Research Problems (Lab #1) INFO 271B COYE CHESHIRE

Research Problems for Quantitative Research

The Role of Theory in Problem Construction A word about paradigms and theoretical perspectives…

Three Criteria for a Research Problem What are we going to learn as the result of the proposed project that we do not know now? Why is it worth knowing? How will we know that the conclusions are valid?

Justifying Research Problems Explain what is not known about the problem. Why does the problem matter? Provide documentation that this is actually a problem. Available statistics? Available literature that shows that this is a needed area of inquiry?

What is not a Justification? No one has looked at it before. Literature has failed to address the issue.

Defining Research Questions What is a research question? “an interrogative sentence or statement that asks: What relation exists between two or more concepts?” A good problem can produce many research questions. The research question(s) can be restated in one or more ways to produce testable hypotheses.

The Research Question Common mistakes in defining research questions Very broad area of interest Too narrow Cannot be measured Not interesting to the researcher

Testable Hypotheses Once a research problem has been identified and one or more research questions emerge, specific hypotheses are used to relate specific variables What is the role of operationalization at this point? Hypotheses should specify at least two variables and the relationship between them: E.g., Hypothesis 1: As Internet use increases, time spent with family members decreases.

Lab #1