BCOM 301: Business Communication: Research Plan

For more detail about types of information, view the video "What is Research" in the right-hand column.

Qualitative and Quantitative

• Qualitative information relies on non-numerical data like text, audio, or video. Qualitative research methods include interviews, focus groups, some surveys, observation, document analysis, case studies, and ethnography, allowing researchers to explore "why" and "how" questions.
• Quantitative sources rely on numerical data and statistical analysis. Quantitative research methods include lab research, some surveys, and experiments, allowing researchers to measure relationships between variables.

Primary and Secondary

• Primary information is recorded by someone who experienced an event firsthand. Primary sources include empirical (i.e. the authors collected new data) journal articles, news articles by on-the-ground reporters, and archival sources like diary entries and speeches.
• Secondary information interprets or analyzes information from primary sources. Secondary sources include literature reviews (journal articles that just summarize other research), encyclopedias, and textbooks.

Peer Reviewed

• Peer reviewed information is reviewed by at least two experts in a field, who provide feedback that must be implemented before the information is published. Usually, only scholarly sources such as academic journal articles, conference proceedings, and books published by university presses are peer reviewed.

For more detail about types of sources, view the video "Popular & Scholarly Sources" in the right-hand column.

• Scholarly Sources are written by scholars (e.g. professors, researchers, graduate students) for an audience of other scholars. The most common type of scholarly source is scholarly journal articles, but conference proceedings, books by university presses, and dissertations and theses also fall into this category. You can find scholarly sources in almost all of Forsyth Library's databases.
• Trade Sources are written by professionals working in a specific industry or profession for an audience of practitioners in that field. They include trade journals and industry-specific magazines. You can find trade sources in Forsyth Library's business databases. 
• Popular Sources are written by journalists and reporters for the general public. They include magazine and newspaper articles and blogs. You can find popular sources in many of Forsyth Library's databases, but we have some that focus especially on magazines and news articles. 

For more detail about format of sources, view the video "Information Types & Formats" in the right-hand column.

• Bibliographies are lists of resources about a specific topic. You have probably seen them at the end of books and papers, but you can also find standalone bibliographies. Forsyth Library doesn't have many, so consider searching WorldCat for bibliographies at other libraries. Request books from other libraries using our interlibrary loan service.
• Books: You can find books at FHSU using the Forsyth Library Catalog or our e-book databases, or books at other libraries via Worldcat. Request books from other libraries using our interlibrary loan service.
• Book Reviews are written analyses of a book's content and merit. You can find book reviews by using the resource type: reviews filter in the Forsyth Library Catalog or similar filters in most of our research databases.
• Conference Proceedings are papers presented at an academic conference. You can find them using resource type: conference proceedings filter in the Forsyth Library Catalog or similar filters in most of our research databases.
• Dissertations and Theses are written by graduate students to meet their graduation requirements: master's students write theses and doctoral students working on PhDs write dissertations. You can find a few of them in most of our research databases and larger collections in our Theses and Dissertations databases.
• Government Documents are published by government agencies. You can find links to government websites and repositories on our Government Documents LibGuide.
• Magazines: You can find magazines in most of our research databases, especially our magazine databases.
• Multimedia: You can find videos in our video databases. 
• News Sources: You can find news articles in most of our research databases, especially our news databases.
• Opinion Pieces are usually published in newspapers or magazines to express the author's opinion on a topic. Opinion pieces from readers who write in are called editorials. You can find them wherever there are newspapers and magazines, but they are hard to search for because most library databases don't have a filter for opinion pieces. However, you can find a lot of them in our Opposing Viewpoints database.
• Peer-Reviewed Articles are usually published in scholarly journals. They are reviewed by at least two experts in a field, who provide feedback that must be implemented before the article is published. You can find peer-reviewed articles by using the peer reviewed or scholarly filter in most of our library databases.
• Reference Sources, such as encyclopedias and dictionaries, provide factual definitions and topic overviews. You can find reference sources in our Encyclopedia/Reference databases.
• Trade Articles are journals and magazines for professionals working in a specific industry. You can find them in our business databases. 
• Websites are different from library databases for two reasons: first, the contents all usually come from one organization, not a collection of sources. Second, access is usually free or by individual subscription; you don't need to be affiliated with a library to get you past a paywall. You can find websites using a search engine, such as Google or Bing. 
   

Once you choose a topic and do some background research, you'll want to condense your topic into a research question. Topic mapping is a helpful strategy for brainstorming questions about different aspects of your topic.