LIS 570

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LIS 570

• Phase 1 Step 1Selecting, narrowing, formulating
  a problem

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Outline

• Starting points
• Narrowing and clarifying
• Stating the problem
• Explanatory research
• Hypothesis
• Non-causal/Causal
• Descriptive research
• Research Objective

3
Asking the right questions

• Research is a disciplined way of answering
  questions
• Researchable questions
• limited in scope, narrowed in focus and confined
  to a certain time place and set of conditions
• some objective, tangible, countable evidence or
  data can be gathered which are relevant to the
  question

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Narrowing and clarifying the problem

• Starting point
• Select a problem
• Something vexing, perplexing, unknown
• Suitable for empirical research
• Narrow and clarify the problem

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Narrowing and clarifying the problem

• What do I want to know about this topic?
• Description or explanation?
• Descriptive research (De Vaus)
• What is the time frame of our interest?
• What is the geographical location of our
  interest?
• Are we aiming for broad description or do we want
  to compare and specify patterns for subgroups?
• What aspect of the topic are we interested in?
• How abstract is our interest?

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Narrowing and clarifying the problem

• Explanation
• Are we looking for causes or consequences?

?
Increase in divorce rate
Increase in divorce rate
Increase in divorce rate
?
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Narrowing and clarifying the problem

• Explanation
• List possible causes or consequences and then
  collect relevant data
• previous research
• the facts
• our hunches
• talk to informants

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Narrowing and clarifying the problem

• Explanation - exploring a simple idea
• e.g. instead of asking what has caused? We ask
  has X caused?

Increase in divorce
Decline in religion
?
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Narrowing and clarifying the problem

• Explanation - exploring a more complex idea

Rejection of wrongness of divorce
Erosion of absolutes
Increased divorce rate
Religious decline
Reduced willingness to stay in unhappy marriage
Increased emphasis on self fulfilment
Higher expectations of marriage
De Vaus, 31
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Narrowing and clarifying the problem

• Summary..
• For descriptive research be clear and specific
  about what you want to describe
• For exploratory research ask..
• What am I trying to explain?
• What are the possible causes?
• Which causes will I explore?
• What are the possible mechanisms?

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unpacking the question (Bouma)

• What are the major concepts?
• What is happening here?
• What are the issues?
• Is one thing affecting, causing or producing a
  change in something else?
• Why is this so?
• Consult what has already been written or
  researched about the problem

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Unpacking the question

• Identify and note the many issues about the
  problem that you have chosen and make the choice
  to study one.
• Then.Clarify the research question(s)
• Restate the issue as a researchable question
• hypothesis
• research objective

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Hypothesis

• . . Asserts a Relationship Between Concepts
• Expectation about Events
• Exists/Does Not Exist

Level of Income
Time Spent on Leisure
There is a relationship between Level of Income
and types of activities engaged in
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Types of Relationships

• Hypotheses Assert a Type of Relationship
• Positive (Direct) Relationship
• Negative (Indirect)

Direct
Level of Income
Time Spent on leisure
Level of Income
-
Time Spent on Leisure
Indirect
NON-CAUSAL
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Non-Causal Relationship Words

• Related (Relationship)
• Associated (Association)
• Correlated
• Linked
• Goes with
• Income is positively associated with time spent
• There is a negative correlation between income
  and time spent
• There is no association between income and time
  spent

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Causal Hypotheses

• Asserts that one Concept (Idea) is the cause of
  the other
• Level of income determines time spent

Time Spent on leisure
Level of Income
Causal Concept Active Independent X
Caused ConceptPassive Dependent Y
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Types of Causal Hypotheses

• Positive/Negative

Level of Income
Time Spent
Y
X
High income causes more time to be spent on
leisure High income causes less time to be spent
on leisure
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Establishing Causality

• Three Basic Requirements
• A relationship between the concepts needs to be
  established
• Has to be the correct time order
• All other reasons for the relationship must be
  able to be eliminated
• Ed Level Health Aware Time

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Causal Words

• Determine
• Affect
• Effect
• Influence
• Decrease/Increase
• Leads to

• The Level of Income Determines Time
• The Level of Income Has an Effect on Time
• Level of Income Has a Negative Influence

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Summary

• Hypotheses can take many forms
• Causal/Non-Causal
• Positive/Negative
• Relationship Exists or Does Not
• Causal hypotheses distinguish between caused and
  causal variables
• Causal Caused
• X Y
• Independent Dependent

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Research Objectives

• When the goal of the research is descriptive
  rather than explanatory
• To determine the leisure time activities of
  people
• To determine the types of activities engaged in
• To determine the amount of time spent on leisure
  time activities

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Summary

• Without a clear statement of the problem, the
  research undertaken will be confused and
  ambiguous. It is impossible to proceed to the
  next stage of the research process in a
  satisfactory way without such a statement.