The research question

This week’s reading discusses the introduction, the purpose statement, and the research questions and hypotheses. All of these areas are used at the beginning of actually writing a paper for a research study.

The introduction hooks the readers into the paper. Since there are plenty of people who differ in interests, the researcher needs to create a few sentences that can appeal to the masses in general and not just get into the research project itself. The purpose statement follows directly after.

The purpose statement gets to the point of why a researcher wants to take on such a study and with what end-results. There are different purpose statements depending on a qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods approach to take with the project. The statements differ in their fundamental definitions. A qualitative statement discusses a single, general issue while a quantitative statement will focus on the variables at hand. The research questions and hypotheses follow this section.

The research question or hypothesis is one of the most important aspects of the paper. The researcher needs to identity exactly what it is that is going to be researched. For a qualitative study, the student needs to focus on a single issue without making it too broad where it cannot be studied. The quantitative question or hypothesis needs to consider the variables that are going to be used, and they need to be presented in this section, so the reader is aware of the independent, dependent, and intervening variables.

When reading about these topics, it was difficult for me to grasp the perfect research question for a qualitative study. I’ve read a couple of qualitative studies where researchers examine participants; however, I am not too sure how they went about focusing on particular issues when discussing them. Through my perception, it may be extremely difficult for me to focus a particular research question without being too broad or general. This may be the general idea of a qualitative research question, but it sounds easy to state a question that will encompass a numerous amount of factors contributing to the case that were not considered before the study. The text says that the research question is essentially a working model that can be changed and altered as needed, but I’m concerned with the amount of change that can occur. If a proposal is submitted with a certain topic in mind, but the research question is drastically changed because of certain preliminary observations, will the research proposal still stand or will a new one have to be devised?

An aspect of the qualitative research question that I thoroughly enjoyed was reading about using exploratory terms. I liked this idea because it forces the researcher to bring in a more open mind into the research. In contrast to quantitative research, the researcher in a qualitative study has to somehow temporarily shut down all preconceived ideas of the topic in order to create a less unbiased paper or presentation.

Overall, the introduction, research question and hypotheses, truly set the tone for the rest of the project. It is extremely vital to let the readers know what kind of project is going to be undertaken, but in doing so, the researcher also finds him or herself exploring the ideas that are going to be mentioned because of how the statements in these areas need to be addressed.