Information drawn from Leedy/Ormrod’s Practical Research Planning & Design

Start with a research problem  Basic or applied  Does it address an important question?  Will knowing the answer make a difference?  Does it advance scientific knowledge?  Will other researchers be interested in your investigations?  Not just collecting data, but interpreting data

A good research problem:  Is well-defined  How do we know that we solved it?  Is highly important  Is solvable  Are there known approaches? Do you have the necessary resources?  Matches your need  Appropriate size for your program, appropriate topic for your skill set  For a thesis, want high impact, low risk

Types of Research  Exploratory/Descriptive: What does it look like? How does it work?  Outcome: Framework/Principles  Evaluative: How well does a method solve a problem  Outcome: Empirical results  Explanatory: Why does something happen the way it happens?  Outcome: Causes  Predictive: What would happen if X?  Outcome: Models

Research question != hypothesis Research QuestionHypothesis  Do not offer any speculative answers related to the research problem  Applicable to a many types of research  Intelligent, tentative guesses about how the research question may be resolved  Essential to experimental research

Handout  Chapter 3, The Problem: The Heart of the Research Process from Practical Research: Planning and Design. Leedy & Ormrod  In-class activity:  Individual: Write your research problem  Pairs: Swap problems, discuss (repeat if time)