Concepts to be covered Research question Normative Empirical Unit (of analysis) Variable (attributes / values) Explanatory Descriptive

Types of research questions Henk van der Kolk

Aim Learning to distinguish between: Normative Conceptual Empirical (both descriptive and explanatory) …. research questions.

Example: Death penalty/ capital punishment

Research question A general idea of what you hope to learn from your research is called a ‘research question’.

Examples of research questions What do we mean with the ‘death penalty’? Which countries still have the death penalty? Does the death penalty reduce crime? Is it justifiable to have the death penalty in a country? Why did some countries abolish the death penalty, while other countries still have it? How many people were legally executed between 2000 and 2012 in the US?

Basic steps in research Research question Procedure Knowledge Different types of research questions, different types of procedures. That is why we need to distinguish ‘types of research questions’.

Three types of questions ‘Normative’ (what ‘should’ be the case?) ‘Conceptual’ (what does it mean?) ‘Empirical’ (what is or will be and why?)

Normative questions Often start with ‘should we …?’, ‘Is it justifiable ..’ Not asking for ‘legal facts’. Cannot be answered using observations only.

Example ‘Should we introduce the death penalty (in order to reduce crime)?’ Does the introduction of the death penalty lead to a reduction of crime? (Empirical question) Is the introduction of the death penalty acceptable? (Normative)

Conceptual questions Often start with ‘what is …’ Cannot be answered using observations Often ‘just’ based on agreement …

Example What do we mean with the ’death penalty’? Executions by state officials without judicial decision? Judicial decisions without actual executions? Death penalty only in case of war?

Empirical questions Questions that can only and fully be answered using observations, will be called ‘empirical questions’. Conceptual and normative aspects are relevant too, when asking an empirical question, but this is not what you hope to learn.

Examples of research questions What do we mean with the ‘death penalty’? Which countries still have the death penalty? Does the death penalty reduce crime? Is it justifiable to have the death penalty in a country? Why did some countries abolish the death penalty, while other countries still have it? How many people were legally executed between 2000 and 2012 in the US? Conceptual Empirical Normative Empircal Erg veel tekst, het maakt het overzichtelijker als er wat minder te zien is op één slide.

Empirical questions Conceptual and normative aspects are relevant too, when answering empirical questions, but this is not what you want to find out …

Examples of research questions Empirical Empircal .. Which countries still have the death penalty? Does the death penalty reduce crime? … Why did some countries abolish the death penalty, while other countries still have it? How many people were legally executed between 2000 and 2012 in the US?

Two types of empirical questions Some empirical questions are about description: descriptive questions. Some empirical questions are about causes and effects: explanatory questions.

Examples of research questions .. Which countries still have the death penalty? Does the death penalty reduce crime? … Why did some countries abolish the death penalty, while other countries still have it? How many people were legally executed between 2000 and 2012 in the US? Descriptive Explanatory

Example:‘Which countries still have the death penalty in 2015?’

Examples of research questions .. Which countries still have the death penalty? Does the death penalty reduce crime? … Why did some countries abolish the death penalty, while other countries still have it? How many people were legally executed between 2000 and 2012 in the US? Descriptive Explanatory

Distinguishing empirical questions Many explanatory questions do have two variables, however … not all questions with two variables are ‘causal’. Example: ‘Do countries with a large Muslim population more frequently have the death penalty than countries with other religious majorities?’ (descriptive)

Distinguishing empirical questions Many explanatory questions do have two variables, however … not all questions refer explicitly to two variables. Example:‘Why did some countries abolish the death penalty, while other countries still have it?’ (explanatory)

This microlecture A distinction is made between normative, conceptual and empirical (descriptive or explanatory) research questions. Different types of research questions, are answered using different types of procedures.

Images used: Slide 4: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kemmler_ex%C3%A9cut%C3%A9_par_l'%C3%A9lectricit%C3%A9.jpg Slide 10: https://pixabay.com/en/police-baltimore-police-officer-law-224426/ Slide 16: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Death_Penalty_World_Map.png Slide 22: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ari/70392923