Discussion Question
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Chapter 4
Research Problems, Research Questions, and Hypothese
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Question
Tell whether the following statement is true or false:
A research problem is perplexing or enigmatic situation that a researcher wants to address through disciplined inquiry.
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Answer
True
A research problem is perplexing or enigmatic situation that a researcher wants to address through disciplined inquiry.
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Question
What is a hypothesis?
A. An enigmatic, perplexing, or troubling condition
A statement articulating the research problem and indicating the need for a study
The specific queries the researcher wants to answer in addressing the research problem
The researcher’s predictions about relationships among variables
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Answer
D
Research problem: an enigmatic, perplexing, or troubling condition
Problem statement: a statement articulating the research problem and indicating the need for a study
Research questions: the specific queries the researcher wants to answer in addressing the research problem
Hypotheses: the researcher’s predictions about relationships among variables
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Basic Terminology
Research problem
An enigmatic, perplexing, or troubling condition
Problem statement
A statement articulating the research problem and indicating the need for a study
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Basic Terminology (cont.)
Research questions
The specific queries the researcher wants to answer in addressing the research problem
Hypotheses
The researcher’s predictions about relationships among variables
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Basic Terminology (cont.)
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
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Sources of Research Problems
- Experience and clinical fieldwork
- Nursing literature
- Quality improvement initiatives
- Social issues
- Theory
- External suggestions
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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 . . .?
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Evaluating 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
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Problem 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
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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…)
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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 . . .)
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Question
Statements of purpose in qualitative studies may “encode” the tradition of inquiry, not only through the researcher’s choice of verbs but also through the use of “buzzwords” associated with those traditions. What is a grounded theory?
Process questions
Meaning questions
Cultural description questions
Experience questions
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Answer
A
Grounded theory: process questions
Phenomenology: meaning questions
Ethnography: cultural description questions
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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
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Research Questions (cont.)
- In qualitative studies, pose queries linked to the research tradition:
Grounded theory: process questions
Phenomenology: meaning questions
Ethnography: cultural description questions
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Question
Tell whether the statement is true or false:
A simple hypothesis expresses a predicted relationship between one independent variable and one dependent variable.
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Answer
True
A simple hypothesis expresses a predicted relationship between one independent variable and one dependent variable.
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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)
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Simple 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
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Directional versus Nondirectional Hypotheses
Directional hypothesis
Predicts the direction of a relationship
Nondirectional hypothesis
Predicts the existence of a relationship, not its direction
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Research 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)
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