What is a Research Question?

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