What makes a good PIP? (1 Viewer)

[Babyzee]

Hey all! Jus wana wish all u guyZz good luck with ur PIPs! here r a few pointers my teacher gave me:

A good topic should:

- Be revelantto the course concepts (not just the 5 keys ones). Your PIP should not just refer to these concepts, but be based on them.
- Have a clear focus. The more focused your PIP is the more manageable it will be. While is some cases it will be appropriate to include a social or historical context, the majority should be focused on the issue. (It is much better for your PIP to be issue based. An easy way to get started is to develop a hypothesis or question you want to answer).
- Include a number of methodologies. It can't be stressed as to how many methodologies you should use. (Mainly, use atleast 1 qualitative and 1 quantitative methodology).

Some topics to avoid:
- "Pop topics". An estimation has been made that over 2500 PIPs have been on topics based on "Body Image". Mostly relied on "cleo" and "dolly" and scored only average or loss.( SO AVOID IT!!!!)
- "Amazing or Fascinating Topics". These usually overlap with 'pop' topics and include those where you describe how amazing or fascinating something is (e.g body piercing). These topics are good for descriptions but no analysis.
- "Sad stories". Your own personal experiences can bevery effective in leading you into a topic. Although it can be good, PIPs describing that personal experience are similar to the above topics - they allow good descriptions, but nothing else.
- "Things you cant approach". There are many issues present in society that interest you but you need to think about the ethics of researching a topic and how you will actually undertake that research. Suicide is the best example of this type of topic. Although you may get great articles, it is all secondary research.

 

[SiZmOs]

Some good advice there, Babyzee.

The more methodologies you use, the better.

 

[lou_217]

Clarity when writing is a must. Forget using sophisticated words if you don't know what they mean. Get to the point and back that point up. Just be clear and concise!

 

[Kulazzi]

^Just on that note. When you get to university, the tutors/lecturers don't give a damn if you use sohpisticated words. They will give you more marks if you use simple yet effective words in order to convey your idea/message. I'll give an example. There was this one girl at school and she's really smart. She uses a lot of big and sophisticated words to sound intelligent and stuff and gained excellent marks. Then, we went to the same uni (she got a good UAI but got in because of the scholarship...). Anyways, I caught up again with her last semester as she was in one of my classes. We had an assessment and we got it back, marked and everything. I got 10 marks above her (I'm not meaning to boast but just to give an idea)and I was ecstatic. I beat a girl who used to get high marks at school. And now, the tutors/lecturers don't give a damn and can actually mark you down! I had a look at her assessment (the actual lecturer marked hers because our tutor ended up getting cancer and .'. had to leave) and he wrote messages like "too confusing", "too messy", "all over the place" meaning that he did not understand what she was trying to say.

So, the moral of the story is: use words which the PIP marker an understand and make sense of from just reading it once, ie. they don't have to read the sentence over and over again in order to figure out what you are [trying] to say

 

[Survivor39]

I agree with Kulazzi.

Generally, a good PIP is one that have a CLEAR AIM, that is, What exactly are you trying to find out from doing this PIP? Don;t say you want to know about how globalisation affect teenagers. Instead, be very specific! Tell the mark this is what I want to find out and my aim is "to determine the influences of advertisement on the behaviours of teenagers in the 21st century".

You must have your own ideology and hypothesis! Tell the marker WHAT YOU THINK are the driving force. Then you gather evidence from your research to support your view. Or in some cases, reject your hypothesis. This is what make a good PIP and a good researcher.