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What is a Research Question?

What is a Research Question?. The central idea of what you wish to focus on in your research The issue you wish to proof Limited, answerable and closed. Research Question. Starting point for conceptualization and operationalization Focus of the inquiry Theory based. Concept and Operation.

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What is a Research Question?

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  1. What is a Research Question? The central idea of what you wish to focus on in your research The issue you wish to proof Limited, answerable and closed

  2. Research Question • Starting point for conceptualization and operationalization • Focus of the inquiry • Theory based

  3. Concept and Operation • A general idea, status, behavior or action • Must be “specified” to be useful in quantitative research • The process and result of specification of a concept is called operationalization • Examples

  4. Concept • “Richness of meaning” • Cannot exemplify richness in a usable variable—can with multiple variables • Example –aging • operation as continuous variable or dichotomous age groups to provide operational meaning

  5. Concept • Abstract • Hard to define • general • Must be made into defined, specific and rationally constructed therefore Operationalized to be useful

  6. Social Class • Concept has multiple dimensions • Age • sex • income • Education • Reputation • Occupation • Index these and form a variable

  7. Variable or Factor • The operationalized concept • Useful • Specific • Mathematically capable • The result of the “process” of operationalization

  8. Operationalization • Therefore, defined as • process whereby researchers specify empirical concepts that can be taken as indicators of the attributes of a concept

  9. Variables • Must be mutually exclusive • Exhaustive

  10. Data Types • Demographic data • age • sex • marital status • other statuses • education • income

  11. Data types • Attitudes • Indirect measures of behavior • Actual behavior/abilities (anthropometrics) • Past actions • Potential actions • Orientations

  12. Levels of Measurement • Nominal—two categories, naming=yields dichotomous variable • Ordinal—ranks without standard intervals=yields an index which can be broken down • Interval—Uses numbers to describe relationships, the levels have real relative meaning; true zero • ratio—no true zero, relative only

  13. Measurement Quality • Missed responses mean decreased reliability • Interviewer quality • Strength of the questionnaire • Reliability • Validity

  14. Reliable • Repeatable • Av particular technique or question, if reapplied would yield the same answer or result

  15. Validity • Extent to which a measure reflects the real meaning of the concept under consideration • Face validity—does it look valid logically • Content validity—covers the range or dimensions of meaning • Criterion-based validity—preset and universal meanings

  16. Reliable versus valid • Often a tension between the two • The more valid a measure is the detailed and therefore the more confusing and lengthy—may affect the ability of the respondent to give a reasonable answer that can be converted to data that is useful

  17. Ecological Fallacy • Using units of analysis that are group based to infer individual behavior • Family indicators to imply individual attitudes and behaviors

  18. Types of Variables • Explanatory • Dependent • Independent • Intervening • control

  19. How to Write a Research Question • Is in the form of a question • Hypotheses are in the form of statements • How do A, B, and C correlate with Y. • A,B,C are independent variables • Y is the dependent variable

  20. Other Important Terms • Population • Sample • Significance • Generalizability

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