Analyzing and Evaluating Research Questions and Hypotheses

Creswell points out that "[I]nvestigators place signposts to carry the reader through a plan for a study" (p. 129). If the introduction and purpose statement tell where you want to go, the research question or questions are the routes for getting there. In this Discussion, you will work with research questions and hypotheses and examine how they relate to the purpose statement.

To prepare for this Discussion:

• Review your assigned article-either Article A or Article B, as described above.
• Review Chapter 7 of the course text, Research Design.
• Review the book excerpt "A Typology of Research Purposes and Its Relationship to Mixed Methods," originally assigned in Week 6.
• Review Discussion in Weeks 4, 5, and 6.

For those students assigned to the qualitative article, critique the research questions (there will be no hypothesis).

For those students assigned to the quantitative article, critique the research questions and testable hypothesis. Identify and describe the variables and describe what type of hypothesis it is according to Creswell's criteria.

Look to the Research Questions and Hypotheses Checklist for more guidance in analyzing and evaluating the research questions and hypotheses in your assigned article. With these thoughts in mind:

3-paragraph evaluation of your assigned article according to the criteria below:

-For the qualitative article, the research questions.

-For the quantitative article, the research questions and testable hypotheses. Also identify the variables and the type of hypothesis that is present.

Be sure to support your postings and responses with specific references to the reading(s) and/or media segment(s) and use APA format.