My first reaction to Lesson 5 is, why did we skip Lesson 3? Also, these initial videos are a little difficult to view in their proper sequence because of the overlap of the first two lectures and the elimination of Lesson 4 concerning SPSS. At this point in the class, I am somewhat confused about where we are headed. Lesson 2 dealt with scientific research, and Lesson 5 dealt with the research problem. But I am not sure how these topics relate back to Lesson 1 on sources of knowledge. I know that I will have to write a Research Proposal. Therefore, I am reasonably certain that these early lectures are leading me in that direction, but it’s just not obvious yet. Will our class be doing some kind of scientific research and basically ignoring the other sources of knowledge, or will all of these loose ends come together in some future lesson?

I found the professor’s discussion about how a research problem is developed to be interesting. The student should study the available literature on a variety of interesting topics and, then, decide on the problem to be researched based on what other research has previously occurred. Doing research in areas where other researchers have already shown an interest seems like a good way to do things. It does not make sense to research a topic in which there is little or no interest. I also did not know that research is unable to answer questions about values and morals, intangible ideas, or about philosophical and ethical matters. So, discussion about these areas taught me a lot that I did not already know.

Back To TLEE's Home Page

Index to Selected Essays And Book Reviews

Lesson 7. The Literature Review

Back to Lesson 5

Send email to: tlee6040@aol.com