1. Clarifying Theoretical Orientation, Framing Research Questions, and Selecting Design
A. Stephen Lenz, ph.d., lpc

2. A Traditional Look at Components to a Project
How “things” are; how we determine if things exist or not
realism, idealism
Ontology
How “we” know what “we” know
Constructionism, Social-Construction, Positivism, Post-positivism
Epistemology
Ideas with which to think about content and interrelations between experiences and constructs
Theory
What we want to know based on an ontological, epistemological, and theoretical synthesis of the world around you and your field of interest
Research Questions
Approach that is suited to answer your research questions
Phenomenology. Case studies, experiments, predictive studies, single-case research designs, meta-analyses
Methodology
Procedure for “seeing” data, implicit sense making, and/or thinking with theory
Interviews, naturalistic observations, data mining, experimental manipulation
Methods of Data Collection
How we re-present data, explicit sense making to an audience
Representation
The “so what” of the research.
Practical and social implications within context of your literature review
Conclusions or Non-Conclusions

3. Some Examples and Your Applications:
Epistemology
Theoretical Orientation
Research Question(s) or Problem Statement(s)
Methodology