Backroom Research

In chapter 2, Knight guides students on aspects to consider when choosing a topic and embarking on research…..good research that is.  According to Knight, many students are victims to spending large amounts of time and hard work on small-scale research projects as they end up focusing on the wrong things.  To prevent such an outcome, considerations and correlations should be made to assure that one’s time and energy is used effectively resulting in good quality research.  Firstly, Knight asks us to consider claimsmaking and states that a researcher should not embark on a research project with the intention ‘to find out about…’ (p.21).  Research projects should be planned around some general significance, something of a general concern.  Studies should contain clear claims that affect the public and by extension audiences should also be considered so that relevant claims are made (p.22).  There should also be a correlation between the research methods chosen and the claims that are offered as responses to the research questions.  As Knight states “claimsmaking and research methods are intertwined and making sense of their association means having an overview of the sorts of claims that social research can make and of their relation to methods of inquiry” (p.23).  Other considerations include ontological and epistemological positioning and moreover a realist position (answering questions such as who, what, when, where and/or how much) or an anti-realist position (answering questions such as why, which focuses on explanations, understanding meanings or exploring feelings) (p.27).  Knight stresses the importance of taking all these aspects into consideration because they are all interrelated since certain ontologies and epistemologies prefer different methods, realist or anti-realist concerns prefer different methods, and different methods can produce different sorts of claims.  These factors and more need to be considered to produce good research and to ultimately prevent oneself from wasting time and energy on redundant research projects.