p FOCUSING ON A RESEARCH TOPIC 83 undesirable, interesting or uninteresting. Here are a few guidelines to desirable oF esting 0 ing a research project topic: i kes them ake ut when chD0Si think about about something that interests You : th material about the topic és available to do a good job. tthe topic is not so large that it is overwhelming. wpe sure the topic fits your abilities and understanding. , + Make sure you take good notes once you start reading about the topic. 1 Ase your reference librarian for guidance on your research topic. + Rum the topic by your instructor for his or her assistance, E + Focus, focus, and focus again! + Research and write + Be sure enous! + Make sure thal | Tasks in the Definition Process ned to help researchers identify and define she provess displayed in Figure 6.1 has been desig components in the definition process; each 4 study problems. There are seven sed is some detail below. © research topics ani ~~ component is discus Task 1. Frame the Siudy Topic in Its Environment “The first step in the problem definiti © pinject will produce information that fof the organization, program, oF ‘on process is determining whether the proposed research is commensurate with the purpose, goals, and objectives ney. To do this, the researcher must frame the research problem within the broader field or subfield of political science in which it rests. For example, ifthe Tesearch is to be on an international relations topic, the researcher must identify the rations involved, the political history of the diplomatic relations between the nations, the past fad current politcal and economic conditions, the point of conflict if any, and similar impor- points, Moreover, the research project must be worth the effort, ime, and money it will f me. The researcher must be absolutely sure of the relevance of the project; proper framing P ofthe research question helps make this possible, ferganizational problem can usually be translated into many different types of study tions. Many of these questions may be intuitively interesting, but may also be beyond the Gf the particular research project. This does not mean that researchers should not “stretch” jerease or improve their level of awareness Of their field of interests and of political science broadest scope, its institutions, actors, and the problems associated with political activity. ‘means that they should first do what can be done. Answers to such questions as the ag must be found before proceeding with the program: What is it specifically that I want to know? Who are the actors in this field of political activity, and why? ‘What information do 1 need to Improve my understanding of the topi¢ and its un- ying issues? the information 1 want to know readily available? Do pred this information for personal reasons, or is it needed for my research icRESEARCH 4 FOUNDATIONS OF POLITICA. SCIENCE or is it something I think T would like 1 «As this something I really need to Knom ie vcd this question? Am I just repeating somethi Mas someone else already resenrched this a8 just repeating something that bas already been done? «Could the resources necessary’ elsewhere? Task 2. Review the Background of the Topic “Answers to such questions can often be found by conducting a tharough review, of:the-back- round and published Titeraure-on the topie. Another way is to conduct a series of interviews With several key informants; these are peaple who have a grealcr than average familiarity with the problem and/or its associated antecedents or consequences. ‘There are two aspects to problem's background. The first is the nature of the problem within the actors, institutions, organizations, or other entities involved in the study; this is called the internal background, The internal background includes the total body of knowledge ‘on the topic that exists within the relevant topic entities. This knowledge may exist as published reports, operations records, or accounting data; it may reside in the memories of other partie- jpants or organizations. Or it may be stored in historical archives somewhere, such as the Library of Congress, Intemal information is often easier to access than exiemal sources or information. Internal data should always be the first place a researcher stould look when conducting organizational research. : ‘The second part is the body of research that already exists on the problem, its causes and cures, its extent and impact, and the way that other researchers have approached the issue. This is the external background. External information exists in the body of literature on the topic. Accessing this previous work is referred to a5 a review of the literature. It includes all the published and uapublished-but-available material on the question to complete the research be put to better use What to Do When Problems Appear What happens when the rc ; : tia sppen when he resuch is ual o pinpoint a specie research problem before eee neil na Not surprisingly, this is often the case when students begin theit p TO cee Getto mine the question is for the budding researcher to tse the literature seview to help with achieving » greater focus for the research, In is 2 good idea vi i Rte eeeean ata ae a idea about some aspect of the general topic that seems ; family members. It could be an art : 2510 iscussed in a class) Something seen in a tex:book of af ssue of resources, environmental depradntion, ere ee eee! issues, disproportionate distribution ‘The fist step in he literature review ito cane a tre in'a tpi. ca researcher examine a relevant i brary talog, The researcher should then scan the ever joc ee Ot ances Goulds lof tke broad tople are of most inares eral joumal anicles or books to see what F i LTC Thmteat Ian enfocsed ete IC not take loa to go om ust aving atti ‘oming focused on an interesting problem that €7. FOCUSING ON A RESEARCH TOPIC — 85 2 hing the literature to break the larger problem down into subproblema ean, eget al ng steps in the research process facilitate ask 3 Establish Topic Components or i apactors” i r e tha es more information, re settled on a problem or circurnstance that requires mare inlolin't ih | ae that broad problem into as many parts or subproblems as are fen i ; the next step is (0 Oho earch problem decided upon is: “How can the level of service provide’ Se a ted ny hospital operating costs?" A partial at disabled veterans be i improved Without r relevant subproblems of this question might be go outpates © ist of sor Fo ‘The type of organization (eg. hospital, outpatient clini, field provider, etc) ‘Type of service patients require Bs siating levels oc not + Queuing system in effect ere x facility (urban, suburban, rural). 3 + Presereening system. + Attivides of provider staff. + Attitudes of service users + Expectations of service users. + Operating costs, and others. 4 included i esearch study. "Normally, not all of the possible subareas can or should be included in the researc ‘ feat they are prioritized, and only the most important are included. Limiting the final choice of factors to be included in the study are (1) what the researcher can do in the time allowed, ‘nd (2) what will give the greatest payback for the time and labor resources expended. "Once the researcher has identified the topic to study, the next step is to determine which relevant somponeats should be measured. For example, say that a researcher is confronted with a lem pertaining to low voter turnouts. Should the researcher collect data on local economic ions, on neighborhoods, on schools, on ethnic groups, on families, on peer groups, on ‘yoters, students who have never voted, voters below a certain age or above that age, ach option will come up with very different information, jother example, say that the research problem is concerned with the topic of gender fe. Should the researcher gather data on men, women, children, family dyads, parents, or ther combination of subjects? If the research topic deals with problems faced by persons a tearing disability, should the researcher study society in general, employers, service Hider, persons with the disability, or persons without the disability? Related to this question is one of accessibility. If the element or subject to be measured is that subject must have the needed information, be willing to share the information lesearcher, speak the researcher's language, and be able 1o put into words why he or ina cenain way, The same problems exist for all possible measurement elements.86 FOUNDATIONS OF POLITICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH Task 5. Determine Relevant Variables Researchers study and test variables. A variable is anything that changes in ab ee Nariesj some way, Thus, variables aze phenomena that can be “Tmensured’ im pa Said a way. variables ace study questions that have been rephrased ini [EStAD © SY EIEDIS Fabia ample, the high-school dropout phenomenon is 4 atredly: question. whereas the annual rate of dropouts is a variable that can be measured. Another variable is the gender of the dropoyy, lucation of the dropout's parents, the others are the dropout's age, ethnic group. the level of ed location of the drapout’s residence, and many more, ; - ‘Another variable relating to this issue could be the dropout's attitudes or opinions abou education in general. Others could be such things as the effectiveness of | the dropout’s teachers, the dropout’s need to work in order to help support 2 family, or any similar measurement, a listing of some of the types of variables researchers use is displayed in Figure 62 There are several ways to identify variables. One way is to divide variables into two cate. gories based on the type of numerical measurements they provide. These are cutegorical and continuous vartables. Categorical variables identify a limited number of possible categories, Gender is an example, with just wo categories possible: female or mate. Continuous variables, on the other hand, can have an unlimited number of values. Values for continuous variables can be measured on a continuous scale (such as weight, height in inches, etc.). They are not restricted to specific, discrete categories or values, as are categorical variables, Attitude scales that provide continuous data are often used in political science research. Researchers are con- cerned with mean (average) scores on a scale, not the Tesponse category (score) of any single subject. ‘A second way of looking at variables is whether they are dependent or independent. This dichotomy is important in causal research designs. Dependent variables are variables that are influenced in some way by another variable or variables. Independent variables are the variables that act upon or help explain change in a dependent variable, For example, the dependent variable voilug behavior ean be influenced by mony different factors. such as the type of political contest involved, the income, education, occupation, or the age of the yoters/nanvotes, fic, Each of these factors is an independent variable. Task 6. Establish Research Hypotheses ‘The hypothesis is the fundamental building block of all scientific research, It defines the 1e- search topic and the researcher's ideas about it, Hypotheses can be defined in many alfferent ways. One way is to look at the hypothesis as the researcher's ideas about a relationship between two phenomena (variables), while Shaughnessy and Zechineister (1994) defined hy: potheses as nothing moze than a “tentative explanation for something." Hypotheses are tentative answers to the ‘How?’ and ‘Why?’ questions about the reseatst problem. No research should be started before one or more testable hypotheses have Ie writen, There are two types of hypotheses: causal and noncausad, With causal hypotheses. researcher propases that “evens or activity A causes C to happen." An example is: "Povelty causes juvenile crime.” In this sense, the hypothesis is suggested as the reason for the O°c” rence of the phenomenon called “juvenile crime.” i Tn a noucausal hypothesis, the researcher surmises that “A and B are caused by C:"10 this example, A and B can be said to be correlated (associated). However, in the absence of OYFOCUSING ON A RESEARCH TOPIC 87 riablet . F ‘ : Niareterstic, quantity, or anyihing of interest that ean have different values. Examples ode such tings as stvings acount amounts, stock prices, package designs, weight, Tnctiny sates, gender, salaries, ete. The values of variables may be said to be either Hontinous or categorical. Independent Variable: ‘A variable that functions ofan independent variable is Variable, An example is the independent variable as the causal element in a hypothesis. A change in the value id to “cause” a positive or negative change in a dependent “poverty” in the hypothesis “Poverty “enuses crime.” | Dependent Variable: ‘The second part of a causal hypothesized to have been Th the hypothesis "Poverty causes crime,” the level of erin 1 hypothesis, a change in the value of a dependent variable is “caused” by a change in the level of the independent variable. is the dependent variable. Intervening Variable: Sometimes referred to as a control variable, an intervening variable lies between an Jndependent and a dependent yariable. A change in the intervening variable must be causes” by the independent variable; this change then “causes” the change in the de~ |. pendent variable. For example, in the hypothesis “Workplace stress eauses physical ill- 1. hess, which causes absenteeism,” physical illness is the intervening variable. Conditional Variable: “his variable establishes the antecedent conditions necessary for change in the dependent variable. The values of a conditional variable influence the level of impact that the in- depencent and intervening variables have on a dependent variable. Yn the example “Pov- “erty causes substance abuse, causing HIV-positive rates to increase, wherever needle ‘exchange programs are proscribed.” existence of needle exchange programs is the con- “ditional variable. ” Study Variable: ‘Av variable whose cause or effect status the researcher is tying to discover through “yesearci, The study variable can be an independent variable, a dependent variable, an “intervening variable, or a conditional variable. |) Continuous Variables: Quantities that can take any value within a range of measurements, such as weight or “percentage of increase in the price of a stock, are said to be continuous. itegorical Variables: sgorical variables have values that can vary only in specific steps or categories (they Sometimes called discrete variables). 52. A Partial Classification of VarlablesRCH 88 FOUNDATIONS OF POLITICAL SCIENCE RESEA\ causes” the other (Van Evera 1997 ither A or B “causes” tl ), further proof, it is not possible to say that either A dale oi se deena ee ee Se Sey "This hypothesis does not say that dropping ales of teenage pregnancies are caused by povelty. i Sit thigh chee ree th reo ERNE ang (tag ee he high-school dropout phenomenon and teen pregnancies are related, but n eS" the th , . or Hypotheses must be writen in ways that no questions can be faked about ais comet underlie the statement. This requires preparing clear and concise Scan nee es, Censtrts and concepts, ad spelling out all assumptions relating to the study votes must always be written in ways that allow for their scientific testing. Such metaphysical con. cepts as beliefs or faith should never be used as the basis for a hypothesis because they cannot be empirically tested Task 7. Establish Research Objective and Relevant Subobjectives Rescarch objectives are statements of what the researcher wants to accomplish by completing the rescarch activity. They are related directly to the study question. For example, the director of @ program designed to help single parents receiving public assistance meke the move to full-time employment might be concemed that the program participation rate is declining while the number of parents receiving assistance is not declining. Why enrollment is declining is a Key stu ig Ways to reverse ihe decline might serve as the program direc- tor's main research objective, Subobjectives might include the following items. Clearly, the subobjectives are only a partial list ofthe possible factors the director may wish to include in the study, others are: + Identify characteristics of clients who + Determine seasons why they + Identify el Participate in the program. elected to participate, Harecicristcs of ellets who do not panicipate in the program. + Determine reasors why they elected to not participate, - + Identify barriers 1o participation, + Identify what incentives might entice * Determine what successes other progr planted to the local program, more qualified People to participate. ams hav © had and whether they may be trans- Pretest to Redefine Variables and Objectives Pilot testing the study instrument or disci No matter how close they might be are very different froin their rece; 2 critical step in the research process ‘0 8 problem, al ach mbes, Ns, Program, or issue under study, researches bles and issues 22 2° NOt LOOK at variables in the same way: Probability of epee werent. Without a thorough pretest Y of encountering a study error is signifcant) este