New content alerts from The Research Observatory (RO) project at the University of the West of England (UWE). The RO is an online research teaching and learning resource developed by UWE's E-learning Development Unit. The resource is intended to help research students find appropriate learning materials to help them in their research studies. http://ro.uwe.ac.uk Put simply, generalisability asks: can the results of the research be applied more generally and more widely than the study itself or are they only relevant to the specific context of the study? Generalisability is concerned with whether research findings can be generalised beyond the specific context in which the research was conducted. A study may be valid in one setting but not in another and in this instance the research results would not be generalisable. http://ro.uwe.ac.uk/RenderPages/Context6/Area1/Room3/Constellation58 http://ro.uwe.ac.uk/RenderPages/Context6/Area1/Room3/Constellation58 This constellation aims to introduce some simple concepts associated with the design of an experiment. Designing an experiment would often take up a full year of study for an undergraduate university student. It is crucial to design an experiment before you begin, otherwise you might find that you do not produce valid, reliable results and that you may not be able to answer your research question. http://ro.uwe.ac.uk/RenderPages/Context6/Area1/Room3/Constellation54 http://ro.uwe.ac.uk/RenderPages/Context6/Area1/Room3/Constellation54 An analysis of data is usually required after you have undertaken research or an experiment in order to convert the data into useful information. Here, you will be presented with some example data that is used to explain and demonstrate some of the concepts associated with data analysis such as describing the data, producing a graphic and deciding how to statistically analyse your data. http://ro.uwe.ac.uk/RenderPages/Context6/Area1/Room3/Constellation57 http://ro.uwe.ac.uk/RenderPages/Context6/Area1/Room3/Constellation57 There is an increasingly wide range of scientific conferences in all research disciplines. This has, in turn, stimulated a rise in the number of conference abstracts submitted by researchers wishing to disseminate aspects of their research or examples of innovation and good practice. The aim of these learning materials is to review the essential stages of developing a strategy for writing a conference abstract that increases the chance of acceptance. http://ro.uwe.ac.uk/RenderPages/Context6/Area1/Room4/Constellation55 http://ro.uwe.ac.uk/RenderPages/Context6/Area1/Room4/Constellation55 In the course of your research, you will obviously wish to refer to the work of others, whatever its format, perhaps in a report, dissertation, thesis or presentation. Whilst citing other works is to be encouraged, it is imperative in all cases to correctly acknowledge the appropriate author, composer or designer etc, to avoid plagiarising their work. If the author is unknown then appropriate acknowledgement must still be made. Plagiarism is a serious breach of university conduct rules and is also an assessment offence. http://ro.uwe.ac.uk/RenderPages/Context6/Area1/Room2/Constellation46 http://ro.uwe.ac.uk/RenderPages/Context6/Area1/Room2/Constellation46 In all research it is vital that you are aware of the work that has gone on before you in your field, and what is going on now. Literature searching and reviewing are the techniques that achieve this, and an important element of the process is the ability to be critical about what you read rather than accepting it at face value. http://ro.uwe.ac.uk/RenderPages/Context6/Area1/Room2/Constellation47 http://ro.uwe.ac.uk/RenderPages/Context6/Area1/Room2/Constellation47 Synthesising literature involves pulling together all of the literature that you want to use to write your literature review or report, or to build a persuasive argument. http://ro.uwe.ac.uk/RenderPages/Context6/Area1/Room2/Constellation48 http://ro.uwe.ac.uk/RenderPages/Context6/Area1/Room2/Constellation48 Research is often an individual or small group activity, so communicating your findings and discussing your research widely is an important part of the research activity. It is unlikely to be very useful if it is kept a close secret! There are also a number of other reasons why a researcher may wish to write for publication. http://ro.uwe.ac.uk/RenderPages/Context6/Area1/Room4/Constellation49 http://ro.uwe.ac.uk/RenderPages/Context6/Area1/Room4/Constellation49 A research conference allows researchers to come together, to present their work or the research focus of their research group and to meet with other researchers to discuss, debate and collaborate. Most conferences offer the opportunity for postgraduate students and new postdoctoral researchers to present their research, usually in the form of a conference poster and less commonly in the form of an oral presentation. http://ro.uwe.ac.uk/RenderPages/Context6/Area1/Room4/Constellation50 http://ro.uwe.ac.uk/RenderPages/Context6/Area1/Room4/Constellation50 The Internet is an uncontrolled environment, so there is no peer review process of the information it contains and no quality control. This means that as well as containing a great deal of useful, trustworthy and accurate information the Internet is also full of inaccurate, untrustworthy and therefore useless information. It can be difficult to determine whether your Internet search results contain information that is suitably trustworthy and accurate to be used for your research. http://ro.uwe.ac.uk/RenderPages/Context6/Area1/Room2/Constellation44 http://ro.uwe.ac.uk/RenderPages/Context6/Area1/Room2/Constellation44 In all research it is vital that you are aware of the work that has gone on before you in your field, and what is going on now. Literature searching and reviewing are the techniques that achieve this, and an important element of the process is the ability to be critical about what you read rather than accepting it at face value. http://ro.uwe.ac.uk/RenderPages/Context6/Area1/Room2/Constellation45 http://ro.uwe.ac.uk/RenderPages/Context6/Area1/Room2/Constellation45