FIRST STEPS IN DOING RESEARCH

·       What kind of topics are you interested in researching?

The role of positive emotions on second language acquisition.

·       What initial research questions might be starting to emerge for you?

a)     What might be the contributions of positive psychology and affective and contemplative neuroscience to the field of language teaching and learning?

b)    What concrete positive psychology tasks or interventions could be used in the foreign language classroom to improve both academic and social emotional skills?

c)     What is the impact of social emotional learning programs to boost motivation and positive learning environments?

d)    Is it important to teach pro-social character strengths in the foreign language classroom?

e)     How can teachers design effective lessons that promote both language learning and emotional intelligence?

f)      Can contemplative practices such as mindfulness and relaxation techniques help students concentrate and learn better?

·       What are you interested in researching - people, groups, communities, documents, images, organisations?

Because of the nature of my research, I would really like to research people and communities as well as documents.

·       Do you have an initial ideas for the kinds of methods that might help you to gather useful knowledge in your area of interest?

I suppose a combination of methods might be  really useful: interviews, case studies and experiments could provide interesting information about my topic.

·       What initial questions do you have about those methods? What don't you understand yet?

I still need to study each of these methods in detail to actually see how they could be applied to my particular area of research.

·       Do you perceive any potential challenges in your initial ideas: either practical challenges, such as gaining access to the area you want to research, or the time it might take to gather data; or conceptual challenges; such as how the method you are interested in can produce 'facts', 'truths', or 'valuable knowledge' in your chosen area?

I suppose the most important challenge is to narrow down the topic and manage time effectively. I have three years to complete my PhD and  I need to manage time  effectively. Access to the area that I want to research will be relatively easy because it is my workplace.