{"id":507,"date":"2017-08-15T11:42:34","date_gmt":"2017-08-15T18:42:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0006\/?p=507"},"modified":"2017-08-15T11:42:34","modified_gmt":"2017-08-15T18:42:34","slug":"thoughts-on-george-veletsianos-on-research-podcast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0006\/thoughts-on-george-veletsianos-on-research-podcast\/","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts on &#8220;George Veletsianos on Research&#8221; Podcast"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Steve asked the question, \u201cWhen you undertake a research project, what are the first steps you take to get things rolling? (Getting the whole process moving seems very overwhelming.)\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That is a terrific question, and I appreciated Dr. Veletsianos\u2019 discussion.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_508\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-508\" class=\"wp-image-508 size-full lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0006\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/52\/2017\/08\/road-1668916_640.jpg\" alt=\"image of road leading off into the distance with START written over the road\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0006\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/52\/2017\/08\/road-1668916_640.jpg 640w, https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0006\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/52\/2017\/08\/road-1668916_640-300x169.jpg 300w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 640px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 640\/360;\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-508\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gerd Altmann, Pixabay, CC0<\/p><\/div>\n<p>There were two comments he made that particularly resonated with me (paraphrased):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>A project doesn\u2019t happen in a vacuum, and sometimes there are years of thought involved before it happens.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I was wagging my head in agreement when he explained this idea. Of course. It\u2019s unlikely that anyone would do a significant amount of research, much less a full-blown study, without having a substantial interest in the topic. I know there are topical areas that may be of greater or lesser interest in themselves, but that\u2019s not the same as embarking on a formal research effort where you&#8217;re seeking to extend the body of knowledge on a particular topic.<\/p>\n<p>On a personal level, I found this idea very comforting. I am not a linear thinker. It&#8217;s far more likely for me to have an idea that bubbles and percolates, with many of those bubbles fizzing off into their own explorations before I can express it in any sort of structured way.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>For a new project, or one based on prior work, understanding the big idea leads to formulating the research question.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>George gave a few example questions: What am I trying to answer? How are people feeling about <em>x<\/em>? Why are people doing <em>y<\/em>? What is the relationship between <em>variable a<\/em> and <em>variable b<\/em>?<\/p>\n<p>The concept of letting the big idea lead you to a research question was the prime takeaway for me. I have always had the instinctive need to research whatever I\u2019m doing\u2014whether that\u2019s understanding the building code requirements for a fireplace installation, or how AES 256-bit encryption works, or how parathyroid hormones work in canines compared to humans. I have realized that I placed \u201cacademic research\u201d on some sort of mythical pedestal, and hopefully, with enough research and reflection, I\u2019ll see that it\u2019s not a mystery per se, but a fascinating new area to explore and understand.<\/p>\n<h2>References<\/h2>\n<p>Altmann, Gerd. (Photographer). (2014).\u00a0<em>Image of Road<\/em> [digital image]. Retrieved from https:\/\/pixabay.com\/photo-1668916\/<\/p>\n<p>Veletsianos, G. (Author). (2017, August 10).\u00a0<em>George Veletsianos on Research<\/em>\u00a0[Audio podcast].\u00a0Retrieved from\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Steve asked the question, \u201cWhen you undertake a research project, what are the first steps you take to get things rolling? (Getting the whole process moving seems very overwhelming.)\u201d That is a terrific question, and I appreciated Dr. Veletsianos\u2019 discussion. There were two comments he made that particularly resonated with me (paraphrased): A project doesn\u2019t [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[49,50],"class_list":["post-507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lrnt522","tag-george-veletsianos","tag-research-questions","wpautop"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0006\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0006\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0006\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0006\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0006\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=507"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0006\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":514,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0006\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507\/revisions\/514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0006\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0006\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0006\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}