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Generating Research Questions
Objective
The purpose of this project is to get you started on your research proposal by first guiding you through the process of developing a sound research question. You are working towards figuring out 2 things that sound simple but may be surprisingly difficult (this is why we start working on this early!). 1) what is your research question and 2) what do we already know about it?
Assignment
1. Topic Selection
a. Select an issue related to predicting social behavior that you would like to study. Be sure to choose a topic that really interests you. The possibilities are seemingly endless. Be sure to choose social behaviors (i.e. Behaviors about people and what they do, their preferences, behavior, emotions or the way they think). Don’t look into demographics questions like: Gender, Education, Ethnicity, etc. Those are not social behaviors, just demographics)
b. Identify your motives for studying it. In one to two sentences why do you want to study it?
2. Question Generation
a. Write at least four (4) research questions related to the topic you’ve selected. Make them related to each type discussed in the podcast: correlational, and experimental.
If you are going for correlation, you will ask: ……Is there a relationship between X and Y?
If you are going to be an experiment, you will as: Is there a difference in how X and Y respond …..?
3. Literature Search
a. List at least 2 references that seem relevant to your question; include the author, year, title, source, and page numbers,
- “How will the writing assignment help you to learn the course material?”
- This assignment highlights study variables and research designs. It may also stimulate some of your own research ideas and approaches. This assignment forms the basis for your research proposal that will ultimately provide you with an opportunity to exercise several methodological concepts covered in class.
- “If I had to do this assignment myself, how would I do it?”
- In selecting a topic I would browse through the library, media, or Psych info database, and review past research papers that I had written to get an interesting idea to focus on. If I wanted this topic to represent a workable research project I wouldn’t pick something that involved a population that I have no access to. For example, although I may be interested in studying family and peer relationships among children with multiple sclerosis, I don’t know where I could find a sample of children with MS to participate in a study so I wouldn’t choose this topic. In question generation I would allow myself to be creative and not get stuck on ensuring that each individual question was “good. In doing the literature search I would identify synonyms or keywords for my topic for example, if I was interested in “single mothers” I might also examine “single parents” or “single parent families”. I might also seek the expertise of a research librarian.
- “How does this writing assignment or topic relate to the work that specialists do in this field?”
- Research is the source of knowledge in our field and although the content may changes, the methods have largely remained the same. Conducting research studies allows you to become directly involved in contributing to the knowledge as you learn more about your particular area of interest.
