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Unit 3
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Research Topic
Research Problem
Research Question(s)
Hypothesis
• Research problem
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• Defining terms
– Terms necessary to ensure that the research
question is sharply focused
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• Operational definitions
– The activities necessary to measure or identify the
term must be specified
Developing hypothesis
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• What is a hypothesis?
A hypothesis is a prediction of the possible outcomes of a
study. Here is a research question followed by its
restatement in the form of a possible hypothesis:
Question: Will students who are taught music by a teacher of
the same gender like the lessons more than students taught
by a teacher of a different gender?
• Formulating a hypothesis
• Nondirectional hypothesis
- Sometimes it is difficult to make specific
predictions
- Researcher suspects that a relationship exists but
has no basis for predicting the direction of the
relationship
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• In summary
Research topic – the broad subject matter area
to be investigated
Research question(s) –
In quantitative research it is an interrogative
sentence that asks a question about the relation
between two or more variables.
In qualitative research, it is an interrogative
sentence that asks a question about some
process, issue, or phenomenon to be explored.
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• Summary
– Research questions should flow logically from the
literature review
– Research questions are the purpose of the project
(what you want to understand)
– Research questions will influence every other part
of the design, and often only emerge as the
research progresses
• Summary
– Good research question must be feasible – they
must be questions that permit a researcher to
collect enough information to provide at least a
partial answer to them
– They should be clear, they should be significant,
they should suggest a relationship of some sort,
and they should be ethical
– Research questions can be rephrased as hypotheses
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• Exam questions
– What are the differences between qualitative and
quantitative research questions?
– What are the characteristics of good research questions?
– What are hypothesis and how are they formulated?
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