Caribbean studies

Investigating issues in the Caribbean

This chapter introduces you to the nature, purpose and objectives of a well thought-out
research. Much of the research you will do at this level will be likely to be social science
research. A social issue or problem may refer to almost any aspect of life in society- economic,
religious, family, gender, crime etc.
UNDESTANDING NATURE AND PURPOSE OF RESEARCH
Forms of knowledge systematic inquiry Reliability and Problem solving
Generation of new knowledge. Validity
CONSTRUCTING THE RESEARCH PROBLEM
Identification of the Research Problem Formulation of research objectives
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
Stating the problem or the hypothesis Assessing significance of the study.
What is research?

Forms of Knowledge:
Academic knowledge tends to be classified into three main groups:
humanities, generally covering history, literature and philosophy;
social science, which include sociology, political science and economics.
natural science, traditional biology, chemistry and physics.
Two important form of knowledge affect our everyday life. These are tradition and experience.
Tradition: this is built up in a community such as a village, a school, a denomination,
family or even a nation (in the form of customs and norm). Children are socialized into
these traditions as they grow up and are guided and governed by what they have been
taught.

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 Experience is another powerful agent of socialization. When we experience something
we learn from it. Example if we are punished as children for a particular act of wrong
doing, we are usually careful to avoid that wrong doing in the future. Many types of
traditional work such as craft, farming, fishing and cuisine are based heavily on
experience.
These forms of knowledge are essential to the way we learn at school, but they are not good
basis for academic research; where one of the main purpose the generation of new knowledge.
For example, a research in the humanities require the ability to use documentary source,
perhaps exclusively, whereas social science research will tend to intend to involve direct
contact with living beings. Scientific research will involve a great deal of accurate measurement
and observation, usually of non human subjects.
Social Science Research

Much of the research you will carry out for Caribbean studies will be the social science
research. The principles for all types of research should be the same:
Be systematic;
Generate new knowledge about particular issues;
Show evidence of reliability and validity
Solve or throw new light on research problems which have been have identified.
You yourself have done research informally in everyday life and for school projects. Cast your
mind back to the time you wanted to find out information about someone or some event or
issue. Did you ask someone you thought knew more about the person or issue than you did? A
research may be conducted obtrusively (in the presence of the subject) or unobtrusively (in
absence of the subject). Where research outcomes are about improving human development, it
must be done in a systematic way.
Empirical Knowledge
Scientific research generally relies on empirical knowledge. Our senses are fundamental to this
type of knowledge, which explain it alternative name sensory knowledge or data. Empirical
knowledge is a propositional knowledge gain through experiment and observation. Hearing,
touch, taste, sight and smell tell us that something is real.

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 Observation- this usually involves investigating a relationship between two variables.
Hypothesis- this is put forward to be tested. It state the relationship which the
researcher feels exist between the variables.
Data collection- observations and experiments conducted on the variables to try to
establish the correct relationship between them.
Data analysis: All the findings are studied to determine significant trends and
relationship.
Conclusion- may verify or reject the initial hypothesis. A theory may be offered to
explain the phenomena observed which would be able to predict similar relationships in
the future. This is called a natural law or generalization.
Historical Investigation
Unlike social science, most historical investigation use print or archive documentary sources.
These are divided into primary and secondary sources. Primary source gives you the
opportunity to get close to the original event, person or group that you are researching. On the
other hand, secondary sources give you the benefit of other researchers and commentators
ideas, knowledge and interpretation.
If you are studying a recent period of history, you may also use non-textual sources, such as
history- this may include formalize archived recordings or taped conversion you may have had
with older persons in the community.
Literary review
An important aspect of historical research is to survey what has already been written about the
subjects you are planning to investigate. This will help not only to steer your research in a
positive direction, where not too much original work has already been done, but also protect
you from overlapping studies, where there may be accidental plagiarism.
Data Collection
For historical investigation, it will likely involve lot of reading. Sources may well be in the library
or archive. As a student it may well be easier to access your sources online, as vast quantities
are available digitally. Try to decide what sources you are looking for so you can get specific
websites rather than spending time on general research.

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Data analysis and presentation.
You can use many different types of presentation, not only text. Be careful to assess the
sources for bias, and try to base your conclusion on as many sources as possible. Both primary
and secondary.
Thus, social science research is about:
1) Finding some important information (not just any information but specific questions you
want answered)
2) Selecting of group of people from whom to find out the information (it is important who
you choose and how you choose them) or using documentary sources.
3) Maintaining an ethical stance in collecting and analyzing and reporting the information.
An example of a social science research is market researchers; they make decision about when
and where to carry out their studies. Using this strategy the market researchers would have
felt: (a) that they would get the relevant information by (b) identifying members of the target
population who use the product and (c) they would get the information without hindering
shoppers.
Reliability (consistency)
A research is often described as systematic inquiry which is valid and reliable. The market
researchers had a systematic approach in that they had a ready set of questions (interview
protocol) which did not vary as they interacted with the different customers, who were chosen
according to certain criteria. Reliability in research refers to the degree to which an instrument
is interpreted in the same way by all the subjects being interviewed. In other words the
questions asked and the terms used should not be ambiguous or have multiple meaning.
Reliability of an instrument therefore depends on the consistency with which the questions are
interpreted in a variety of places and over time.

Validity (measuring what you purport to measure)

Research is valid when the question asked and the methods used are likely to produce the
relevant answer to the questions posed by the researcher. The question must be about what is

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being studied (accuracy). While it may seem rather obvious, it is quite easy for the researcher to
investigate issues which are only tangential to the research study.

Valid and invalid questions regarding baby milk

Criteria of the questions:
The availability of baby milk
Nutritive value of the product
Cost of product
Which questions are valid based on the
criteria?
1)How often you come to the supermarket
2)will you continue to buy this product
3)Is the price acceptable

Validity then, is a characteristic of research which says that the data collected should be faithful
to what the researchers are interested in finding out. If superficial question are used to yield
data then the research will have serious problems of validity.

Significance
The significance of the study is something that is called its rationale. It is the reason why the
study was undertaken. All original research must have some significance, whether to identify
issues in the area already studied, or to highlight some new issue that no one has ever thought
about before that needs to be addressed. This may be because of its currency with the
preoccupation with current problems. A social science researcher does not select a research
topic only because of intrinsic interest, or the availability of sources, but because it has
relevance or significance for the society he or she is studying. The nature of the research is that
it must be systematic and employ procedure which would ensure reliability and validity.
1) Identifying a problem: The researcher narrows down and makes manageable a problem
or issue that can be studied (e.g. drug used at one school) which is usually part of a
larger problem (drug use among adolescents).
2) Formulating a research question: the researcher design one main question or several
related questions which the inquiry is designed to answer. Alternatively, the researcher
posits a hypothesis which the inquiry is designed to uphold or reject.

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 3) Writing a literature review: The researcher reads as widely as possible on the issue or
problem, looking for the issue of other studies which will have on impact on this society.
The researcher also looks at the methods and data collection strategies other
researchers used and make decision about the most suitable methods to be used in the
study.
4) Data Collection: decide on a systematic strategy for collecting data and devises
instrument which will be reliable and valid. The researcher has two concerns- that the
methods used are free of bias and that the questions are focus on what he or she wants
to know.
5) Data Analysis: The researcher organizes the data collected for presentation. The way in
which the data are organized and presented is guided by the research questions or
hypothesis. The most popular format are by statistical diagrams and tables- pie charts,
bar and line graph, flow diagrams, maps- and photographs (text alone is insufficient).
6) Interpretation: the researcher discusses the findings of the research in relation to the
original research questions and the studies highlighted in the literature review. The
researcher concludes with some important reflections and recommendations about the
issue and the method used.

Why conduct Research?

The reason why a research is conducted is to gather information about a particular

Phenomena. The purpose why a research is conducted is one of the following:
1) To generate new Knowledge
2) To solve a problem
3) To be able to predict an event or outcome.
4) To test a theory
Conceptions of research
There are three major views about research or perspective about research.

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1. Mainstream Ideas: conventional ideas about research are based on the scientific method,
which describe how scientists conduct inquiries in the natural or physical sciences. Knowledge
generated by research in natural science is regarded as solid, than knowledge in the social
science because it has been generated by scientific methods. Many social scientists respect the
scientific method and have attempted to study social life using similar principles. As a result
many social science research investigators try in many ways to preserve objectivity, reduce
bias and conduct the research process in a linear way, moving through one step at a time.
One way researchers do this is to use the same questions for all respondents and to take care
not to become familiar with the subjects. Because they assume that reality lies outside of the
person (a fundamental tenet of science), they try to keep their feeling and emotions (as well as
that of the subject) out of the research (lest they should introduce bias into the study and
jeopardize its objectivity) and stick to the facts which can be verified. For e.g., the data they
collected are empirical (collected in the field) and thus of sensory nature (they can be seen,
tasted, felt, smelt and/or heard). The aim of the research in natural and physical science is to
study many instances of a phenomenon so that the researcher can generalize their findings to
the entire population. Thus, in mainstream research conception of research in social science,
there is an emphasis on studying many persons in an attempt to generalize findings. A sample
must be chosen which is representative of the entire population for whom the generalization
will be made. A lot of thought must therefore go into choosing an appropriate sample.
Researches involving large number of persons have to be statistically analyzed and interpreted
in the form of graphs and tables, giving rise to the term quantitative research.
Alternative ideas about research.
It is conceptualize according to the idea that the researcher is not an expert in the context
being studied and sees a more active role for the subjects who are now called participants.
Their argument is that all research is about knowledge production and the researchers at the
site have to regard the people at the site as having valid and insider knowledge of the
phenomenon being studied. In this conception of research the researcher acknowledges that
he or she has to rely on the people in the text, and on their cultural knowledge and know-how,
in deciding what kinds of data are important and what may be the best way about going about

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data collection. The researcher works participants to make sense of the data because he or she
understands that how the participants sees or experience the problem or issue is important in
whether this investigation will be helpful or not. While mainstream researchers tend to focus
on: a) producing new knowledge, b) solving a problem, c) prediction or d) testing a theory.
Alternative conception of research is conducted to deepen understanding of a phenomenon.
This strategy of data collection results in large volume of text material and is termed qualitative
research.
Note: The methods of data collection are determined by the aim(s) of the hypothesis or
statement of problem.
Example One (1);
Hypothesis: Students coming from low-income families or families experiencing major problems
are more likely to be involved in indiscipline.
Quantitative research or empirical data was the best to be used to either approve or reject the
hypothesis, therefore questionnaires was used to test the same. The main objective of a
scientific or quantitative research is to make a natural law or generalization.
Vs
Example Two (2);
Statement of problem: How does indiscipline affect students at school X?
Qualitative research or in-depth analysis would be the best method to assess the impact of the
problem on school X through long conversational interviews (informal and personal),
observations of classroom and documentary analysis is the best method to be used.
Note: formal interviews might in principle not be different from a structured questionnaire;
therefore familiarity and bond with participants is a necessity to help to facilitate gathering
maximum data. The main objective of this research is to understand a phenomenon and to
provide an in-depth description and analysis.
Validity this suggests that what was observed and reported was on target and not off
the focus of the research (reflective of the researchers intention).

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 Reliability is obtained by using different methods (some a combination of
observations, interviews and documents analysis) to study the same phenomenon so
that how participant truly feel is brought out.
Beginning of a research project.

Identify your Research Problem.

Any kind of research project must begin by identifying a topic which has some worthwhile
aspect to it. From a general topic the researcher is expected to develop a narrower focus which
impacts on the development of Caribbean people in some way. A research problem can be
interpreted as some possible dysfunction.
Narrowing the area of inquiry
The first thing you must do is choose an area, topic or issue which is of interest to you. Let us
say that the health system in your country is in shambles, in your opinion. This is a place to
start. Your topic then is generally something relevant to The Heath System in Country A. You
then engaging in brainstorming sessions to decide on how you might narrow this inquiry;
because as it stands it is very broad and general.
Reflect on what about the health system particularly bothers you or what you like to find out
more about. Perhaps youre interested in:
1) The iniquities in the health system, the rich man can access better health services
through private health care, or;
2) Investigating the administration of the hospitals.
In carving out an area for study, you are constantly deciding what can be included and
excluded.
WHAT (Issue) - You now know what you are interested in; inequities in the health system in
your country. But this is still too large and cumbersome a topic. Perhaps if you think of a group
particularly affected it might help you to scale down the what.

WHO (Subjects) - Further brainstorm might lead you to think about maternal health and the
fact that this rate was 280% was considered very high in the region. Perhaps there might even
be a group of women who are at risk more than others? Newspaper accounts reveal that

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women in isolated communities cannot easily get to midwife or hospital service in time for
delivery and death may occur if there are complications.

WHERE (Location) - If you cannot easily get access to remote area of a country, you might be
able to find key informants in the countries capital- people knowledgeable about the region
various regions, health services and documentary evidence. Note that convenience to the
researcher is an important issue, as it is important to consider the practicalities of any project.

WHEN (Period of time) - you would like to be as up to date as possible, but you should also
include information from a period before the present- perhaps a decade- to give the reader a
sense of context and whether maternal mortality is on the increase or steadily declining.
Therefore, accesses to statistics, line graphs or tables are key data for your study.

Formulating a Research Problem.

Relevance

The research problem that is selected must be relevant to an issue that is under debate, or
perhaps an issue which you think should be under debate in your field of inquiry. The problem
selected must be of interest to the researcher or else the inquiry is likely to end prematurely or
be half-heartedly done. It is important that at the beginning of the project the researcher,
begins to think about how to manage the project effectively and what constraints will have to
be addressed in order to conduct the research successfully. These are: 1) resources 2) costs 3)
expertise 4) time 5) word limit 6) access and 7) convenience.

Research Objectives.

Research Objectives is uses to summarize what the study is expected to achieve:

Relevant and directly linked to the research problem

Informed by the sources you have selected

Clearly written

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Focusing on your inquiry this leads us to the development of the research objectives,
hypothesis, research questions, and ways of stating the problems.

Statement of problem:

This is concise statement of the nature of the problem you are undertaking to investigate and
what you deem important about it. It is a short paragraph fleshing out the problem in some
depth, giving some idea of the context of the research and why this problem is worthy of our
attention.

Examples:

Topic:

Statement of problem. Censorship in the Mass media of Barbados: whose idea of censorship?

This study undertakes an exploration of the process of censorship in the mass media of in
Barbados to illustrate that what gets censored is largely content of sexually explicit nature. The
researcher is of the opinion that the members of the various churches who sit on the
censorship boards heavily influence these decision and that a cross section of the Barbadian
public might not necessarily agree with these decisions. It is intriguing that the extreme
violence continues to pervade cinema, television and DVDs, showing that the moral position of
the censors tend to be biased. Censorship is highly subjective and it can be argued that it
infringes the rights of others. To continue to build the human development capacity of the
citizens these processes should tap a wider group of persons of different affiliation. A
statement of problem is sometimes followed by a problem statement, this is a more concise
and succinct statement of the problem. The statement of problem and the problem statement
are not the same thing. The statement of problem contains all important information that the
researcher needs to get a snapshot picture of your research; While, the problem statement is a
summary of the statement of problem.

Hypothesis:

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A hypothesis is an expectation or prediction about the relationship between two variables in
the research study. You do not have to have both research question and hypothesis in your
research. Usually hypothesis is required for studies based on main stream research and the
scientific method where experimental research is important. Thus, hypothesis tends to be
found in studies in natural and physical sciences, which quantify variables and rely on statistical
data analysis.

However, scientific methods have been embraced by mainstream social scientists so that it is
quite common to social science research, where both research question and hypothesis are
posed. In such cases the hypothesis narrows the research question so that it is very clear what
information is being sought. But there can never be a case where one variable is said to have
caused an effect, simply because in social life there are so many variables affecting people
(you can only assert it mainly cause the result). From the research question above, the
hypothesis can be developed:

Censorship in the mass media of Barbados is mainly influenced by the church.

Students career aspirations bear little relationship to the development needs of the
country.

The school curriculum does not effectively promote knowledge about the world of
work.

The hypothesis of social science terminology use such as: 1) is mainly influenced, 2) bear
little relationship to, 3) does not effectively promote. In social life and in trying to
explain human behavior, it is almost impossible to say that this causes that, because human
beings and the circumstances of their lives are so diverse. Thus in social science (unlike
natural science) all the hypothesis does is narrow the research question a bit further. This
can either be rejected or upheld.

Writing a Research Question.

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This is the central question which the research is attempting to answer. They are narrowly
focused on the relation between the concepts and/ or variables under study. A variable is the
term given to an entity, a factor, or a characteristic that is likely to change. A research question
then states the relationship between two or more variables which the researcher wants to
investigate.

Sources

The research objectives have to be informed by sources. One of the main reasons for choosing a
particular topic is that you know there will be some source of information which you can tap to
provide adequate, relevant and trust worthy data. (Note that in quantitative approach to
research, objectivity is prized, while in qualitative approaches the trustworthiness of
subjective data is important to the study). Thus, one of the decisions a researcher must make at
the beginning of the research is to assess the sources of data and whether adequate
information exists that he or she can access.

*****END OF*****

*****STUDY*****

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