research and development

This month, I’m getting paid close to $100 just for filling out some personality inventories and wearing a special wristwatch that monitors light exposure and movement. A few months ago, I made a quick $10 by completing a 40-minute questionnaire about sexual behavior. And last year, I earned $25 for playing a strange computer game in a windowless room for several hours and answering a survey about it.

What do these situations have in common? They were all ways to get paid for academic research studies run by professors and graduate students at universities. While I can’t claim that it’s made me rich, participating as a subject in academic research studies has been an easy, socially beneficial, and even fun way to earn a little extra cash in my spare time.

Get Paid for Academic Research Studies: Is this legitimate?

The internet is littered with ads touting how to get paid for online surveys and other spam-happy “market research” run by greedy companies, but few of those opportunities are legitimate. Academic research studies, on the other hand, are designed to help scholars collect the vital data they need for their experimental work, with the money being offered as a way to compensate participants for their time. Instead of scoring a few uncertain bucks so a company can hone its products and advertising, why not assist our country’s nonprofit research institutions so we can learn more about fields like psychology, sociology, and medicine?

Get Paid for Academic Research Studies: How do I find them?

There are many ways to find out about academic research studies that will pay you to participate. From word of mouth to advertisements, you just have to keep your ears open and your eyes peeled. Here are some places to check:

- Craigslist for your community. 

- Bulletin boards. Look for flyers at coffeeshops, grocery stores, and other public spots – especially near university campuses.
- Public Transit. In urban centers, large and well-funded academic research studies may advertise their needs on trains and buses. 

- Internet Searches. Though you may turn up a lot of bogus results, it’s worth Googling around to see if you can get paid for academic research studies in your area. 

- Classified Ads. Check regular community newspapers, “alternative” newspapers, and specialty publications like college papers.

Get Paid for Academic Research Studies: Will they take me?

Each study looks for different types of subjects. There may be specifications based on age, race, physical/medical conditions, sexuality, geography, marital status, occupation, education, and a wide array of other criteria. Researchers are allowed to discriminate in selecting subjects for the purpose of their academic work, but if you look hard enough, there’s probably a study (or several) out there for you at any given point in time.

Typically, there is some sort of pre-screening process conducted via phone or email to ensure that you are compatible with the study and are able to participate. However, for the integrity of the academic enterprise, the researchers probably won’t be able to share exactly what they’re studying (other than general background), whether you’re part of a control group or not, etc. What they will tell you is what you’ll be asked to do, where you’ll be asked to do it, and roughly how long it will take.

Get Paid for Academic Research Studies: Are any of these studies online? 

It’s rare to find a paid university study that is entirely online, although it’s possible. I did complete one short, low-paying survey over the web, but the majority of my personal experiences as an academic research subject involved in-person interactions with university staff and sometimes some materials to take home and complete.



Get Paid for Academic Research Studies: How do I get paid? And how much?

Each study handles payouts different, but it’s quite unlikely that you’ll be paid on site or in cash. I’ve always been paid by check, usually 2 – 6 weeks after the completion of the requirements. At some point during your signup or actual participation, the researchers should inform you how and when you will be compensated. Otherwise, ask!

Pay obviously varies depending on the amount of time involved and what you’re asked to do – anywhere from lows of $5 to highs of several hundred or more. The more complicated, time-intensive, or personally invasive the study is, usually the higher the compensation is to boot.

Get Paid for Academic Research Studies: What about privacy?

A great deal of personal information is sometimes collected by the researchers because so many studies are related to behavioral sciences or medicine. Make sure you read any relevant privacy notices so that you understand how your personal information can be used, and don’t agree to participate unless you’re comfortable doing so.





Reference research: business research and law research and travel research and recent update




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research and development

Almost every fellow teacher I know holds a part-time job to help make ends meet. They work at corporate retail giants, or tending bar (yes, a first-grade teacher I know told me she makes more in two nights of tending bar than in one week of teaching), or working the register at the supermarket. Little Miss Bartender is the exception to the low-paid, slightly-embarrassing, part-time work rule for most teachers.

It's a problem, especially considering the brutal work schedule most teachers are faced with on a daily basis. (If you doubt it, ask a teacher you know; the profession is not what it looked like from your desk in the 3rd Grade.)

One solution is online income for teachers. The market force trend lines are unmistakable: the internet is becoming the preferred first stop for information, especially of the "how-to" variety. Money spent online increases about 25% a year, according to bizreport.com, which predicts Europeans alone will spend more than $407 Billion in 2011.

A demand for "how-to" information coupled with a supply of how-to lessons written and produced by teachers equals opportunity. Teachers should naturally own the how-to online market.

They don't, right now.

One obstacle is a lack of ecommerce marketing knowledge among teachers.

They often need some "how-to" on taking advantage of the opportunity. This article is the first in a series of articles designed to serve as a source of helpful information for teachers who would like to earn money in a more creative, interesting and profitable way than working for a big box store, or delivering pizza, or even tending bar. Because those late nights at the bar can get really old.

Teachers who want an online income should learn basic marketing research first of all -- it takes ten minutes

Teachers who have some ideas for online how-to articles, ebooks or videos should first of all divine whether there is a searching, paying market for the product. Suppose I wondered if origami video lessons had any interest on the internet. How would I determine whether there really were an interest?

Using a simple, online keyword research tool, teachers who want an online income can discover about how many searches per day are made for a particular keyword. That tool is at http://tools.seobook.com/keyword-tools/seobook/

Open the keyword generator tool linked above in a separate browser window.

In the search field, type "origami." Or use your own search term. Perhaps "crayon resist art," or "how to draw anything," or any other potential topic for which you may consider creating and marketing an online, downloadable, how-to product (ebook, audio, video, etc.) for a mid-sized (or larger) online income.

The results will return a lot of information. I want you to focus on only one piece right now: the overall daily estimate. That number shows you, obviously, a (good) estimate of the total number of searches (at the main search engines) performed with that keyword in one day. For "origami," my research today (it will vary over time of course) showed about 2,418 "origami" searches are performed every day.

That tells me there's a high level of interest in origami.

It's an indication there could be a paying market for good, downloadable, online origami instruction at the right price.

This isn't the end of your market research, necessarily. But it does tell you whether the topic for which you are considering producing an ebook, audio or video for online income has any "buzz" online.

Try other keywords associated with the topic for which you are considering making a downloadable product. "Origami" has few related terms. But let's try "paper crane." I just ran it through the seobook tool. The number of daily searches is estimated at about 26. Not as good at 2,418. But, over time, it's not a bad number of searches. Twenty-six multiplied by 365 equals more than 9,400 searches per year.

Clearly, trying to market an ebook or video on "origami" in general is far preferable to "paper crane." That's a fact we couldn't have known without the valuable tool at seobook.com.

So teachers: here's your homework. Come up with a list of five to 10 how-to topics on which you could write or produce an ebook or video. Then run related keywords through the seobook keyword research tool. Choose two or three topics which are shown by the tool to have a high degree of interest. Then come back to this article and follow up with more information on how to market them.

Some of the lessons will include:
-How to make a .pdf book.
-How to choose a website host
-How to design a simple, one-page website to sell your product.
-How to keep your expectations realistic. You won't get rich quick. But you'll do better than working at a big box store. And maybe even better than tending bar.
-And much, much more.





Reference research: beauty research and home research and general research and my social page




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The similarities between scientific research and criminal investigation are the search for the conclusion or a cause of the effect. Both scientists and criminal investigators are specially trained in their field of practice. They tend to use similar methods of research and investigation the cause. Scientists as well as investigators both observe the surroundings, the facts, the areas involved in the research or investigations. They classify the data into categories this can be as simple as determining if it is valid or not valid. There is the use of logic, the formation of a hypothesis or a theory as to why and what has occurred. Both sides must link information together to prove their hypothesis or conclusions. Both scientists and criminal investigators work in a systemic method which seeks accurate answers, not general conclusions.

So how can you tell which is which? It's not really that difficult once you understand the basic principles. Scientific research is a type of investigation which is systemic and basis its research on scientific methods which have been used in the past, and in relation to the scientific field. This type of research can be described as well organized, methodical, and precise. Scientists begin with an idea, a theory or a hypothesis. Scientists begin with an observation or description about what they intend to study/research. From these observations they form a hypothesis to explain their subject. They use the hypothesis to predict what may happen in the course of the research. The scientist begins to experiment or run tests based on their predictions about the hypothesis. They may also collect data about their observations to show that the hypothesis is either valid or not.
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Criminal investigations begin with gathering documents and information. They begin to evaluate the facts about the events, or the crime. They use a systemic method to observe the details of the crime, as in who what where when why and how. They begin to piece things together, by assembling the facts and determining if the evidence gathered is useful or not. The hypothesis begins to form at this point which helps to link all the information gathered to the crime. The hypothesis in this sense is used to create a theory as to what happened, and the ability to define what has occurred. The hypothesis is an important part of the criminal investigation. The reason is that the investigator must prove or disprove the theory/hypothesis. Even more important for the investigator is to find the missing pieces, that are not ready available at the time. The investigator must be able to draw conclusions about the events but they must also be able to prove that the events did in fact occur.




Reference research: research Dr. and computer research and shopping research and my bookmark page




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research methods in education 9th edition

You mean you had to GO to the library to do research?

Understanding Research Types:
Basic: Seeks to create new knowledge and is not directly related to technical or practical problems. Example: analyze the types of information systems used by people with disabilities.

Applied: Seeks to solve problems. Example: A study conducted on how information systems can be used to improve communication with people with disabilities.

Research Terminology:
There are many types of research and each type of research can utilize different methods for collecting information. This glossary can be utilized to clarify the research terms you may come across during your search. In addition, this glossary is a good resource for refining questions you may have of your professor regarding the assignment.

Case Studies: Examines in-depth the practices or trends of a single or limited number of groups. According to the Second Edition of the Dictionary of Sociology edited by Gordon Marshal, case studies include "descriptive reports on typical, illustrative, or deviant examples; descriptions of good practices in policy research; evaluations of policies after implementation in an organization; studies that focus on extreme or strategic cases; the rigorous test of a well-defined hypothesis through the carefully selected contrasting cases; and studies of natural experiments."

Empirical Studies: Research based on critical evaluation through observation or experimentation.

Experimental Research: Examines the relationship between two variables. This type of research conducts experiments on test and control groups to test a hypothesis about the relationship between two variables.

Historical or Interpretive Research Studies: By examining past events and procedures, this type of study attempts to predict future events or make suggestions for future actions. Types of historical or interpretive research studies include: biographical; histories of institutions and organizations; investigation of sources and influences; editing and translating historical documents; studying the history of ideas; or compiling bibliographies.

Qualitative Research: Observes the experiences of a particular group and attempts to understand the actions and reactions of the group. Field studies and ethnographic techniques are examples of this type of research.

Survey Research Studies: Examines small groups of the population in order to learn about the larger population. Observation of the smaller group produces data about the larger population. This data is used to predict future actions or results.

User Studies: Research that evaluates the way in which systems or institutions are utilized and how the needs of users can be addressed.

Identifying Research Articles:
Listed below are some clues to help identify research articles. However, it should be noted that numerous exceptions occur for all of the points listed below. Therefore, the following information should be used as a guideline when looking for research articles

Topic: Research articles tend to be highly specific in nature, relate to a particular field, or specialty within a field, and are written by authors who have done research in the field.

Audience: The target audience is other researchers, colleagues, students and specialists in the same field. Research articles are written for the scholarly community, rather than a general audience.

Language: The language of research articles is formal, generally does not use the first person, and includes jargon used in the field. Research articles are written to contribute to the knowledge base of the discipline.

Length: research articles can vary in length, but are typically five to fifty pages long.

Authors: Research articles may have numerous authors. The organization, institute or professional society the authors belong to will be listed.

Content: Generally the article is written at a sophisticated enough level that the reader will need to read the article more than once in order to understand and evaluate the article.

Identifying Refereed Journals:
Listed below are some clues to help identify refereed journals. However, it should be noted that numerous exceptions occur for any and all of the points listed below. Therefore, the following information should be used as a guideline when looking for refereed journals

Issue identification: Each issue has a publishing date, volume number and issue number. Generally a volume number is consistent throughout the calendar year, with each issue assigned a corresponding number e.g. vol. 55, issue 4.

Length: A refereed journal may have one to fifty articles, with most having eight to eighteen.

Advertising and graphics: Very little, if any, advertising is included in refereed journals. Any advertising that is included will directly relate to the field. Generally journals of this nature do not have photographs and use black print on white paper. The size of the journal may vary in size from a small paperback size to a large magazine format.

Table of contents: In addition to research articles, refereed journals may contain book reviews, literature reviews, and essays. Therefore, just because an article is published in a refereed journal, it does not necessarily mean that it is a research article!

Publishing: Refereed journals are usually published regularly - once a week, once a month, every quarter, or annually. The majority of journals are published four to six times per year and are often published by a professional society, organization or research institution.

Editorial board: Refereed journals have a peer review process. The editorial board is listed (generally at the beginning of the journal) along with the organizations they are affiliated with. Information about what types of papers are chosen for publication, the selection process, the length of papers accepted, and how to submit a paper is also provided.

Indexing: A listing of where the refereed journal is indexed is often provided.

Title: The title of a refereed journal usually has an "academic" sounding name.

Availability: The location, call number, and availability of the journal can be determined by using the online catalog.

Refereed Materials:
Refereed materials are publications reviewed by "expert readers" or referees prior to the publication of the material. After reading and evaluating the material, the referee informs the publisher if the document should be published or if any changes should be made prior to publication. Refereed materials are also referred to as Peer Reviewed. Refereed materials are significant to the research and the literature of library and information science because they assure readers that the information conveyed is reliable and timely.

Non-Refereed Materials:
Non-refereed materials such as Trade Journals or Magazines use less rigorous standards of screening prior to publication. In some publications, each article may be only screened by the publication's editor. While knowledgeable, no editor can be an authority on all the subject matter printed in a journal. Other non-refereed materials accept almost anything submitted in order to have something to print. The term "scholarly materials" is often used to describe refereed materials, but this term is not exclusive to refereed material. Non-refereed materials may not by scrutinized as intensely as refereed materials, but they can still be considered scholarly.

Locating Materials:
Databases are repositories of article information from journals, magazines, conferences, and sometimes books and newspapers. Databases cover a wide range of topics. Some databases offer a full text feature that links you directly to an article, so you can download and print it directly off the Internet. Explore databases that you use regularly to determine if they have this feature (usually denoted by an "FT" next to the article citation).

Evaluating On-line sources:
Online sources can be a valuable tool if you know how to accurately assess the value and validity of the online information source. In trying to determine the validity of a webpage, it is useful to see what type of organization publishes the page. Sites ending in .edu or .gov are generally more accurate and trustworthy than most, since they emanate from academic and governmental organizations. It is important to verify that you are not looking at a student page located on an academic server, which may or may not be as trustworthy as a page produced by the school. Another element to be cautious of when evaluating your potential source is bias. For example, if you are looking at a commercial site, are they accurately portraying information, or bending the truth to fit their needs? The next criterion to evaluate is accuracy. Begin by looking for spelling mistakes, poor grammar, and typos. Next, look at the sources quoted within the page. Are they well-known, trusted sources and people with expertise in the field at hand? If the page is valid, accurate, and published by a trusted source, then it is generally considered acceptable for research purposes.

Search Strategies:
Your search strategy will vary depending upon which database you are using. Research articles' abstracts & include terms that most non-research articles' abstracts do not. Some examples of these terms are methodology, hypothesis, research, experiment, etc. You can search the field "Words Anywhere" for these terms while simultaneously searching for the keywords of your topic. If you retrieve too many or too few hits, narrow or expand your search by adding or dropping search terms.




Reference research: beauty research and health research and shopping research and my social page




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research and development

Here are five topics for research in education. The perfect gift for the college student wondering what to select as a topic, or the educational professional seeking to enlighten us with a breakthrough or two.

What nutritional elements elevate learning abilities?

Are there foods that aid in the educational process? Certainly there are foods to be avoided, such as an excess of sugar and the caffeine laden drinks that send my fourth grade students bouncing off the walls. There are the “New Age,” well intentioned, but ill informed folks, who would have us eat nothing but dandelion leaves. There are the hucksters promoting their “overnight weight loss/increased sex drive/mind calming/IQ enhancing wonder diets,” each bearing the disclaimer, “these findings are not substantiated by scientific research.” But is there any real scientific data out there? I’d be fascinated to learn.

What methods most greatly encourage elementary school students to read for pleasure?

What is the psychology behind the impetus some students feel, and some students will never experience? Is there a proven existent paradigm for greater success? What are the latest and most promising approaches? How do I break down the reluctant reader and infuse them with a least a cursory desire to read? All of these questions spark my intense interest.

Are newly arriving freshmen college students better or more ill prepared academically than 1966’s freshmen?

Educators decry the state of affairs of all things educational, and routinely proclaim a crisis is coming or already upon us. But just as every generation in America has resisted and maligned the favored music of their offspring, I suspect this educational outrage is equally ongoing and unending. Is there data supporting the claims that today’s freshmen are more ill equipped to deal with college life?

How does physical movement benefit brain development in elementary students?

I was amazed to learn of the correlation between regular physical movement and brain development in young children. What programs exist that would aid in my bringing movement - and by extension, greater brain development – to my students? What are the latest research findings on physical education’s impact on other areas of learning? What is the physiology involved?

How does art instruction influence other academic progress?

I infuse all my courses with art, and have found it tremendously helpful in capturing the attention of my students. I want to learn more about how art impacts student development, both to make myself better able to utilize this tool and to give myself greater justification for using it. I want to glean all the latest and most well documented research that supports my view that art instruction compliments all other subject lesson planning, captures the attention of a segment of students who would otherwise remain apathetic, and broadens the academic universe of all students.

As this is one of my own personal favorite topics, I'll throw in a thesis, free of charge.   “Art instruction in elementary school curriculums – often among the first targets of politicians seeking to balance budgets – is a powerful and practical educational tool, with far reaching and often underappreciated benefits.”

Possible subtopics include art as a means to reach at-risk and otherwise educationally challenged students; how art instruction gives students a welcome respite from more difficult subjects, re-energizes and makes them better able to focus; how art education compliments and augments standard educationally required subjects; statistical data suggesting (or proving) that students who receive instruction in art have higher grades and do better on standardized tests (assuming this is demonstrable). 

Let's see some data collecting out there!




Reference research: business research and health research and general research and my social page




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