Lecture 4: Research Questions and Study Purposes 1 Flashcards
what does the identification of a research topic usually come from?
interests, experiences, coursework and academic background
what is the objective of the research process?
answer research questions that fill gaps within a body of knowledge
what is a research topic?
it is narrowly focused and represents a clearly defined focal area related to an important complex problem
how do you figure out what’s new?
you need to figure out what research is already out there
the research problem represents the foundational need for the _____. Describes the context for the _____. Describes the ____ that exist in the literature, theory and/or practice
study. study. issues.
a well-developed research problem should be:
- challenging
- worthwhile and important
- feasible (must be able to get an answer)
research questions often begin with?
observations
what is a literature review?
a summary of what previous researchers have learned about a particular topic
- assembling literature appropriate to a topic or inquiry tying your research intentions and outcomes FROM similar work of other researchers
- a synopsis of what researchers know based on studies that have already been done on similar, relevant topics
why do a literature review in research?
- it helps you refine your question
- identify a theory related to their research questions (eg. Theory of Planned Behaviour)
- propose a hypothesis that predicts the answer to their research questions
what is a theory?
an explanation of observed pattens or supposition about a relationship among phenomena
what are theories composed of?
verifiable, testable statements or propositions
what are theories generally derived from?
- experimentation
- observations
- reflective thinking
within quantitative approaches, what is generally used to guide the entire research process?
theory
within qualitative approaches, what can theory be used for?
- to inform the research problem and purpose
- as an outcome following the research process (ie. data informs a theory)
what is the difference between a theory and a hypothess?
Theory
- a theory has been tested and is generally accepted
- explains events in general terms
- theory develops over time (question –> hypothesis –> conclusion, etc.)
Hypothesis:
- hypothesis is a speculative guess that a researcher will test
- makes a specific prediction about a specified set of circumstances
what are the two types of reasoning that the scientific approach includes?
- Inductive
- Deductive
what is inductive?
you start with observations and you develop a theory
what is deductive?
you start with a theory and use the information to explain specific events or circumstances (observations)
without this, it is impossible to argue that what you are doing is original and not done before
a literature review
whose responsibility is it to find if a research has already been done?
the researcher wanting to conduct that research
why conduct a literature review?
- to validate your choice of the research question
- to produce a theoretical or conceptual framework
- to exhibit that you are familiar with up-to-date research regarding the topic
- to identify gaps in the literature
- to provide background information to understand the study
a literature review is important for identifying what?
- research topic and problems
- purpose statement
- variables and concepts of interests
- hypotheses and research questions
what are the many different formats for literature reviews?
- annotated bibliography
- narrative review
- scoping review
- systematic review
- meta-analysis
