GETTInG STARTEd: wRITInG An IdEA SHEET 315audience, the nature of its claims, and the like. But it is quite another to
watch scientists at work and begin to understand how they have come to
know what they know. The discovery of DNA, for example, was the result of
an arduous process that involved much risk, collaboration, chance, error,
and competition. The neat structure of a scientific report could mislead
you into thinking that science is a linear process that begins with a ques-
tion, moves on to an experiment, and ends with an answer. Real research
is messier than that. Original research takes us behind the words we read,
introducing levels of complexity.To broaden your scope of inquiry. Doing original research may also
broaden the scope of your inquiry. First, it is useful to use different
research methods than the ones you are accustomed to using. Learn-
ing to interview and run focus groups, at the very least, can give you
insight and practice for nonacademic applications — market research,
for example. Second, it can make you aware of how people outside your
field address the questions you raise. Consider, for example, the different
perspectives an educator, a sociologist, and an economist would bring to
the question of educational inequities. An educator might study educa-
tional inequities as a curricular problem and therefore analyze the con-
tent of different curricula within and across schools. A sociologist might
visit students’ homes, noting the presence or absence of books or asking
parents how they go about preparing their children for school. An econ-
omist might examine income levels in both wealthy and impoverished
neighborhoods. The point is that each field brings its own perspective
to a problem, adding complexity and richness to your own discussion of
that problem.To make a unique contribution to a conversation of ideas. Finally, doing
original research affords you the opportunity to make a unique contribu-
tion to a conversation of ideas. Instead of relying exclusively on texts oth-
ers have written as evidence for your claims, you can offer your own data
to address a question or problem, data that others do not have available.
For instance, if you wanted to examine claims that primary school teach-
ers pay more attention to boys in class than to girls, you could review the
relevant literature and then add to that literature a study that systemat-
ically analyzes the ways in which teachers in different classrooms treat
boys and girls.geTTing sTarTeD: WriTing an iDea sheeT
The purpose of writing an idea sheet is to help you explore not just what
you might want to learn by conducting research but why you are inter-
ested in a particular topic, issue, or problem. An idea sheet is a form of11_GRE_5344_Ch11_313_342.indd 315 11/19/14 11:02 AM