"Research as Inquiry"

Research as Inquiry describes the process by which researchers ask questions or state problems in order to find answers to contribute to the larger body of existing research within a discipline and referred to as “finding the gaps in the knowledge”.

Research is about the interplay of ideas (yours) with sources (from outside yourself) and about the nature and discovery of those sources.  Research is not a mystery or a lucky dodge, but an investigation you control from start to finish, even though you cannot usually tell what sources you will discover. It is also a form of structured inquiry with specific tools, rules, and techniques. Research can be unpredictable, sometimes frustrating, but ultimately rewarding as you examine your findings, then add your own insights to make a compelling case. For eg. if an activity is new to you, if it is familiar but a lot more complex than anything you have done in the past, if factors such as the setting or criteria for success are strange— then you will inevitably be unsure, anxious, and probably tempted to avoid the experience.  Imagine the first time you got an assignment, presumably after learning dozens of rules and an explanation how to do it. My guess is that although you felt somewhat uncertain about what to do and the order to do it in, you were so eager to get your assignment right that you remember the event as a stimulating rather than a harrowing experience.

Research is iterative (the act of repeating a process with the aim of approaching a desired goal, target or result) and depends upon asking increasingly complex or new questions whose answers in turn develop additional questions or lines of inquiry in any field in other words it is an ongoing exploration, depending on continuous questioning where answers develop new questions or new lines of interest in any field. It is fundamental for the development of higher order thinking skills.
 

According to Bloom’s Taxonomy, the ability to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information or new understandings indicates a high level of thinking. Librarians should be encouraging divergent thinking and allowing students the freedom to ask their own questions and to learn the effective strategies for discovering the answers. The higher order thinking skills that students have the opportunity to develop during inquiry activities will assist in the critical thinking skills that they will be able to transfer to other subjects. Research as Inquiry is also a process where students are involved in their learning, formulate questions, investigate widely and then build new understandings, meanings and knowledge. That knowledge is new to the students and may be used to answer a question, to develop a solution or to support a position or point of view. The knowledge is usually presented to others and may result in some sort of action.  Using inquiry-based learning with students can help them become more creative, more positive and more independent, including those with special needs who require more individual attention during the process.
 http://www.slideshare.net/sheilawebber/inquiry-based-learning-a-perspective

A teaching scenario for the Frame “Research as Inquiry.”

The Topic – I haven’t received a topic and created my own.

An investigation into the use of institutional repositories (IR)  in South African universities.

Research Questions:

1.      What is the importance of institutional repositories at universities?

2.      What is the effect of repositories on Journal Subscriptions to universities?

3.      What policies are in place to secure the engagement of authors of research output as depositors of material into an established repository?

Learning outcomes  

Learners should be able to:

• Formulate research questions, scholarly or creative problems with integration of fundamental principles and knowledge in a manner appropriate to the discipline.
• Develop and implement a plan of action to address research and inquiry questions or scholarly problems.
• Apply critical thinking skills to evaluate information, their own work, and the work of others.
• Identify significant ethical issues in research and inquiry and/or address them in practice.

Activity

• Formulate research questions based on curiosity and gaps in information or data available.
• Apply research methods that are appropriate for the need, context, and type of inquiry.
•  Identify key concepts and related terms in order to locate relevant sources for their cumulative projects.
• Analyze sections of a research article in order to conceptualize the research process used by experts in the field.

 

Show how each activity relates to a “knowledge practice” or “disposition”.

• The first activity relates to knowledge practice, as the student will develop abilities to formulate questions for research based on information gaps.
• The second activity relates to disposition, as the student will develop abilities to recognize different information sources.
• The third activity relates to knowledge practice, as students will develop the abilities to identify keywords for searching.