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Chapter 4
Conceptualizing Research Problems, Research Questions, and Hypotheses
Chapter 4
Conceptualizing Research Problems, Research Questions, and Hypotheses
Copyright © 2008 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
Basic TerminologyBasic Terminology
Research problem
An enigmatic, perplexing, or troubling condition
Problem statement
A statement articulating the research problem and indicating the need for a study
Copyright © 2008 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
Basic Terminology (cont’d)Basic Terminology (cont’d)
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’d)Basic Terminology (cont’d)
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 ProblemsSources of Research Problems
•Experience and clinical fieldwork
•Nursing literature
•Social issues
•Theory
• Ideas from external sources
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Developing and Refining Research Problems
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 ProblemsEvaluating 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 StatementsProblem 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:
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: 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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Research Questions: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’d)Research Questions: (cont’d)
•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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Hypothesis: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 HypothesesSimple 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 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 HypothesesResearch 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)