The Purpose Statement John W. Creswell

1. The Purpose StatementJohn W. Creswell 報告者：黃品綺 授課教師：任維廉 教授

2. Outline • Significance and meaning of a purpose statement • A qualitative purpose statement • A quantitative purpose statement • A mixed methods purpose statement

3. Significance and Meaning of a Purpose Statement • Establish the direction for the research • Indicate “why you want to do the study and what you intent to accomplish” • Set the objectives, the intent, and the major idea of a proposal or a study

4. A Qualitative Purpose Statement • Use words such as “purpose,” “intent,” or “objective” • Focus on a single phenomenon (or concept or idea) • Use action verbs to convey how learning will take place • Use neutral words

5. A Qualitative Purpose Statement • Provide a general working definition of the central phenomenon or idea • Include words denoting the strategy of inquiry • Mention the participants in the study • Identify the site for the research

6. A Qualitative Purpose Statement • The purpose of this _______ (strategy of inquiry, such as ethnography, case study, or other type) study is (was? will be?) to _______ (understand? describe? develop? discover?) the _______ (central phenomenon being studied) for _______ (the participants) at _______ (research site). At this stage in the research, the _______ (central phenomenon being studied) will be generally defined as _______ (provide a general definition).

7. A Quantitative Purpose Statement • Focus on relating or comparing variables or constructs • Independent variables • Dependent variables • Intervening or mediating variables • Control variables and confounding variables

8. A Quantitative Purpose Statement • Words to signal the major intent of the study • Identification of the theory, models, or conceptual framework • Identification of the independent and dependent variables • Words that connect the independent and dependent variables

9. A Quantitative Purpose Statement • A position or ordering of the variables from left to right • Mention the specific type of strategy of inquiry used in the study • Reference to the participants and mention of the research site • A general definition for each key variable

10. A Quantitative Purpose Statement • The purpose of this _______ (experiment? survey?) study is (was? will be?) to test the theory of _______ that _______ (compares? relates?) the _______ (independent variable) to _______ (dependent variable), controlling for _______ (control variables) for _______ (participants) at _______ (the research site). • The independent variable(s) _______ will be generally defined as _______ (provide a general definition). The dependent variable(s) will be generally defined as _______ (provide a general definition), and the control and intervening variable(s), _______, (identify the control and intervening variables) will be statistically controlled in the study.

11. A Mixed Methods Purpose Statement • Begin with signaling words • Indicate the type of mixed methods design • Discuss a rationale for combining both quantitative and qualitative data • Include the characteristics of a good qualitative and quantitative purpose statement • Consider adding information about the specific types of data collection

12. Thanks for your attention!