Based on the work you have been doing on your research topic, complete either the Problem Statement template or the Project Justification Statement template. In the discussion forum below, address the following:
- Describe the process of identifying your general and specific problem statements or your justification statement
- Provide evidence that your work is sound and well-supported by the literature
- Discuss the additional work you will need to do to further develop your problem or justification statement in advance of your first Dissertation or ADP Planning course.
- Attach the draft of your Problem or Justification Statement template to your discussion forum posting.
Template_AUPowerPoint_2012.02 The University of Arizona Global Campus Proprietary & Confidential - For Internal Use Only In-Residence III Identifying a Researchable Problem The University of Arizona Global Campus Proprietary & Confidential - For Internal Use Only Focusing Your Research: Knowledge Gap • What do you want to know that you don’t know? • What do you want to know that nobody else knows? • To start, you need to find out what others know—find the lay of the land in a topic area • What parts are missing or under-developed? The University of Arizona Global Campus Proprietary & Confidential - For Internal Use Only Why Identify Research Needs and Gaps? • Goal of a dissertation is to contribute to the scientific knowledge that exists already • A dissertation acknowledges current research and inspires future research • Therefore, you must depict what is not yet known, but is desirable to understand • You will accomplish this by determining missing elements or gaps in existing literature your dissertation can address The University of Arizona Global Campus Proprietary & Confidential - For Internal Use Only How To Identify Research Needs, Gaps and Problems • Conduct a literature review to identify what researchers have discovered and have yet to discover • Examine the abstract, introduction, and “recommendations for future study” in published works, including dissertations • Ask the “experts” their opinions • Review “white papers,” content analysis reports, and meta-analysis studies • Review institutional, organizational and government agency sources The University of Arizona Global Campus Proprietary & Confidential - For Internal Use Only How To Find Research Needs And Gaps • Begin to develop a list of questions about your topic • Document those questions as you are reviewing the literature; keep track of key word searches • If you can find an answer, make notes and move on • If you find no answers to your question, you may have discovered a research gap AND you may have a problem that can be the focus of your dissertation The University of Arizona Global Campus Proprietary & Confidential - For Internal Use Only Researchable Problems • Search the research literature in the field to assess the breadth and depth of published research about your topic ◦ If the problem is well-understood with published results of prior studies, then additional research may not contribute ◦ If little published research exists, or if the results of the research are not consistent, then there is an opportunity to add to the knowledge base by providing new empirical evidence The University of Arizona Global Campus Proprietary & Confidential - For Internal Use Only Researchable Problems • Problems must pertain to an issue that can be studied in a way that will generate useful knowledge— knowledge that can be applied to addressing the problem in some way • The problem drives the research questions by indicating what new knowledge may be revealed that will lead to potential solutions for addressing the problem The University of Arizona Global Campus Proprietary & Confidential - For Internal Use Only Researchable Problems • A problem is something that has negative consequences for people, places, or things • But! If the problem is not important to your academic discipline and cannot be addressed through a research study in your field, then it is not a researchable problem The University of Arizona Global Campus Proprietary & Confidential - For Internal Use Only Problem Versus Situation • A situation is something that exists that may or may not be problematic • A problem may emerge from a situation ◦Example: A 2012 survey revealed that children aged 12 to 17 send an average of 60 text messages per day (Lenhart, 2012) • Is this a situation or a problem? • What problems may emerge from this situation? The University of Arizona Global Campus Proprietary & Confidential - For Internal Use Only Researchable Problems • A couple more ideas about a researchable problem: ◦ A lack of research is a situation, but may or may not be a problem ◦ Finding a “gap” in the research must be aligned with a “practical problem” ◦ What are the negative consequences that result from lack of research? The University of Arizona Global Campus Proprietary & Confidential - For Internal Use Only Identifying a Researchable Problem • No single research study can address every aspect of a problem ◦ Find a prior study on the same topic and see the “Recommendations for Future Research” section ◦ Reading prior studies may help spur thinking for an additional research study for a previously identified problem • Emergent problems in a field show up at professional or academic conferences, or on websites (or blogs, newsletters, magazines, etc.) of professional associations • Corollary to a problem: Replicate a prior study with a similar or different population, or with a different context The University of Arizona Global Campus Proprietary & Confidential - For Internal Use Only Narrowing the Problem • Difficult to narrow the general problem to a specific problem that can researched given time and resources • Narrowing a problem to specific contexts, populations, and constructs helps to define a problem that has a feasible scope • Rather than trying to solve the entire puzzle at one time, a dissertation study can generate knowledge that can be used to solve part of the puzzle • Your contribution? Greater insight The University of Arizona Global Campus Proprietary & Confidential - For Internal Use Only In Conclusion • A dissertation must be problem-based • Your literature review will help you focus on addressing an identifiable problem • This is a fundamental requirement of a dissertation, so without a verifiable problem, you don’t have an acceptable research study • So, what’s the problem you want to address? The University of Arizona Global Campus Proprietary & Confidential - For Internal Use Only Caveat! • It is perfectly acceptable to replicate a published study with a new population or a new set of questions or a new focus ◦ What can you add to the existing understanding of your topic that would be a contribution to the field? What will your study contribute? • Determine whether there is a justification for conducting a study on the population and topic; is there still a problem to be solved? • Remember that you will need to prepare a well-documented problem statement for your study! In-Residence III� Identifying a Researchable Problem Focusing Your Research: Knowledge Gap Why Identify Research Needs and Gaps? How To Identify Research Needs, Gaps and Problems How To Find Research Needs And Gaps Researchable Problems Researchable Problems Researchable Problems Problem Versus Situation Researchable Problems Identifying a Researchable Problem Narrowing the Problem In Conclusion Caveat! Template_AUPowerPoint_2012.02 The University of Arizona Global Campus Proprietary & Confidential - For Internal Use Only An Overview In Res III Research Approaches and Designs For Dissertations The University of Arizona Global Campus Proprietary & Confidential - For Internal Use Only Qualitative Research Characteristics • Descriptive approach to describe and make inferences about a situation or phenomenon that occurs in a natural or real-world setting • Analysis of thoughts, words, images, and other types of non- numeric data • Attempts to develop an understanding of a complex world, and to make meaningful conclusions about the nature of people, their actions, behaviors, and experiences • Approach of choice for generating new theories or models, for achieving in-depth understanding of social issues, and for developing detailed stories to explicate a situation, experience, or phenomenon The University of Arizona Global Campus Proprietary & Confidential - For Internal Use Only Qualitative Research Characteristics • Researchers express interest in a topic but do not try to predict what they will find • Pose research questions and then develop a data collection plan to answer those questions by collecting information such as thoughts, feelings, perceptions, lived experiences or beliefs • To evaluate a qualitative study, you should be able to identify the research question(s) being studied and you should find a description of the process whereby the researcher gathered data from study participants • Results will be reported as findings, theories, interpretations or derived meanings, not in terms of statistical significance Click to add footnote The University of Arizona Global Campus Proprietary & Confidential - For Internal Use Only The University of Arizona Global Campus Proprietary & Confidential - For Internal Use Only • In summary, qualitative research: o Collects non-numerical data about social phenomenon o Uses measures that include open- ended survey questionnaires, observations, interviews, focus groups, case studies, field research, video and audio recordings, archival review, and other such approaches o Represents data in the form of text, photographs, sound bites, and other such formats • Most doctoral students conduct qualitative research 4 The University of Arizona Global Campus Proprietary & Confidential - For Internal Use Only Quantitative Research Characteristics • A quantitative study has o Specific variables of interest identified in a research question or questions o Specific hypotheses that predict the nature of the relationship between variables • Statistical analysis or a combination of analytical approaches are used to analyze and summarize the data regarding the relationship between variables • Conclusions are represented as being o Statistically significant oNot statistically significant The University of Arizona Global Campus Proprietary & Confidential - For Internal Use Only Quantitative Research Summary • At the heart of quantitative research is data analysis, wherein the researcher answers the major research questions of the study by statistically analyzing the relationship between variables • Results are reported numerically and are typically displayed in data tables, with corresponding reports of statistical analysis, and numerical conclusions The University of Arizona Global Campus Proprietary & Confidential - For Internal Use Only General Differences Qualitative Research Quantitative Research Subjective Objective Inductive reasoning used to synthesize data Deductive reasoning used to synthesize data Focus—complex and broad Focus—concise and narrow Develops theory Tests theory Basis of