introduction to research assignment

How to Write a Research Paper Introduction (with Examples)

The research paper introduction section, along with the Title and Abstract, can be considered the face of any research paper. The following article is intended to guide you in organizing and writing the research paper introduction for a quality academic article or dissertation.

The research paper introduction aims to present the topic to the reader. A study will only be accepted for publishing if you can ascertain that the available literature cannot answer your research question. So it is important to ensure that you have read important studies on that particular topic, especially those within the last five to ten years, and that they are properly referenced in this section. 1 What should be included in the research paper introduction is decided by what you want to tell readers about the reason behind the research and how you plan to fill the knowledge gap. The best research paper introduction provides a systemic review of existing work and demonstrates additional work that needs to be done. It needs to be brief, captivating, and well-referenced; a well-drafted research paper introduction will help the researcher win half the battle.

The introduction for a research paper is where you set up your topic and approach for the reader. It has several key goals:

• Present your research topic
• Capture reader interest
• Summarize existing research
• Position your own approach
• Define your specific research problem and problem statement
• Highlight the novelty and contributions of the study
• Give an overview of the paper’s structure

The research paper introduction can vary in size and structure depending on whether your paper presents the results of original empirical research or is a review paper. Some research paper introduction examples are only half a page while others are a few pages long. In many cases, the introduction will be shorter than all of the other sections of your paper; its length depends on the size of your paper as a whole.

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Table of Contents

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The introduction in a research paper is placed at the beginning to guide the reader from a broad subject area to the specific topic that your research addresses. They present the following information to the reader

• Scope: The topic covered in the research paper
• Context: Background of your topic
• Importance: Why your research matters in that particular area of research and the industry problem that can be targeted

The research paper introduction conveys a lot of information and can be considered an essential roadmap for the rest of your paper. A good introduction for a research paper is important for the following reasons:

• It stimulates your reader’s interest: A good introduction section can make your readers want to read your paper by capturing their interest. It informs the reader what they are going to learn and helps determine if the topic is of interest to them.
• It helps the reader understand the research background: Without a clear introduction, your readers may feel confused and even struggle when reading your paper. A good research paper introduction will prepare them for the in-depth research to come. It provides you the opportunity to engage with the readers and demonstrate your knowledge and authority on the specific topic.
• It explains why your research paper is worth reading: Your introduction can convey a lot of information to your readers. It introduces the topic, why the topic is important, and how you plan to proceed with your research.
• It helps guide the reader through the rest of the paper: The research paper introduction gives the reader a sense of the nature of the information that will support your arguments and the general organization of the paragraphs that will follow. It offers an overview of what to expect when reading the main body of your paper.

What are the parts of introduction in the research?

A good research paper introduction section should comprise three main elements: 2

• What is known: This sets the stage for your research. It informs the readers of what is known on the subject.
• What is lacking: This is aimed at justifying the reason for carrying out your research. This could involve investigating a new concept or method or building upon previous research.
• What you aim to do: This part briefly states the objectives of your research and its major contributions. Your detailed hypothesis will also form a part of this section.

How to write a research paper introduction?

The first step in writing the research paper introduction is to inform the reader what your topic is and why it’s interesting or important. This is generally accomplished with a strong opening statement. The second step involves establishing the kinds of research that have been done and ending with limitations or gaps in the research that you intend to address. Finally, the research paper introduction clarifies how your own research fits in and what problem it addresses. If your research involved testing hypotheses, these should be stated along with your research question. The hypothesis should be presented in the past tense since it will have been tested by the time you are writing the research paper introduction.

The following key points, with examples, can guide you when writing the research paper introduction section:

• Highlight the importance of the research field or topic
• Describe the background of the topic
• Present an overview of current research on the topic

Example: The inclusion of experiential and competency-based learning has benefitted electronics engineering education. Industry partnerships provide an excellent alternative for students wanting to engage in solving real-world challenges. Industry-academia participation has grown in recent years due to the need for skilled engineers with practical training and specialized expertise. However, from the educational perspective, many activities are needed to incorporate sustainable development goals into the university curricula and consolidate learning innovation in universities.

• Reveal a gap in existing research or oppose an existing assumption
• Formulate the research question

Example: There have been plausible efforts to integrate educational activities in higher education electronics engineering programs. However, very few studies have considered using educational research methods for performance evaluation of competency-based higher engineering education, with a focus on technical and or transversal skills. To remedy the current need for evaluating competencies in STEM fields and providing sustainable development goals in engineering education, in this study, a comparison was drawn between study groups without and with industry partners.

• State the purpose of your study
• Highlight the key characteristics of your study
• Describe important results
• Highlight the novelty of the study.
• Offer a brief overview of the structure of the paper.

Example: The study evaluates the main competency needed in the applied electronics course, which is a fundamental core subject for many electronics engineering undergraduate programs. We compared two groups, without and with an industrial partner, that offered real-world projects to solve during the semester. This comparison can help determine significant differences in both groups in terms of developing subject competency and achieving sustainable development goals.

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With Paperpal Copilot, create a research paper introduction effortlessly. In this step-by-step guide, we’ll walk you through how Paperpal transforms your initial ideas into a polished and publication-ready introduction.

How to use Paperpal to write the Introduction section

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Step 5: Turn to Paperpal’s granular language checks to refine your content, tailor it to reflect your personal writing style, and ensure it effectively conveys your message.

You can use the same process to develop each section of your article, and finally your research paper in half the time and without any of the stress.

The purpose of the research paper introduction is to introduce the reader to the problem definition, justify the need for the study, and describe the main theme of the study. The aim is to gain the reader’s attention by providing them with necessary background information and establishing the main purpose and direction of the research.

The length of the research paper introduction can vary across journals and disciplines. While there are no strict word limits for writing the research paper introduction, an ideal length would be one page, with a maximum of 400 words over 1-4 paragraphs. Generally, it is one of the shorter sections of the paper as the reader is assumed to have at least a reasonable knowledge about the topic. 2 For example, for a study evaluating the role of building design in ensuring fire safety, there is no need to discuss definitions and nature of fire in the introduction; you could start by commenting upon the existing practices for fire safety and how your study will add to the existing knowledge and practice.

When deciding what to include in the research paper introduction, the rest of the paper should also be considered. The aim is to introduce the reader smoothly to the topic and facilitate an easy read without much dependency on external sources. 3 Below is a list of elements you can include to prepare a research paper introduction outline and follow it when you are writing the research paper introduction. Topic introduction: This can include key definitions and a brief history of the topic. Research context and background: Offer the readers some general information and then narrow it down to specific aspects. Details of the research you conducted: A brief literature review can be included to support your arguments or line of thought. Rationale for the study: This establishes the relevance of your study and establishes its importance. Importance of your research: The main contributions are highlighted to help establish the novelty of your study Research hypothesis: Introduce your research question and propose an expected outcome. Organization of the paper: Include a short paragraph of 3-4 sentences that highlights your plan for the entire paper

Cite only works that are most relevant to your topic; as a general rule, you can include one to three. Note that readers want to see evidence of original thinking. So it is better to avoid using too many references as it does not leave much room for your personal standpoint to shine through. Citations in your research paper introduction support the key points, and the number of citations depend on the subject matter and the point discussed. If the research paper introduction is too long or overflowing with citations, it is better to cite a few review articles rather than the individual articles summarized in the review. A good point to remember when citing research papers in the introduction section is to include at least one-third of the references in the introduction.

The literature review plays a significant role in the research paper introduction section. A good literature review accomplishes the following: Introduces the topic – Establishes the study’s significance – Provides an overview of the relevant literature – Provides context for the study using literature – Identifies knowledge gaps However, remember to avoid making the following mistakes when writing a research paper introduction: Do not use studies from the literature review to aggressively support your research Avoid direct quoting Do not allow literature review to be the focus of this section. Instead, the literature review should only aid in setting a foundation for the manuscript.

Remember the following key points for writing a good research paper introduction: 4

• Avoid stuffing too much general information: Avoid including what an average reader would know and include only that information related to the problem being addressed in the research paper introduction. For example, when describing a comparative study of non-traditional methods for mechanical design optimization, information related to the traditional methods and differences between traditional and non-traditional methods would not be relevant. In this case, the introduction for the research paper should begin with the state-of-the-art non-traditional methods and methods to evaluate the efficiency of newly developed algorithms.
• Avoid packing too many references: Cite only the required works in your research paper introduction. The other works can be included in the discussion section to strengthen your findings.
• Avoid extensive criticism of previous studies: Avoid being overly critical of earlier studies while setting the rationale for your study. A better place for this would be the Discussion section, where you can highlight the advantages of your method.
• Avoid describing conclusions of the study: When writing a research paper introduction remember not to include the findings of your study. The aim is to let the readers know what question is being answered. The actual answer should only be given in the Results and Discussion section.

To summarize, the research paper introduction section should be brief yet informative. It should convince the reader the need to conduct the study and motivate him to read further. If you’re feeling stuck or unsure, choose trusted AI academic writing assistants like Paperpal to effortlessly craft your research paper introduction and other sections of your research article.

1. Jawaid, S. A., & Jawaid, M. (2019). How to write introduction and discussion. Saudi Journal of Anaesthesia, 13(Suppl 1), S18.

2. Dewan, P., & Gupta, P. (2016). Writing the title, abstract and introduction: Looks matter!. Indian pediatrics, 53, 235-241.

3. Cetin, S., & Hackam, D. J. (2005). An approach to the writing of a scientific Manuscript1. Journal of Surgical Research, 128(2), 165-167.

4. Bavdekar, S. B. (2015). Writing introduction: Laying the foundations of a research paper. Journal of the Association of Physicians of India, 63(7), 44-6.

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Online Guide to Writing and Research

The research process, explore more of umgc.

• Online Guide to Writing

The Research Assignment Introduction

When tasked with writing a research paper, you are able to “dig in” to a topic, idea, theme, or question in greater detail.  In your academic career, you will be assigned several assignments that require you to “research” something and then write about it. Sometimes you can choose a topic and sometimes a topic is assigned to you.  

Either way, look at this assignment as an opportunity to learn more about something and to add your voice to the discourse community about said topic. Your professor is assigning you the task to give you a chance to learn more about something and then share that newfound knowledge with the professor and your academic peers.  In this way, you contribute meaningfully to the existing scholarship in that subject area. You are then creating a research space for yourself and for other researchers who may follow you.  

Mailing Address: 3501 University Blvd. East, Adelphi, MD 20783 This work is licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License . © 2022 UMGC. All links to external sites were verified at the time of publication. UMGC is not responsible for the validity or integrity of information located at external sites.

Table of Contents: Online Guide to Writing

Chapter 1: College Writing

How Does College Writing Differ from Workplace Writing?

What Is College Writing?

Why So Much Emphasis on Writing?

Chapter 2: The Writing Process

Doing Exploratory Research

Getting from Notes to Your Draft

Introduction

Prewriting - Techniques to Get Started - Mining Your Intuition

Prewriting: Targeting Your Audience

Prewriting: Techniques to Get Started

Prewriting: Understanding Your Assignment

Rewriting: Being Your Own Critic

Rewriting: Creating a Revision Strategy

Rewriting: Getting Feedback

Rewriting: The Final Draft

Techniques to Get Started - Outlining

Techniques to Get Started - Using Systematic Techniques

Thesis Statement and Controlling Idea

Writing: Getting from Notes to Your Draft - Freewriting

Writing: Getting from Notes to Your Draft - Summarizing Your Ideas

Writing: Outlining What You Will Write

Chapter 3: Thinking Strategies

A Word About Style, Voice, and Tone

A Word About Style, Voice, and Tone: Style Through Vocabulary and Diction

Critical Strategies and Writing

Critical Strategies and Writing: Analysis

Critical Strategies and Writing: Evaluation

Critical Strategies and Writing: Persuasion

Critical Strategies and Writing: Synthesis

Developing a Paper Using Strategies

Kinds of Assignments You Will Write

Patterns for Presenting Information

Patterns for Presenting Information: Critiques

Patterns for Presenting Information: Discussing Raw Data

Patterns for Presenting Information: General-to-Specific Pattern

Patterns for Presenting Information: Problem-Cause-Solution Pattern

Patterns for Presenting Information: Specific-to-General Pattern

Patterns for Presenting Information: Summaries and Abstracts

Supporting with Research and Examples

Writing Essay Examinations

Writing Essay Examinations: Make Your Answer Relevant and Complete

Writing Essay Examinations: Organize Thinking Before Writing

Writing Essay Examinations: Read and Understand the Question

Chapter 4: The Research Process

Planning and Writing a Research Paper

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Ask a Research Question

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Cite Sources

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Collect Evidence

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Decide Your Point of View, or Role, for Your Research

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Draw Conclusions

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Find a Topic and Get an Overview

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Manage Your Resources

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Outline

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Survey the Literature

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Work Your Sources into Your Research Writing

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Human Resources

Research Resources: What Are Research Resources?

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found?

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Electronic Resources

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Print Resources

Structuring the Research Paper: Formal Research Structure

Structuring the Research Paper: Informal Research Structure

The Nature of Research

The Research Assignment: How Should Research Sources Be Evaluated?

The Research Assignment: When Is Research Needed?

The Research Assignment: Why Perform Research?

Chapter 5: Academic Integrity

Academic Integrity

Giving Credit to Sources

Giving Credit to Sources: Copyright Laws

Giving Credit to Sources: Documentation

Giving Credit to Sources: Style Guides

Integrating Sources

Practicing Academic Integrity

Practicing Academic Integrity: Keeping Accurate Records

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Paraphrasing Your Source

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Quoting Your Source

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Summarizing Your Sources

Types of Documentation

Types of Documentation: Bibliographies and Source Lists

Types of Documentation: Citing World Wide Web Sources

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - APA Style

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - CSE/CBE Style

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - Chicago Style

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - MLA Style

Types of Documentation: Note Citations

Chapter 6: Using Library Resources

Finding Library Resources

Chapter 7: Assessing Your Writing

How Is Writing Graded?

How Is Writing Graded?: A General Assessment Tool

The Draft Stage

The Draft Stage: The First Draft

The Draft Stage: The Revision Process and the Final Draft

The Draft Stage: Using Feedback

The Research Stage

Using Assessment to Improve Your Writing

Chapter 8: Other Frequently Assigned Papers

Reviews and Reaction Papers: Article and Book Reviews

Reviews and Reaction Papers: Reaction Papers

Writing Arguments

Writing Arguments: Adapting the Argument Structure

Writing Arguments: Purposes of Argument

Writing Arguments: References to Consult for Writing Arguments

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Anticipate Active Opposition

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Determine Your Organization

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Develop Your Argument

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Introduce Your Argument

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - State Your Thesis or Proposition

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Write Your Conclusion

Writing Arguments: Types of Argument

Appendix A: Books to Help Improve Your Writing

Dictionaries

General Style Manuals

Researching on the Internet

Special Style Manuals

Writing Handbooks

Appendix B: Collaborative Writing and Peer Reviewing

Collaborative Writing: Assignments to Accompany the Group Project

Collaborative Writing: Informal Progress Report

Collaborative Writing: Issues to Resolve

Collaborative Writing: Methodology

Collaborative Writing: Peer Evaluation

Collaborative Writing: Tasks of Collaborative Writing Group Members

Collaborative Writing: Writing Plan

General Introduction

Peer Reviewing

Appendix C: Developing an Improvement Plan

Working with Your Instructor’s Comments and Grades

Appendix D: Writing Plan and Project Schedule

Devising a Writing Project Plan and Schedule

Reviewing Your Plan with Others

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How To Write A Solid Assignment Introduction

By: Derek Jansen | December 2017

I’ll kick off this post by making a bold assertion:

The introduction chapter of your assignment is the single most important section in your entire assignment.

Yip. Not the analysis chapter. Not the recommendations chapter. The introduction chapter. Yip, that short 200/300/400-word chapter that so many students rush through to get to the meatier chapters.  Why do I say this? There are a few reasons:

It creates the first impression.

Apart from the executive summary (which some assignments don’t have), the introduction creates the very first impression on your marker. It sets the tone in terms of the quality of the assignment.

It introduces your industry.

You might have decades of experience in your industry – but your marker won’t. This means that the simplest concepts can be misunderstood (and thereby cost you marks) if not explained right at the beginning of your assignment. A good introduction lays the foundation so that the marker can understand your upcoming arguments.

It defines and justifies your topic.

The introduction, if developed correctly, clearly outlines what the assignment will be about (and what it won’t) and why that’s important (i.e. a justification). In other words, it makes it clear what the focus of the assignment will be about, and why that is worth investigating. This clarity and justification of the topic are essential to earning good marks and keeping you focused on the purpose of the assignment.

It clarifies your approach.

Beyond the what and why, a good introduction also briefly explains how you’ll approach the research, both from a theoretical and practical perspective. This lays a clear roadmap both for the marker and for yourself. For the marker, this improves the readability and digestibility of the document (which is essential for earning marks). And for you, this big-picture view of the approach keeps you from digressing into a useless analysis.

In short, a good introduction lays a solid foundation and a clear direction for the rest of your assignment. Hopefully, you’re convinced…

The 5 essential ingredients.

In this post, I’ll outline the key components of a strong introduction chapter/section. But first, I want to discuss the structure.

Some assignment briefs will provide a proposed structure which combines the introduction and analysis chapters. I always encourage my clients to split this up into two chapters, as it provides a clearer, more logical structure. You’ll see why once I discuss the core components.

#1 – The Four Ws

A logical starting point is to assume the marker knows nothing about your business . Make sure you cover the basics:

• Who – what is the name of the business? If its multiple words, you should take the opportunity to introduce an acronym here. Then, stick to the acronym throughout the rest of the assignment. It’s also good practice to provide a list of acronyms in the appendix.
• What – explain what the business does, in simple English. Avoid industry jargon and explain the basic operating model of the business.
• Where – explain where the business operates from and where its customers operate. If you have multiple offices and serve multiple markets, a visual representation can save you some words.
• When – mention the age of the business, and how many staff it employs. You can also note the ownership structure (private company, listed entity, JV, etc).

If you’re only going to focus on one country/branch/department, make mention of this now. Also, be sure to justify why you’re focusing on that (for example, due to limited access to data).

If done right, you will have now painted a very clear (but concise) picture of the organisation for the marker. The next step is to discuss the context that the business operates in.

#2 – A brief discussion of the context.

Now that you’ve introduced the business, you need to move towards identifying the key issue(s) that will form the focus of the assignment. To do this, you need to lay a context, which will then lead to the issue(s). This will vary between assignments, and could be something like:

• The entry of new competitors resulting in reduced market share (STR, SM)
• A merger leading to a culture clash and poor performance (MP)
• A corporate scandal resulting in reputation damage (R&R)
• Changing regulation leading to the opening of a new potential country market (IB)

In other words, you need to present a (brief) story of how the key issue(s) or opportunity has arisen – X has lead to Y, which caused Z.

#3 – Identification of the key issue and research question(s).

With the context set, you need to clearly state what the key issue(s) or opportunity is, and why this is worth investigating (for example, due to the financial impact if left unresolved). This is pretty straightforward, but it is a critical step often missed by students, and results in the marker questioning the quality of the entire assignment.

With the key issue identified, its time to lay out your research question(s). In other words, state in question format, what question(s) your assignment will seek to answer.

For example:

• “What has changed in Organisation X’s competitive context, and how should it best respond to ensure sustainable competitive advantage?”
• “Should Organisation X internationalise to Country Y?”
• “What segments exist within Industry X and which segment should Organisation Y target?”
• “Which digital business model should Organisation X adopt?”

By stating your research question(s) up front, you are providing a very clear, focused direction for your assignment, thereby reducing your risk of getting distracted by the shiny objects that will invariably pop up along the way. You are stating clearly what you will and won’t focus on, and ring-fencing the assignment to a manageable breadth. This is critically important for earning marks, as it allows you to go deep into a highly relevant set of theories and develop meaningful insights, rather than superficially fluttering with numerous less-relevant ones.

What’s critically important is that you achieve alignment between the context, the issue(s) and the research question(s). They should all flow in a logical fashion, as shown below. 

If you achieve this alignment, you have a rock-solid foundation for your assignment, and your marker will be crystal clear regarding your direction, and why you chose that direction.

#4 – A brief outline of your theoretical approach.

Now that you’ve made it clear what your assignment is aiming to achieve (i.e. what research question(s) it wants to answer), it is very good practice to briefly mention:

• How you will approach the analysis.
• What key theory you will draw on.

In other words, you should give the marker an indication of how you approached the analysis, and on what theoretical basis. For example:

“The report begins by briefly looking at the organisation’s broader strategy, as well as values using Schwartz’s model (1994). It then reviews stakeholders using Mitchell et al.’s framework (1997) and identifies a key group with which reputation needs to be managed to achieve strategic alignment. It then analyses antecedents, reputation, and outcomes of the said group using Money et al.’s (2012) RELATE framework. This is followed by proposed strategic actions.”

As you can see, this excerpt clearly outlines how the analysis was approached, and what key theory was used in the relevant sections. This gives the marker a big-picture view of the assignment, which aids the digestibility of the document.

#5 – A brief outline of your fieldwork.

Now that you’ve communicated the approach, structure and underpinning theory, it’s best practice to make a quick mention of your fieldwork. Yes, you’re typically supposed to collect some primary data (for example, undertake some semi-structured interviews or a survey), as well as secondary data (for example, review industry reports, company data, etc), for your assignments – especially in Stage 2 and 3 of the program. 

In this final section, you should very briefly outline what you did in this respect so that the marker can rest assured that your assignment is not an opinion piece. A quality assignment draws on multiple data sources to make well-informed, data-backed arguments. Show that you’ve done this, and be sure to refer the reader to the appendices for evidence of this work (for example, interview transcripts, survey results, etc.).

Lastly, make mention of your relationship with the business, and your broad responsibilities. Remember to keep this in third-person language. For example:

“The author is employed as the [INSERT YOUR TITLE] and is responsible for X, Y and Z.”

Let’s recap.

In this article, I’ve hopefully convinced you of the critical importance of writing a strong introduction chapter. I’ve also presented 5 essential ingredients that you should bake into your intro in every assignment. By incorporating these ingredients (ideally, in this order), you will set the foundation for a strong assignment.

To recap the 5 essentials:

• A (plain language) explanation of the organisation.
• A brief discussion of the context.
• Identification of the key issue and research question(s).
• A brief outline of your theoretical approach.
• A brief outline of your fieldwork and your professional position.

You Might Also Like:

Informative and easy to apply advice…tx D

You’re welcome, Rishen 🙂

It is a very useful and understandable explanation of writing a research paper. Thank you so much for the sharing free such a useful example.

Yours sincerely Tara

This is really good, thank you.

Thanks for the feedback, Paul. Best of luck with your Henley MBA.

Very useful guide for the MBA. You mention that it’s good practice to use a range of sources to support arguments. If an assignment task isn’t that strategic (e.g. reviewing a process for a particular team within the business), can the assignment be supported purely by ‘fieldwork’ and models/theory? Thank you.

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How to Write a Research Introduction

Last Updated: December 6, 2023 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Megan Morgan, PhD . Megan Morgan is a Graduate Program Academic Advisor in the School of Public & International Affairs at the University of Georgia. She earned her PhD in English from the University of Georgia in 2015. There are 7 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 2,650,781 times.

The introduction to a research paper can be the most challenging part of the paper to write. The length of the introduction will vary depending on the type of research paper you are writing. An introduction should announce your topic, provide context and a rationale for your work, before stating your research questions and hypothesis. Well-written introductions set the tone for the paper, catch the reader's interest, and communicate the hypothesis or thesis statement.

Introducing the Topic of the Paper

• In scientific papers this is sometimes known as an "inverted triangle", where you start with the broadest material at the start, before zooming in on the specifics. [2] X Research source
• The sentence "Throughout the 20th century, our views of life on other planets have drastically changed" introduces a topic, but does so in broad terms.
• It provides the reader with an indication of the content of the essay and encourages them to read on.

• For example, if you were writing a paper about the behaviour of mice when exposed to a particular substance, you would include the word "mice", and the scientific name of the relevant compound in the first sentences.
• If you were writing a history paper about the impact of the First World War on gender relations in Britain, you should mention those key words in your first few lines.

• This is especially important if you are attempting to develop a new conceptualization that uses language and terminology your readers may be unfamiliar with.

• If you use an anecdote ensure that is short and highly relevant for your research. It has to function in the same way as an alternative opening, namely to announce the topic of your research paper to your reader.
• For example, if you were writing a sociology paper about re-offending rates among young offenders, you could include a brief story of one person whose story reflects and introduces your topic.
• This kind of approach is generally not appropriate for the introduction to a natural or physical sciences research paper where the writing conventions are different.

Establishing the Context for Your Paper

• It is important to be concise in the introduction, so provide an overview on recent developments in the primary research rather than a lengthy discussion.
• You can follow the "inverted triangle" principle to focus in from the broader themes to those to which you are making a direct contribution with your paper.
• A strong literature review presents important background information to your own research and indicates the importance of the field.

• By making clear reference to existing work you can demonstrate explicitly the specific contribution you are making to move the field forward.
• You can identify a gap in the existing scholarship and explain how you are addressing it and moving understanding forward.

• For example, if you are writing a scientific paper you could stress the merits of the experimental approach or models you have used.
• Stress what is novel in your research and the significance of your new approach, but don't give too much detail in the introduction.
• A stated rationale could be something like: "the study evaluates the previously unknown anti-inflammatory effects of a topical compound in order to evaluate its potential clinical uses".

Specifying Your Research Questions and Hypothesis

• The research question or questions generally come towards the end of the introduction, and should be concise and closely focused.
• The research question might recall some of the key words established in the first few sentences and the title of your paper.
• An example of a research question could be "what were the consequences of the North American Free Trade Agreement on the Mexican export economy?"
• This could be honed further to be specific by referring to a particular element of the Free Trade Agreement and the impact on a particular industry in Mexico, such as clothing manufacture.
• A good research question should shape a problem into a testable hypothesis.

• If possible try to avoid using the word "hypothesis" and rather make this implicit in your writing. This can make your writing appear less formulaic.
• In a scientific paper, giving a clear one-sentence overview of your results and their relation to your hypothesis makes the information clear and accessible. [10] X Trustworthy Source PubMed Central Journal archive from the U.S. National Institutes of Health Go to source
• An example of a hypothesis could be "mice deprived of food for the duration of the study were expected to become more lethargic than those fed normally".

• This is not always necessary and you should pay attention to the writing conventions in your discipline.
• In a natural sciences paper, for example, there is a fairly rigid structure which you will be following.
• A humanities or social science paper will most likely present more opportunities to deviate in how you structure your paper.

Research Introduction Help

Community Q&A

• Use your research papers' outline to help you decide what information to include when writing an introduction. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 1
• Consider drafting your introduction after you have already completed the rest of your research paper. Writing introductions last can help ensure that you don't leave out any major points. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

• Avoid emotional or sensational introductions; these can create distrust in the reader. Thanks Helpful 50 Not Helpful 12
• Generally avoid using personal pronouns in your introduction, such as "I," "me," "we," "us," "my," "mine," or "our." Thanks Helpful 31 Not Helpful 7
• Don't overwhelm the reader with an over-abundance of information. Keep the introduction as concise as possible by saving specific details for the body of your paper. Thanks Helpful 24 Not Helpful 14

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://library.sacredheart.edu/c.php?g=29803&p=185916
• ↑ https://www.aresearchguide.com/inverted-pyramid-structure-in-writing.html
• ↑ https://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/introduction
• ↑ https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/PlanResearchPaper.html
• ↑ https://dept.writing.wisc.edu/wac/writing-an-introduction-for-a-scientific-paper/
• ↑ https://writing.wisc.edu/handbook/assignments/planresearchpaper/
• ↑ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3178846/

About This Article

To introduce your research paper, use the first 1-2 sentences to describe your general topic, such as “women in World War I.” Include and define keywords, such as “gender relations,” to show your reader where you’re going. Mention previous research into the topic with a phrase like, “Others have studied…”, then transition into what your contribution will be and why it’s necessary. Finally, state the questions that your paper will address and propose your “answer” to them as your thesis statement. For more information from our English Ph.D. co-author about how to craft a strong hypothesis and thesis, keep reading! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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• USC Libraries
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Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper

• 4. The Introduction
• Purpose of Guide
• Design Flaws to Avoid
• Independent and Dependent Variables
• Glossary of Research Terms
• Reading Research Effectively
• Narrowing a Topic Idea
• Broadening a Topic Idea
• Extending the Timeliness of a Topic Idea
• Academic Writing Style
• Choosing a Title
• Making an Outline
• Paragraph Development
• Research Process Video Series
• Executive Summary
• The C.A.R.S. Model
• Background Information
• The Research Problem/Question
• Theoretical Framework
• Citation Tracking
• Content Alert Services
• Evaluating Sources
• Primary Sources
• Secondary Sources
• Tiertiary Sources
• Scholarly vs. Popular Publications
• Qualitative Methods
• Quantitative Methods
• Insiderness
• Using Non-Textual Elements
• Limitations of the Study
• Common Grammar Mistakes
• Writing Concisely
• Avoiding Plagiarism
• Footnotes or Endnotes?
• Further Readings
• Generative AI and Writing
• USC Libraries Tutorials and Other Guides
• Bibliography

The introduction leads the reader from a general subject area to a particular topic of inquiry. It establishes the scope, context, and significance of the research being conducted by summarizing current understanding and background information about the topic, stating the purpose of the work in the form of the research problem supported by a hypothesis or a set of questions, explaining briefly the methodological approach used to examine the research problem, highlighting the potential outcomes your study can reveal, and outlining the remaining structure and organization of the paper.

Key Elements of the Research Proposal. Prepared under the direction of the Superintendent and by the 2010 Curriculum Design and Writing Team. Baltimore County Public Schools.

Importance of a Good Introduction

Think of the introduction as a mental road map that must answer for the reader these four questions:

• What was I studying?
• Why was this topic important to investigate?
• What did we know about this topic before I did this study?
• How will this study advance new knowledge or new ways of understanding?

According to Reyes, there are three overarching goals of a good introduction: 1) ensure that you summarize prior studies about the topic in a manner that lays a foundation for understanding the research problem; 2) explain how your study specifically addresses gaps in the literature, insufficient consideration of the topic, or other deficiency in the literature; and, 3) note the broader theoretical, empirical, and/or policy contributions and implications of your research.

A well-written introduction is important because, quite simply, you never get a second chance to make a good first impression. The opening paragraphs of your paper will provide your readers with their initial impressions about the logic of your argument, your writing style, the overall quality of your research, and, ultimately, the validity of your findings and conclusions. A vague, disorganized, or error-filled introduction will create a negative impression, whereas, a concise, engaging, and well-written introduction will lead your readers to think highly of your analytical skills, your writing style, and your research approach. All introductions should conclude with a brief paragraph that describes the organization of the rest of the paper.

Hirano, Eliana. “Research Article Introductions in English for Specific Purposes: A Comparison between Brazilian, Portuguese, and English.” English for Specific Purposes 28 (October 2009): 240-250; Samraj, B. “Introductions in Research Articles: Variations Across Disciplines.” English for Specific Purposes 21 (2002): 1–17; Introductions. The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; “Writing Introductions.” In Good Essay Writing: A Social Sciences Guide. Peter Redman. 4th edition. (London: Sage, 2011), pp. 63-70; Reyes, Victoria. Demystifying the Journal Article. Inside Higher Education.

Structure and Writing Style

I.  Structure and Approach

The introduction is the broad beginning of the paper that answers three important questions for the reader:

• What is this?
• Why should I read it?
• What do you want me to think about / consider doing / react to?

Think of the structure of the introduction as an inverted triangle of information that lays a foundation for understanding the research problem. Organize the information so as to present the more general aspects of the topic early in the introduction, then narrow your analysis to more specific topical information that provides context, finally arriving at your research problem and the rationale for studying it [often written as a series of key questions to be addressed or framed as a hypothesis or set of assumptions to be tested] and, whenever possible, a description of the potential outcomes your study can reveal.

These are general phases associated with writing an introduction: 1.  Establish an area to research by:

• Highlighting the importance of the topic, and/or
• Making general statements about the topic, and/or
• Presenting an overview on current research on the subject.

2.  Identify a research niche by:

• Opposing an existing assumption, and/or
• Revealing a gap in existing research, and/or
• Formulating a research question or problem, and/or
• Continuing a disciplinary tradition.

3.  Place your research within the research niche by:

• Stating the intent of your study,
• Outlining the key characteristics of your study,
• Describing important results, and
• Giving a brief overview of the structure of the paper.

NOTE:   It is often useful to review the introduction late in the writing process. This is appropriate because outcomes are unknown until you've completed the study. After you complete writing the body of the paper, go back and review introductory descriptions of the structure of the paper, the method of data gathering, the reporting and analysis of results, and the conclusion. Reviewing and, if necessary, rewriting the introduction ensures that it correctly matches the overall structure of your final paper.

II.  Delimitations of the Study

Delimitations refer to those characteristics that limit the scope and define the conceptual boundaries of your research . This is determined by the conscious exclusionary and inclusionary decisions you make about how to investigate the research problem. In other words, not only should you tell the reader what it is you are studying and why, but you must also acknowledge why you rejected alternative approaches that could have been used to examine the topic.

Obviously, the first limiting step was the choice of research problem itself. However, implicit are other, related problems that could have been chosen but were rejected. These should be noted in the conclusion of your introduction. For example, a delimitating statement could read, "Although many factors can be understood to impact the likelihood young people will vote, this study will focus on socioeconomic factors related to the need to work full-time while in school." The point is not to document every possible delimiting factor, but to highlight why previously researched issues related to the topic were not addressed.

Examples of delimitating choices would be:

• The key aims and objectives of your study,
• The research questions that you address,
• The variables of interest [i.e., the various factors and features of the phenomenon being studied],
• The method(s) of investigation,
• The time period your study covers, and
• Any relevant alternative theoretical frameworks that could have been adopted.

Review each of these decisions. Not only do you clearly establish what you intend to accomplish in your research, but you should also include a declaration of what the study does not intend to cover. In the latter case, your exclusionary decisions should be based upon criteria understood as, "not interesting"; "not directly relevant"; “too problematic because..."; "not feasible," and the like. Make this reasoning explicit!

NOTE:   Delimitations refer to the initial choices made about the broader, overall design of your study and should not be confused with documenting the limitations of your study discovered after the research has been completed.

ANOTHER NOTE : Do not view delimitating statements as admitting to an inherent failing or shortcoming in your research. They are an accepted element of academic writing intended to keep the reader focused on the research problem by explicitly defining the conceptual boundaries and scope of your study. It addresses any critical questions in the reader's mind of, "Why the hell didn't the author examine this?"

III.  The Narrative Flow

Issues to keep in mind that will help the narrative flow in your introduction :

• Your introduction should clearly identify the subject area of interest . A simple strategy to follow is to use key words from your title in the first few sentences of the introduction. This will help focus the introduction on the topic at the appropriate level and ensures that you get to the subject matter quickly without losing focus, or discussing information that is too general.
• Establish context by providing a brief and balanced review of the pertinent published literature that is available on the subject. The key is to summarize for the reader what is known about the specific research problem before you did your analysis. This part of your introduction should not represent a comprehensive literature review--that comes next. It consists of a general review of the important, foundational research literature [with citations] that establishes a foundation for understanding key elements of the research problem. See the drop-down menu under this tab for " Background Information " regarding types of contexts.
• Clearly state the hypothesis that you investigated . When you are first learning to write in this format it is okay, and actually preferable, to use a past statement like, "The purpose of this study was to...." or "We investigated three possible mechanisms to explain the...."
• Why did you choose this kind of research study or design? Provide a clear statement of the rationale for your approach to the problem studied. This will usually follow your statement of purpose in the last paragraph of the introduction.

IV.  Engaging the Reader

A research problem in the social sciences can come across as dry and uninteresting to anyone unfamiliar with the topic . Therefore, one of the goals of your introduction is to make readers want to read your paper. Here are several strategies you can use to grab the reader's attention:

• Open with a compelling story . Almost all research problems in the social sciences, no matter how obscure or esoteric , are really about the lives of people. Telling a story that humanizes an issue can help illuminate the significance of the problem and help the reader empathize with those affected by the condition being studied.
• Include a strong quotation or a vivid, perhaps unexpected, anecdote . During your review of the literature, make note of any quotes or anecdotes that grab your attention because they can used in your introduction to highlight the research problem in a captivating way.
• Pose a provocative or thought-provoking question . Your research problem should be framed by a set of questions to be addressed or hypotheses to be tested. However, a provocative question can be presented in the beginning of your introduction that challenges an existing assumption or compels the reader to consider an alternative viewpoint that helps establish the significance of your study. 
• Describe a puzzling scenario or incongruity . This involves highlighting an interesting quandary concerning the research problem or describing contradictory findings from prior studies about a topic. Posing what is essentially an unresolved intellectual riddle about the problem can engage the reader's interest in the study.
• Cite a stirring example or case study that illustrates why the research problem is important . Draw upon the findings of others to demonstrate the significance of the problem and to describe how your study builds upon or offers alternatives ways of investigating this prior research.

NOTE:   It is important that you choose only one of the suggested strategies for engaging your readers. This avoids giving an impression that your paper is more flash than substance and does not distract from the substance of your study.

Freedman, Leora  and Jerry Plotnick. Introductions and Conclusions. University College Writing Centre. University of Toronto; Introduction. The Structure, Format, Content, and Style of a Journal-Style Scientific Paper. Department of Biology. Bates College; Introductions. The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; Introductions. The Writer’s Handbook. Writing Center. University of Wisconsin, Madison; Introductions, Body Paragraphs, and Conclusions for an Argument Paper. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; “Writing Introductions.” In Good Essay Writing: A Social Sciences Guide . Peter Redman. 4th edition. (London: Sage, 2011), pp. 63-70; Resources for Writers: Introduction Strategies. Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies. Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Sharpling, Gerald. Writing an Introduction. Centre for Applied Linguistics, University of Warwick; Samraj, B. “Introductions in Research Articles: Variations Across Disciplines.” English for Specific Purposes 21 (2002): 1–17; Swales, John and Christine B. Feak. Academic Writing for Graduate Students: Essential Skills and Tasks . 2nd edition. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2004 ; Writing Your Introduction. Department of English Writing Guide. George Mason University.

Writing Tip

Avoid the "Dictionary" Introduction

Giving the dictionary definition of words related to the research problem may appear appropriate because it is important to define specific terminology that readers may be unfamiliar with. However, anyone can look a word up in the dictionary and a general dictionary is not a particularly authoritative source because it doesn't take into account the context of your topic and doesn't offer particularly detailed information. Also, placed in the context of a particular discipline, a term or concept may have a different meaning than what is found in a general dictionary. If you feel that you must seek out an authoritative definition, use a subject specific dictionary or encyclopedia [e.g., if you are a sociology student, search for dictionaries of sociology]. A good database for obtaining definitive definitions of concepts or terms is Credo Reference .

Saba, Robert. The College Research Paper. Florida International University; Introductions. The Writing Center. University of North Carolina.

Another Writing Tip

When Do I Begin?

A common question asked at the start of any paper is, "Where should I begin?" An equally important question to ask yourself is, "When do I begin?" Research problems in the social sciences rarely rest in isolation from history. Therefore, it is important to lay a foundation for understanding the historical context underpinning the research problem. However, this information should be brief and succinct and begin at a point in time that illustrates the study's overall importance. For example, a study that investigates coffee cultivation and export in West Africa as a key stimulus for local economic growth needs to describe the beginning of exporting coffee in the region and establishing why economic growth is important. You do not need to give a long historical explanation about coffee exports in Africa. If a research problem requires a substantial exploration of the historical context, do this in the literature review section. In your introduction, make note of this as part of the "roadmap" [see below] that you use to describe the organization of your paper.

Introductions. The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; “Writing Introductions.” In Good Essay Writing: A Social Sciences Guide . Peter Redman. 4th edition. (London: Sage, 2011), pp. 63-70.

Yet Another Writing Tip

Always End with a Roadmap

The final paragraph or sentences of your introduction should forecast your main arguments and conclusions and provide a brief description of the rest of the paper [the "roadmap"] that let's the reader know where you are going and what to expect. A roadmap is important because it helps the reader place the research problem within the context of their own perspectives about the topic. In addition, concluding your introduction with an explicit roadmap tells the reader that you have a clear understanding of the structural purpose of your paper. In this way, the roadmap acts as a type of promise to yourself and to your readers that you will follow a consistent and coherent approach to addressing the topic of inquiry. Refer to it often to help keep your writing focused and organized.

Cassuto, Leonard. “On the Dissertation: How to Write the Introduction.” The Chronicle of Higher Education , May 28, 2018; Radich, Michael. A Student's Guide to Writing in East Asian Studies . (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Writing n. d.), pp. 35-37.

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Articles & Media

Books & eBooks

Your Research Assignment

Your assignment is where it all starts, pick your topic, can't think of a topic, tips for your assignments.

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Research Tutorial Links

1. Research Tutorial Your introduction to college level research.

2. College Level Research College level research, scholarly & peer reviewed articles and more.

3. Your Research Assignment Understanding your research assignment and picking a topic.

4. Find Your Sources Find college level books, eBooks, articles and media for your research assignments.

5. Evaluate Your Sources Evaluating your sources and spotting fake sites, fake news and media bias.

6. Cite Your Sources Citation, plagiarism, copyright and fair use.

Understanding your assignment is key. You should read your assignment as soon as you get it just so you have time to ask your instructor about anything that you’re not sure of.

Having the assignment with you when you search can help ensure that the sources that you find will work for the assignment. Circle, highlight or underline important requirements. If you are not sure what your instructor wants, ask!

What is your instructor asking you to do?

When reading your assignment focus on verbs like analyze , summarize or compare to understand what your instructor wants from you. Other important words to watch out for are how , why , when , etc. All of these words will help you focus on what you need for your research topic.

What are the rules of the assignment?

Many instructors have rules that they want you to follow in order to complete the assignment successfully. They frequently include things like:

• How long your paper or presentation should be
• That might include things like your textbook, class notes, books, articles, and Internet
• It might also include how long your sources need to be, when they were written and who wrote them
• MLA, APA, GSA, etc.
• Informational, persuasive, reflective, annotated bibliographies, scientific, etc.
• Word, RTF, PowerPoint, etc.
• What kinds of topics you can use

Once you have and understand your assignment, choosing a topic is the next step in the research process. In some cases, you will be assigned a specific topic for your research paper. In other cases you will be able to complete your research on a topic of your choice.

If you are able to choose your own topic, try to choose a topic that is interesting to you. You will be spending quite a bit of time doing research and writing your paper--interest in the topic can make the process much easier and help you write a better paper.

• Last Updated: Apr 17, 2023 3:46 PM
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Graduate Student Research Guide: Introduction to Research

Introduction to research.

• Books & E-Books
• Journal Articles
• Citations & LU Writing Center
• Dissertation Research & Scholars Crossing

This page provides a brief overview of how to begin the research process and lists services offered by the Jerry Falwell Library. To get started this video tutorial series outlines key components of conducting research at the Jerry Falwell Library. 

Start Here: Important First Questions

Before beginning the research process, pause to ask yourself these guiding questions:

• What is your assignment, and what are your professor's requirements?  

Take into consideration resource types (e.g. books, articles, data sets, market reports), resource publication dates, and scholarly literature available on your topic. Will you be able to successfully meet your professor's requirements given the scholarly resources available about your topic?

• What format is required? 

Are you writing a  literature review  or a research paper ? 

• How do I want to approach this topic? 

Who is my intended audience? What is the purpose of my writing-- to inform, to persuade, to present original research, or something else? What new idea am I introducing, or what is the central argument that I am trying to prove? What literature is available about my topic? Answers to these questions should inform how you approach the research, reading, and writing process. 

Research Tips and Tricks

Using a few of these tips and tricks will save you time throughout the research process! 

• When searching for books and articles, skim your search results

As you begin to research your topic, only skim materials. Briefly reviewing a book's synopsis or an article's abstract is enough to determine if the resource if valuable to your project.

• Be wary of highlighting 

It is tempting to simply highlight important information as you read scholarly works. Highlighting means that you plan on returning to that portion of the work again. Rather than highlighting and returning to re-read, save time by taking notes as you engage with the literature.

• Take notes as you read scholarly materials 

After collecting materials, begin to read your resources. Take paraphrased notes as you read. Taking notes will allow you to organize your ideas ahead of sitting down to write, which will save you valuable time. 

• Use a citation management service

If you want to use the material for your project, save the resource to your computer or to your  RefWorks account. You can review this tutorial  or workshop   to learn more about using RefWorks to simplify the research process. 

• Start early

Research takes time. Beginning the research process early provides time for reflection, trial-and-error, and if you need research assistance, you can collaborate with a librarian ahead of an upcoming deadline. 

Diving Into Your Discipline

As you dive into your research, consider the following: 

• Collect background information

Before investing in a research topic, find background information about your topic of interest. Use your background information to inform how you move forward with your research. If you are struggling to find scholarly resources, approach your idea from a different perspective or try a different search strategy. A great place to find background information is in encyclopedias and handbooks, such as in  Credo Reference . Additionally, conducting sample searches in  Library's catalog , ProQuest Central  or  EBSCO QuickSearch  are great ways to begin the research process. 

• Material currency

Do you need materials published within a specific date range, or are all publication dates acceptable? Limit your catalog and database searches to meet your date specifications. 

• Material reliability

Not all academic, scholarly resources are created equal. When selecting resources for your research, evaluate each resource for its currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, and purpose. The workshop Credible Sources: Checking the Quality of Information discusses how to choose credible sources. If you are having trouble discerning whether or not a resource is reliable, reach out to a librarian for assistance. 

• Scholarly communication

Where does your discipline publish leading research? For example, scholars in the humanities commonly publish their research in books, the sciences publish journal articles, and businesses publish market reports. Look for material types that align with your discipline. 

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Introduction to Research: The Research Process

• The Research Process
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• Where to Search
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What is Research?

Research is the process of searching for and gathering information about a question or concern that you have.  The question you ask can be simple or complex, but in either case you are still doing research.

How do I pick a topic?

A good topic is one that:

• researchers have written about,
• meets your assignment requirements,
• you are interested in,
• you can come up with questions about,
• involves multiple viewpoints, and
• has a scope that is not too broad or narrow.

If you are looking for help thinking up a topic, brainstorming can help.  There are many different ways to brainstorm .

• Analyze Your Research Strategy This tutorial from Portland State University will help you choose a topic, focus that topic, select evidence, and brainstorm keywords. more... less... Note that the tutorial has a Portland State University login window, but any viewer can click past it. It's worth it!

What is the Research Process?

The steps in the research process are to:

• choose a topic
• find background information
• create a research question
• develop a tentative thesis
• find out what evidence you need
• search and find evidence
• evaluate evidence, and
• create your paper or presentation

What if I can't find any information?

Here are some tips.

• Don't panic.
• Are you getting no results or too many?  You may need to broaden or narrow your topic/research question.
• Try brainstorming other ways to say the same thing.  Often academic articles use more formal language than we do.  Also, language changes.  What we call something now used to be called something else ten or twenty years ago.
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• Last Updated: Aug 29, 2019 2:22 PM
• URL: https://libguides.mcny.edu/research_process

Introduction to the Research Process: Research Assignments

• General Search Strategies
• Searching Online
• Searching Databases
• Searching Books

Research Assignments

The Research Assignments on this page will be similar to assignments that your instructors will ask you to complete. Need help? Contact your librarians! 

Balanced Research Portfolio

The “balance” in the Balanced Research Portfolio comes from your gathering a wide range of meaningful sources in a variety of formats on a topic that you are studying for class or for your own interest. Following the guidelines for this assignment and using the resources in this guide will help you to: gather information and sources on your topic, understand and evaluate those sources, engage deeply with new information that you find, and to notice and pursue connections among disciplines and ideas.

Assignment Create a balanced research portfolio on the topic of your choice.

GUIDELINES Be Curious  You can pick ANY topic.  Find something that you have always wanted to know about. Or something that you love. Or something that you keep hearing about but don’t understand. Be Balanced  You will need to collect high quality sources of different types:     Online source     General reference source     Book or ebook     Periodical source: Newspaper      Periodical source: Magazine     Scholarly journal Annotate   After you find the source, you have to read and digest it carefully. Toward this end, you will create annotations for the source that you select in each category. The annotations should be approximately one paragraph long. You should describe the source, explain its importance to your topic, and why you selected it. Be Reflective   At the end of this process and as the conclusion to your portfolio, write two paragraphs:  1) on the most interesting things that you learned about your topic, and 2) the most valuable things that you learned about the research process.

Final product Your final product will be annotated entries for 6 sources representing the above types. Each entry in your balanced research portfolio should begin with the correct MLA citation for the source, followed by your one paragraph annotation. The final part of your portfolio will be the Reflection section.

Annotated Bibliography

APA - Annotated Bibliography Example

Chicago Style - Annotated Bibliography Example

MLA - Annotated Bibliography Example

• A Complete Guide to the MLA & APA Annotated Bibliography A helpful guide from EasyBib.

Selection Strategies

If your instructor does not assign a specific topic for you to research, consider these strategies:

• Google 'Topics in [subject discipline, such as Health Science]'
• Try the Topic Selection Worksheet
• Browse topics in these databases:

For instructors

A good understanding of library resources, research skills, and information literacy in general is not set apart from the rest of a college education but intrinsic to it. The assignments posted here are examples of how library instruction can support your existing course content and provide your students with opportunities to engage with and evaluate information , analyze and synthesize concepts , create and support arguments , and think and write critically on a wide variety of topics. 

The librarians are happy to work with you to adapt or design an assignment to support your course objectives! Please contact us any time.

Brief or introductory assignments. 

Preliminary Bibliography

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Project: Video Submission

Project video presentation.

Due: Wednesday, 4/24

General Directions

The project video presentation is intended to provide a high-level overview of your project to an audience of your peers (that is, individuals who have a reasonable knowledge of data science but are not experts in your particular project topic). The presentation should demonstrate your ability to communicate the significance and interpret the findings of your research project. The presentation should stand on its own so that it makes sense to someone who has not read your proposal or prototype.

Your group should create a video recording of your presentation in which every group member speaks and in which you use a visual aid such as presentation slides. The easiest way to do this is to simply hold a zoom call with all members of your project group, share your screen with your presentation slides, and record either locally or to the cloud ( see Zoom recording help information ). If this is not possible, you can also record portions individually and combine the recordings (though this will require additional editing work). In the end, we will ask for a URL to your complete recording, so you can either provide a share link to a zoom cloud recording or you can record locally and then upload your recording to Duke Box, Warpwire, or any other cloud platform that we can access such that we can view your recording directly online (we should not need to download to view the recording). Ensure that anyone with the link can view the recording.

In terms of length, the presentation should be between 8 and 12 minutes . You can have as many slides as are necessary, but a typical pace has 1-2 slides per minute, so 8-24 slides total would be reasonable. Your slides should prioritize well-labeled figures or visualizations and use text sparingly to emphasize important points. The text should also be large enough that it is reasonably easy to read. When you are finished, you will submit a pdf of your slides to Gradescope under the assignment “Project Video Presentation.” Be sure to include your names and NetIDs in your final document and use the group submission feature on Gradescope.  Your first slide should include the URL where we can view the recording of your presentation.

• E (Exemplary, 10pts) – Video presentation is between 8 and 12 minutes.
• S (Satisfactory, 9 pts) – Video presentation is over 12 minutes.
• N (Not yet, 6pts) – Video presentation does not reach 8 minutes.
• U (Unassessable, 2pts) –  Video presentation is missing or does not demonstrate meaningful effort.

Part 0: Title Slide

The very first slide of your presentation should be a title slide containing at least the below information. It does not need to be in the actual video recording.

• A descriptive title of your project/presentation, not “CS216 Presentation Video”
• Names of all group members
• URL to the video recording of your presentation
• E (Exemplary, 10pts) – Work that meets all requirements.
• S (Satisfactory, 9pts) – The title is not descriptive but meets all other requirements.
• N (Not yet, 6pts) – Does not meet all requirements.

Part 1: Introduction and Research Questions

Your presentation should begin by introducing your topic generally and posing your research questions. Provide some explanation of the relevance or motivation of your research questions .

• E (Exemplary, 20pts) – General introduction to topic and clearly defined research questions and their motivations.
• S (Satisfactory, 19pts) – General introduction to topic and clearly defined research questions. Discussion of motivations may be missing.
• N (Not yet, 12pts) – General introduction to topic. Research questions and motivations are not clearly defined.
• U (Unassessable, 4pts) – Introduction and research questions are missing or do not demonstrate meaningful effort.

Part 2: Data Sources

Discuss the data you collected and used to answer your research questions. Be specific: name the datasets you are using, the information they contain, and where they were collected from/how they were prepared.

• E (Exemplary, 20pts) – Origins of data are properly specified, cited, and include discussion of what information they contain. Any relevant data wrangling, cleaning, or other data preparation is explained.
• S (Satisfactory, 19pts) – Origins of data are properly specified, cited, and include discussion of what information they contain. Any relevant data wrangling, cleaning, or other data preparation may be missing or could be improved.
• N (Not yet, 12pts) – Poorly specified data sources and lack of discussion of preparing the dataset.
• U (Unassessable, 4pts) – Discussion of data sources and data preparation are missing or do not demonstrate meaningful effort.

Part 3: Results

Describe your results. Where possible, provide well-labeled and legible charts/figures in your slides to summarize results instead of verbose text. Interpret the results in the context of your research questions. It may not be possible to describe every individual result from your project in a brief amount of time. Focus on the most important and essential results for addressing your research questions. Please note that a screenshot of your dataset does not count as a table or figure and should not be included in your video presentation.

Unlike your final report, it is not generally possible to describe your methods in sufficient detail in a short presentation so that an informed audience member could reproduce your results. Instead, you should focus on your results and their interpretation, and only discuss methods at a high level such as may be necessary to interpret the results.

Example of Interpreting results

Do not: “When we conducted our hypothesis test, we found that p < 0.05, so our results are significant.”

Do: “Since our p-value is significant, we could determine that generation 1 pokemon have a different popularity than all other pokemon. And since the mean popularity of generation 1 is higher than the mean of all the other pokemon, we can conclude that generation 1 is on average more popular.” [The slide shows the p-value]

• E (Exemplary, 20pts) – Most important and essential results are thoroughly discussed using labeled tables or figures followed by an interpretation of the results in the context of the research questions. 
• S (Satisfactory, 19pts) – Results are thoroughly discussed using labeled tables or figures followed by an interpretation of the results in the context of the research questions. Maybe missing an important result that should have been included.
• N (Not yet, 12pts) – Results are discussed using tables with missing labels or lacking interpretation in the context of the research questions.
• U (Unassessable, 4pts) – Results are missing or do not demonstrate meaningful effort. 

Part 4: Limitations and Future Work

You should briefly discuss any important limitations or caveats to your results with respect to answering your research questions. For example, if you don’t have as much data as you would like or are unable to fairly evaluate the performance of a predictive model, explain and contextualize those limitations. You may want to consider any ethical implications or acknowledge potential biases in the results. 

Finally, provide a brief discussion of future work. This could explain how future research might address the limitations you outline, or it could pose additional follow-up research questions based on your results so far. In short, explain how an informed audience member (such as a peer in the class) could improve on and extend your results.

• E (Exemplary, 20pts) – Comprehensive and explicit discussion of important limitations and caveats to results. Brief discussion of future work and how results could be extended and improved upon.
• S (Satisfactory, 19pts) – Comprehensive and explicit discussion of important limitations and caveats to results. Discussion of future work and how results could be extended and improved upon may lack some specification.
• N (Not yet, 12pts) – Incomplete discussion of important limitations and caveats to results. Discussion of future work and how results could be extended and improved upon may lack some specification.
• U (Unassessable, 4pts) – Limitations and future work are missing or do not demonstrate meaningful effort.

Checklist Before You Submit:

• Is your video presentation between 8 and 12 minutes in length?
• A title of your project/presentation
• Do you feel as if this part meets the requirements of E (Exemplary) or S (Satisfactory) ?

Author Joey Scarpa

Posted March 30, 2024 — 4:30 pm

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• Open access
• Published: 26 March 2024

Australian human-induced native forest regeneration carbon offset projects have limited impact on changes in woody vegetation cover and carbon removals

• Andrew Macintosh   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5700-7105 1 ,
• Don Butler   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6019-1078 1 ,
• Pablo Larraondo 2 ,
• Megan C. Evans 3 ,
• Dean Ansell 1 ,
• Marie Waschka   ORCID: orcid.org/0009-0001-4574-4834 1 ,
• Rod Fensham   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-3658-5867 4 ,
• David Eldridge   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-2191-486X 5 ,
• David Lindenmayer   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4766-4088 1 ,
• Philip Gibbons 1 &
• Paul Summerfield 1  

Communications Earth & Environment volume  5 , Article number:  149 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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• Climate-change mitigation
• Environmental studies

Carbon offsets are a widely used climate policy instrument that can reduce mitigation costs and generate important environmental and social co-benefits. However, they can increase emissions if they lack integrity. We analysed the performance of one of the world’s largest nature-based offset types: human-induced regeneration projects under Australia’s carbon offset scheme. The projects are supposed to involve the human-induced regeneration of permanent even-aged native forests through changes in land management. We analysed 182 projects and found limited evidence of regeneration in credited areas. Changes in woody vegetation cover within the areas that have been credited also largely mirror changes in adjacent comparison areas, outside the projects, suggesting the observable changes are predominantly attributable to factors other than the project activities. The results add to the growing literature highlighting the practical limitations of offsets and the potential for offset schemes to credit abatement that is non-existent, non-additional and potentially impermanent.

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Introduction

Carbon offsets are a widely used climate policy instrument that are considered integral to government and corporate decarbonisation plans 1 , 2 , 3 . Under offset schemes, projects that reduce emissions relative to counterfactual baselines receive credits, which can be used by others to offset their emissions. The benefits of offsets include that they can reduce mitigation costs, generate important environmental and social co-benefits, and reduce political resistance to carbon pricing by lowering compliance costs for facilities with carbon liabilities 4 , 5 , 6 .

Whether the environmental and economic benefits of offsets materialise depends on the environmental integrity of the credits. If the credits lack integrity, offsets can facilitate increases in emissions and thereby work against greenhouse gas mitigation objectives. Carbon offsets are considered to have environmental integrity when there is high confidence they represent real, additional and permanent abatement 1 , 7 , 8 , 9 . In this context, ‘realness’ refers to the extent to which credits reflect carbon removals or emission reductions that are directly attributable to the project activities 1 , 9 , 10 . ‘Additionality’ requires that the credited removals or emission reductions would not have occurred without the incentive provided by the offset scheme 11 . Permanence relates exclusively to sequestration projects and requires credited removals to persist in relevant carbon stocks like vegetation and soils 9 , 11 , 12 .

Research on the integrity of carbon offsets has found material issues with the realness, additionality and permanence of credited abatement, raising questions about their effectiveness in assisting decarbonisation 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 . Similar issues have arisen with biodiversity offsets 26 , 27 .

Carbon offsets have been a central feature of climate policy in Australia for two decades. Under a provincial mandatory carbon trading scheme (the world’s first) that operated in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory between 2003 and 2012 covered facilities were allowed to use offsets from designated project types to meet their emission reduction obligations 28 . In late 2011, a national carbon offset scheme was introduced, which was relied upon as the main Australian Government mitigation policy between 2014 and 2022 29 . The object of the national offset scheme is to incentivise offset projects that help Australia meet its international greenhouse gas mitigation obligations 29 . Each credit issued under the scheme is supposed to represent abatement equivalent to one tonne of CO 2 .

The national offset scheme is now linked to a national mandatory carbon pricing instrument; the Safeguard Mechanism. As with the previous provincial carbon trading scheme, facilities covered by the Safeguard Mechanism can use credits issued under the offset scheme to meet their emission reduction obligations. There are no restrictions on the extent to which covered facilities can rely on offset credits to meet their obligations. The only relevant restriction is that the credits must come from projects registered under the national scheme.

The most popular project type under the national offset scheme is human-induced regeneration of permanent even-aged native forests (HIR) 30 . HIR projects received 37 million credits to June 2023, almost 30% of the issuances under the scheme 31 . The projects cover almost 42 million hectares, an area larger than Japan 31 . As of 30 June 2023, they were the world’s fifth largest nature-based offset type by credit issuances, and the largest when projects involving avoided emissions are excluded (Supplementary Fig. S 1 ).

Under the applicable rules (found in the ‘HIR method’), HIR projects should involve the human-induced regeneration of permanent even-aged native forests across the entirety of the areas that are credited (‘credited areas’) (Fig.  1 ) 30 . The projects do not involve planting or direct seeding. Regeneration must be induced by the project activities from ‘the germination of in situ seed, or the growth of in situ seedlings, rootstock or lignotuber’ 30 . The project activities can include reducing grazing pressure from livestock and feral animals, management of non-native plants, and cessation of clearing of native plant regrowth 30 , 32 , 33 .

In the baseline scenario (yellow ribbon), clearing, grazing and/or weeds suppress regeneration of woody plants, ensuring the credited area has predominantly non-woody cover throughout the projection period. In the project scenario (black-red ribbon), the credited area initially has predominantly non-woody cover due to the effects of clearing, grazing and/or weeds. The project involves the removal or mitigation of these suppressors, which leads to even-aged forest regeneration. The credited area should transition from predominantly non-woody cover to predominantly sparse woody cover, and then to forest cover, and retain forest cover throughout the permanence period. In the regions where HIR projects are located, credited areas should have forest cover when tree and debris biomass reaches ~7.2–11 dry metric tonnes (dmt) per hectare.

Sequestration in HIR projects is not directly measured, it is estimated as the product of the size of the credited areas and sequestration per unit area, which is modelled using the Australian Government’s Full Carbon Accounting Model 34 . The model uses a simple tree yield formula to estimate above-ground biomass per hectare in regenerating forests 35 , 36 , 37 . It assumes credited areas start with little woody biomass and grow towards their maximum woody biomass potential under native vegetation. Maximum above-ground woody biomass potential ( M ) is modelled spatially using a range of biophysical parameters calibrated against measurements of intact native vegetation 38 . The most recent calibration of the tree yield formula estimates above-ground biomass in regeneration under average climate conditions after a years to be M.e (−23.81/a) (Supplementary Fig. S 2 ) 37 .

The above-ground biomass estimates from the model’s tree yield formula are partitioned into biomass and debris pools via standardised allocation ratios (e.g. root-shoot), and turnover and decomposition rates, to calculate carbon accumulation in live above- and below-ground biomass and debris 39 . The model includes a soil carbon module but it is not used for HIR projects; the projects are credited for increases only in live biomass and dead organic matter.

Most HIR projects are claiming to regenerate native forests by reducing grazing pressure from livestock and/or feral herbivores in arid and semi-arid ‘rangeland’ areas (<350 mm average annual rainfall) that have never been comprehensively cleared of native vegetation (Fig.  2 , Supplementary Fig. S 3 ). The location of the projects in uncleared rangelands (where there is often limited and highly variable rainfall) raises questions about the capacity of the credited areas to permanently support material additional woody biomass, and the realness, additionality and permanence of credited abatement 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 .

The 182 projects analysed in this paper in light green. Source: Australian Government. Area-based Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) projects. Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra (2023); Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. National Vegetation Information System (NVIS) data products, version 6. Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra (2023); New South Wales Government. NSW State Vegetation Type Map. NSW Government, Sydney (2023); Geoscience Australia. GEODATA COAST 100K 2004. Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra (2023).

Plant growth is constrained by the availability of resources (water, nutrients, light etc.), which limit woody biomass potential under native vegetation 44 , 45 , 46 . In most of Australia’s uncleared rangelands, the key limiting resource is water and its availability depends on variable rainfall, which fluctuates over time-scales from months to decades 47 . Variations in rainfall and water availability drive changes in plant growth, including woody biomass 47 , 48 .

The primary way grazing could affect forest cover in uncleared areas is by impeding woody plant recruitment during recovery after periods of drought or fires, where cover has been lost through tree death 49 , 50 , 51 . For grazing to prevent the regeneration of forests in these circumstances, grazing intensity after a mortality event would need to be sufficiently intense to prevent recruitment and then be maintained over multiple decades to suppress subsequent recruitment. Grazing in Australia’s uncleared rangelands has been shown to have local, short-term effects on regeneration, but assessments over larger spatial and temporal scales show that grazing has not generally reduced tree cover 52 , and that the influence of grazing alone on woody plants is minimal compared to the effect of variable rainfall 53 , 54 , 55 .

This is illustrated through the well-documented increase in tree cover that occurred across substantial parts of Australia’s grazed eastern rangelands through the twentieth century, particularly following a series of La Niña events from the 1950s that brought above-average rainfall 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 . Similarly, more than 300,000 ha of secondary native forest is re-cleared annually in Australia in areas previously cleared for grazing 39 , 60 , 61 , typically on cycles of around 8–30 years 53 , 60 . This re-clearing would not be necessary if grazing was suppressing regeneration of native forests.

Because grazing does not have a material negative influence on tree cover in Australia’s rangelands, HIR projects are unlikely to regenerate permanent native forest through grazing control in uncleared areas. In some cases, reduced grazing could increase tree cover but, generally, any management-induced increases are likely to be relatively small and often short-lived (since droughts can remove excess biomass accumulated during wet times) 62 .

The modelling approach used to calculate abatement for HIR projects compounds the resulting integrity risks. Projects could be credited for forest regeneration that has not occurred or that does not persist. The HIR method also does not control for the over-riding impacts of rainfall on regeneration in the rangelands, creating a risk that projects will be credited for increases in tree cover that are mainly attributable to natural variations in rainfall rather than the project activities (i.e. non-additional) 42 , 43 .

Here we present the results of an analysis of HIR projects conducted using the Australian Government’s National Forest and Sparse Woody (NFSW) dataset (Version 7.0) 63 . The dataset provides Landsat-derived estimates of the spatial extent of three classes of woody vegetation cover across Australia over the period 1988 to 2022. The data are a near-annual time series in which 25 m grid cells are classified as either non-woody, sparse woody (sub-forest woody cover where crown cover is between 5–19%) or forest (woody vegetation ≥2 m tall with crown cover >20% over at least 0.2 ha).

The object of our analysis was to assess the performance of HIR projects using two metrics:

the extent of the increase in forest cover and ‘woody cover’ (areas with either forest or sparse woody cover) in the credited areas of HIR projects; and

the extent to which changes in forest and woody cover in the credited areas of HIR projects have mirrored trends in paired controls for each project, comprising 3 km wide buffer areas outside the project boundaries that exclude areas in other HIR projects (‘comparison areas’).

Metric (1) provides a proxy measure of the likely increases in woody biomass in the credited areas of HIR projects. When combined with data on credit issuances, it serves as an indicator of over-crediting risk (i.e. whether sequestered CO 2 is likely to be materially less than credited sequestration). Metric (2) provides a measure of the extent to which changes in forest and woody cover in the credited areas of HIR projects are additional to what would otherwise have occurred (i.e. attributable to the project activities or other factors such as rainfall variability). Together, metrics (1) and (2) provide a basis on which to draw conclusions about the extent to which HIR projects have helped Australia meet its international mitigation obligations, consistent with the scheme’s objectives 29 .

Published estimates of the accuracy of the classifications of pixels to forest, sparse or non-woody in the NFSW dataset suggest accuracy of 95% or more for forest and non-woody classes where no change is indicated, with lower confidence for classification of sparse woody pixels (~66%) 39 , 64 . Error rates are likely to be somewhat higher for classification of changes between years, but there is also no reason to expect biases in error between credited areas and comparison areas used in our analysis. Notably, the Australian Government relies on the NFSW dataset to estimate land sector emissions and removals in its greenhouse accounts 39 . Greenhouse gas outcomes from changes in tree cover in Australia’s rangelands are not accounted for in Australia’s greenhouse accounts if they are not detected in the NFSW dataset. The fact that the Australian Government relies on the NFSW dataset to track reforestation and revegetation for greenhouse accounting purposes justifies its use to assess outcomes from HIR projects.

All HIR projects whose credited area location data were published as of 22 June 2023 and that were registered in or before 2018 (providing at least four data points in the NFSW time series post registration) were included in the analysis, except where they were completely surrounded by other projects or the published spatial files were corrupt 65 , 66 . The projects ( n  = 182) included in the analysis covered a combined area of 9.5 M ha, with their credited areas covering 3.4 M ha (Fig.  2 , Table  1 ). The projects in the sample were registered over the period 11 December 2013 to 30 November 2018, with most (75%) registered in 2015, 2016 and 2017 (Supplementary Fig. S 4 ).

Change in forest and sparse woody cover

The analysed projects received 27.4 million credits over the period from 11 December 2013 (when the first HIR project was registered) to 30 June 2022, suggesting a substantial proportion of the credited areas should have transitioned from non-woody cover to either sparse woody or forest cover because of the human-induced forest regeneration 31 . This has not occurred.

Almost 50% of the credited areas had sparse woody or forest cover when the projects were registered (median woody cover 46.5% (sd 22.5%), median forest cover 12.7% (sd 12.9%)). This is problematic as it indicates that most projects are seeking to regenerate permanent even-aged native forests on land that contained material amounts of pre-existing woody vegetation. Competition from the pre-existing woody vegetation is likely to limit additional forest regeneration.

Consistent with this, there was relatively little change in woody cover in the credited areas over the study period. Almost 80% of projects ( n  = 143) experienced negative or negligible change in woody cover in the credited areas over the period from project registration to 2022 (Table  1 , see methods for definitions of negative, negligible and positive woody cover change). Despite the absence of positive woody cover change, these 143 projects received 22.9 million credits over the period 31 .

At an aggregate level, woody cover increased by a mere 0.8% (28,155 ha) across the 3.4 M ha credited area: forest cover increased by 3.6% (124,852 ha); and sparse woody cover decreased by −2.8% (96,697 ha) (Supplementary Fig.  5 ). By comparison, gains and losses in sparse woody cover alone across Australia averaged 2.2 M ha year −1 and −2.1 M ha year −1 respectively over the period 2013–14 to 2020–21 39 .

The modest gain in woody cover in the credited areas after project registration continued a trend that started in the late 2000s, before the HIR method was developed (Fig.  3 ). The increase in woody cover in the credited areas that pre-dates the method is difficult to reconcile with the premise of the projects: that grazing was previously suppressing regeneration and that, without the projects, it would not occur (Fig.  1 ).

Source: Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. National Forest and Sparse Woody Vegetation Data (Version 7.0 - 2022 Release) (2023); Clean Energy Regulator. Emissions Reduction Fund project register. Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra (2023). The green bar shows when most (75%) of the HIR projects in the sample were registered (2015–2017).

There is a relationship between biomass in forest regeneration (above- and below-ground live biomass, litter, and dead wood) and crown cover in the forest systems where HIR projects are located 67 . This relationship suggests that forest cover (>20% crown cover) should be achieved when tree and debris biomass reaches 7.2 to 11 tonnes of dry matter per hectare, equivalent to 13.2–20.2 tCO 2 ha −1   67 . To 30 June 2022, estimated average credited sequestration in the 182 projects in the sample was 12.9 tCO 2 ha −1 (median 11.5 tCO 2 ha −1 , sd 8.9 tCO 2 ha −1 ) 31 . The estimated credited sequestration in 75 of these projects (41%) was ≥13.2 tCO 2 ha −1 (mean 21.6 tCO 2 ha −1 , median 20.8 tCO 2 ha −1 , sd 6.5 tCO 2 ha −1 ) 31 . This suggests that, based on the credits that have been issued, a substantial proportion of the total credited area should have already attained forest cover. However, for the 75 projects with credited sequestration ≥13.2 tCO 2 ha −1 , only 21% (188,880 ha) of the 898,680 ha total credited area had forest cover in 2022, and this was only a 1.8% (16,530 ha) increase relative to forest cover when the projects were registered (Fig.  4 , Supplementary Fig. S 6 ). There is a large apparent disparity between the credited and observed sequestration in the projects.

Note that under the HIR method, forest cover at project registration should be at or near 0% and reach 100% within ~10–15 years of when regeneration is modelled to have commenced. Source: Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. National Forest and Sparse Woody Vegetation Data (Version 7.0 − 2022 Release) (2023); Clean Energy Regulator. Emissions Reduction Fund project register. Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra (2023).

Change in woody cover relative to trends in external comparison areas

Changes in forest and sparse woody cover in credited areas were far more strongly correlated with changes in cover in comparison areas than to the timing of project registration. Table  2 presents standardised coefficients from hierarchical regression models predicting annual cover changes in credited areas as a function of cover changes in comparison areas and a variable indicating whether the year of observation was before or after project registration. The coefficients for comparison areas are many times larger than those for project registration. Project registration did have a statistically significant effect for forest cover change, but not for woody cover change. While statistically significant, the identified effect of project registration on forest cover was small, being equivalent to ~0.5% per year following project registration.

The extent to which changes in forest and sparse woody cover within credited areas have mirrored changes in comparison areas suggests the limited changes observed within the credited areas are largely non-additional. As shown in Figs.  3 , 5 (Supplementary Table  S1 , Fig. S 7 ), there was a strong correlation between forest and sparse woody cover changes in the credited areas and comparison areas over the period before projects were first registered. Post registration, the correlation was maintained, suggesting factors other than the project activities (most likely rainfall variability) have been the dominant influence on woody cover changes.

Dashed lines indicate 1:1. Source: Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. National Forest and Sparse Woody Vegetation Data (Version 7.0 − 2022 Release) (2023); Clean Energy Regulator. Emissions Reduction Fund project register. Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra (2023).

It is important to note that, while changes in forest and sparse woody cover relative to external comparison areas provide a useful indicator of the impact of project activities, they should not be construed as the only indicator of project effectiveness. HIR projects are credited on the basis that even-aged native forest is regenerating across the entirety of the credited area and that, within ~10–15 years of when regeneration is modelled to have commenced, all of the credited area will have forest cover. The modest gain in woody cover observed within credited areas, and small effect of project registration on forest cover change, suggest this is unlikely to occur.

Reforestation, avoided forest conversion and improved forest management have the potential to generate substantial amounts of low-cost abatement, while providing important biodiversity and other co-benefits 68 , 69 . Carbon offset schemes can incentivise these activities and reduce the economic cost of decarbonisation. However, the benefits of these nature-based offsets are contingent on offset projects being credited only for real, additional and permanent increases in relevant carbon stocks. Our findings suggest that HIR projects in Australia’s uncleared rangelands do not meet this requirement.

There was only a small positive overall increase in forest cover (3.6%), and negligible increase in combined sparse woody and forest cover (0.8%), across the combined 3.4 Mha credited area, where the 182 assessed projects are supposedly regenerating permanent even-aged native forests. Despite the absence of material increases in woody cover, the projects received 27.4 million credits over the study period 31 ; 22.9 million credits were issued to projects whose woody cover declined or was largely stagnant.

Given the levels of credited sequestration, the changes in woody cover should be readily apparent, beyond the levels of classification error in the underlying data, which is likely to be in the order of 5–10% 39 , 64 . A substantial proportion of the credited areas should have already attained forest cover and, at the very least, there should have been large increases in sparse woody cover that go well beyond changes observed in the external comparison areas. Neither has occurred.

Trends in forest and woody cover in the credited areas largely mirrored fluctuations in comparison areas, both before and after project registration. Regression models of changes in forest and woody cover in the credited areas identified far smaller effects for project registration than for cover changes in comparison areas. The results suggest the changes in forest and woody cover in the credited areas were largely non-additional, presumably because they reflect rainfall variability rather than responses to project activities 47 , 48 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 .

The small increases in forest and woody cover, and the small effect of project registration relative to variation in cover in the comparison areas, suggest HIR projects have done little to help Australia meet its international mitigation obligations, both in absolute terms and relative to credit issuances 39 . The underperformance is accentuated by the fact that, to date, the Australian Government alone has spent ~AU$300 million in purchasing credits from HIR projects and is contractually committed to purchase a further ~AU$1.2 billion 70 , 71 .

The results add to the growing literature highlighting the practical limitations of offsets and the potential for offset schemes to credit abatement that is non-existent, non-additional, and potentially impermanent 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 . They also serve as a reminder of why offsets are considered a high-risk policy instrument 10 , 72 , 73 .

Offsets are high-risk because of two factors: likelihood of error and the consequences when they occur. There is a high probability of error in the design and administration of the rules and processes that are intended to ensure credits are issued only for real, additional and permanent abatement. This is due to multiple factors, including the uncertainties associated with determining counterfactual baselines (what would net emissions have been within the project boundaries in the absence of the incentive provided by the scheme?) and the errors inherent in the measurement of emissions and removals from often dispersed sources and sinks 72 , 74 , 75 . Other pertinent factors that contribute to the likelihood of errors include the difficulty in overcoming adverse selection when seeking to exclude non-additional projects 74 , 76 , and the persistent tension within offset schemes to lower the stringency of measurement protocols to reduce transaction costs and thereby promote participation 77 .

Regardless of the cause, where errors occur and result in the issuance of low integrity credits, their use can lead to worse climate outcomes. This is because offsets are a permission to pollute, issued on the premise that the offset project has abated one tonne of emissions. Hence, when the credited abatement is not real, additional and permanent, offsets can enable an increase in emissions from a polluter with no offsetting emission reduction elsewhere.

The high-risk nature of offsets is why they are deprioritised in the ‘mitigation hierarchy’ that is often used in biodiversity-related regulatory approval processes 78 ; they are supposed to be a last resort reserved for when all other viable avoidance and mitigation options have been exhausted. The risk also provides the basis for the principle that offsets credits should only be used where there is high confidence the credits are likely to represent real, additional and permanent abatement 11 , 29 , 72 , 73 .

The root cause of the integrity issues with HIR projects is that credited areas have been allowed to be located in areas where native vegetation has not previously been comprehensively cleared, where the capacity to permanently increase forest carbon stocks is generally likely to be small, and in semi-arid and arid rangeland areas where there is substantial natural variability, which makes it difficult to separate the impacts of project activities from rainfall-induced changes 11 . The integrity problems with HIR projects have been compounded by the use of a modelled approach to the estimation of sequestration and allowing the model to be used in circumstances it was not calibrated for (i.e. to estimate regeneration on sites that contain material amounts of pre-existing woody vegetation) 30 , 37 .

Despite the risks, and the evidence of their limitations, carbon offsets are seen as indispensable by many policymakers; as evidenced through the Paris Agreement’s Article 6.4 Mechanism, the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation and other similar initiatives 8 , 79 . With the commitment to their continued use, the challenge for policymakers is to demonstrate that offset schemes can have integrity.

The experience with HIR projects provides two generalisable lessons. First, that sequestration-related offsets are inappropriate for use in situations where the relevant carbon stocks are likely to be at or near their maximum sustainable potentials and where natural variability in the stocks is materially larger than the likely effects of management change. Second, care needs to be taken where models are used to estimate carbon stocks to ensure they are applied appropriately and with due regard to the need for conservativism.

Australia’s experience with HIR projects also highlights the importance of transparency 11 , 80 . From January 2013 until June 2023, no data on the location of credited areas were published under the scheme, which shielded projects from scrutiny. At the time of writing, proponents were still not required to publish offset reports or audit reports, or information on how they have modelled sequestration. Proponents are also not required to undertake any direct measurements of biomass in HIR projects and, where biomass measurements are voluntarily undertaken, they are not required to be published. Effective offset schemes require constant scrutiny and critical assessment, including from third parties. This cannot be provided without the public release of all information that is necessary for the proper evaluation of the performance and integrity of offset projects 11 .

HIR projects included in sample

As at 10 December 2023, there were 469 registered HIR projects. Up until April 2023, it was unlawful for the Clean Energy Regulator to publish data on the location of credited areas. Following changes to the law in April 2023, the Regulator first published credited area location data for 223 HIR projects on 6 June 2023.

To be included in the sample for the analysis, projects had to have published credited area location data and at least 4 years of data in the NFSW time series post the year they were registered ( n  = 191). This was to ensure there was a valid basis for determining the response of woody vegetation to the project activities. In addition, projects were excluded from the sample if they were completely surrounded by other projects ( n  = 4). These projects were excluded because it was not possible to designate a valid comparison area in accordance with the method described below. A further five projects were removed because the spatial data on their credited areas were not useable.

Credited area location data

The Clean Energy Regulator publishes credited area data in vector format. To facilitate our analysis, the dataset was converted into raster format. Due to differences between the map projections of each dataset, credited area data were rasterised using 10-m resolution vs the 25-m of the NFSW dataset. This increase in resolution allowed for improving the accuracy of the masking operation around partially intercepted pixels. To perform this conversion we used the standard gdal_rasterize command from the GDAL library to generate a raster preserving the original projection of the vector dataset 81 .

Carbon credit issuances

Carbon credit issuance data were obtained from the ERF Project Register published by the Clean Energy Regulator 31 . The Register contains data on total issuances and total issuances by Australian financial year (1 July–30 June). Credit issuances were included in a calendar year only where they were issued prior to 30 June of the same year. This ensured conservative estimates of credit issuances for the purposes of making comparisons of project performance.

Relative size of HIR projects

The relative size of HIR projects was analysed using data from the registries of seven offset schemes for the period 2013–2023: the ACCU scheme; Clean Development Mechanism; Verified Carbon Standard (VCS, or Verra); Gold Standard; American Carbon Registry; Climate Action Reserve; and Plan Vivo. Data on credit issuances by project type are provided in Supplementary Fig. S 1 .

External comparison areas

HIR projects have an outer project boundary, which is typically the boundary of the property on which it is located. The credited areas lie within the project boundary. The comparison areas, which are used as paired controls for each project, comprised 3 km wide buffer areas around the outside of project boundaries, excluding areas that intersected with other HIR projects.

The use of these 3 km wide comparison areas is likely to overstate the relative effects of the projects on woody cover. This is due to the way the credited areas are delineated. Under the HIR method, credited areas must contain only areas that have the potential to achieve forest cover (woody vegetation ≥2 m tall with crown cover >20% at 0.2 ha scale). They are also not allowed to have forest cover at commencement. This results in credited areas having exclusions inside and around them, even when the areas are subject to the same project activities (i.e. grazing control) and lie within the same fenced areas. In contrast, the comparison areas are comprised of all land within the 3 km wide buffers, excluding other HIR projects.

The characteristics of the credited areas and comparison areas means that, where the same changes in tree cover occur, there is likely to be a greater proportionate increase (or decrease) in cover in the credited areas relative to the comparison areas. This approach was adopted to ensure conservative outputs and because of the practical difficulty associated with delineating areas that share the same characteristics as the areas included in the credited areas.

National forest and sparse woody dataset analysis

Changes in woody cover (forest and sparse woody cover) in the credited areas and comparison areas were analysed using the Australian Government’s NFSW dataset (Version 7.0) 63 . The dataset provides Landsat-derived estimates of the extents of three classes of woody vegetation cover across Australia over the period 1988–2022. The data are a near-annual time series in which 25 m grid cells are classified as either non-woody, sparse woody (sub-forest woody cover where crown cover is between 5–19%) or forest (woody vegetation ≥2 m tall with crown cover >20% over at least 0.2 ha).

The analysis was undertaken using Terrak.io, a geospatial analytics platform developed by Haizea Analytics. This platform builds upon Cloud infrastructure and can provide on-demand analytics on large satellite and climate datasets through an API. Users can rely on Terrak.io to generate maps or zonal statistics showing temporal trends for large numbers or areas, defined using custom vector polygons. This infrastructure was used to calculate zonal statistics on the frequency of forest, sparse woody, and non-woody cover pixels within each project’s credited areas and comparison areas.

Classifying project changes in forest and sparse woody cover since registration

To assess whether woody cover in the credited areas of each project (i.e. the proportion of pixels with forest or sparse woody cover) experienced negative, negligible and positive change since the projects were registered (i.e. the results presented in Table  1 ), simple linear regression models were fit for each project to the time-series of the forest and sparse woody percentages in their credited areas from the year of registration forward, with the percentage of each cover class as the response variable and year as the only independent variable.

Projects were classified as having increased woody cover if the slope of either of the fits for forest or sparse cover was greater than 0.25% per year, provided the slope for the fit to the other woody cover class (i.e. sparse if the forest fit has a positive slope >0.25%) was greater than −0.05% per year.

Tree cover was deemed to be negligible if the sum of the slopes from the linear models fit to the sparse and forest cover were greater than −0.25% per year, and they did not meet the ‘increased’ requirements.

Projects whose tree cover did not meet either the ‘increased’ or ‘negligible’ requirements were deemed to have decreasing cover.

Comparing cover trends in carbon estimation areas and adjacent comparison areas

Changes in woody cover were calculated from the time-series of NFSW data from 1988 to 2022 63 . The percentage of pixels within the credited areas and comparison area classified as forest in each year was subtracted from the percentage of forest pixels in the preceding time point in the time series. Most time steps were annual, including all from 2004 on, but some spanned two or more years (’89–’91, ’92–’95, ’95–’98, ’98–2000, 2000–’02 and ’02–’04).

Hierarchical linear regression models, built using the lme4 package 82 in R (4.3.0, R Core Team 2022) 83 , were used to model cover changes within credited areas as a function of cover changes in comparison areas (indicating responses to broader environmental drivers) and a binary variable indicating whether the interval over which cover changes occurred was before or after the year of project registration. Models were built to include random effects accommodating the numerous observations made for each project by fitting separate intercepts for projects, as well as coefficients for the two fixed-effects (cover change in comparison areas and project registration) and a higher level intercept (Eq. ( 1 ), in the syntax of lmer: project_cover_change ~ comparison_area_change + registration + (1|project_ID)). Statistical significance of predictors was assessed via the anova function, by comparing the full model to models with each predictor removed in turn.

The cover change variables for credited areas (response) and comparison areas (fixed effect 1) were standardised (centred and scaled) by subtracting the variable mean from each observation, and dividing by its standard deviation (Supplementary Table  S2 ). The binary variable for project registration was not standardised (pre-registration = 0, post-registration = 1). This means that the coefficient for the comparison area predictor in each model is a measure of effect size, indicating the expected magnitude of change in the response credited area cover variable (in standard deviations) for a one standard deviation change in comparison area cover. The coefficient for project registration ( β 2 ) indicates the effect of project registration on year-to-year cover change in credited areas, again in units of standard deviation for the response variable, i.e. cover change in credited areas.

The strength of portfolio-scale correlations between the extent of each cover class (forest, sparse or woody) in the combined credited areas and in comparison areas, across the 182 projects (i.e. variables plotted in Fig.  3 ), was assessed using Pearson’s correlation coefficient from the cor.test function in R 83 . Correlation coefficients were also calculated for annual cover changes inside credited areas and in adjacent comparison areas, for both forest and woody cover classes (Supplementary Table  S1 ).

Estimating credited sequestration

Credited sequestration was estimated using data from the ERF Project Register 31 . Total credit issuances to each project to 30 June 2022 were adjusted to account for relevant discounts (5% risk of reversal buffer and a 20% permanence period discount for projects with 25 year permanence periods). A uniform and conservative 0.5% deduction was made to account for fossil fuel use, based on Australian Government analysis of a sample of HIR projects that found average fuel use emissions were less than 0.02% of total project abatement 84 . The resulting estimates were converted from CO 2 to C using the atomic mass ratio, 44/12.

The approach used to compare credited sequestration to forest cover is conservative. Ideally, the comparison of forest cover to sequestration would be undertaken using the modelled sequestration for each project. This would ensure the estimates account for the fact that projects have been allowed to commence modelling regeneration before the projects were registered. Due to this, the amount of modelled sequestration across the projects is greater than the credited sequestration, accentuating the extent of relative underperformance. It was not possible to analyse the modelled sequestration because of transparency issues. Estimates of modelled sequestration are not published and no verified data are published on the modelling parameters used in HIR projects. At the time of writing, information about the choice of model calibration and modelling commencement dates had been published by the proponents of 63 HIR projects. However, the published data were incomplete (e.g. modelling points are not published) and unverified, rendering them unusable for these purposes.

Australian Government expenditure on carbon credits from HIR projects

We estimate that, to 4 December 2023, the Australian Government had spent ~AU$300 million in purchasing credits from HIR projects and was contractually committed to purchase a further ~AU$1.2 billion. The Australian Government does not publish data on carbon credit purchases or contracted credit prices by project. Due to this, our estimate of Australian Government expenditure on credits from HIR projects was based on the number of credits sold by each project to the Australian Government under Emissions Reduction Fund contracts, up until 4 December 2023 70 . Where contracts had multiple projects, the recorded credit sales were assumed to be sourced evenly from the contracted projects. Sale prices were assigned to each project based on the published weighted average carbon credit purchase price from the Emissions Reduction Fund auction at which the relevant project was contracted (range AU$10.23-AU$17.35) 71 . The estimate of the value of the remaining HIR credits contracted by the Australian Government was based on the number of credits originally contracted, less those delivered and the number of credits released or lapsed from delivery obligations 70 . The contracted prices assigned to each project were again based on the weighted average carbon credit purchase price from the Emissions Reduction Fund auction at which the relevant project was contracted 70 , 71 .

Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study, including a summary of individual project data, are available on Figshare at: https://figshare.com/ [DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.25199786 and 10.6084/m9.figshare.25199789].

Code availability

Details of the hierarchical linear regression models developed in the study are provided above.

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A.M., D.B., P.L. and M.E. initiated and designed the research, with input from D.A. and M.W. A.M. led the drafting, with input from all authors, except P.S. D.B. designed and performed the statistical analysis. P.L. processed and analysed the woody cover data. A.M. compiled and analysed data on projects and crediting. R.F., D.E., D.L. and P.G. provided input on drafting and the literature review. P.S. designed and illustrated Fig.  1 .

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The authors declare the following competing interests. A.M. is a non-executive director of Paraway Pastoral Company Ltd. Paraway Pastoral Company Ltd has offset projects under Australia’s offset scheme. Paraway Pastoral Company Ltd does not have any human-induced regeneration projects. A.M., D.B., D.A. and M.W. advise public and private entities on environmental markets and Australia’s carbon offset scheme, including on the design of carbon offset methods. The remaining authors have no competing interests.

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Macintosh, A., Butler, D., Larraondo, P. et al. Australian human-induced native forest regeneration carbon offset projects have limited impact on changes in woody vegetation cover and carbon removals. Commun Earth Environ 5 , 149 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01313-x

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01313-x

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Creating a Corporate Social Responsibility Program with Real Impact

• Emilio Marti,
• David Risi,
• Eva Schlindwein,
• Andromachi Athanasopoulou

Lessons from multinational companies that adapted their CSR practices based on local feedback and knowledge.

Exploring the critical role of experimentation in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), research on four multinational companies reveals a stark difference in CSR effectiveness. Successful companies integrate an experimental approach, constantly adapting their CSR practices based on local feedback and knowledge. This strategy fosters genuine community engagement and responsive initiatives, as seen in a mining company’s impactful HIV/AIDS program. Conversely, companies that rely on standardized, inflexible CSR methods often fail to achieve their goals, demonstrated by a failed partnership due to local corruption in another mining company. The study recommends encouraging broad employee participation in CSR and fostering a culture that values CSR’s long-term business benefits. It also suggests that sustainable investors and ESG rating agencies should focus on assessing companies’ experimental approaches to CSR, going beyond current practices to examine the involvement of diverse employees in both developing and adapting CSR initiatives. Overall, embracing a dynamic, data-driven approach to CSR is essential for meaningful social and environmental impact.

By now, almost all large companies are engaged in corporate social responsibility (CSR): they have CSR policies, employ CSR staff, engage in activities that aim to have a positive impact on the environment and society, and write CSR reports. However, the evolution of CSR has brought forth new challenges. A stark contrast to two decades ago, when the primary concern was the sheer neglect of CSR, the current issue lies in the ineffective execution of these practices. Why do some companies implement CSR in ways that create a positive impact on the environment and society, while others fail to do so? Our research reveals that experimentation is critical for impactful CSR, which has implications for both companies that implement CSR and companies that externally monitor these CSR activities, such as sustainable investors and ESG rating agencies.

• EM Emilio Marti is an associate professor at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University. His research focuses on corporate sustainability with a specific focus on sustainable investing.
• DR David Risi is a professor at the Bern University of Applied Sciences and a habilitated lecturer at the University of St. Gallen. His research focuses on how companies organize CSR and sustainability.
• ES Eva Schlindwein is a professor at the Bern University of Applied Sciences and a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on how organizations navigate tensions between business and society.
• AA Andromachi Athanasopoulou is an associate professor at Queen Mary University of London and an associate fellow at the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on how individuals manage their leadership careers and make ethically charged decisions.

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• Knowledge Base

Methodology

Research Methods | Definitions, Types, Examples

Research methods are specific procedures for collecting and analyzing data. Developing your research methods is an integral part of your research design . When planning your methods, there are two key decisions you will make.

First, decide how you will collect data . Your methods depend on what type of data you need to answer your research question :

• Qualitative vs. quantitative : Will your data take the form of words or numbers?
• Primary vs. secondary : Will you collect original data yourself, or will you use data that has already been collected by someone else?
• Descriptive vs. experimental : Will you take measurements of something as it is, or will you perform an experiment?

Second, decide how you will analyze the data .

• For quantitative data, you can use statistical analysis methods to test relationships between variables.
• For qualitative data, you can use methods such as thematic analysis to interpret patterns and meanings in the data.

Table of contents

Methods for collecting data, examples of data collection methods, methods for analyzing data, examples of data analysis methods, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about research methods.

Data is the information that you collect for the purposes of answering your research question . The type of data you need depends on the aims of your research.

Qualitative vs. quantitative data

Your choice of qualitative or quantitative data collection depends on the type of knowledge you want to develop.

For questions about ideas, experiences and meanings, or to study something that can’t be described numerically, collect qualitative data .

If you want to develop a more mechanistic understanding of a topic, or your research involves hypothesis testing , collect quantitative data .

You can also take a mixed methods approach , where you use both qualitative and quantitative research methods.

Primary vs. secondary research

Primary research is any original data that you collect yourself for the purposes of answering your research question (e.g. through surveys , observations and experiments ). Secondary research is data that has already been collected by other researchers (e.g. in a government census or previous scientific studies).

If you are exploring a novel research question, you’ll probably need to collect primary data . But if you want to synthesize existing knowledge, analyze historical trends, or identify patterns on a large scale, secondary data might be a better choice.

Descriptive vs. experimental data

In descriptive research , you collect data about your study subject without intervening. The validity of your research will depend on your sampling method .

In experimental research , you systematically intervene in a process and measure the outcome. The validity of your research will depend on your experimental design .

To conduct an experiment, you need to be able to vary your independent variable , precisely measure your dependent variable, and control for confounding variables . If it’s practically and ethically possible, this method is the best choice for answering questions about cause and effect.

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Your data analysis methods will depend on the type of data you collect and how you prepare it for analysis.

Data can often be analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. For example, survey responses could be analyzed qualitatively by studying the meanings of responses or quantitatively by studying the frequencies of responses.

Qualitative analysis methods

Qualitative analysis is used to understand words, ideas, and experiences. You can use it to interpret data that was collected:

• From open-ended surveys and interviews , literature reviews , case studies , ethnographies , and other sources that use text rather than numbers.
• Using non-probability sampling methods .

Qualitative analysis tends to be quite flexible and relies on the researcher’s judgement, so you have to reflect carefully on your choices and assumptions and be careful to avoid research bias .

Quantitative analysis methods

Quantitative analysis uses numbers and statistics to understand frequencies, averages and correlations (in descriptive studies) or cause-and-effect relationships (in experiments).

You can use quantitative analysis to interpret data that was collected either:

• During an experiment .
• Using probability sampling methods .

Because the data is collected and analyzed in a statistically valid way, the results of quantitative analysis can be easily standardized and shared among researchers.

If you want to know more about statistics , methodology , or research bias , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• Chi square test of independence
• Statistical power
• Descriptive statistics
• Degrees of freedom
• Pearson correlation
• Null hypothesis
• Double-blind study
• Case-control study
• Research ethics
• Data collection
• Hypothesis testing
• Structured interviews

Research bias

• Hawthorne effect
• Unconscious bias
• Recall bias
• Halo effect
• Self-serving bias
• Information bias

Quantitative research deals with numbers and statistics, while qualitative research deals with words and meanings.

Quantitative methods allow you to systematically measure variables and test hypotheses . Qualitative methods allow you to explore concepts and experiences in more detail.

In mixed methods research , you use both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis methods to answer your research question .

A sample is a subset of individuals from a larger population . Sampling means selecting the group that you will actually collect data from in your research. For example, if you are researching the opinions of students in your university, you could survey a sample of 100 students.

In statistics, sampling allows you to test a hypothesis about the characteristics of a population.

The research methods you use depend on the type of data you need to answer your research question .

• If you want to measure something or test a hypothesis , use quantitative methods . If you want to explore ideas, thoughts and meanings, use qualitative methods .
• If you want to analyze a large amount of readily-available data, use secondary data. If you want data specific to your purposes with control over how it is generated, collect primary data.
• If you want to establish cause-and-effect relationships between variables , use experimental methods. If you want to understand the characteristics of a research subject, use descriptive methods.

Methodology refers to the overarching strategy and rationale of your research project . It involves studying the methods used in your field and the theories or principles behind them, in order to develop an approach that matches your objectives.

Methods are the specific tools and procedures you use to collect and analyze data (for example, experiments, surveys , and statistical tests ).

In shorter scientific papers, where the aim is to report the findings of a specific study, you might simply describe what you did in a methods section .

In a longer or more complex research project, such as a thesis or dissertation , you will probably include a methodology section , where you explain your approach to answering the research questions and cite relevant sources to support your choice of methods.

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