Forum Members impress me

[Flamingo]

Since joining this forum to research of Bankruptcy I have come across some pretty intelligent people sharing allot of useful information. I would like to know what is the process or method you use to begin your research on any subject. I write for a political blog so research politics. I use several govt websites to gather statistics and I use other political sites to gather credible references.

How would you dispute my claim that installing a windmill on each property could reduce energy cost by 85%? I made this up. So, how would you research it to dispute or endorse my claim? Additionally, how do you evaluate your source?

I am a paralegal trained to research, even though it is legal research; but the same can hold for regular subjects. When given a situation, you look for the "issue" or "meat" of the situation In your windmill situation, I would begin by searching the locale of each of your properties where the windmill would be placed to see if placing them there would generate enough wind power to operate efficiently. You may end up spending more to place them on the properties than in savings they would generate. You are interested in reducing your energy cost by 85% so to me the issue would be would there be actual cost savings on the properties on which you plan to place the windmills. Sources would include geographic maps of the area, mountains, rivers, proximity to oceans, etc. along with climate and other meteoroligical information gathered over a period of time and also state and government regulations as to allowing windmills in those areas. There would probably be more sources too numerous to list along the research path also. Your hypothetical situation would take a lot of work and research for your answer and also considerable time.

[JollyGG]

Basically I'm a scientist so I read things very critically.

I read something. Look for unanswered questions, inconsistencies, poor logic. Then I go and find something that says the exact opposite thing. I evaluate it for the same weaknesses. I look for numerous sources about the issues from both sides of the debate. Even when I think the other side is an idiot I still try to objectively evaluate it.

As I read the first materials I probably discovered alot of unaswered questions so I take the questions one at a time and apply the same idea to each question. What are the proposals strenghts. What are it's weaknesses. What does the opposition say. What are it's streanghts and it's weaknesses.

By the time I'm all done I've figured out what the core truths and themes seem to be, what the major flaws seem to be, what the major streanghts seem to be, and I rely on my own logic to figure out what makes the most sense.

[JRScott]

Self Study mostly. You have to mostly search and read different sources on the same topics. It is also usually best to go to the source.

[BROKENN]

What is imperical data? I could google it. LOL

A completely misspelled word!

"What does empirical mean? *Derived from observation or survey"

[Mi Bankruptcy]

Basically I'm a scientist so I read things very critically.

I read something. Look for unanswered questions, inconsistencies, poor logic. Then I go and find something that says the exact opposite thing. I evaluate it for the same weaknesses. I look for numerous sources about the issues from both sides of the debate. Even when I think the other side is an idiot I still try to objectively evaluate it.

As I read the first materials I probably discovered alot of unaswered questions so I take the questions one at a time and apply the same idea to each question. What are the proposals strenghts. What are it's weaknesses. What does the opposition say. What are it's streanghts and it's weaknesses.

By the time I'm all done I've figured out what the core truths and themes seem to be, what the major flaws seem to be, what the major streanghts seem to be, and I rely on my own logic to figure out what makes the most sense.

Great Jolly! I like your approach. It seems similar to my methods. I always try to find things that prove me wrong on my final conclusion. However,I am not a scientist. From reading this forum and indvidual replies to several different subjects, along with trying to explain to my daughter about conducting sound research I was just wondering how different individuals approach their research regarding problems or issues concerning them.

[woeisme]

Basically I'm a scientist so I read things very critically.

Just wondering what variety of scientist you are JollyGG. I'm a chemist (PhD in Electrochemistry) so wanted to say hi to a fellow nerd, lol.

Actually the focus of my research is in an alternative energy area, fuel cells, and I am the Director of my college's Environmental Science program, so find the windmill question posed interesting. For something like that I would start researching the scientific literature. Probably start somewhere like the journal of power sources. The internet is ok for quick check of basic info, but for a real analysis, need to go to peer reviewed sources to trust the info is solid. Google Scholar isn't too bad, but would probably start with my college's library since we have access to all kinds of academic search engines. Don't know what I'd do if I was out in the real world and didn't have easy/free access to scholarly journals!

[Mi Bankruptcy]

I apologize if I misled people. I was not interested in the Windmill. I threw out a statement of what I considered an outrageous claim.

However,I did find it interesting that my friend who is engineer at Nuclear plant made a statement that they would have to fill my whole state with Windmills to produce the energy that one nuclear plant produces. Although he may be biased :o)

I was curious the methods used to debunk or prove someones claims i.e how people here conduct their research

Google Scholar? I'll have to check it out. Thanks learned something else about methods of reference or research. This was my intention with this thread.

[Bandit]

I was curious the methods used to debunk or prove someones claims i.e how people here conduct their research

some claims cannot be proven or disproven. when that happens you have a theory based claim. by all means, until it is proven or disproven the theory has all rights to remain on the table as a valid theory with a possibility. (some people can't handle that kind of research)

[JollyGG]

I have another more concrete example of how I would problem solve.

How would I come up with a good bailout package that will pass both the house and senate?

I would do a search for all proposed options and put them together in a folder. With each proposal I would have two sheets of paper. I would ask every single congressman and woman to read each proposal and on the first sheet list the things they liked, think would work and would support on one page. Listing in order from most liked to least liked. On the second sheet of paper I would have them write the things they don't like, feel are unnecessary, or won't work. Once again I would like them to list them in order of least like on down.

I would then compile all of this together for each plan. I would then sit down with the committee trying to write this plan and go through the things most people liked and make a master list of the good things in all the plans. We would then exclude the things people didn't like and decide to compromise on the things that showed up on both lists. We would then take our list of good ideas from all the proposals to make one plan that incorporated the best of all of them. Anything irrelevant to the primary issue would be discarded.

I would give congress two days to make their individual lists (after all this is supposed to be a priority). I would set up two or three days for going through the list and writing a bill and I would schedule a vote for the 5th or 6th day.

Everyone knows when they need to be there to vote. They know that they had their input. And hopefully at the end their would be the best bill possible.

[Mi Bankruptcy]

Jolly,
In addition to my daughter I was also thinking about the bailout..oops.. the "RESCUE" plan. However, I have yet to see a clear definition of what the problem is. So, I would also include an agree upon description of exactly what the problem is that needs to be addressed.

Heck, my father who is well off doesn't know what to think of this bailout issue. This is a guy that is retired at 56. This was also the toughest part of my bankruptcy was telling my father. Funny thing was my wife didn't understand why I had to tell him.. My only explanation was.. so I create a plan and execute it. It made it real admitting it to my dad that I needed to claim bankruptcy.

[JollyGG]

Jolly,
In addition to my daughter I was also thinking about the bailout..oops.. the "RESCUE" plan. However, I have yet to see a clear definition of what the problem is. So, I would also include an agree upon description of exactly what the problem is that needs to be addressed.

Heck, my father who is well off doesn't know what to think of this bailout issue. This is a guy that is retired at 56. This was also the toughest part of my bankruptcy was telling my father. Funny thing was my wife didn't understand why I had to tell him.. My only explanation was.. so I create a plan and execute it. It made it real admitting it to my dad that I needed to claim bankruptcy.

I agree it's kinda hard to find an answer until you know what the question is. I guess before I sent out my list of proposed plans I would sit down with the committee to decide what the goals were and exactly what problems we were trying to address.

I also told my Dad before I filed. We didn't tell my husbands family. But with mine I just needed to tell him. I guess I would have felt like I was avoiding talking about it whenever I spoke to him if I told him even though once he knew we almost never discussed it.

[WoodSprite]

Google Scholar? I'll have to check it out.

I love this question, and will respond when I can find time to do it thoughtfully, but I just had to say that in a previous life, as web manager for a very large academic library, I was responsible for content, design, and coding of a massive, sprawling web site that most of our commuter student body used INSTEAD OF actually going to the library for research. It felt like quite a heavy burden of responsibility, and I used to joke that what our users really wanted was "Skoogle".