Abstract
Research is an integral part of academics. There are numerous courses and books on research methodology, however most of them start with the idea that the researcher already knows what they want to study. In their book “Where Research Begins” Drs. Thomas S. Mullaney and Christopher Rea address a niche need in research education: how to decide on a research topic and what question to pursue.
The impetus for this book came from a research methodology class that Mullaney and Rea taught together. They were excited and ready to help the students work through a research project. However, they felt like they hit a wall halfway through the semester when the students still felt unable to jump into their projects. Mullaney and Rea realized it was because the students still weren’t sure what to study or they weren’t passionate about the projects they had chosen. Mullaney and Rea concluded that before students understand how to research, they need to be able to decide what to research, and this book was their answer to that problem.
“Where Research Begins” can be read like a normal book but it is, in its true essence, a workbook, where the reader is encouraged to write, think, answer questions, sketch out ideas, and make the book their own. Each chapter begins by introducing what will happen and then moves on to teach the principle. Sprinkled in the chapters are very thorough activities to reflect and ask questions that will help the reader discover their own topic. These sections are incredibly thorough and sometimes difficult. They require a lot of honest introspection, but the results are very helpful.
The book is divided into two different sections. Part One is entitled “Becoming a Self-Centered Researcher” and consists of the first three chapters: Questions, What’s Your Problem, and Designing a Project That Works. Being a researcher who is “Self-Centered” may sound like a bad thing, but the author’s definition isn’t someone who is selfish or narcissistic. A Self-Centered Researcher is one who understands their limitations, interests, and biases. It is a researcher who tries to accept the advice of others while not finding validation from them. It is being centered in yourself as a researcher. The first three chapters are involved in finding one’s research question and discovering what is meaningful to oneself.
Part Two: Getting Over Yourself then takes the reader, who has learned to be centered and has developed an idea of their research question, and teaches them to look outside themselves for help and community. Chapter Four tells how to find a “problem collective” or a group of individuals who work on the same or similar problems. Then Chapter Five tells how to navigate one’s chosen field of study. Chapter Six is entitled “How to Begin” and explains the next steps of doing research. However, the book points out that if the reader has been diligent in using the book like a workbook and doing the activities, they have actually been tricked into starting the writing process. As the reader reaches the end and wonders what to do now it is encouraging to find out that they have already begun those next steps and are firmly on the path to a research project.
This is an excellent book for undergraduate students beginning their own research or in a research methodology course. In teaching Public Administration this book can be invaluable to students in and out of the classroom. In the safety of the classroom students can create a semester-long research project by identifying a question and developing a study comparing different administrative theories, or the investigating the benefits of certain tax policies in different cities. A good professor can use this book to help students think deeply about the subject that is being taught and find a passion somewhere within that subject.
With this familiarity with research and critical thinking, this book can continue to be a benefit to the student as they graduate and work in public administration. They will understand how to critically examine different problems within their communities. They will be familiar with how to gather information, say from a citizen survey, and understand what to do with that knowledge.
The examples and principles are generalizable enough to be applicable to things outside Public Administration, anything from Art History to Biochemistry. It is good for any student writing a thesis or thinking about a future dissertation. The introspective practices in the book can also be beneficial for any seasoned researcher to reflect about what they research and why, and how do develop the questions that lead them to answering the questions they hold inside. Essentially, if one does research, then this exercise in becoming a self-centered researcher can help them improve and understand what they do.