Professors? Researchers? Anyone who knows anything about research...

[alexandraaah]

Hi. I need some help. I'm trying to formulate a research question and am having difficulty narrowing it down.

It shall have something to do with pet therapy.

Dogs in the workplace.

Dogs in group homes.

Positive effects of having a dog around, basicallly.

Yikes.


Alexandra

 

[morninggirl5]

Give me a little more information and I'll be able to help better.


Perhaps, (reworded a bit maybe)


To what extent is the self-esteem, as measured by such and such scale or self-report, of residents enhanced by daily responsibilty for the care of a pet?


You need to have your question and how you're gonna measure it all wrapped up in one. State your hypothesis clearly in a sentence, decide how to quantitatively measure the variables and control for confounding variables.... then writing the research question comes easy.

I've found that the actual problem statement or research question is much easier to write once you've answered all the other questions about who, what, when, where, how, and why.

 

[lilminx]

Alexandra, I had to do a thesis paper last year, so I might be able to help you. What my professor suggested to me was to formulate a general question, and then see how much research was on it. Then, based on what you find, narrow it down until you have a question that is not too general, but has some good papers written about it.
This way, you won't spend an inordinate amount of time formulating a great research topic, only to find that you can't find any research done on it. A lot of people in my class had that problem.

Good luck

 

[Vinny]

Try this

"The efficacy of dogs for therapy in a rehablitation hospital"

 

[alexandraaah]

Thank you thank you thank you....morning and lilminx for responding....

I've been out of class for 2 weeks, unfortunately.

This is the question that we will be using for our research project next year. We can decide if we want to simply ask a question and analyze existing material or if we want to go out and get our own answers.

I would prefer the latter and it doesn't have to be about the positive effects of pets....however, I had a lot of success bringing my dog to the group home where I used to work.

I'm all over the place and a little freaked right now as my sig line is not a joke.

Hmm...okay, breathing, now what?

 

[alexandraaah]

Alexandra, I had to do a thesis paper last year, so I might be able to help you. What my professor suggested to me was to formulate a general question, and then see how much research was on it. Then, based on what you find, narrow it down until you have a question that is not too general, but has some good papers written about it.
This way, you won't spend an inordinate amount of time formulating a great research topic, only to find that you can't find any research done on it. A lot of people in my class had that problem.

Good luck

This is exactly what I need to do.

Do you ever just need help getting to a starting point?

Does that make sense?

 

[lilminx]

Yup- the starting point is often the hardest for me. Luckily, the professor I did my thesis under was great, realistic, and very down-to-earth. too bad you aren't doing your thesis on an education-related field. My thesis was actually pretty good, and I could have directed you to some good sites for papers and info.

 

[alexandraaah]

Yup- the starting point is often the hardest for me. Luckily, the professor I did my thesis under was great, realistic, and very down-to-earth. too bad you aren't doing your thesis on an education-related field. My thesis was actually pretty good, and I could have directed you to some good sites for papers and info.

It is in social work, so we're not that far apart. I'm unsure how realistic it would be for me to measure anything related to pets given time constraints.

 

[morninggirl5]

Your sig line describes me perfectly.


I have not one, not two, not three, but FOUR papers to write before 5 pm tomorrow.


When you start doing actual research, send me a pm. I can give you a site that should help with research and the password.

 

[alexandraaah]

Your sig line describes me perfectly.


I have not one, not two, not three, but FOUR papers to write before 5 pm tomorrow.


When you start doing actual research, send me a pm. I can give you a site that should help with research and the password.

Thanks morninggirl,

the actual research won't be for a while....I just need to have my question and bibliographies for tomorrow.

I gotta go walk the dog, speaking of pet therapy.

Alex

 

[Tim1]

Alex

I know you asked me to try and help you on your research, however it's been so many years since I had to write a paper like you have to that I'm afraid I won't be of much help.

It looks as though the above people have a good handle on what it will take to get you started.


I could write forever on pets and what I think they COULD do as therapy, but alas it would be only my opinion, and thats not what your looking for. My wife works part time in a Hospice and she has told me of people who have brought their dogs in and how it brightens the day of those residents.

Good luck, I will defer to the others who can really help you.

 

[Olivianna]

research

I don't know anything about dogs or rehab therapy, but I do know a thing or two about writing research papers. I can understand that starting out with a research project can be an overwhelming experience - this is part of the process, however. If we knew what we'd find before we started looking for it, why we would bother with the research? The best way to proceed for me is to begin a general search for material published on the topic of my research - this will give you an idea of what others have said about that subject, which is an extremely important aspect of research. As you read up on your topic, keep some general questions in mind, and add to/subtract from these as you move along. As you start out, you may feel a bit discombobulated, but this is part of the journey...you will find yourself armed with a nifty thesis/argument soon enough. I am a proponent of appreciating the confusion...out of it will come a good piece of research. good luck, Olivianna

 

[daedalos]

Re: research

I don't know anything about dogs or rehab therapy, but I do know a thing or two about writing research papers. I can understand that starting out with a research project can be an overwhelming experience - this is part of the process, however. If we knew what we'd find before we started looking for it, why we would bother with the research? The best way to proceed for me is to begin a general search for material published on the topic of my research - this will give you an idea of what others have said about that subject, which is an extremely important aspect of research. As you read up on your topic, keep some general questions in mind, and add to/subtract from these as you move along. As you start out, you may feel a bit discombobulated, but this is part of the journey...you will find yourself armed with a nifty thesis/argument soon enough. I am a proponent of appreciating the confusion...out of it will come a good piece of research. good luck, Olivianna

Alexandraah,

You have received some good advice, so I do not feel the need to repeat. I agree with Olivianna. Read, read, read and something interesting will emerge. As someone who recently finished my dissertation, I can tell you that I did not really figure out the precise spin on my project until I was about a third of the way into the process. Once I knew, then everything fell into place.

Good luck!

 

[alexandraaah]

Re: Re: research

Alexandraah,

You have received some good advice, so I do not feel the need to repeat. I agree with Olivianna. Read, read, read and something interesting will emerge. As someone who recently finished my dissertation, I can tell you that I did not really figure out the precise spin on my project until I was about a third of the way into the process. Once I knew, then everything fell into place.

Good luck!

Thanks to both you and Olivianna...it's coming together (what's due tomorrow). It's not a research paper, though...but the advice is still sound for my purposes.

I walked my dog and calmed down. I have a cycle of procrastinate=freak out=be productive
then all over again.

Thanks all,

Alex

 

[Desdemona]

There is a fair amount published about pet therapy, at least in the nursing literature. You can probably find good references to it on PubMed through the National Library of Medicine. Good luck. I've been there with the paper writing thing far too many times.

 

[alexandraaah]

There is a fair amount published about pet therapy, at least in the nursing literature. You can probably find good references to it on PubMed through the National Library of Medicine. Good luck. I've been there with the paper writing thing far too many times.

Thanks, I'll go check that out.