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Throughout this arsenic-life NASA saga, I’ve been trying to pinpoint the fundamental reasons to explain why this story got out of hand.  Why did NASA feel the need to uber-hype this research?  Why the rush to publish research even if it may not have been ready?

I’ve drawn the conclusion that the primary cause is the need to be PURPOSEFUL while performing scientific research.  For an example, I’ll take the research I currently work on.  I study the aging process in yeast cells, focusing on how the cells’ epigenome changes as a cell gets “older.”  We do this research under a federally-funded grant, for which our purpose is to study the aging process to help us better understand cancer and other age-related diseases.

But, to be honest, I don’t really care about cancer.  I mean, I am someone who is perhaps a bit too comfortable with my mortality, but even beyond that: I actually just think the idea of different proteins and other factors manipulating what sections of DNA are translated and expressed is fascinating.  I want to understand this process better – what proteins do what?  how is this different in different cell types? how did this system evolve? – and this “aging grant” is really just an excuse for me to do so.

I doubt I’m alone here.  I think a lot of scientists are more interested in uncovering the various processes, not for the good of mankind, but simply because we want to understand.  (Correct me if I’m wrong, scientists.)  I’d be happy to cure cancer along the way if I can, but in terms of my own goals and what is possible during my brief stint in this field, I just want to understand this system a little bit better than when I started.

Science wasn’t always done with a purpose.  Think about Charles Darwin.  Sure, he was interested in natural history, but he was on the Beagle to provide friendship to the captain.  Along the way, he collected a bunch of samples of mockingbirds and finches and other organisms, and it wasn’t till decades later that he put the pieces together and formulated his theory of selection of the fittest.  He didn’t collect specimens on his travels for any real purpose, but used the data he collected to draw conclusions later.

Of course, back then science was primarily done by rich men with too much time on their hands.  Now science is the forefront of innovation and progress;  we need more people than bored rich men to be studying it and, hell, anyone should get a chance to do so!  But with greater knowledge and technology, we need more money.  And since I’m not a rich bored man, I don’t have any money.

That’s where the government comes in: grants to fund research.  But since it is taxpayers that are funding this research, it should have goals that will benefit those taxpayers.  Thus I study aging and cancer.  And these grants do keep us on task.  If I find a cool mutation that alters the epigenome of my yeastie beasties and it’s not related to the aging process, I will not be following up on that project.

I go back and forth on whether this is a good thing.  On the one hand, it keeps us accountable to the government and taxpayers, who give us our funding.  But on the other hand, does research for a purpose help us really advance in biology, help us better understand how life works?

One of my bosses, a great scientist, doctor and philosopher king, recently emailed this quote to our lab from Carol Greider, a recent Nobel Prize winner for her work on the discovery of the aging-related enzyme telomerase:

“The quiet beginnings of telomerase research emphasize the importance of basic, curiosity-driven research. At the time that it is conducted, such research has no apparent practical applications. Our understanding of the way the world works is fragmentary and incomplete, which means that progress does not occur in a simple, direct and linear manner. It is important to connect the unconnected, to make leaps and to take risks, and to have fun talking and playing with ideas that might at first seem outlandish.”

This idea burns me to my very core.  Purpose-based science assumes a certain knowledge of the systems we’re studying.  But, let’s face it: we still have so much to learn.  We’re all still flailing toddlers, trying to find a surface to hoist ourselves upon so that we can actually get somewhere.  While scientists are often conceived to be smart and have all the answers, we actually don’t have many.  The more you know, the more you know that you don’t know anything at all.

But instead of being allowed to play, to follow up on work because it’s exciting, to take risks, we have to make sure we stay within the limits of our funding and, thus, our purpose.  Because “playing” or studying something because we think it’s AWESOME doesn’t provide evidence of “progress.”

I could be entirely wrong: maybe the old adage that progress is made in leaps and bounds (as opposed to baby steps, I suppose) is farcical.  Maybe I only believe this because my human soul that thrives on chaos is drawn to it.

Either way: the purpose of research is overemphasized.  When I read papers, I am interested in knowing how their discovery fits into “practical knowledge” (“There is hardly anything known about X disease, BUT WE FOUND SOMETHING!”), but more than that, I’m interested in how it fits in with the current model of whatever system they are studying.  But that rarely gets as much attention in papers.

And this idea of “purpose” is why science in the media is so often overhyped.  News articles often take a definitive stance on how the new study has contributed to the public good.  Maybe it’s “eating blueberries will preserve your memory” or “sleeping 8 hours will make you attractive.”  This makes the science easy to digest, sure, but it also paints an incomplete picture.  These studies are just tiny pieces in a puzzle that scientists will continue to work on for decades.  It’s pure hubris to believe that non-scientists cannot understand the scientific process – that they cannot understand that it takes incremental steps.  But, nonetheless, if your research cannot be easily hyped, no one will hear about it, so you have to serve a purpose.

So with NASA’s arsenic-based life.  The current model, both in funding and the media, of requiring purpose to justify research forced NASA to claim a greater purpose for its discovery: “an astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life.”

To give both NASA and the researchers the benefit of the doubt, let’s just say they found this cool bug and wanted to share the news to get help in studying it, as author Oremland suggested.  They submitted the paper to officially get the word out.  But then they needed to find a “good reason” to have been studying arsenic microbes and NASA decided this was a good opportunity to reinvigorate its reputation of performing “useful science” so called a press conference.  You know where it goes from here.

All that is pure speculation – but it probably isn’t too far from the truth.  Maybe I’m being too kind, but I really doubt that the researchers or NASA had any ill-intentions.  They simply lost control, and the following shitstorm took off.

We can scoff at them all we like: “an astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life, my ass!”  But it’s really not so different from my lab publishing a paper with the headline, “KEY FACTOR IN CELL AGING UNCOVERED” when, really, we just discovered a factor, and we don’t even know if it’s key.

The idea of “useful science” also dampens my feelings about science: SCIENCE IS COOL!  Longing to pry up the corners of current knowledge isn’t enough: we can’t just look, but have to reveal a direct outcome.  But if we don’t allow ourselves even to look because of various purpose-based limitations, we could be missing out on something FUCKING AWESOME!

I’m just rambling now – and am very interested in hearing your thoughts on this.

• Does purpose-driven science lead to better science or more innovation?


• Are there ways of judging research as worthy (e.g. for funding purposes) without having to provide a direct purpose?


• How should the media change its model for covering stories?  Should every study that comes out get attention, or should we wait for more details and provide more review-like coverage?


• Would larger, field-based studies dampen competition?  Would this help or hurt scientific progress?

Etc. etc.  If you made it this far, thank you, xox, Hannah.



Reference research: finance research and computer research and general research and recent update




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But they are gurus and have deep pockets.

Today's educators are bombarded with information from all sides about the latest and greatest research-based instructional techniques in teaching. With all these crazes about instructional methods and the confusion about which one really works and which one is a dud, no wonder our teachers are so exhausted! As charming and inspirational as all these latest claims and success stories seem to be, educators need to be careful when choosing and implementing a new or old "miracle" instruction method. There are things a teacher needs to do before making any big changes to their curriculum and instruction.

First things first, what supporting evidence is there? Educators need to use their resources wisely and take all initial information with skepticism. Before actually outright backing the "amazing" new research supporting a particular method, whether it be Indirect Instruction, Cooperative learning, etc..., educators must do their research. Talk to colleagues, look the strategy up online, check out education magazines and journals, and any other resource material available. Find out what evidence there is out there to support the research-based strategy. Furthermore, make sure the sources you are calling upon for information are reliable. Reliable sources offer reliable evidence, so seek out unbiased, professional resources. Weigh pros and cons, consistencies and inconsistencies, before making a decision on the strategy at hand.

After thorough research has been done, the next important question is: "How should the research-based program be implemented?" And "What methods does the research show to be most advantageous?" These questions' answers would most probably appear in your research since it was suppose to be incredibly thorough. If not, you'll want to look it up. Many teachers forget this step, and as Grassen states in the article "What Does It Mean To Be a Research-Based Profession" teachers simply aren't properly implementing research-based strategies are thus losing out on potential benefits of the programs. "Cooperative learning was designed to complement teacher-directed instruction by providing further opportunity for students to work together using what they have learned. In most schools today, cooperative learning is used to replace teacher-directed instruction and students are expected to construct their own knowledge working in groups." (N.d). Clearly, teachers need to put a great deal of thought into this step as improper implementation of the program can have catastrophic consequences on learners.

Read up on each research-based method, decide what sorts of lessons would benefit from their use, and which wouldn't. Talk to colleagues about what methods they use in the classroom, why, and how they implement them. Most of all, be aware of comparisons being drawn between different research-based strategies. Look for comparative studies as opposed to non-comparative studies. Comparative studies are more likely to give you accuracy in research. Educators need to look at the whole picture. How is class A using strategy A performing compared to class B using strategy B? How do these same classes perform after trading strategies? How is school A using strategy A performing compared to school B using strategy B? And so on...

Lastly, before implementing any research-based strategy, an educator should ask themselves "Am I biased?" Be sure to be honest with yourself. Try to go into deliberation with an open and unbiased mind. Take into account all reliable sources whether they are in-line with your initial beliefs or opinions on the strategy or not. Remain unbiased until the end. Your openness and willingness to learn can determine the accuracy of your research.

There are a great many research-based programs out there and being implemented everyday. Many of them just don't have the proper supporting research for an educator, especially a new and inexperienced one, to simply throw their weight behind. Don't ask your students to do homework without doing your own. Research your methods before putting them into practice. Find out what's behind them, what's supporting them, and how they should be used to the biggest advantage in the classroom. Without such information your newest instructional plan could be a huge failure. Don't follow fads and trends, look for rock solid evidence and implementation methods before making that big leap of bringing it into your classroom.

Reference:

Grossen, B. (n.d). What Does It Mean To Be a Research-Based Profession? Retrieved March 8, 2007, from University of Oregon, Eugene Website: http://darkwing.uoregon.edu

Northwest Regional Education Laboratory. (2005). Research-Based Strategies. Retrieved March 5, 2007 from, Focus on Effectiveness Web site: http://www.netc.org/focus/strategies/




Reference research: research Dr. and health research and sport research and recent update




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research methods in education 9th edition

You might be overwhelmed on how to research information for your book. It may be difficult in the beginning to know where to start at or even how to gather information. How to research information for your book is quite simple when you follow some steps. You need to write down a list of all of certain information that you want to be included in your book. Here are five tips on how to research information for your book.

1.Talk to experts. Make sure to put experts on that list to get information from. You want to be able to quote information and check facts with experts. Experts will add more value to the information in your book and also provide you with additional information. They are also great to get to know since you can learn more information from them. You want to write down their names correctly.

2.Get a tape recorder. You want to get a tape recorder when asking experts questions. The tape recorder will help you later on when you putting the information together in your book. It is also important to take notes while talking to the experts, but the tape recorder will help you pick up any information that you may have missed due to the person talking too fast or not being able to write fast enough.

3.Get a digital camera. You want a digital camera to take pictures for your book. A digital camera with pictures also may be able to help you describe something in your book better depending upon what topic your book is about. They are nice to have a picture to look at in order to put words regarding the picture.

4.Go to the library in your city. The library is the perfect way to get information regarding the topic of your book. You can also check current old and new information this way. Your library might be also to order a book for you if you can't find it in the library. Library is a great source to get allot of information for free without having to buy a ton of books. A library usually offers Internet access for free to find additional information. Make sure to check out the college library in your local area too. One thing that is great about a library is that they usually have old copies of newspapers.

5.Talk to neighbors and other people. Depending upon the topic of your book you can learn quite a bit of information from neighbors and other people. People will be glad to tell you information for free just to be able to see their name in your book. If you any people that are professionals in a certain field that you can use that opportunity to talk to them.

When gathering information then please make sure to keep it organized so you can keep track of it better. It may help to have file folders to keep everything separated so it doesn't get all mixed up. Out of all the information in your book the experts are the most important of it all. The experts makes your book hold more weight as far as being more accurate and also contains more knowledge so it is even more helpful to others.




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research methods in education

Patricia L. Sullivan, an assistant professor at the University of Georgia's School of Public and International Affairs recently completed a study advancing a new model which predicts a nation's probability of accomplishing military objectives. Sullivan's research, reported in the June issue of the Journal of Conflict Resolution and by the UGA Office of Public Affairs News Service, found that since WWII major countries, including the United States, the Soviet Union, Russia, China, Britain or France, have failed in 39% of 122 military objectives against smaller, weaker nations.

Under a grant funded by the National Science Foundation and institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation Sullivan conducted research to explain the "circumstances under which more powerful nations are likely to fail and creates a model that allows policymakers to calculate the probability of success in current and future conflicts, "according to the UGA News Service.

Factors which Sullivan found important are the objective, the nature of the target, whether or not the target cooperates with the objective, whether the target or country initiating the action has allies, whether allies will intervene on either side, and the military strength or weakness of allies.

The factor most easily defined is the objective. The objective is the reason for military intervention. Objective, in Sullivan's model, is based on a continuum from "brute force" to "coercion." According to UGA News Service, the nature of the target is defined by the type of group which composes the target: guerilla, formal nation states, or terrorists. Examining these factors allows you to draw some conclusions about the odds of winning a military conflict.

Of the factors Sullivan identified the most important as whether the objective can be reached by military strength alone, or if target cooperation is essential in the military objective.

Sullivan explains that in the 1991 Gulf War Kuwait was a cooperative target. The citizens and government of Kuwait wanted the assistance of the United States. Driving out Hussein's forces was accomplished quickly and efficiently with the compliance of the nation of Kuwait.

Iraq has proven to be a different war story. Iraq did not invite the United States to enter their country. Although the United States entered on the stated premise of humanitarianism and a quest to end Hussein's reign of terror, that doesn't mean the U.S. was invited, and it doesn't mean the target is cooperative. The United States' objective to free the people of Iraq from the iron rule of Saddam Hussein and his Republican Guard was based on the plausible assumption that no human being wants to live in a state of suffering, euthanasia, and general brutality from a dictator. The United States government presumed the people of Iraq preferred freedom and democracy to the dictatorial, totalitarian government under which they lived. However, as a nation, Iraq has not proven cooperative to that objective.

Sectarian violence has kept the United States from meeting their military objective. Rather than welcoming international assistance in building a free nation, divided allegiances in the country have prolonged the military action. Many Muslim extremists view the United States as the face of the enemy, literally and spiritually. They continue to fight hard against governmental and social changes.

The lack of cooperation in Iraq is a huge indicator, according to Sullivan's model of the future of the war. It illuminates the need for target cooperation in military objectives. It does not, however, satisfy the question as to whether the probability of victory affirms or denies the call for military force to implement changes in the interest of humanitarianism.

Military force and humanitarianism, philosophically, should be mutually exclusive terms. However, often, in the face of brutality and oppression force is necessary to break the bonds of oppression. This creates a paradox which the United States government and citizens continue to grapple. It is, however, the same paradox that prompted the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolutionary War.

Sullivan reported to the UGA news service, "We can try to use brute force to kill insurgents and terrorists, but what we really need is for the population to be supportive of the government and to stop supporting the insurgents. Otherwise, every time we kill an insurgent or a terrorist, they're going to be replaced by others."

Once Sullivan developed her model, she tested it and found that her paradigm was accurate in 80% of the conflicts she examined, according to the UGA news service. Her model was used to examine the current war between the U.S. and its allies, and Iraq. Extrapolating an end to the war in Iraq based on Sullivan's model, theUGA news service estimates that there is a 26% chance of victory, in a war that could endure approximately ten years. Sullivan points out that factions, insurgents, and covert allies, such as Iran and Syria, seriously undermine the U.S. objective in Iraq.

Sullivan's conclusions regarding the war with Iraq were reported by the UGA news service as follows:

"No one could have predicted exactly what would happen after we overthrew the regime of Saddam Hussein," Sullivan said. "But what my model could say was that if the population was not supportive of whatever new regime we put in power and the American strategic objective shifted from regime removal to maintaining the authority of a new government, the likelihood of a successful outcome would drop from almost 70 percent to just under 26 percent."

Sullivan's research and reporting prove timely as the fierce debate over whether to pull our troops out of Iraq rages in the United States. According to Sullivan, the chances for the successful establishment of a new government in a free and independent Iraq are slim, without the cooperation of the Iraqis and surrounding nations. The research, however, does nothing to discourage those who believe in the fight in the name of higher moral law and justice.

Sullivan's paradigm is helpful, but must be weighed against the one's acceptance of age old adage, "It's not whether you win or lose, but how (or why) you play the game." One factor that Sullivan's research did not address includes an equation which may never be quantified: How much is one life worth in the pursuit of freedom and justice for all?

Sources:

Fahmy, Sam. "UGA study finds that weaker nations prevail in 39 percent of military conflicts, UGA Office of Public Affairs News Service, June 11, 2007.

http://www.uga.edu/news/artman/publish/070611_Sullivan.shtml

http://www.uga.edu/intl/sullivan.htm

http://jcr.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/51/3/496





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Engender them and you will see your rank improve.

Well, I lied. I can actually live without these five WordPress plugins, but the truth is they make my WordPress blogging life a whole lot easier.

In case you don't know, WordPress is one of the best and easiest to use blog platforms out there. If you've visited a blog today, chances are good that it was built on WordPress, which is free blog software that anyone can use.

One of the most attractive features of WordPress is the ability site owners have to customize their blogs and add all kinds of plug-ins to add functionality to their sites. The plugins are created by software developers and coders for anyone who wants to use them.

It couldn't be easier to find WordPress plugins. If you have a WP blog, you can easily search for them right from the plugin section of your dashboard. Installing them often only takes a few clicks of a button. Some require a little customization.

Essential WordPress Plug-In #1

Akismet. This is a plugin that filters out spam comments and requires little maintenance on the part of the blog owner. This is an essential plugin and is already preloaded on WordPress blogs. All you need to do is activate it by plugging your WordPress API key into the program.

Essential WordPress Plug-In #2

WhyDoWork Adsense Plugin. WhyDoWork is what I use to display Adsense advertisements on WordPress blogs I run. It lets you easily insert ad code into blog posts. You can choose to display the ads directly below the title of your post and choose if you want to ad box centered, or pushed to the left or the right. You can display ads in the post or after the post. WhyDoWork gives you a lot of flexibility in how you want to display you advertisements. You can also display Chitika ads, affiliate banners, or any other kind of html link or javascript snippet that fits properly.

Essential WordPress Plug-In #3

Yet Another Related Post Plugin. YARP is a very cool and super-easy to install plugin that automatically adds related posts by keyword to the end of your published blog posts. Related posts plug-ins help your website visitors find other posts about the topic they are currently reading about on your site. This helps increase your pageviews, keeps your visitors on your site longer, exposes them to your advertisements (which can be a good thing especially if you have impression-based ads), and helps your visitors find information they're interested in reading.

Essential WordPress Plug-In #4

All-in-One SEO Plugin. This is an essential WordPress plugin because it sets up your title tags and meta tags, which help in your on-site Search Engine Optimization. Just plug in the keyword you are focusing on and it will be included as a title tag with every single blog post you publish. This will help you immensely in gaining strong search engine positions and to increase your site's ranking.

This will help you gain more readers, more traffic, and more subscribers. If you've been blogging for a while, then you know that getting traffic is key in the Internet marketing game.

Essential WordPress Plug-In #5

Sociable WordPress Plugin. Sociable is a plugin you can easily integrate into your website just by downloading it from your blog dashboard and activating it. It allows your site visitors to easily bookmark your blog posts and save them to social bookmarking sites like Delicious, Digg, Stumbleupon, and even social networking sites like Facebook.




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research paper topics

Archibold, Randall. (1999, January). As Parents Sweat, 4th Graders Cram for New Test. New York Times, v148 i51397, p. A1

Bracey, G. W. (1992, February). Predicting school success for at-risk children. Phi Delta Kappan, v73 i6, p. 492.

Phelan, Patricia; Davidson, Ann Locke; Cao, and Hanh Thanh. (1992, May). Speaking up: students’ perspectives on school. Phi Delta Kappan, v73 n9, p.695(9).

The following academic journal resources all utilized effective qualitative research methods. This report will identify and describe the approaches and methods taken in these studies to achieve the qualitative research.

The Research Design Symposium is meeting for the last time. The goal of this meeting will be to consider the value of qualitative research. The methodologies used in the studies above address the needed research concerning the matter of standardized tests and the causal relationship they have with anxiety. The approaches that will be discussed are ethnography, phenomenology, and field research. The methods that will be discussed are participant observation, direct observation, and unstructured interviewing.

The term ethnography comes from the field of anthropology. The purpose of this research approach is to study an entire culture. Typically, when one thinks of culture, we immediately think of ethnicity and perhaps location globally. However, recent studies have broadened this understanding to include “any” group or organization regardless of previously mentioned ideologies. The approach of ethnography is most common with the method of participant observation. However, the study listed above did not utilize this method. In fact, the method that the study used was unstructured interviewing. Unstructured interviewing involves direct interaction. The most important aspect about this method is that it does not possess a formal structured instrument or protocol. The interviewer is very “free” to move the conversation as he/she sees fit. I can understand why this method would be used to address research that involves ethnic difference. Sometimes researchers feel the need to direct the interview so that the participant does not feel manipulated and also so that the participant does not become offended by the interviewers assumptions or questions. Although this method is usually more difficult to interpret the interviewed data (because of its lack of structure), it is the broad undertaking that makes this method appropriate for the study.

The second study that used qualitative research used different approaches and different methods. The approach used was phenomenology. This approach has a long history and can be closely linked to the field of Philosophy. However, the purpose of this approach is to emphasize a focus on the participant’s experiences and interpretations of his/her environment. Additionally, the researcher would use this approach to better understand how the world is seen through the eyes of another person. This approach is to establish a “perception” and how the research supports or changes this perception. The method used in this study was direct observation. The researcher used video cameras to observe the phenomenon. The purpose of this method is to observe certain controlled sampled situations. Also, this method is not as long as other methods, and therefore, it tends to be more focused than other types of observations (participant observations). The researcher in this instance is not taking part in this experiment. His/her entire purpose is to be a ghost. Direct observation attempts to keep a distance so as not to bias the observations. For example, on reality shows currently on television, would the participants act different if they didn’t know that they were being watched by millions of people?
The final study mentioned earlier uses the approach of field research. Field research is very broad. The purpose of this approach is to gather qualitative data. Examples of this type of data include in-depth interviewing, direct observation, and written documentation. The researcher embodies himself/herself into the environment of the research. The researcher relies heavily on field notes and extensive use of coding.

The method used in the final study was direct observation. Oddly enough, field research is closely related to the method of participant observation. Participant observation is considered the most common methods of qualitative research. The most important aspect of effective participant observation is that the researcher must be engulfed in the context. It is almost as if the researcher is “under-cover”. The researcher must plan on spending years gathering data. He/she must also be willing to be wait until he/she is accepted within this culture or environment. The acceptance of the researcher is important for the researcher to observe the natural phenomenon as it happens. The researcher becomes a part of the research. This method is very extensive and thorough. This data may also be interpreted later in the form of a “case study”, which is also a qualitative method not used in the three studies presented.







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research methods in hci

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.





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