Research Questions Research Methods Professional Development Institute Kali Trzesniewski December 4, 2015

Research is an organized and systematic way of finding answers to questions

Research question: summarizes the issue your research will investigate

Origins of Research Questions

Nurturing and Hatching Strong Research Questions Observation of something intriguing e.g., why do people… Origins of a Research Question If, how, and/or for whom a program worksIs a claim or perception true

Observation of something intriguing Why do… Have you noticed that…

Jump to the End What do I want to learn? What will I want to report? What will my take-home message be?

Observation of something intriguing Back to the Beginning What do we already know (literature review)? Was reading about it engaging? Were my questions answered? Do I have more/new questions? Is it possible to design a study to test my question? Will anyone beside me find this interesting?

Nurturing and Hatching Strong Research Questions Observation of something intriguing e.g., why do people… Origins of a Research Question If, how, and/or for whom a program worksIs a claim or perception true

If, how, and/or for whom a program works Does my program increase/decrease … compared to… (IF) Does the program work equally well for… (FOR WHOM) Is my program equally effective when delivered… {format} (IF & HOW) Which part of my program has the most impact or is the most important (HOW)

What do I want to learn? What will I want to report? Participants, leaders, community members, funders, etc. What might I want to know for program refinement? What will my take-home message be? Jump to the End

If, how, and/or for whom a program works Back to the Beginning How is success defined? How can I measure success? What will convince stakeholders to fund, teach, or participate in this program? What are some likely mechanisms of program effectiveness? What factors might make the program more or less effective?

Nurturing and Hatching Strong Research Questions Observation of something intriguing e.g., why do people… Origins of a Research Question If, how, and/or for whom a program worksIs a claim or perception true

Is a claim or perception correct Are all … families… Do people really believe…

What do I want to learn? What do I want to do with these results (inform funders, participants, change attitudes)? What will my take-home message be? Jump to the End

Is a claim or perception correct Back to the Beginning What do we already know (literature review)? Who is your audience (who to convince)? Is it possible to design a study to test my question? Are there negative outcomes due to misperception? Will anyone beside me find this interesting?

Good research questions easily generate hypotheses Research Question Hypothesis AHypothesis BHypothesis C

Hypothesis: a predicted answer to the research question that can be tested and is based on prior research

Hypotheses Research Question Why don’t more youth stay in the 4-H program through adolescence? Youth who are given leadership experiences at a younger age will stay in the program through adolescence, compared to... Youth who do not play sports will stay in the program through adolescence, compared to…

What do I want to learn? What will I want to report? What will my take-home message be? A list of factors that I can use to make changes to the program Jump to the End

Why don’t more youth stay in the 4-H program through adolescence? What do we already know (literature review)? Was reading about it engaging? Were my questions answered? Do I have more/new questions? Is it possible to design a study to test my question? Will anyone beside me find this interesting?

Hypotheses Research Question Why don’t more youth stay in the 4-H program through adolescence? Youth who are given leadership experiences at a younger age will stay in the program through adolescence, compared to... Youth who do not play sports will stay in the program through adolescence, compared to…

Collaborative Research Questions Leveraging Resources

Collaborative Research Be opportunistic o Research studies are resource (human and financial) intensive Convince other people your question is really interesting Think about how can someone else’s research question can inform your research question

Collaborative Research Don’t get stuck on having to do your most passionate idea o If you can do research more often, you’ll [probably] get to that question Be engaged and fun Work with people you have fun with

Return to research groups Task: Choose a research question