Developing Research Questions

Lecture Objectives

• By the end of the lecture, the goal is to discuss how to develop a research question, identify the stages of the research process, outline the characteristics of each stage, and design your own research.

Research Question Basics

• The research question is a specific question to which the researcher seeks answers.
• It may indicate the process used to answer it.
• It is the starting point for research.
• It directs and provides focus.
• A research question needs to be focused, narrow, clear, and concise.

How to formulate a Research Question

• Start with a broad topic, then narrow the topic and focus it before arriving at the final research question.

Broad Topics

• Select a topic that is broad in the area of research focus
• The selection of a broad topic will aid in review of the literature in the area.
• Note the common questions asked within the topic of interest.
• An example is "HIV in Canada".

Narrow Topics

• Based on the outcomes of the first process (having a broad topic), narrow the topic to introduce specificity into the research.

Narrowing Considerations

• Important narrowing considerations include:
  • Data
  • Geographical scale
  • Demographic and socioeconomic characteristics
  • Time
  • Theories and models to guide the study
• HIV vulnerability in Canada, is considered a broad topic, while "the burden of HIV among racial minority populations in Canada" is a narrow topic.

Focused Topics

• Goes through a similar process as the Narrow topic.
• Be abreast with major issues and debates in the area of focus at this stage.
• Gauge the depth of information and resources available for the research.
• The burden of HIV among racial minority populations in Canada, is a narrow topic, whereas, "the HIV vulnerability of Black Canadians in Ontario" is more focused.

Narrowing Guidance

• Narrow the topic by logical reasons.
• Reasons may vary from interest, under-researched areas, and data consideration.
• Develop a rationale for the narrowing, which is captured in the significance of the study.

Research Question (cont.)

• Stay aware of the complexities and debates in the area of focus.
• Subcomponents of the research question gear toward answering the main research question.
• Critically think about the final research question and ensure there is a rationale for it.
• "Why are Black heterosexual men more vulnerable to HIV in Ontario, Canada?" is a focused Research Question.

Evaluating Your Research Question

• A research question should be:
  • Of interest to the researcher and potentially to others, involving a new issue or problem that needs to be solved or attempts to shed light on a previously researched topic.
  • Researchable, considering the available time frame and required resources, and having a feasible and sound methodology.
  • Measurable, where the data can be supported or contradicted.
  • Not too broad and not too narrow.

Types of Research Questions

• Causal (relationship): Compares two or more phenomena and determines if a relationship exists.
  • Example: "Does the amount of Ca in the diet of elementary school children affect the number of cavities they have per year?"
• Descriptive: Describes a phenomena often studying "how much," "how often," or "what is the change".
  • Example: "How often do college-aged students use Twitter?”
• Comparative: Examines the difference between two or more groups in relation to one or more variables.
  • Example: "What is the difference in caloric intake of high school girls and boys?"

Research Question Frameworks

• Use PICO, I or E for the exposure (for clinical / quantitative research topics).
• Use PICO, PIE, PCC, PEO, SPIDER or SPICE (for qualitative research topics).

PICO(T)

• Framework for clinical questions that often address the effect of an intervention, therapy or treatment.
• The acronym stands for:
  • P - Population/Problem
  • I - Intervention
  • C - Comparison
  • O - Outcome
  • T - Timeline -For women aged ≥65 years (P), does doing cardio (I) exercises compared to cardio plus resistance (C) training for 6 months (T) improve cardiovascular and bone health (O)?

PICo

• Used for asking question questions evaluating experiences, roles, and meaningfulness of a topic.
• The acronym stands for:
  • P - Population
  • I - Interest
  • Co – Context
• Does mindfulness (I) improve quality of life among nurses (P) during the pandemic (Co)?

PICO[T] Examples

• In children with asthma, are inhaled corticosteroids more likely to result in growth delay than standard therapy with beta-agonists?
  • P = children with asthma, I = Inhaled corticosteroids, C = Beta-agonists and O = Growth delay
• Can music therapy help autistic students improve their communication skills?
  • P = autistic students and I = music therapy
• How effective are antidepressant medications on anxiety and depression in pregnant women?
  • P = pregnant women with anxiety and depression and I = antidepressants.
• How does race impact help-seeking for students with mental health diagnoses?
  • P = students with mental health diagnoses or students of minority races, C = students of different races, O = seeking help for mental health issues

PEO

• Describes association between particular exposures, risk factors and outcomes.
• The acronym stands for:
  • P - Population
  • E - Exposure/Interest
  • O – Outcome
• How do preparation programs (E) influence the development of culturally safe teaching (0) among nurse educators (P)?

PIE

• PIE is suited for qualitative research topics.
• The acronym stands for:
  • P - Population/Problem
  • I - Issue/Intervention/Interest
  • E – Evaluation/Effect
• Through focus group (E), identify how pregnant First Nations women (P) want to address postnatal depression (I)?

SPIDER

• Questions of experience or perspectives can be addressed by qual, quant, or mixed methods research.
• The acronym stands for:
  • S - Sample
  • PI - Phenomenon of Interest
  • D - Design
  • E – Evaluation
  • R – Research type
• What are the experiences and perspectives (E) of undergraduate nursing students (S) in clinical placements within prison healthcare settings(PI)?

SPICE

• Used for evaluating the outcomes of a service, project, or intervention.
• The acronym stands for:
  • S – Setting
  • P – Perspective
  • I – Intervention/ Interest/Exposure
  • C – Comparison
  • E – Evaluation
• What are the impacts and best practices for workplace (S) transition support programs (I) for the retention (E) of newly-hired, new graduate nurses (P)?

PCC

• Broader (scoping) questions.
• The acronym stands for:
  • P – Population
  • C – Concept
  • C – Context
• How do nursing schools (Context) teach, measure, and maintain nursing students' (P) technological literacy (Concept) throughout their educational programs?

PICO[T] Question Types

• Intervention or Therapy
• Etiology
• Diagnosis or Diagnostic Test
• Prognosis or Prediction
• Meaning

Research Aims

• The aim of the research informs the type of question to be asked.

Research Question Formulation

• Describing and exploring - What are the characteristics of X?
• Explaining and testing - What is the relationship between X and Y?
• Evaluating and acting - What are the advantage and disadvantages of X?

Characteristics of a Good Research Question

• A good research question must be focused, researchable, feasible, specific, complex, and relevant.
• Acronyms for a good research question:
  • FINERMAPS: Feasible, interesting, novel, ethical, relevant, manageable, appropriate, potential value & publishability, systematic
  • SMART: Specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound

More on Good Research Questions

• Focused and researchable: on a single issue, answered with primary or secondary data, does not seek a subjective value assessment.
• Feasible and specific: allocated time is able to answer the question, clear and concepts are well defined, not focused on giving a conclusive solution.
• Complex: not answered with a yes or no response, not possible to answer with easily available information, allows debate, makes contributions to academia.
• Relevant: issue addressed is relevant to the field of study, extends knowledge in the area, not already answered by earlier studies, and meaningful to the community.

Research Questions vs Hypotheses

• The main difference is that:
  • Research questions are concise, focused, and debatable questions that provides a clear path for research.
  • Hypotheses are formal statements that predict the relationship between two or more variables.
• Both include an independent variable, dependent variable, and your population of interest.

Hypothesis or Research Question?

• Use a hypothesis when enough research has been established and there is a high degree of certainty about the relationship between variables.
• Use a research question for exploratory research into novel areas, when little research exists, or when the relationship between variables is ambiguous.

How To Formulate Objectives

• Objectives are ways to study and answer research questions.
• Objectives should:
  • Be logically connected parts.
  • Include action words such as "to compare", "to verify", "to calculate", "to describe", "to explain".

Issues To Avoid

• Key concepts should not be ambiguous.
• Do not underestimate the time stipulated to develop the research question.
• Do not set the question beyond the scope of available resources.
• Stay open to possibilities.

The Research Process

• The research process constitutes a series of steps, with a series of actions effectively performed in a specific order, that guides the conduct of research in the scientific community.
• The steps are:
  • Choose a topic
  • Review literature
  • Formulate the problem
  • Choose and organize the research design
  • Develop the research question
  • Gather the data
  • Analyze
  • Interpret the data
  • Communicate the findings

Selecting a Topic

• Relevance of the topic to the area of research.
• Data considerations.
• Contribution to closing the knowledge gap.
• The research problem must be well defined to give direction to the researcher.
• The research may be:
  • Exploratory: Investigate a problem that is not clearly defined, has been under-investigated, or is poorly understood. Qualitative
  • Comparative: Examine differences between 2 or more groups in relation to 1 or more variables. Example: "What is the difference in...". Quantitative
  • Descriptive: Describe a phenomena. Examples: "How much", "How often", or "What is the change". Quantitative
  • Causal: Compares 2 or more phenomena and determines if a relationship or association exists. Quantitative
• It may also be a combination of the above different types of research.

Objectives of the Research

• Note the overall objectives and how it relates to the field of study, and it will serve as a guide to the research.

Reviewing Literature

• Review of existing sources like books, journals, reports, and theses.
• Analysis of gaps in existing sources.

Qualitative Research vs Quantitative Research

• Qualitative research: is used to formulate a hypothesis.
  • Involves deep information about a topic, may uncover themes, often comes prior to quantitate, aids in formulating hypotheses around correlation and causation.
• Quantitative research is used to test or confirm a hypothesis.
  • Need enough understanding about a topic to develop a hypothesis to test.
• Need to understand what the parameters are and how variables are in practice to create a controlled research outline to produce high-quality data.

Research Design

• Selection of the design must be informed by the research question, in order to guide the researcher during the conduct of the research. It also informs the analysis and interpretation of the results.

Sample Design

• The selection of participants for the study.
• Probability (random).
• Non-probability (the researcher selects a sample for convenience).
• It is also informed by the available resources and influenced by the type of research.

Data Analysis

• Perform a critical examination of the collected data that requires researchers to reduce bias while following data analysis protocols and procedures.

Article and Report Types

• Generalized Report
• Theses
• Article

Summary of Article or Proposal Format

• Know the key sections of an article or research proposal:
  • Abstract - Summary.
  • Introduction – Literature review - Why the research was done, what is known and unknown, or why should the gaps be filled.
  • Methodology - How the research was conducted.
  • Results - What happened.
  • Discussion - What the results mean.
  • Conclusion - What was learned.
  • References - What research was consulted.