#researchstatement

[livs400]

Research Statement

The current driver for my research is how “The building has become an intrinsic part of the human experience and plays a crucial role in our physical and mental - wellbeing and health” (Gibson). It is important to me that we develop strong emotional connections with our built environments as “it is this built environment upon which our lives and memories are built” (Gibson). We should feel as though our homes are enriching our lives with some sort of deeper connection, a space where we can encourage emotion and allow ourselves to re align mentally. Doing this becomes particularly important when you realise how much of our lives revolve around the built environment, “today nearly 90% of our lives are spent indoors, with 54% living in urban environments” (Gibson).   

I believe if we can harness our sensory experiences then we can spark connections within our homes. We can develop a deeper connection with these memories that we have in the built environment, our memories allow us to understand our past and also gives us an insight into our futures which can be interesting to consider when designing our homes moving forward. As the building users we have a right to control the design processes that are put in place, how certain materials for example will affect our sensory experience needs to be considered as well as how our emotional connections will be affected with not only the people but the building itself.

“Human experiences are stored in episodic memory and are the basis for developing semantic narrative structures and many of the narratives we continually compose” (Anderson), delving deeper into these memories and “cognitive narratives” (Anderson) will give me an interesting insight into the relationship with our built environments. We can start to build that connection we need to live in a happy, healthy home space. Although “human memory is not a literal reproduction of the past, but instead relies on constructive processes that are sometimes prone to error and distortion” (Schacter) I believe that this in a way only makes it more interesting and powerful as there must be a reason for why our memory is not always accurate. Our memories are “not a simple rote or reproductive system” (Schacter) they are complex and sometimes may be distorted by our new world views, beliefs etc.  

I am particularly interested in the relationship of our memories not just in the literal sense of our minds but our whole body, the memories of our whole bodies within space. All of our senses make up our memories and how they are preserved within a physical location. My site is currently ‘my home’, specific to each individual. The experiences and the memories of you and your home will be different to mine so to create the deepest connection possible they need to be person specific.

A work that I have been inspired by is ‘Dreams-Chasing Life & Art Showroom’  by Peihe Xie and AD Architecture. In this work a red gyro constantly rotates around at a high ride within the middle of a mall. People gaze into this rotation and “causes people to fall into the abyss of dreams, mysterious dark and overlapping…”(Xie) This concept of people being transported through another world such as dreams is inspiring for me to think about memories in this way, in a way dreams and memories are not all that different. “Dreams provide more space for people to think about infinity, transcending the boundaries of real space, chasing, exploring and conquering in dreams while looking backward at the self and superego in personality.”

Works Cited:

Allen, Gary L., editor. Human Spatial Memory: Remembering Where. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2003.

Anderson, Tory S. From Episodic Memory to Narrative in a Cognitive Architecture. p. 10.

“Dreams-Chasing Life & Art Showroom / AD ARCHITECTURE.” ArchDaily, 9 Mar. 2019, https://www.archdaily.com/912621/dreams-chasing-life-and-art-showroom-ad-architecture.

[editorworldllc]

How to Develop a Problem Statement for a Research Study

As the saying goes, “Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.” This adage certainly applies to scholarly research. Dissertation chairs have long advised students not to have an answer in search of a question—or a study in search of a problem. Finding something interesting does not necessarily make it a good study topic, nor does the fact that someone else has not already investigated that exact topic. Rather, a “good” study is one that is useful—whether for society, a particular population or industry, or for understanding the natural world—and addresses a specific issue, problem, or need. Moreover, one of the most important components of a paper describing a “good” study is one that clearly and succinctly articulates the problem and justifies why it is worthy of study.        

A great place to start when constructing a problem statement is, first, to develop a broad, general idea of the subject you might want to investigate. At this stage in the process, it is important not to have a particular research question or methodology in mind. A researcher should never begin a study saying, “I want to conduct a qualitative/quantitative study,” or “I know that [a particular observation] is true, and I can prove it.” Instead, one should think broadly about the topic of interest and explore the recent scholarly literature on the subject.

As you explore, read the abstract of each study and, if it relates closely enough to your topic of interest, take time to review the discussion section of the paper. Readers often skip over the discussion section of a paper in favor of other sections like the methodology or findings. The discussion section, however, usually contains some of the most informative content in an academic paper. Authors not only summarize their research findings and implications, but also frequently offer specific recommendations for future studies that would build upon their work. These authors’ recommendations may also include specific populations or topics that arose during their research and are worthy of further investigation. Once you have reviewed enough articles, you will begin to see some common themes emerge—whether in methodologies, populations, findings, or recommendations.

After gaining an understanding of the scholarly literature and narrowing your focus, you can then begin to craft a problem statement. Just like a purpose statement, the topic sentence of a key paragraph, or your research question, it is important to revisit the sentence several times to make sure it is clear, concise, and provides the key information your readers need to know.

Here are a few final tips that will help you to create an effective problem statement:

1.       Make sure you have a clear idea of the “who” (population), “where” (location or context), and “what” (the topic or issue of interest).

2.       Try writing about four or five sentences describing what you see as the general problem at hand, which will help you to understand the “why.” Now, ask yourself, “So what?” The answer to this critical question will help you to identify the essence of problem driving your study.

3.       Aim to keep your actual problem statement around 25 to 30 words. While you will likely need a paragraph or so to provide the full background and context of the issue you identified in step 1, a lengthy or overly complex problem statement will distract from the focus of your issue and can confuse your reader.

4.       After you have written a little bit about the problem you want to study and narrowed the focus to a clear, concise statement, it is necessary to make sure it aligns with your research question and methods. The importance of achieving alignment among these components cannot be overstated. If you fail to do so, your writing will appear disjointed and make it difficult for the reader to follow your study.

5.       Don’t be afraid to ask for feedback. Practice making your case as an elevator pitch to peers or colleagues. Regardless of whether you are preparing for a dissertation defense or a conference presentation, the goal is to be perfectly comfortable explaining why your research is relevant, timely, and worthy of study.

After you’ve developed your research statement, perfect your document by submitting it to Editor World. 

[garp19-joshuarainey-blog]

1. Graphic Arts Research Project (GARP) Overview

You must formulate and justify a self   -directed research project that will form the basis of your Graphic Arts Research Project in level 6. This project, presented in the form of a Research Journalbog, must include a final research statement and action plan for more in-depth research you will need to undertake over the summer to prepare yourself to successfully complete the Level 6 GARP when you return in September.

Level 6 may seem like a long way off  , but    good background research and a well-developed plan will create a solid platform for the Level 6 GARP. Importantly it will allow you to proceed with your research over the summer, confident that you know and understand your subject well enough that:

•You can define your subject(s) / field(s) of research.

•You are aware of what has already been written about your subject.

•You are aware of the broader issues you will need to research and understand.

•You can identify a particular question, or specific focus, you can address through further research.

•You know how you are going to continue your research over the summer.

•It will sustain your interest to continue to research it for the following year.

The research and development you present and the feedback you get will then direct your independent research programme over the summer. This could include study trips, placements, internships, interviewing artists, designers, makers, contacting authors and academics, collecting relevant visual material and of course reading. 

There will be a range of timetabled sessions that will help you to develop and refine your project. You will be expected to draw upon the academic research skills you developed in the IDP module. The project will be broken down into 4 stages:

1.Ideation – generating and evaluating the potential of possible research subjects. This work must bedocumented in a Research Journalblog (see below).

2.Research& development – gaining a good basic knowledge and understanding of the subject throughcollecting, gathering and discussing material from a variety of primary and secondary sources and identifyingbroader issues and ideas, or a specific focus for further research. This work must be documented in aResearch Journalblog (see below).

3.Explanation & critique – testing the    quality of your research and development, and your awareness of furtherresearch needed by making a short Presentationto a small group of staff and students and submitting a draftwritten Research Statement. Content for both the presentationand research statement should come from yourresearch journal blog. The presentation should be structured around the research statement you are workingtowards, using the headings in the brief, addressing each bullet point if possible.

4.Finalise – producing and submitting a Research Journalblog that documents all of the research you haveundertaken during the project informed by feedback from your presentation and including a final ResearchStatement and action plan for the summer.

Briefs will be circulated at the start of each stage detailing specific requirements for the outcomes. You will be expected to document and archive your work at each stage in the form of a Research Journalblog   . The blog format should help you effectively draw together all your research output, whether it’s found material from a variety of sources or your own writing. You must set up a blog by the end of stage 1 – Week 21, and then update the blog regularly (at least once a week during the Research & development stage). At the end of the project you must write a final research statement and action plan informed by feedback from your supervisor. A set of questions and guidelines will be given to you to help you structure and write this final research statement and action plan. This must be submitted as your final blog post and via Canvas as a Lo-res PDF document.

[phd-coin-geek-blog]

Editing is hard!

Monday 22nd December 2014

Wow! It's pretty much taken me all day to edit down from 2800 to 2000 words! It's done now, though, and the Research Statement for my mid-year review is now with my supervisors for comment :)

Onto the next one!