|
Overview of Chapter 5:
Scrutinizing Research Problems, Research Questions,
and Hypotheses Chapter 5 discusses methods
of articulating and communicating information about
the research problem via statements of purpose,
research questions, and research hypotheses. There
is some inconsistency in research textbooks
concerning the use of such terms as aims, goals,
purposes, and objectives of research. The first
section of this chapter explains how these and
other related terms are used throughout the
textbook. A specific example presented in Table 5-1
should help to clarify how the terms are
defined. The chapter then describes
some of the origins of research ideas. It goes on
to examine the process of narrowing a specific
problem from a general topic of interest. The book
explains how research problems are developed within
the quantitative and qualitative research
paradigms. Alternative ways of wording a problem
statement are also presented, and differences
between research questions and statements of
purpose are discussed. The next part of the chapter
focuses on hypotheses. The chapter explains the
role that hypotheses play in giving direction to a
quantitative study and in explicitly communicating
that direction. It argues that quantitative
studies, except for those that are purely
descriptive, generally profit from the development
of hypotheses before data collection. The chapter
also describes the characteristics of workable
hypotheses and provides guidance for a critical
evaluation of hypotheses appearing in research
reports. Considerable attention is paid to the
issue of how hypotheses are worded. The important
point is that hypotheses must make predictions
about the relationship between two (or more)
variables. Study
Chapter 5 in the
text, pages 95-118. Use the forum
for Questions for Instructor on Part 2 in
WebCT for Nurs
400A
or Nurs
400B
to post questions about things you don't understand
in Chapter 5. |