research seminar lecture_4_research_questions

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Research Seminar for

Educational Sciences

Prof. Dr. Chang Zhu

Department of Educational Sciences

Major sections of a research

proposal

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Title

Summary

Research problem

Literature review

Research questions

Research methods

Expects results &

significance

Planning

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Literature review

• Theoretical basis/ conceptual framework

• What research has been done in the

area?

• What has been found in previous

studies?

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A good research idea

• Choose something you are interested in, think it fascinating, relevant for your future work,…

– You’ll need that personal motivation to pursue the studies.

• Relevant, in need and ‘hot’:

– useful to someone, such as policy makers

– more motivating to work on

– help in a broader research project

– other sources

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Research questions: why

important?

• Developing a good research question is the

most important part of the research process.

• The question should be narrow and fits the

research objectives.

Research questions: why

important?

• The most difficult part, spend time on it!

• Risk if not well defined:

– collect data that will not be used;

– don’t collect data that would be useful.

• Good research questions limit the scope of the thesis

• A good research questions structure the thesis:

– define relevant literature,

– develop good hypotheses,

– define data needed, ….

• It helps the reader – you tell them what you are going to answer. It simply makes it more interesting!

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Central research questions and

specific research questions

• Ask one or two central research questions

• Followed by a number of specific research

questions

Types of research

questions

• Description

• Relationship

• Descriptive-Comparative

• Causality/impact or affect

• Causality-Comparative

• ………

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Types of research

questions

• Research questions in qualitative research

• Research questions in quantitative research

Types of research questions

• Questions of Description

• What are the characteristics of…?

• What/Which factors influence…..?

?

Qualitative? Quantitative?

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• Questions of Description

• What/Which factors influence

international student decision in

choosing VUB for their studies?


• Questions of relationship

• Is there an association between … and ….?

• Is (variable A) related to (variable B)?

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• Questions of relationship

• Does critical thinking ability relate to

student achievement?

• To what extent does critical thinking ability

relate to student achievement?


• Descriptive-Comparative Questions

• What differences exist….?

• Is group A differ from Group B?

• Are there differences between…..?

• Are there differences between female and

male students with regard to….?

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• Causality/impact Questions

• Does ….(variable A) affect….(variable B)?

• Does …..have an impact on…?

• To what extent does ….(variable A)

affect….(variable B)?


• Causality-Comparative

• Does ….(variable A) have a higher

impact on (variable Y) compared to the

impact of….(variable B) on … (variable

Y)?

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good research questions

• Not purely descriptive

• Not just What/Which questions

• But also How/To what extent….questions

• Relationship questions

• Comparative questions

• Causality/impact questions

• …

good research questions

• Be clear about the research variables

• Reflect in your research questions

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Variables

• A variable: any entity that can take on

different values.

• A variable is a label or name that

represents a concept or characteristic that

varies

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Variables

• E.g. age, gender, grade, school, study domain,

diploma, income, country…

use of ICT, exam score, performance,

academic achievement, attitude, emotion,

motivation, perception, satisfaction, well-

being, self-esteem, critical thinking, ….

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Independent variable

• The one you will vary to see how it may affect

the dependent variable

• Independent Variable – something that is

changed by the scientist/researcher

– What is tested

– What is manipulated

• In experimental research:

• Manipulated Variable

Independent variable

• In experimental research:

• Keep all variables constant, except for the independent variable.

• A Experimental Group will be the group with the Independent Variable:

• A Control Group will be the group without the Independent Variable

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Dependent variable

• The One You Measure as a result of the

changing Independent variable

• A variable that might be affected by the

change in the independent variable

– What is observed

– What is measured

– The data collected during the investigation

Construct

• What is a construct?

A construct is a (theoretical) concept that is

inferred from commonalities among observed

phenomena and that is presumed to explain or

shed light on the meaning of those phenomena.

• A variable is a quantitative expression of a

construct.

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Construct

• Constructs, Factors, Scales, Sub-scales

• Measured through a number of observed items

• E.g. Teacher professional identity (including

Self-efficacy, job satisfaction, motivation and

commitment)

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• Characterized by complete random assignment

of groups or subjects

• Groups are independent

• Usually employs strong control

Experimental design

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• Groups or subjects not randomly assigned

– e.g., sample of convenience

• May not have a comparison group

Quasi-Experimental design

• Single factor (one-way)

– Studies one independent variable

• Multi-factor

– Studies multiple independent variables

• May have several levels

– Examples:

• Two-way (e.g., 2 x 2)

• Three-way (e.g., 2 x 2 x 2)

• Time-series

Types of experimental design

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• Pretest-posttest (one-group)

• Pretest-posttest (control group)

• Posttest-only (control group)

Single factor design

• Quasi-experimental

• One set of measures taken before and after

treatment or intervention

• Compare pretest and posttest scores

• Analysis

– paired t test

• Weakness

– No comparison or

control group

Single factor design

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• Two-way factorial

– e.g., 2 x 3

• Three-way factorial

– e.g., 2 x 2 x 3

Experimental Designs

– Quasi-experimental

– True experimental

– Factorial

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Experimental Designs

• Notation

– R indicates random selection or random assignment

– O indicates an observation

• Test

• Observation score

• Scale score

– X indicates a treatment

– A, B, C, ... indicates a group

Quasi-Experimental Designs

• Threats to internal validity

– Selection is the major concern

– Controls for statistical regression

– Likely to control for most other threats provided

the groups are not significantly different from one

another

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True Experimental Designs

• Important

– Random assignment

• Participants are placed into groups using a

random procedure

• This ensures equivalency of the groups

– Random selection of subjects

• Participants are chosen from a population using

random procedures

• This ensures generalizability to the population

from which the participants were selected (i.e.,

external validity)

True Experimental Designs

• Types

– Randomized posttest only experimental control groups

• R A X O R B O

– Randomized posttest only multiple treatment groups

• R A X1 O R B X2 O

– Randomized pretest-posttest experimental control groups

• R A O X O R B O O

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Factorial Designs

• Research designs containing two or more independent variables

– A study of the effects of two instructional strategies on male and female students’ math achievement

– A study of two counseling approaches on middle and secondary students’ self-esteem

Hypotheses in quantitative

research

• Hypotheses about comparison

• Null hypothesis

• There is no significant difference between….

• Directional hypothesis

• Students in Group A will have higher achievement

than students in Group B…

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Hypotheses in quantitative

research

• Hypotheses about relationships

• There is no relationship between student

computer use skills and their performance in e-

learning

• Student achievement motivation is related to their

anxiety for failure. (nondirectional)

• Students from higher SES families have higher

media literacy than students from lower SES

families. (directional)

The hypotheses

• The hypothesis is based on known facts, but takes it a step further, often by combining facts and thereby creating (possible) links.

• The hypothesis posits the expected relationship between some variables.

• Two requirements:

– Must fit known facts

– Be testable

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Do all theses need to have

hypotheses?

• No, but most of them would be better if the

research is organized around them

• What’s the difference between research

question and hypotheses?

– Hypotheses often more specific, and each research

question can have several hypotheses.

Suggestion

A good approach and balance between the three

first components of the research:

– one grand research idea

– a few (3-5) research questions

– some hypotheses, at least one, maximum 3-5 linked

to each research question. But in total not more than

6-8 hypotheses for a master thesis.

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How to make a good research

question?

• Read – discuss – think!

• Get into your creative mood!

Some useful note

• Research should not be embarked upon with the

idea that the empirical evidence will prove a

general “truth”, but it can increase our

knowledge & understanding on a certain issue.

• Research can only demonstrate the utility of an

idea within a specific context.

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Some useful note

• Researchers must be prepared for unexpected results.

Unexpected results represent the possibility of

learning something new about the phenomenon under

study.

• Finding unexpected results also shows that there is a

good reason for conducting research.

Additional readings

• Creswell (2008). Research questions and hypotheses

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Assignment

• Read Theme 5

• Self-test/quiz: theme 1-5

Research topics

• Research group

• Or individual work

• Thesis Info session

• 3 Dec. 12-14h