Thursday, June 28, 2012

nulis laporan penelitian IS NOT DIFFICULT


1. Research Design/Proposal
Research design describes your planning on what exactly you are going to do in the research. It is presented during the proposal seminar. The ultimate aim is to ensure that your research is strictly following the norms of scientific research and that it does make sense and worthy.
Research design/proposal should contain such elements as:
1.      Cover
2.      Approval sheet
3.      Contents
4.      Basic consideration
5.      Research focus or delimitation
6.      Statements of problem
7.      Research questions or Purposes
8.      Basic assumption (if necessary)
9.      Significance
10.  Theoretical bases
11.  Hypotheses (if necessary)
12.  Methodology
13.  Research schedule (if necessary)
14.  References
Such a research proposal is written by following a particular mechanic. It includes the paper and the typing instructions as follows:
1.      Paper                     :  70 grams of A4s paper
2.      Font                       :  12-point Times New Roman
3.    Space                     :  Double; except before subchapters (triple) and free standing block of quotation of more than forty words (single)
4.      Margins                 :  Left 4 cm, top 3 cm, right 3 cm, and bottom 3 cm
5.      Page Numbers       :  Arabic numerals at the bottom center of the page; except for the early part which uses Roman numerals.
6.      Number of Pages  : from 10 to 14 pages (main body)
Students are recommended to use computer of Microsoft Words as the writing instrument. In addition, there should be no correction on the manuscript. Change the page(s) if you should correct your manuscript.

2.  Introduction to Research
Research is a systematic process of collecting and analyzing information (data) for some purpose. To acquire sophisticating result, students are supposed to consider the research methods—how to collect and to analyze data—through reliable and trustworthy procedures. Methodology then is what a researcher actually does to obtain data.
Choosing a research subject may sometimes become a troublesome for any student. There are some useful hints for students to consider. First, do not make a too general subject because you can miss the point of your purpose. Large subjects often map out more territory than you can cover. Second, choose a subject which lies close to your interest and experience. Good subjects do not always produce an interesting result; but any subject, however commonplace, can yield a good writing if it is made to reflect the observations, ideas, and values of the writer. Ideally, the subject arises out of the students’ own need to find an answer to some questions.
For most research studies, reading references may be divided into three stages: introductory, intensive, and supplementary. Introductory reading gives the background needed in order to begin the investigation intelligently. Usually, the best sources for introductory reading are general works: articles, chapters in textbooks, histories, and specialized dictionaries. Intensive reading, meanwhile, provides the bulk of information from which the researcher may have preliminary answers or hypotheses. When you begin intensive reading, you should also begin taking notes because you are now beginning to collect the relevant theories. Supplementary reading, at length, fills in gaps and provides added information.
Writing a research, after all, is not just stringing together statements from books or articles. Instead, it is a complete reorganization and reworking of all relevant sources into an original manuscript. Writing a rough draft, preparing final revision, and proofreading the finished manuscript are very important in conducting a research. It is best to allow at least a day between the completion of one and the beginning of the next.
Composing the rough draft will depend on your capability and the nature of your material. The revision then should turn the rough draft into a finished manuscript. It should provide smooth transitions among units, polish the diction and sentence structure and remove any awkward constructions, and check the relationship of detailed information to the topic idea. Finally, proofread your manuscript at least twice to detect any errors that survive the revision. Such reading is mainly concerned with mechanical matters.


3.  Elements
Even though the number of chapters is not always strictly fixed because students may design their writing into more chapters so that the skripsi may adequately explain their idea, it is recommended that students use the standard five chapters. A typical main body consists of introduction, theoretical bases, research methodology, results and discussion, and conclusion.
The typical standard of research chapters can apply to both qualitative and quantitative research; however, students should be careful that there is an extreme difference between them. Some items might even have different terminologies. After all, the concept, characteristics and paradigm of both methods are quite the opposite.

a.    Introduction
This chapter describes a general overview of what students have arranged. It may contain some items like basic consideration, reasons for choosing the topic, focus (qualitative) or delimitation (quantitative), research questions (qualitative) or statements of problem (quantitative), purposes of research, basic assumption (quantitative; if necessary), hypothesis (quantitative; if necessary), and significance of research.
Basic consideration provides a lead-in to statements of the more specific purposes of the writing. It establishes a context which introduces the content area or subject. In this section, students may quote the result of any previous research related to the topic, cite leading researchers in the area, or develop the historical context of the research. Shared knowledge, rhetorical questions, background information, and a quotation are very useful techniques to start writing in order to draw readers’ attention to the topic.
Reasons for choosing the topic convey what makes a student pick out a certain topic to study. It usually shows the importance of discussing the research focus or variables and something special or unique about the setting.
Focus contains the detail of statement about the main topic which is going to reveal in the research. In quantitative research, delimitation is the terminology used in place of focus to limit the research variables in order that the research will not extend uncontrollably. Delimitation restricts the problem into a precise aspect upon which the students should concentrate.
Research questions or statements of problem consist of some questions that the researcher is going to answer. It is an effort for the researcher to explicitly state the questions in a brief, clear, and comprehensive manner in the form of interrogative sentences.
Purposes of research state the goals which are going to achieve. The purposes should refer to the research questions or statements of problem.
Basic assumption explains the students’ initial thoughts as the basis of research. It is a general knowledge that does not need any proofs to validate.
Not all quantitative research needs a hypothesis: explorative and descriptive quantitative do not need any hypotheses. Hypotheses are temporary answers to the statements of problems which theoretically hold the best probable answers.
Significance of research shows how a research may contribute theoretically to the advance of a specific discipline of science. It also demonstrates how the research can contribute practically to the public administration, education, and the human races.

b.    Theoretical Bases
Theoretical bases elaborate the object or variables of the research descriptively. In a research, prediction or temporary answers to problems should be based on scientific knowledge. Moreover, students as researchers must study any relevant theories related to the topic to be presented in Chapter 2. It may come from books, journals, periodicals, and other research findings. In qualitative research, theoretical bases function as a material to help explain e certain phenomena of grounded data in the setting and end with a “theory”. Quantitative research, on the contrary, begins from a theory and end with an acceptance or refusal to the theory based on the collected data on the setting.

c.    Research Methodology
Research methodology explains how the research is carried out. It should elaborate all the details of what the researchers do during their research: the design and reasons, setting and time schedule, kinds and sources of data, population and sample, instruments, techniques of data collection, and data analysis. Since qualitative and quantitative research paradigm is quite the opposite, each will be explained respectively.

1)  Qualitative Research
            Operationally, qualitative research method should explain its research design and reasons, setting and time schedule, kinds and sources of data, techniques of data collection, and data analysis.
            In qualitative research, the research design may take the form of historical, observational, life history, library, single-case, multi-case, or multi-site studies. Among those designs, case study and library research are the most popular ones. To ensure that students know what to do in their research, they must explain the reasons of their choice of applying such a design.
            Setting shows a certain place where the research takes place. Its address should be stated clearly in order that either supervisors or examiners can confirm the research process. Time schedule tells how long the researcher stays on the setting to collect the data. It is also to indicate the attendance of the researcher on the setting. Qualitative approach needs the researcher to stay for some time on the setting to give enough time for him or her to reveal anything behind any events. Visiting the setting for only several times will not be enough to get people’s trust to give important hidden information.
            Data collected for qualitative research are mainly from primary sources; for instance, any action of the subjects and words from the informants. Additional data, meanwhile, may come from documents (whether formal or private) and photos. The sources of data are activities, place and actors. All of them are chosen by the researcher himself or herself (purposive sampling).
            The techniques of data collection in qualitative research include participant observation, in-depth interview, documents, and documentation. Qualitative researchers usually use field notes as the main instrument to record the data. In addition, to help researchers get more accurate data, another instrument like tape recorder is also often used.
            Data analysis has been usually carried out since the researchers start collecting data to avoid overloaded data when they have to continue analyzing data for final conclusion after leaving the setting. The most popular data analysis for qualitative research is the interactive cycle from Miles and Huberman which include data display, data reduction, and verification.

2)  Quantitative Research
Research methodology in quantitative research should at least tell the readers about research design and the reasons of applying such design, its population and sample, instrument, techniques of data collection, and data analysis.
Survey and experiment are two examples of quantitative research designs. Experimental research designs can take several forms such as pre-experimental, true experimental, quasi-experimental, and single-subject. Students are also supposed to explain the reasons of their choice of applying such a design to ensure that they know what to do in their research.
Sample is the individuals who were selected from a larger group, called the population, to participate in the study. There are several methods of sampling that can be used to draw representative, or unbiased, samples from a population. However, the best way to choose a sample is by using random sampling.
A general rule of advice in conducting research is to choose an instrument that has established the types of reliability and validity the researcher needs. However, students can always utilize standardized instruments or ask statisticians as well as supervisors to develop an instrument.
Research involves gathering information about the variables in the study. From several techniques and approaches for collecting data from the sample, students should adopt the best one for answering the research question. The common methods of collecting data are questionnaire, interview, tests, and observation.
            Quantitative research is always utilizing statistics as a means of data analysis. However, as beginners in research study, students are recommended to use descriptive statistics. Students, then, are required only to use either percentage analysis or measures of central tendency. Before analyzing, students should organize the data to make sense out of the data. The most simple organization is to transform the raw data to a list of frequency distribution. In addition, frequency data are often effectively displayed pictorially, whether through histogram or frequency polygon.

d.   Results and Discussion
This chapter consists of three sections: presentation, findings, and discussion. At first, students are to describe the setting. Complete description is needed in order that readers understand the setting objectively. After that, students describe the findings. Findings should refer to the research questions or the statements of problem. In qualitative research students may show the result of observation, in-depth interview, documents, and documentation to add describe the findings. In quantitative research, on the other hand, students can use a list of frequency distribution, histogram, and or frequency polygon to help explain the findings.
Finally, students should interpret the findings through discussion. Its ultimate aim is to answer the research questions/statements of problem and to show how the research purposes can be attained. Results should be explained explicitly based on the logics and the existing theories. In addition, students can always compare their research to other relevant researches in order to improve research credibility.
In quantitative research common misperception often arises when the result contradicts the hypothesis. Instead of worrying that the research is such a failure, students should concentrate on how to explain why it happens. Students may also convey some shortcomings that negatively influence the result so that later researchers can handle them more properly and have a better result accordingly.

e.   Conclusion
This chapter contains two main issues: conclusion and suggestion. Conclusion must be directly related to the research questions or the statements of problem. In other words, research conclusion should refer substantively to the findings. Moreover, content consistency among research questions/statements of problems, research purposes, findings, and conclusion is maintained.
Consequently, suggestion is also based on the conclusion. However, its phrases must be operational and specific. It should be stated explicitly and be relatively easy to understand.


4.  Techniques of Writing

This chapter determines the rules and guidelines that students should observe to ensure clear and consistent ideas of writing. It concerns with the use of headings, citations, mechanics, spacing and punctuation, seriation, writing style, and good sentences.

a.  Headings and Labels
Headings indicate the organization of skripsi and establish the importance of each topic. Students may apply four levels of headings in writing skripsi: use Arabic numerals for all the labels.
The first level is for chapters. All the letters in this level are centered, bold-type, and uppercase. The second level is for subchapters. They are centered and bold-type: capitalize only the first letter of each major word (not articles, prepositions, nor conjunctions). Heading in the third level is flush left, bold-type, and uppercase-lowercase. And heading in the fourth level is flush left and uppercase-lowercase.




b.  Citations
Crediting or citing a source from an expert is always very useful to support your ideas. To acknowledge the person you are quoting by mentioning the original source directly or indirectly is important to avoid the practice of a serious academic crime of plagiarism.
For your skripsi, use the technique of citation within a text. In citing a source, do not forget to always give credit to a source whenever:
1.      You use a direct quotation.
2.      You copy a table, chart, or other diagram.
3.      You summarize a discussion in your own word.
4.      You construct a diagram from data provided by others.
5.      You paraphrase an opinion that you have read rather than reached independently.
6.      You present specific evidence that cannot reasonably be considered common knowledge.

In citations, always state the author’s surname, the year of publication, and page number(s). When a work has two authors, always cite both names every time the reference occurs in text. If it has three to six authors, cite all of them at the first time and in subsequent citations include only the surname of the first author followed by “et al.”. If, however, it has more than six authors, cite only the surname of the first author followed by “et al.”.
Spell out the complete name of corporate authors in the first citation and abbreviated thereafter. If the names are short, spell out completely all the times. When a work is designated “Anonymous,” cite the word Anonymous in the text as well as in the reference list.

Examples:
Smith, Harsh, Palmer, and Jones (1993, p. 46) explain . . . . (first citation)
Smith et al. (1993, p. 66) state . . . . (second citation)

Defence Institute Language Center (DILC) (1995, p. 13) . . . . (first citation)
DILC (1995, p. 2) . . . . (second citation)
(Anonymous, p. 25) stipulates that . . . .

Direct citation must be accurate. It must follow the wording, spelling, and interior punctuation of the original source. If any incorrect occurs, insert the word sic, underlined and bracketed ([sic]) immediately after the error. Incorporate a short quotation (words, phrases, or two or three short sentences fewer than forty words) in the text and enclose the quotation with double quotation marks (“). But, display a quotation of three or more long sentences of more than forty words in a free-standing, indented, and single-spaced block without quotation marks. If you have double quotation marks within your quotation, modify them into single quotation marks (‘). If you leave out any part of a quotation, even a single word, use ellipsis (. . .). Add an extra dot (. . . .) if the omission includes the end of a sentence in the original.
Indirect quotation is used when a source is simply referred to. In this case, it does not take any special punctuation because it is simply incorporated in paraphrased form into the text.

Examples:
“There is little reason to believe . . . about the ‘learning order’ listening, speaking, reading, and writing  and little if any prove [sic] that inductive is more efficient than deductive” (Harmer, 1990, p. 13).

Harmer (1990) explains:
There is little reason to believe that there is anything sacrosanct about the “learning order” listening, speaking, reading, and writing and little if any prove [sic] that inductive is more efficient than deductive. Students learn through the eye as well as through the ear, by deduction as well as by induction, by learning about as well as by learning how. There is now considerable evidence that different people learn in different ways, . . . . (p. 13).


Harmer (1990, p. 13) argues that there is not anything sacrosanct about the learning order. Instead, . . . .


c.  Mechanics
As a kind of academic writing, skripsi also needs a particular mechanic. It includes the paper and the typing instructions as follows:
1.      Paper               :  70 grams of A4s paper
2.      Font                 :  12-point Times New Roman
3.      Space               :  Double; except before subchapters (triple) and free standing block of quotation of more than forty words (single)
4.      Margins           :  Left 4 cm, top 3 cm, right 3 cm, and bottom 3 cm
5.    Page Numbers :  Arabic numerals at the bottom center of the page; except for the early part which uses Roman numerals.
6.   Border Page    :  Light blue paper with a logo of STIBA at the center. Put a border page before Chapter 1 and before References. It is to separate the main body from skripsi complement
7.      Binding           :  Blue hard cover. All letters are black; the logo is golden.

Students are recommended to use computer of Microsoft Words as the writing instrument. In addition, there should be no correction on the manuscript. Change the page(s) if you should correct your manuscript.

d.  Spacing and Punctuation
To improve the quality of skripsi composition, students should pay attention on the ways of giving space and using punctuation. The following are some rules to consider:
1.   Always leave one space after comma, semicolon, colon, and end punctuation such as period, question mark, and exclamation mark except after internal periods in abbreviations (e.g., a.m., i.e., U.S.).
2.      Leave no space before or after hyphen (e.g., post-test).
3.  Leave no space before or after dash (e.g., quantitative—findings represented by numbers—or qualitative).
4.      Leave one space before and after minus (e.g., 9 – 7)


e.  Writing Style
Writing skripsi is not like writing a textbook or writing a summary. Students are supposed to apply their skill of writing by using a formal research report standard of essay style. Moreover, students should avoid using numbering system unless for such relevant things as formulating research questions or drawing conclusion. Students can list items by using seriation, a technique of relating ideas through enumeration. To show seriation within a paragraph or sentence, use lowercase letters in parentheses.

Examples:
Subjects considered (a) some alternative courses of action, (b) the factors influencing the decision, and (c) the probability of success.

But, to indicate seriation of separate paragraphs (e.g., itemized conclusions or successive steps in a procedure), number each paragraph with an Arabic numeral, followed by a period.

Examples:
Based on the conclusions, it is recommended that: 
1. The principal should create a high expectation of students’ academic achievement and to carry out a systematic instructional program; further, the principal should formulate school development plan for the next terms.
2. The principal should learn to work together with his teachers to formulate not only regular instructional program, but also the special and incidental ones,
3. The principal should begin exercising his role as an instructional supervisor.

f.  Good Sentences
Writing is an integrated skill of expressing one’s thought in a text by applying grammar rules into sentences to form specific discourses. Therefore, it is important that students avoid unnecessary grammatical errors. Careless composition may distract the real meaning and cause ambiguity. A good sentence must have unity to avoid irrelevant details and ideas, coherence to have clear connection and consistent order, and emphasis to place important material in the emphatic position.
Excessive details and subordination in one sentence usually disturb the sentence unity. To make the sentence cohere (stick together), avoid faulty parallelism, dangling and misplaced modifiers, confusing shifts (voice, person, mood, or tense), sentence fragments, comma splices, and fused or run-on sentence. Wordiness, meanwhile, makes your sentence lose its emphasis.
One useful technique to check whether you have made good sentences or not is by rereading your manuscript again and again after two or three days. You may also consult to your friends or even the lecturers, especially your supervisors, regularly. After all, the quality of your sentences reflects your English proficiency, and subsequently influences how well your skripsi is.

 
5. Listing References

References are necessary to let readers know what has influenced your work. The reference list at the end of skripsi provides the information necessary to identify and retrieve each source, whether from books, journals, research report, or skripsi/thesis/dissertation. Such list of source information must follow a particular format and must be arranged in alphabetical order according to the author’s surnames. Each entry contains author’s name, year of publication, title, publishing data, and other information necessary for identification and library search. Be aware that the indented lines for the reference list are for the second and remaining lines.

a.  Authors
1.      Write all the authors’ name: write the surnames first.
2.      Use comma to separate surname from the remaining name initials and semicolon to separate authors; use an ampersand (&) before the last author.
3.      Spell out the full name of a corporate author.
4.      For an edited book, place the editors’ name in the author position and enclose the abbreviation “Ed.” (one editor) or “Eds.” (more than one editor) in parentheses after the last editor.
5.      Finish the element with a period.

b.  Title
1.      Underline the whole title and capitalize the first letter of the title, the first letter after colon, and the first letter of every major word; italicize any non-English words, phrases, or clauses.
2.      Enclose additional information necessary for identification and retrieval (e.g., 3rd ed. or Vol. 2) in parentheses soon after the title. Put no punctuation between the title and the parenthetical information.
3.      For journal, write the article’s title before the journal’s title: underline the journal’s title but not the article’s. End the element with a period
4.      For chapters or articles in an edited book, write the title and all the editors’ name before the book’s title: underline the book’s title but not the article’s.
5.      For journals or chapters/articles in an edited book, add the pages after the whole title or parenthetical information.
6.      Finish every title with a period.

c.  Publication Information
1.      Give the city and/or the state (country) where the publisher is located.
2.      Give the name of the publisher in as brief a form as intelligible. Spell out the names of associations and university presses, but omit terms such as Publishers, Co., or Inc. that are not required for easy identification.
3.      If two or more publisher locations are given, give the location listed first or, if specified, the location of the publisher’s home office.
4.      For sources from internet, write the website’s full homepage.
5.      For skripsi/tesis/dissertation, write “Skripsi/Thesis/Dissertation” and the full name of the university/college.
6.      Finish the element with a period.


Examples:
American Psychological Association (APA). 1986. Publication Manual (3rd ed.). Washington D.C.: Author.
Bogdan, R.C. & Biklen, S.K. 1998. Qualitative Research in Education: An Introduction to Theory and Methods (3rd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Hasan, Iqbal. 2004. Analisis Data Penelitian dengan Statistik. Jakarta: Bumi Aksara.
Jabrohim (Ed.). 2001. Metodologi Penelitian Sastra. Yogyakarta: Hanindita Graha Widia.
Miller, W.J. & Morse-Cluley, E. 1984. How to Write Book Reports. New York: Arco.
Richardson, B. 1995. Vampires in Myths and History. www.chebucto.ns.ca/vampire/vhist.html.
Rosidi, Imron. 2005. A Study on English Language Teaching Methodologies Implementation at STIBA Bumi Beringin Manado. Manado: Skripsi STIBA Bumi Beringin.
Walker, Robin. 2001. International Intelligibility. English Teaching Professional. 10-13. Hongkong: Education.