Research Questions Major Points Many research problems are stated as questions. The essential characteristic of a researchable question is that some sort of information can be collected in an attempt to answer the question.

Good? Good research questions have four essential characteristics. They are feasible, clear, significant, and ethical. An additional characteristic of good research questions is that they often, but not always, suggest a relationship to be investigated.

Clarity Three common ways of clarifying ambiguous or unclear terms in a research question are the use of: constitutive (dictionary-type) definitions definition by example operational definitions

What do you mean? A constitutive definition uses additional terms to clarify meaning. An operational definition describes how examples of the term are to be measured or identified. The term relationship, as used in research, refers to a connection or association between characteristics.

Taxonomy of Research Questions (Hedrick, Bickman, & Rog, 1993) Four types of research questions: DESCRIPTIVE NORMATIVE CORRELATIONAL IMPACT

DESCRIPTIVE “What is the prevalence of mental retardation in Black middle school children?” Produces information about what is or has been happening in relation to the target of the research. If the aim is to describe certain characteristics of participants in a certain context…

NORMATIVE “Were individual education plans (IEPs) in place before the placement was made, in accordance with the minimal service delivery requirement?” Goes beyond description and requires the information to be compared with some standard or expected observation.

CORRELATIONAL “What is the relationship between the size of family and the presence of emotional disturbance in siblings?” Used to identify relationships to enable explanation of phenomena. Indicate the strength and direction of a relationship between two or more variables, not causality. If a strong, positive relationship is found, it does not lead to a conclusion (e.g., that large families = emotional disturbance in sibs); rather, such a finding suggests the need for further study to uncover the causal relationships.

IMPACT “Do students with moderate retardation who are praised immediately after correct sight reading learn more word definitions than students who receive delayed praise?” Identify effects to establish causal links between an independent variable (intervention) and a dependent variable (anticipated change). Impact questions can be stated as hypothesis, an if…, then… statement.

Practice Reflect on the important elements outlined for a research question. Develop four research questions that contain these elements and that each represent one type of research question: Descriptive, Normative, Correlational, and Impact. Consult and collaborate with your lab group members for feedback and discussion of your four questions (you may want to examine the research scenarios for Assignment 2 to practice developing research questions). Do not hand this practice in to the instructor.

Additional Points Your questions and hypotheses taper the research and are beacons for readers. Qualitative research often involves a central question and subquestions. Quantitative research often involves either questions or hypotheses. Quantitative research addresses the independent variable first and the dependent variables second. Mixed-method research does the above uniquely based on the qualities within each study.

Reference Hedrick, T., Bickman, L., & Rog, D. (1993). Applied research design: A practical guide. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.