DIFFERENT WAYS OF DESIGNING ACADEMIC RESEARCH

Abstract

This paper presents a theoretical study whose objective is to help beginner researchers by presenting solutions to some doubts about different ways of designing academic research. For this, it was proposed to six beginners of a doctoral course in Science and Mathematics Education at a private university located in Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil, to elaborate doubts they still had about academic research. In all, 53 questions were elaborated, among which nine questions were identified about of academic research design. These were grouped according to similarities between their meanings their meanings, thus emerging three categories: levels of academic research; stages of research; some types of research. We conclude that academic research can be classified into monograph, dissertation and thesis to differentiate the degree of graduate, master or doctor, respectively. Also, it was realized that the better delimited the research problem and the research problem and objectives, the clearer the delineation of the other stages of the research will be research. Still, it was verified that, while bibliographical research uses as a source published and legitimized by the scientific community, narrative research and its variants are and its variants are more concerned with narrating the experiences and worldviews of less recognized social groups.