Intercultural Communication
Research Part One
Coms 018
Research Questions
A research question is the fundamental core of a research project, study, or review of literature. It focuses the study, determines the methodology, and guides all stages of inquiry, analysis, and reporting.
Research Questions(cont.)
The research question begins with a research problem, an issue someone would like to know more about or a situation that needs to be changed or addressed, such as:
Areas of concern
Conditions that could be improved
Difficulties that need to be eliminated
Questions seeking answers
Example
1) What is the role of the female gamers in gaming behavior and gaming culture in contemporary society? 2) Which variables have an influence on the role of female gamers at an individual and community level?
Hypothesis
A hypothesis is a specific statement of prediction. It describes in concrete (rather than theoretical) terms what you expect will happen in your study.
Example
Complementarily, we hypothesized that females would report stronger interest in a given computer game if it does not include a gender-role stereotyped protagonist, is free of violence, and permits rich social interactions with other characters.
Operational Definitions
An operational definition is the statement of procedures the researcher is going to use in order to measure a specific variable.
We need operational definitions in psychology so that we know exactly what researchers are talking about when they refer to something.
There might be different definitions of words depending on the context in which the word is used.
To avoid any confusion about definitions, in research we explain clearly what we mean when we use a certain term.
Activity
Locate a peer reviewed scholarly journal.
What is the research question(s) or hypothesis?
Create a research question(s) or hypothesis for a hypothetical human communication study.