po bech04

Copyright © 2008 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

Chapter 4

Conceptualizing Research Problems, Research Questions, and Hypotheses

Chapter 4

Conceptualizing Research Problems, Research Questions, and Hypotheses


Basic TerminologyBasic Terminology

Research problem

An enigmatic, perplexing, or troubling condition

Problem statement

A statement articulating the research problem and indicating the need for a study


Basic Terminology (cont’d)Basic Terminology (cont’d)

Research questions

The specific queries the researcher wants to answer in addressing the research problem

Hypotheses

The researcher’s predictions about relationships among variables


Basic Terminology (cont’d)Basic Terminology (cont’d)

Statement of purpose

The researcher’s summary of the overall study goal

Research aims or objectives

The specific accomplishments to be achieved by conducting the study


Sources of Research ProblemsSources of Research Problems

•Experience and clinical fieldwork

•Nursing literature

•Social issues

•Theory

• Ideas from external sources


Developing and Refining Research Problems

Developing and Refining Research Problems

•Selecting a broad topic area (e.g., patient compliance, caregiver stress)

•Narrowing the topic—asking questions to help focus the inquiry

Examples: – What is going on with…?

– What factors contribute to….?


Evaluating Research ProblemsEvaluating Research Problems

•Significance of the problem

•Researchability of the problem

•Feasibility of addressing the problem (e.g., time, resources, ethics, cooperation of others)

• Interest to the researcher


Problem StatementsProblem Statements

•Should identify the nature, context, and significance of the problem being addressed

•Should be broad enough to include central concerns

•Should be narrow enough to serve as a guide to study design


Statement of Purpose-Quantitative Studies:

Statement of Purpose-Quantitative Studies:

• Identifies key study variables

• Identifies possible relationships among variables

• Indicates the population of interest

•Suggests, through use of verbs, the nature of the inquiry (e.g., to test…, to compare…, to evaluate…)


Statement of Purpose-Qualitative Studies: Statement of Purpose-Qualitative Studies:

• Identifies the central phenomenon

• Indicates the research tradition (e.g., grounded theory, ethnography)

• Indicates the group, community, or setting of interest

• Suggests, through use of verbs, the nature of the inquiry (e.g., to describe…, to discover…, to explore…)


Research Questions:Research Questions:

•Are sometimes direct rewordings of statements of purpose, worded as questions

•Are sometimes used to clarify or lend specificity to the purpose statement

• In quantitative studies, pose queries about the relationships among variables


Research Questions: (cont’d)Research Questions: (cont’d)

•In qualitative studies, pose queries linked to the research tradition:

Grounded theory: process questions

Phenomenology: meaning questions

Ethnography: cultural description questions


Hypothesis:Hypothesis:

• States a prediction

• Must always involve at least two variables

• Must suggest a predicted relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable

• Must contain terms that indicate a relationship (e.g., more than, different from, associated with)


Simple Versus Complex HypothesesSimple Versus Complex Hypotheses

Simple hypothesis

Expresses a predicted relationship between one independent variable and one dependent variable

Complex hypothesis

States a predicted relationship between two or more independent variables and/or two or more dependent variables


Directional Versus Nondirectional Hypotheses

Directional Versus Nondirectional Hypotheses

Directional hypothesis

Predicts the direction of a relationship

Nondirectional hypothesis

Predicts the existence of a relationship, not its direction


Research Versus Null HypothesesResearch Versus Null Hypotheses

Research hypothesis

States the actual prediction of a relationship

Statistical or null hypothesis

Expresses the absence of a relationship (used only in statistical testing)

po bech04

Documents

variables copyright

research tradition

direction copyright

researcher copyright

research problems significance

external sources copyright

study design copyright

questions ethnography