So, you have a question, a research question, but you need to know if it is any good it
not.
This video will outline how to critique the relevance, wording and congruence of a research
question with the chosen methodology.
The phrasing of a research question is of utmost importance.
In a quality study everything is driven by the research question, which is synonymous
with the aim of the study.
In qualitative research the central question is so close to the purpose of the study that
only the purpose is reported.
Some consider the question synonymous with the purpose of the study in qualitative research.
The first thing to consider is if you can find the question.
A research question is no good if it cannot be found or identified.
Don't worry if you think you are not an expert researcher - you shouldn't need to be!
The question should appear clearly in the abstract and introduction section of the study.
Sometimes it is right at the beginning of the methods section.
The question may actually be phrased as a question or it may appear as a statement of
the research purpose or aim.
Often times the question or purpose will have a big target on its back because it will start
with ...something like "the purpose of this study" or "the aim of this study" or "the
question guiding this study " ... So it sticks out like a sore thumb.
Once you have found the question assess if it is a good question to ask.
To remember the criteria for a good question some suggest the FINER criteria of feasible,
interesting, novel, ethical and relevant.
Does it sound important, relevant and interesting?
The entire literature review should be designed to convince you that it is.
Will this article help you in your practice?
If not, you probably don't want to waste your time reading it (unless of course you are
forced to for an assignment).
Now, assess how it is worded.
In order to be considered a "good" question it needs to be useful for conducting research.
It cannot be useful if it is unclear or incomplete.
It should be clearly worded, specific and concise.
The question should contain in one sentence the population of interest, variables or phenomena
under study and any proposed relationship among them.
Keep in mind, however, that quantitative and qualitative questions look a little different.
In general, quantitative research questions should follow PICOT format.
PICOT stands for "the population (P) of interest, the intervention (I) being studied, the comparison
(C) group and the outcome of interest (O) as well as the timing (T)."
Qualitative questions have similar structure but they look a little different.
Often in publications a purpose will be used instead of publishing the central question
that has guided the study.
Both contain in one sentence the central phenomenon that is the focus of the study as well as
identify the participants and context of the study.
Next, you need to decide if the question is actually the driving force behind the study.
Did the question guide the selection of the methodology used?
If the question is well-defined and specific it is more likely that it actually guided
decisions about the design, population, data collection and analysis.
When looking at a question I like to first decide if it is best answered by quantitative
or qualitative research.
That helps you narrow down the possible methodologies a lot right up front.
I like to analyze the question before looking at the methodology the researchers selected
to avoid "checking the answer" which could influence my decision making.
Quantitative research questions may be about relationships among variables, comparing groups
or describing reality.
Qualitative research questions are about experiences and people's ways of organizing, relating
to and interacting with their contexts.
If you are not sure if your question should be quantitative or qualitative look for key
words that might give you a hint about the philosophy behind the question.
Remember quantitative researchers measure reality whereas qualitative researchers search
for meaning.
Experience is likely qualitative.
Cause is quantitative.
Describe depends on what is being described so don't jump to conclusions.
Always pay attention to what is being studied and how the question is worded.
To assess the congruence of the study question and methodology it is helpful to know the
basic purpose of major types of quantitative and qualitative designs.
I will go through a quick overview of the purposes and question wording of quantitative
then qualitative methodologies for you.
Feel free to skip ahead to the ones you are most interested in.
Quantitative research is either experimental or non-experimental.
The choice of a design depends on several factors including the question, nature of
the variable and ethical as well as pragmatic considerations.
Ask yourself if your study trying to show an association or a causal relationship between
variables?
If so it is a relationship-based question that is best answered by an experimental design.
However, for pragmatic or ethical reasons non-experimental designs may also be chosen
to show correlations among variables.
If, however, your question is aiming to compare existing groups or describe something that
already exists the best design would be non-experimental.
Often quantitative researchers test causality to answer questions about the relationships
among variables.
Experimental research is designed to test causality.
If your question asks about how variables are related a randomized control trial is
the best option.
RCTs have a classic experimental design and are sometimes simply referred to as experimental
studies.
RCTs have optimal control because participants are randomized, there is a control group and
the researcher administers the intervention.
When critiquing a study about causal relationships among variables you can almost always say
that the best design was not used if it was not a RCT.
The exception would be if an intervention was not ethical.
If your study has a question about the impact one variable has on another but it is impossible
to do a RCT for pragmatic reasons a Quasi experimental study can be done.
Quasi experimental studies are like RCT wannabes ... They have an intervention but not a control
group or randomization.
They are cheaper than RCTs.
Quasi experimental studies will have questions that look a lot like experimental studies
with slightly different wording in some cases.
Technically the word "cause" should not be used for quasi experimental research questions
since they cannot prove cause and effect relationships.
Instead words like "associated with" are used.
Therefore, the wording of an experimental question may remain congruent with a quasi-experimental
design as long as the wording is not too strong.
Most studies about cause and effect relationships are experimental or quasi-experimental.
However, when it is impossible to do an experiment there are some descriptive non-experimental
designs that may be used to explore possible relationships among variables.
Descriptive non-experimental studies simply describe something that already exists.
They measure variables of interest to describe them through quantifying them.
Quantitative descriptive research may more specifically aim to describe what exists or
to explore possible relationships among variables.
Quantitative descriptive studies that are aimed at discovering the frequency of behavior
or comparing attitudes will often begin with questions like "How much?", "How often?",
"What percentage?", and "What proportion?"
A survey design is the most common approach to answering these questions.
Survey designs may be descriptive, exploratory or comparative.
Be careful if your purpose statement uses the word describe as it may be a quantitative
descriptive study or a qualitative study.
Quantitative studies will describe something that is stated like a reality whereas qualitative
studies will describe in more depth perceptions or experiences.
Be careful because sometimes there are tools to "measure" perceptions so you will need
to look at the entire question to see if they are asking about the perceptions of a large
group, which would be quantitative or the experiences of a small group of people, which
would be qualitative.
The key word to look for to rule out that a quantitative design is the most appropriate
would be experience.
Research that is aimed at comparing groups will have a question that asks "what is the
difference between."
These studies will look at two groups with a number of similarities that also differ
in some way in order to find out what makes the groups different.
Comparative studies are also exploring relationships among variables.
Cause and effect research is better if it is experimental, but when experimental designs
are not possible descriptive designs may be used to look for correlations or relationships
among variables.
The wording of these questions should stay away from implying that a causal relationship
is being explored since it is impossible to control confounding variables.
Qualitative research focuses on people's experiences and perceptions.
But there are different ways to look at an experience.
The choice of a methodology depends on the purpose of the research.
If your question is about what it is like living through some experience the best methodology
is likely phenomenology.
Phenomenology is all about in depth look at the essence of lived experiences with a particular
phenomenon.
There are many types of phenomenology, but they all share common assumptions and focus
on understanding the lived experience.
Purpose statements in phenomenology should contain a congruent exploratory verb or phrase
such as "describe the experience of" ... Often researchers will use the keywords lived experience
in the purpose to signify the need for phenomenology.
However, if your question is about the experience of a single individual narrative inquiry would
be better than phenomenology.
Narrative inquiry is specifically designed to explore the life of an individual.
Narrative inquiry questions should ask about someone's story.
If your question is about how an experience is shaped by a particular cultural or social
group then ethnography is the best choice.
Remember that culture does not refer to ethnicity.
A group of nursing students can be a culture.
Ethnography explores the influence of culture on an experience or view of the world.
It is all about how that culture works.
The question may actually use the word culture or it may simply name the cultural group so
pay close attention to what the question is focusing on.
If it is asking how being part of a cultural group shapes an experience then ethnography
may be the best design.
Common focuses include lifestyle or patterns of behavior in a particular social context.
If your question is about understanding an issue or problem using a group of people a
case study may be a more appropriate design.
Case studies examine issues within a specific system, which could be a setting or context.
Note that case studies are not always approached in a purely qualitative or quantitative way.
The approach taken for a case study depends on the question and the nature of the subject
being studied.
Again, sometimes the word issue will be used in the question but most times the issue or
problem will simply be named.
Since case studies take an in depth look at the issue the verb explore is appropriate
for the purpose statement.
If your question is about some kind of process it's a good bet that grounded theory is your
best design.
Grounded Theory is all about examining basic social processes.
The goal of grounded theory is to develop a theory to explain a basic social process
in a way that is grounded in data.
The central question may be presented as a broad statement or broad question that allows
for an in-depth explanation of the process.
The word "discover" is often used in the purpose statement.
Other common phrases include "develop a theory of" or "discover the process of."
If your purpose statement is to describe something that does not fit with the previous designs
it gets a little bit harder to identify exactly which design is best.
"Qualitative descriptive" is a pretty general and safe label that is often used since one
could argue that all qualitative research is descriptive in nature.
Descriptive research can be tricky because there are so many types out there that just
get labeled "qualitative descriptive research."
Sometimes researchers may use this label as a cover up for a poorly thought out methodology
so be careful.
They should describe the philosophy behind their decisions or at least point to a known
approach.
Qualitative descriptive designs are credible approaches if all the researcher wants to
do is describe something.
Since the purpose is to describe something the best word to use is describe.
Now compare the purpose statement of the study you are looking at to the major focus of each
of these methodologies.
Look for keywords or phrases.
If the study you are using does not use one the methodologies covered in this video a
quick Google search should help you come up with a basic understanding of the purpose
of the methodology they used.
If your study is well written it should also contain a justification for the methodology
they selected.
This justification should tell you if the aim of the question marches the aim of the
methodology, but it doesn't hurt to double check that another methodology may have been
better.
Ask yourself if you buy their justification.
Sometimes more than one methodology may be appropriate for a question.
Sometimes a methodology is selected not because it is the best one but because of other factors
like resource limitations, researcher training or skill level.
However, if researchers have a question that they cannot answer with an appropriate methodology
the question should be reworded for congruence and clarity.
A lot of the critique depends on the phrasing of the question.
Maybe now you can see just how important word choice is when you are developing one.
One word like "describe" versus "explore" can make a huge difference in your choice
of methodology and therefore methods.
If you are developing a research proposal take the time to really think about how you
phrase your question.
Thank you for watching.
If you are looking for more information about research philosophy, terminology or the difference
between qualitative and quantitative research you are welcome to check out my eBook and
related videos.