COURSE PROJECT PART : RESEARCH QUESTIONS PAPER INSTRUCTIONS

You will submit 1qualitative and 1quantitative research question to the instructor. . Later in this course, you will use your research question to write your Final Paper. There are additional resources available in the Reading & Study areas in Blackboard that will help you with writing a qualitative and quantitative research question.

Tips for Developing a Quality Qualitative and Quantitative Research Question

It is essential to develop a specific research question that holds your interest so that you can focus your research and your paper. For example, researching a broad topic such as "business management" is difficult, since there may be hundreds of sources on all aspects of business management.

On the other hand, a focused question such as "What are the pros and cons of Japanese management style?" is easier to research and can be covered in more depth.From the problem you have identified in Module/Week 2, develop a quality qualitative and quantitative research question.

Apply the following questions to your research questions to evaluate their quality:

• Do the questions address the topic identified in Module/Week 2?

• Are the questions easily and fully researchable?

• What type of information do I need to answer the research questions?For example, the research question "What impact does a principal's leadership style have on parent involvement in the PTA?" will obviously require certain types of information:

o Information on leadership styles

o Statistics on PTA participation

o Information about PTA participants and principal relationships

o Information about national PTA associations, national statistics reported about principal's leadership styles, etc.

• Is the scope of this information reasonable? (e.g., Can I really research 30 online writing programs developed over a span of 10 years?)

• Given the type and scope of information I need, are my questions too broad or too narrow?

• What sources will have the type of information I need to answer the research questions (journals, books, internet resources, government documents, and/or people)?

• Can I access these sources?

• Given my answers to the above questions, do I have quality research questions that I will actually be able to answer by doing research?

Use good qualitative wording for your qualitative research question.

• Begin with words such as "how" or "what."

• Tell the reader what you are attempting to "discover," "generate," "explore," "identify," or "describe."

• Ask "what happened?" to help craft your description.

• Ask "what was the meaning to people of what happened?" to understand your results.

• Ask "what happened over time?" to explore the process.

Use good quantitative wording for your quantitative research question. Below are 3different types of quantitative questions.

Causal Questions

• Does the ________________ (change) in _________________ (independent variable) produce change (increase, decrease, not affect) the _______________ (a dependent variable)?

• For example: "Does reading the Research Question Instructions (increase) the average research paper grades in a class?"

Descriptive Questions

• How often do ________________ (participants) do ________________ (variable being studied) at ________________ (research site)?

• For example: "How often do college students need to use the bathroom during a test as compared to during a normal class?"

Predictive Questions

• Does ________________ (cause variable) lead to/create _____________ (outcome variable) in ________________ (setting)?

• For example: "Does the color of a person's hair lead to higher grades in school?"