A practical guide to question formation, systematic searching and study screening for literature reviews in ecology and evolution

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong Zhi Foo ◽  
Rose E O'Dea ◽  
Julia Koricheva ◽  
Shinichi Nakagawa ◽  
Malgorzata Lagisz
Keyword(s):  
Research Question ◽  
Search Process ◽  
Practical Training ◽  
Practical Guide ◽  
Worked Example ◽  
Literature Reviews ◽  
Rules Of Thumb ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Question Formation ◽  
Training Exercises

1. Well-conducted systematic reviews are invaluable for synthesizing research findings. The conclusions of a review depend on how the research question was formulated, how relevant studies were found, and how studies were selected for synthesis.2. Here, we present a practical guide for ecologists and evolutionary biologists on formulating a question for a systematic review, and finding a representative sample of research findings. 3. We explain the steps involved using a worked example and practical training exercises. Throughout this guide we share tricks of the trade, included rules of thumb and software that we have found useful.4. We hope our paper helps demystify the systematic search process and encourages more researchers to adopt a systematic and reproducible approach when searching the literature.

scholarly journals Are you really using Yarning research? Mapping Social and Family Yarning to strengthen Yarning research quality

2021 ◽  
pp. 117718012110154
Author(s):  
Petah Atkinson ◽  
Marilyn Baird ◽  
Karen Adams
Keyword(s):  
Research Method ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Research Quality ◽  
Aboriginal Community ◽  
Participant Recruitment ◽  
The Social ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Convenience Sampling ◽  
Missing Feature ◽  
Published Research

Yarning as a research method has its grounding as an Aboriginal culturally specified process. Significant to the Research Yarn is relationality, however; this is a missing feature of published research findings. This article aims to address this. The research question was, what can an analysis of Social and Family Yarning tell us about relationality that underpins a Research Yarn. Participant recruitment occurred using convenience sampling, and data collection involved Yarning method. Five steps of data analysis occurred featuring Collaborative Yarning and Mapping. Commonality existed between researcher and participants through predominantly experiences of being a part of Aboriginal community, via Aboriginal organisations and Country. This suggests shared explicit and tacit knowledge and generation of thick data. Researchers should report on their experience with Yarning, the types of Yarning they are using, and the relationality generated from the Social, Family and Research Yarn.

Out-of-home care: Building a national research agenda

2003 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 5-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judy Cashmore ◽  
Frank Ainsworth
Keyword(s):  
Home Care ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Reliable Data ◽  
Family Welfare ◽  
Adequate Funding ◽  
Out Of Home Care ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Rapid Transfer

This article presents the argument for the development of a national research agenda for out-of-home care and what is needed to make this agenda work. The need for a commitment to research, adequate funding and access to reliable data, plus the rapid transfer of research findings, into practice, is outlined. It also reports on the outcomes of a research agenda-building workshop sponsored by the National Child and Family Welfare Research Coalition and held in September 2002. This workshop provided an opportunity to generate a list of research question that researchers, service providers and practitioners saw as significant priorities in a national research agenda.

scholarly journals Polytechnics as Institutions for Intraregional Collaboration for Skills Development in Africa

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (10) ◽  
pp. 311-316
Author(s):  
Kutsanedzie F. ◽  
Mensah E. .
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Training ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Skills Development ◽  
Practical Training ◽  
The Face ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Industrialization Process ◽  
Applied Social Science ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Graduate Unemployment

The Polytechnics in Ghana were established and given the mandate enshrined in the Constitution of Ghana under the Act of Parliament of the Republic of Ghana (Act 745) to train students in the fields of Science, Technology, Applied Social Science and Applied Art to serve the middle-manpower management needs of the country. In addition, the polytechnics are to provide skills development, conduct and publish industry driven research findings. Polytechnic graduate are expected by employers and captains of industry to be more practical-skilled and biased by virtue of their training. However, over the years, it appears the polytechnic graduate training is becoming more of theoretical rather than what was initially intended. Commentaries of stakeholders reveal that the polytechnics are gradually losing their focus vis-à-vis the practical training of students as they are fast comparing themselves to the universities. This paper uses observation of the polytechnics educational system, interviews with stakeholders and other secondary data as the bases to critically examine and identify the conditions that hamper the practical training of the polytechnic students – practical content of syllabi; teacher – student ratio in the face of high student intake; qualification of lecturers in terms of practical training. It thus recommends ways by which the polytechnics can improve upon the practical training of its student via mobilizing and utilizing its resources to create industries to facilitate the training of its students as well as reducing graduate unemployment. This thus will serve as lynch-pin to drive the country’s industrialization process.

scholarly journals The State of Play: An Exploration of Games and Their Value in  museum Exhibitions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Anton Berndt
Keyword(s):  
Research Question ◽  
Museum Studies ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Central Research ◽  
Contemporary Culture ◽  
Museum Exhibitions ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Museum Practice ◽  
New Museology

<p>In the field of museum studies there has been very little consideration of games and their application to exhibiting practice. This represents a significant gap in the theory on current museum practice given the frequency of games in exhibitions and the scale of the commercial games industry in contemporary culture. This study begins to redress this issue by exploring how a significant and influential museum operating within the paradigm of the new museology views the role of games in its exhibitions. The thesis considers the central research question: what do practitioners currently think about games in museum exhibitions and how could museum games be improved. Following an interpretivist methodology the study seeks to answer this question through a case study of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Seven practitioners affiliated with this museum were interviewed about their understanding of games and their application in a museum context. The research findings illuminate the current understanding of games held by these practitioners and factors that inhibit the successful implementation of games at Te Papa. It was found that the practitioners’ opinions had not been influenced by the available theoretical literature on games. It was also found that practitioners thought games in exhibitions at the museum have not been particularly successful in achieving either the goals of exhibitions or the potential that games offer. It is concluded that the introduction of theories on play and on games into museum theory and practice has potential for significant advances in this area of exhibition development. In contemporary museums there is a shift away from presenting absolute, positivist understandings of knowledge toward the subjective, construction of meaning. Museums are also increasingly required to maintain economic efficacy while offering a valuable service to the populace. This thesis responds to this situation by proposing that a greater knowledge and utilisation of games in exhibitions offers a valuable approach in negotiating these two trends. By presenting an understanding of games, their potential value for museums and perspectives on what currently inhibits their successful application this research offers the field of museum studies a basis from which to develop knowledge of this under-theorised aspect of museum practice.</p>

Meta-analysis of Results from Multisite Studies

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Gurevitch
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Work ◽  
Research Group ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Research Synthesis ◽  
Large Group ◽  
Literature Reviews ◽  
Analysis Of Results

Research synthesis in ecology has typically been based on literature reviews, as is also common in other fields. That is, a search is conducted for relevant data addressing a particular research question, the utility of published and unpublished data is assessed, and the results are synthesized to address questions based on all of the available evidence. This chapter discusses the case of individual researchers who wish to combine the results of distinct experiments that they have conducted themselves or within a single research group, sometimes over the course of many years. Such efforts have many similarities with literature-based quantitative research synthesis, but differ in some important ways. It begins with several examples of such work, and investigates the challenges, potential pitfalls, advantages, and issues involved in using meta-analysis for the synthesis of such large-group collaborative experimental work.

Finding Automated (Bot, Sensor) or Semi-Automated (Cyborg) Social Media Accounts Using Network Analysis and NodeXL Basic

2017 ◽  
pp. 383-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shalin Hai-Jew
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Social Network Analysis ◽  
Network Analysis ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Other Information ◽  
The Face ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Levels Of Automation ◽  
Information Streams

Various research findings suggest that humans often mistake social robot (‘bot) accounts for human in a microblogging context. The core research question here asks whether the use of social network analysis may help identify whether a social media account is fully automated, semi-automated, or fully human (embodied personhood)—in the contexts of Twitter and Wikipedia. Three hypotheses are considered: that automated social media account networks will have less diversity and less heterophily; that automated social media accounts will tend to have a botnet social structure, and that cyborg accounts will have select features of human- and robot- social media accounts. The findings suggest limited ability to differentiate the levels of automation in a social media account based solely on social network analysis alone in the face of a determined and semi-sophisticated adversary given the ease of network account sock-puppetry but does suggest some effective detection approaches in combination with other information streams.

A Comparison of Two Different Strategies for Undergraduate Research Within the Framework of a Rotor Dynamics Laboratory

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim Meagher ◽  
Xi Wu
Keyword(s):  
Student Learning ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Rotor Dynamics ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Literature Searches ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Conducting Research ◽  
Directed Research

Introductory graduate level courses and upper division technical electives often present a student with his or her first research project. Time limitations of a course require a balance between open ended discovery, development of specialized technical knowledge, and teaching the mechanics of research methodology. The case study presented in this paper is an outline of two different strategies to introduce research to undergraduate students within the framework of a rotor dynamics laboratory. The laboratory had historically been designed to demonstrate machinery malfunctions in a series of short exercises. The laboratory was changed to have several introductory labs designed to prepare students for an extended self-directed research project that included literature searches, paper reviews, design of experiments, and presentation of research findings to the class. In one strategy the students were expected to practice discovery primarily through experimentation with specific, restricted goals. In the other strategy the students were given more flexibility defining the research question and in establishing priorities. Both projects had students design an experiment whose results were compared to mathematical simulations and each led to research that was presented at a conference. Although both were considered successful in terms of student learning and research outcomes, a balance biased toward experimentation and restricted student options for discovery actually led to broader research findings and more in-depth student research but with less student appreciation for and practice with the necessary preliminary stages of conducting research. The student learning experiences and methodologies for each scenario are presented and compared in this paper.

scholarly journals Systematic Literature Reviews: An Introduction

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1633-1642 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillaume Lame
Keyword(s):  
Design Research ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
Public Policy Research ◽  
Published Evidence ◽  
Literature Reviews ◽  
Sr Method

AbstractSystematic literature reviews (SRs) are a way of synthesising scientific evidence to answer a particular research question in a way that is transparent and reproducible, while seeking to include all published evidence on the topic and appraising the quality of this evidence. SRs have become a major methodology in disciplines such as public policy research and health sciences. Some have advocated that design research should adopt the method. However, little guidance is available. This paper provides an overview of the SR method, based on the literature in health sciences. Then, the rationale for SRs in design research is explored, and four recent examples of SRs in design research are analysed to illustrate current practice. Foreseen challenges in taking forward the SR method in design research are highlighted, and directions for developing a SR method for design research are proposed. It is concluded that SRs hold potential for design research and could help us in addressing some important issues, but work is needed to define what review methods are appropriate for each type of research question in design research, and to adapt guidance to our own needs and specificities.

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