Count the number of concepts or phenomena that your research problem statement proposes to investigate. Do not include any concepts or phenomena that define the population, only those to be directly measured or examined or described. If your research problem statement contains only one concept or phenomenon to investigate, skip to Part 2 of the Activity. If it contains two or more concepts or phenomena, use Part 1. Follow the steps in your chosen part sequentially.
Practice example: The research problem is the impact of emotional intelligence, learning style, and personality type on job satisfaction in health care managers is not known. Your list of concepts would be:
Immediately, you notice that "health care managers" is a very broad category and does not help you determine specific sample characteristics and variables. A quick review of your literature suggests that you should study female managers working in specialty clinics. So to your list you add to "health care managers":
Next, write down exactly the form of measurement that your problem requires. The main forms include:
Practice Example: In the example, what is not known is the impact of the three IVs on the DV. Therefore, the kind of relationship we are seeking will be a causal relationship, based on that word impact. The word effect can be substituted, making even clearer that the relationship we are after is a causal one.
Apply: Do Step 2 with your own research problem.Now, craft a conceptual version of your question using these ingredients. After you have a draft, examine it carefully. Does your question:
Practice Example: A first draft of the conceptual version of the example might be:
What is the impact of personality type on the job satisfaction of female health care managers in specialty medical clinics?
If we are actually interested in whether this IV predicts the DV—prediction being a type of impact—another version might be:
Is personality type a predictor of job satisfaction in female health care managers in specialty medical clinics?Apply: Do Step 3, the conceptual version, for your own research question.
Practice Example: To determine effects (or impacts), one must do an experimental or a quasi-experimental design. This means that two or more groups are formed and the different effects on the IV are compared in those groups. To get to that, we look at the IV (or individual IVs if there is more than one). We ask ourselves what levels of the variable we are interested in. In reviewing the literature, we found that the so-called Big Five personality traits (Costa & McCrae, 1992) are widely used. This shows us five levels of personality type. But perhaps for some reason, we are most interested in the impact of extroversion and conscientiousness for the variable personality type.
Therefore, we might have an operational version of the research question that looks like this:
Are there statistically significant differences in levels of job satisfaction for female health care managers in specialty medical clinics who are highly extroverted compared with those who are highly conscientious.
Apply: Do step 4 for your own research question.
Practice Example: Our question has three variables to be measured, and therefore we have three subquestions to write:
What are the levels of job satisfaction in female health care managers in specialty medical clinics?
What are the levels of extroversion in in female health care managers in specialty medical clinics?
What are the levels of conscientiousness in in female health care managers in specialty medical clinics?
Practice Example: Because we have only one main question, we will need two hypotheses, a null and an alternate.
Prepare to Revise and Rewrite Your Question as Your Lit Review Deepens
Your search of the literature about your topic and research question will continue until you complete your dissertation. When you find new research that changes the nature or focus of your problem statement, your question will need to be revised accordingly. This is quite common. So plan to keep revisiting your research problem and question regularly, up to the point where they have been finally approved by your dissertation committee and the IRB and you are ready to start your participant recruitment. That question and only that question will be your final edition.
Practice example: The research problem is how psychology students in an online graduate program describe their experience of the process of assimilating and accommodating complex psychological theories. Your concept or phenomenon statement would be:
Your sample characteristics identified in the problem statement would be:
Immediately, you notice that while the phenomenon is stated reasonably clearly (psychologists know what Piaget's terms mean), the sample characteristics are quite broadly stated. "Graduate students in psychology" does not help you determine specific sample characteristics to screen for. A quick review of your literature and reflection on your personal interests suggests that you should study female doctoral students in online programs affiliated with on-ground universities. Even that is too broad. There are many specializations within psychology, and at least two doctoral degrees, the PsyD and the PhD. So to your list of sample characteristics, you decide to add:
Next, write down exactly the form of inquiry that your problem requires. The main forms in qualitative research include:
Practice Example: In the example, the research problem (what is not known) is how these graduate students describe their personal experiences in coming to terms with and mastering (assimilating and accommodating) complex theories. Obviously, you could choose either a conversational inquiry or an analysis of texts. The latter might demonstrate accommodation (mastery), but would it allow you to learn about the experience of developing mastery (that is, of assimilating and then accommodating new learning)? It seems reasonable, then, since the problem is to learn how they describe their experiences of this process, to use a conversational inquiry.
Apply: Do Step 2 with your own research problem.
Now, craft a conceptual version of your question using these ingredients. After you have a draft question, examine it carefully. Does your question:
If it misses on any point, correct it.
Practice Example: Taking into account all these ingredients, a first draft of the conceptual version of the example might be:
How do women studying neuropsychology, social psychology, or forensic psychology in online PhD programs offered by a traditional on-ground graduate institution, describe their process of assimilating and accommodating complex psychological theory?
Apply: Do step 3, the conceptual version, for your own research question.
Your search of the literature about your topic and research question will continue until you complete your dissertation. When you find new research that changes the nature or focus of your problem statement, your question will need to be revised accordingly. This is quite common. So plan to keep revisiting your research problem and question regularly, up to the point where they have been finally approved by your dissertation committee and the IRB and you are ready to start your participant recruitment. That question and only that question will be your final edition.
Costa, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (1992). Revised NEO personality inventory (NEO-PI-R) and NEO five-factor inventory (NEO-FFI) professional manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc.
Doc. reference: phd_t2_psy_u04s4_h04_craftque.html