The preliminary study
Even if you have been given a research idea, it is still necessary to refine it in order to turn it into a research project. Some authors, such as Bennett (1991), refer to this process as a preliminary study. For some research ideas this will be no more than a review of some of the literature, including news items (Box 2.6). This can be thought of as the first itera- tion of your critical literature review (see Figure 3.1 later). For others it may include revis- iting the techniques discussed earlier in this section as well as informal discussions with people who have personal experience of and knowledge about your research ideas. In some cases shadowing employees who are likely to be important in your research may also provide insights. If you are planning on undertaking your research within an organi- sation it is important to gain a good understanding of your host organisation (Kervin 1999). However, whatever techniques you choose, the underlying purpose is to gain a greater understanding so that your research question can be refined.
At this stage you need to be testing your research ideas against the checklist in Box 2.2 and where necessary changing them. It may be that after a preliminary study, or dis- cussing your ideas with colleagues, you decide that the research idea is no longer feasible in the form in which you first envisaged it. If this is the case, do not be too downhearted. It is far better to revise your research ideas at this stage than to have to do it later, when you have undertaken far more work.