                                                           frame; control through triangulation 
             Measurement procedures                                     Evaluate and pretest measures                              Convenient measures or standardized tests 
             Data analysis                                              Statistical tests; qualitative techniques                  Focus on practical, not statistical significance; present 
                                                                                                                                           raw data 
             Application of results                                     Emphasis on theoretical significance                       Emphasis on practical significance 
                                                                                                                   
               Community-based action research
          --  explicit set of social values 
          •  is democratic, enabling the participation of all people.
          • is equitable, acknowledging people’s equality of worth.
          • is liberating, providing freedom from oppressive, debilitating 
              conditions.
          • is life enhancing, enabling the expression of people’s full human 
              potential.
                                                                    • (Stringer 1999: 9-10)