Overview
This lecture introduces how to formulate clear research questions (RQs) and discusses key ethical considerations in conducting research.
Research Questions: Importance and Structure
- Research questions (RQs) guide all aspects of a research study and inform what data needs to be collected.
- RQs can be broad with several sub-questions, which may be quantitative or qualitative.
Definitions in Research
- Studies require clear, precise definitions to avoid ambiguity.
- Conceptual definitions explain what is being measured or observed.
- Operational definitions specify how the measurement or observation is carried out.
Components of Research Questions (POCI)
- RQs often include: Population (P), Outcome (O), Comparison or Connection (C), and Intervention (I).
- The POCI acronym helps structure RQs logically.
Elements of RQs
- The Population: the group to which results are meant to generalize, not limited to study participants.
- The Outcome: the numerical result of interest summarizing the population (e.g., averages, proportions).
- The Comparison or Connection: identifies different subgroups for comparison or explores relationships between variables.
- The Intervention: an imposed change or treatment intended to alter the outcome.
Types of Research Questions
- Descriptive RQs include Population and Outcome (PO) ("Among {population}, what is {outcome}?").
- Relational RQs include Population, Outcome, Comparison/Connection (POC) but no intervention.
- Interventional RQs include all four elements (POCI), with researchers imposing the comparison or connection.
Ethics in Research
- Ethical considerations include minimizing physical, psychological, social, and environmental risks to participants.
- Confidentiality of data must be maintained, and plagiarism must be avoided.
- Research should be reproducible; methods and data must be sufficiently documented and shared for others to verify results.
Key Terms & Definitions
- Research Question (RQ) — the main question guiding a study, shaping data collection and analysis.
- Conceptual Definition — explains what is being studied or measured.
- Operational Definition — details how a concept is measured or observed.
- Population — the group of interest for generalizing results.
- Outcome — the result being measured in the research.
- Comparison — the subsets between which outcomes are contrasted.
- Connection — another variable that may influence the outcome.
- Intervention — a deliberate change introduced by researchers to influence the outcome.
- Reproducibility — the ability to repeat a study using the same methods and data.
Action Items / Next Steps
- Attend the computer lab session.
- Review Topic 2B readings for more detail on RQ formulation and research ethics.