Developing a Research Question

To prepare for this Application:

• Review the Campbell and Stanley text, Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Research.
• Review the readings from this week.
  
  
• Assess which survey and Internet research methods presented this week would be applicable to your research question. 
  
  
• Review the feedback you received from your colleagues about the research question you posted in this week's Discussion. Use their feedback to revise your research question and research design as needed.
  
  

The assignment:

• Craft a 2- to 4-page paper in which you do the following:
• Develop research questions for your research proposal
  
  
• State whether survey or Internet research methods would be appropriate to your research questions and why
  
  
• Include a thorough explanation of the research design you have chosen to answer your research question, and produce a justification for it
  

• Required Resources

  • Course Text: Frankfort-Nachmias, C., & Nachmias, D. (2015). Research methods in the social sciences (8th ed.). New York: Worth.
  • • Chapter 10, "Survey Research"
      
      In this chapter, you will learn the advantages and disadvantages of several types of survey research, including mail questionnaires and personal interviews.
      
      
  • Course Text: Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Research
    
    As you review the textbook this week, pay particular notice to research designs that involve survey or Internet research.
  • Website: Trochim, W. M. K. (2006). Survey research. Retrieved from http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/survey.php
    
    This resource provides a brief description and overview of survey research.
  • Article: Ahern, N. R. (2005). Using the internet to conduct research. In Nurse Researcher, 13(2), pp. 55–70.
    Use the Academic Search Premier database, and search using the article's Accession Number: 19291960.
    
    The author of this article explores how the Internet is used by researchers, specifically nurse researchers, and the benefits and challenges of Internet research.

  Research Toolkit

   

  Research Design

  • Website: Web Center for Social Research Methods
    http://www.socialresearchmethods.net
    
    This website is for people involved in applied social research and evaluation. You will find several resources and links to other locations on the Web that deal in applied social research methods.
    
    
  • Website: Cengage Research Methods Workshops
    http://www.wadsworth.com/psychology_d/templates/student_resources/workshops/resch_wrk.html
    
    This website offers many useful workshop topics such as experimental methods, reliability and validity, surveys, sampling methods, ethical issues, and evaluating published research.

  Optional Resources

  • Course Text: Frankfort-Nachmias, C., & Nachmias, D. (2015). Research methods in the social sciences (8th ed.). New York: Worth.
    
    
  • • Chapter 8, "Sampling and Sample Design"
    
    
  • Text: Schonlau, M., Fricker, R.D., & Elliott, M.N. (2002). Conducting research surveys via e-mail and the web. Washington, DC: RAND.
    
    This text provides a toolkit for those who will be using email and the web to collect data.

  Media

  • Data Cleaning and Dealing with Assumptions (Adobe Captivate)
    
    Dr. Jennifer Morrow explains the assumptions surrounding many of the tests you will study and explains ways that you can manage data that violates these assumptions. This Flash-based demonstration will open in a new window.
    
    Click here to download a transcript of this demonstration.