02 Problem Identification & Developing Questions Flashcards
The first step to any project is
when we conceptualize the problem.
Three Brainstorming Strategies
Free Association, Categories,
Clustering
is the mental process whereby fuzzy and imprecise notions
(or concepts) are made more specific and precise.
Conceptualization
how do we get there:
Identify key concepts and search terms that will get you to your topic.
Pick out indicators.
Then identify dimensions.
After identifying the problem, we must then
operationalize the problem so that we can best
determine how to measure it.
How do we operalize the problem?
Real definitions
Nominal definitions
Operational definitions
means that we are setting specific guidelines for what we expect our
research to do and not to do.
By setting a specific scope, you are specifying, targeting, refining, clarifying,
narrowing, and examining a specific range of information in order to provide unique
and intelligible results.
scope
In doing research, we are bound by many factors. Those factors help us to
better determine the scope of our project.
To determine our scope, we must consider all of opportunities afforded to our
research, as well as the factors that constrain the project.
Asking what and how we can do our research helps to determine the scope of a
study.
Scope is a guiding tool. It tells you exactly where you should aim your research
so that your targeted information is always what you get
Justifying research means
that you have expressed to your readers the value
your research holds to them personally and/or to your research field.
If your future audience does not perceive any benefits from the knowledge you
provide, then your research lacked in some substantive way.
Justification can happen by
making your research interesting, important, by
improving the field, by challenging concepts, and by resolving gaps in existing
knowledge. Make it interesting and important.
Salience
After identifying your research problem, adjusting your scope, and coming up
with the justification for the project,
it is time to start considering some practical
concerns when designing your research.
How do I design my research?
Ask yourself, “What is the feasibility that the project could be completed?”.
Consider your capacity as a researcher.
Analyze the resources you have available including time, money, effort, and mental
capacity, and design your research based on your capabilities.
What institutional conditions must you consider?
Decide on your research questions and hypotheses.
You should pose a research question, and possibly research hypotheses because it
informs yourself and your readers about the scope and justification of your project. You
should be as specific as possible to clearly define the parameters of the question.
Your research questions/hypotheses will provide the specific guidelines and reasons for
what you will look at, and will even determine what type of data you have to collect in order
to answer those question.
Your question should be falsifiable in nature. This means that your research questions
need to be something that can be measured in order to prove, or disprove a research
hypothesis.
As you develop your questions/hypotheses, consider what might be your
independent and dependent variables.
This will, once again, provide clarity both in your research and your writing.
How to develop a research question or hypothesis?
Step 1: Start with a problem statement. What’s wrong out there? What don’t we
know? What do we want to find out.
Step 2: State research purpose. Advance the major objective for the beginning
of the study.
Step 3: Ask a research question. Specify the guiding query for narrowing the
study.
Step 4: Choose appropriate methods for the questions you want to ask.
