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Urban and Regional Planning

This guide will you help identify and locate a wide variety of resources for your Urban & Regional Planning research projects.

Step 1: Research Process

The Research Process infographic

Step 2:Literature Review

Review articles give you an overview of your topic on the current state of the research. Review Articles explain:

  • the main people working in a field;
  • recent major advances and discoveries;
  • significant gaps in the research;
  • current debates;
  • ideas of where research might go next.

This information is based Review Articles - Finding Journal Articles 101.

Steps of a literature review: select a topic, search the literature, develop the argument, survey the literature, critique the literature, write the review

Image from Stellenbosch University Library

Step 3: Research Design & Methods

What is Research Design? How is it different from Research Method?

Research design is how you will answer your question. It's a plan to answer your research question.  A research method is your strategy used to implement that plan. These ideas are closely related but research design ensures you will answer your research question more effectively.

Which research method should I choose?

It depends on your research and the data you are trying to collect. Common research methods used are:

  1. Observation / Participant Observation
  2. Surveys
  3. Interviews
  4. Focus Groups
  5. Experiments
  6. Secondary Data Analysis / Archival Study
  7. Mixed Methods (combination of some of the above)

 

Step 4: Findings/Discussion

The step is where you discuss your research in an objective, factual way. You are communicating factual information about your topic based on the evidence you found in articles, books, and media backed by data you have collected. Use the active voice as much as possible (e.g., achieved, improved, report, etc.)