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PADstone 184

Research guide for students completing the FYE or PADstone 184 course.

Developing a Research Question

While there are many ways to develop a research question and establishing a process, the one we’re going to cover today involves three simple questions:

  • What am I interested in?
  • What don’t I know about it?
  • Why do I want to know that? 

Another way to frame it is through the phrase:

I am studying ______ to find out who/how/why ______ in order to understand who/how/why ______.

CWU Resources

Source Evaluation

Look over these two sources:

  1. Joel Selvin. “Altamont Wasn’t the End of the ’60s, It Was the Start of Rock ‘n’ Roll Disasters.” Datebook. 2019.

  2. Helbing, Dirk, and Pratik Mukerji. "Crowd Disasters as Systemic Failures: Analysis of the Love Parade Disaster." EPJ Data Science, 2012, p. 40.

Using the SEE method, investigate each article to decide if the source would be useful for your assignment.

Evaluating Sources Using the CCOW Method

CCOW: credentials, claims, objectives, worldview

The CCOW method can be used to evaluate any source for appropriateness. Below is an overview on how to apply the method, see the guide for more detail.

Credentials - Investigate the credentials of whoever created the information with questions like:

  • Do they have experience or expertise in the subject they're discussing? Do they work in a field that qualifies them to talk about the subject?
  • What's their educational background? Do they have an advanced degree in the subject under discussion?
  • Do they have any other experience that might make them a good source of information? For instance, an eyewitness to an earthquake doesn't have to be a seismologist to give good information about what it was like to experience that event.

Claims - What claims are they making? Is the information they're providing accurate? Can we verify its accuracy?

Objectives - What did they hope to accomplish by creating the information?

Worldview - This element is connected to objectives in that it deals with bias and examining potential bias behind a publication and behind your perspective of a topic. Every source will have some degree of bias and that's expected, the questions you're asking here are: How does this source frame the situation? What language are they using that helps me understand their perspective or worldview? How does my perspective influence how I interpret a topic?

End of Session

Complete this brief survey at the end of the library session.

End of Session Survey