SCMA Chapter 3: Developing Research Questions

"Canada has one of the best science programs in the world." This statement is an example of:

B) A normative statement

A researcher predicts that "as the number of hours university students work per week increases, the amount of time they spend studying will decrease." This statement is best described as:

C) A directional hypothesis

A study that uses a survey to collect numerical data and then conducts in-depth interviews with a smaller subset of those survey respondents is using which approach?

C) Mixed methods research

A good research question can be answered with a simple "yes" or "no."

False

A null hypothesis predicts that there is no relationship between the variables being studied.

True

Normative Statement

A judgmental statement about how things should be or how good something is.

Empirical Statement

An informative, facts-based statement that can be answered by real experience in the real world.

Exploratory Research

Research conducted in the early stages of a topic to test feasibility and figure out the lay of the land.

Descriptive Research

Research that describes or defines a phenomenon, pattern, or trend.

Explanatory Research

Research that answers "why" questions; identifies causes and effects.

Transformative Research

Research that aims to change the conditions it studies, not only describe them.

Research Question

A focused question that guides a research project and cannot be answered with a simple yes or no.

Problem Statement

A clear statement of the issue or gap the research will address.

Operationalization

The process of defining how a concept will be measured in a study.

Hypothesis

A statement, sometimes but not always causal, describing a researcher's expectations about anticipated findings.

Directional Hypothesis

A hypothesis that predicts the specific direction of a relationship (e.g., increase in one leads to decrease in another).

Null Hypothesis

A hypothesis that predicts no relationship between the variables being studied.

Supported

The correct term when findings align with a hypothesis; researchers say "supported," not "proven."

Proven

The incorrect term to use for hypotheses; implies absolute certainty, which research cannot claim.

Deductive Approach

Research that starts with theory and tests hypotheses with data.

Inductive Approach

Research that starts with data and develops theory from patterns.

Quantitative Research

Research using numbers and statistics; deductive, positivist, and objectivist.

Qualitative Research

Research using words and non-numeric symbols; inductive, interpretivist, and constructionist.

Mixed Methods Research

Research that intentionally combines quantitative and qualitative methods.

Triangulation

Using multiple and different research strategies to strengthen a study.

Triangulation of Measures

Using multiple approaches to measure a single variable.

Triangulation of Theories

Relying on multiple theories to explain a single event or phenomenon.

Realism

The quantitative belief that there is one reality or truth that simply requires discovering.

Phenomenology

The qualitative belief that knowledge is created, not discovered, and there are multiple realities based on perspective.

Naturalism

Observing people in their own environment to understand context.

Open-Ended Question

A question with no answer options; respondents answer in their own words.

Closed-Ended Question

A question with a limited set of response options provided by the researcher.

Interview Guide

A list of topics or questions the interviewer hopes to cover during a qualitative interview.

Semi-Structured Interview

An interview with open-ended questions that may not be asked in the same way or order to each respondent.

Focus Group

An interview with multiple respondents participating at the same time.

Idiographic Understanding

In-depth understanding of a particular case or experience.

Nomothetic Understanding

General understanding that aims to apply beyond the specific cases studied.

Feasibility

Whether a study can realistically be conducted given time, resources, and access.

Literature Gap

An area where previous research has not addressed a question or problem.