{"id":2660,"date":"2024-11-07T16:29:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-07T21:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drlynnekennette.ca\/?p=2660"},"modified":"2024-09-07T22:31:45","modified_gmt":"2024-09-08T02:31:45","slug":"3-november-fine-tuning-your-research-topic-into-a-specific-research-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drlynnekennette.ca\/index.php\/2024\/11\/07\/3-november-fine-tuning-your-research-topic-into-a-specific-research-question\/","title":{"rendered":"Fine-Tuning Your Research Topic Into a Specific Research Question"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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 (image source)<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Inquiry from the perspective of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) can vary, but one common taxonomy is that of Hutchings (2000)<\/a> who described 4 types of research questions (though the first two types are the most common). You can watch her explain these types of questions in this video<\/a> (~4 minutes) and\/or read the description below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. \u201cWhat works\u201d questions look at the effectiveness of our pedagogy and what we do in the classroom.<\/li>
  2. \u201cWhat is\u201d questions describe something: students\u2019 learning, their prior knowledge, how you approach teaching a particular topic, a problem in the classroom, etc.<\/li>
  3. \u201cVision of the possible\u201d is a type of question that examines the outcome of an innovative change in pedagogical approach on issues of SoTL, particularly student learning or other academic behaviours\/outcomes.<\/li>
  4. \u201cFormulating conceptual frameworks\u201d help us to better understand teaching and learning by proposing how they work theoretically.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    What makes a good research question?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Based on the thinking\/reading you did last week about your topic, and considering the approach you think best to take based on the taxonomy I just described (there isn\u2019t one \u201cright\u201d answer, there are many!), begin crafting the research question(s) that you will focus on. A good research question is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    • Interesting (to you!):<\/strong> If the question isn\u2019t interesting to you, you will lose your motivation and will find it more difficult to complete the project. Find a topic (and team!) that you will enjoy \ud83d\ude0a<\/li>
    • Realistic and Feasible: <\/strong>Is this something you can actually investigate? Do you\/your research team have the expertise\/knowledge required (or can you outsource that expertise, e.g., statistics)? Do you have adequate time to complete this project?<\/li>
    • Narrow <\/strong>(not too broad): if a question is too broad, it won\u2019t be something you can actually answer with your research project. You should also be sure to clearly identify your variables within your question (e.g., \u201cincrease student learning\u201d is not specific enough; \u201cbetter score on Test 2\u201d is specific enough for you to be able to answer)<\/li>
    • Novel and Relevant<\/strong>: It doesn\u2019t necessarily need to be innovative\/ground-breaking \u2013 it can be a replication someone else\u2019s research on college students- but it does need to have something new about it and be something someone will care about (Side note: I know that care about a lot of things, so just assume it\u2019s something people will care about!<\/em>)<\/li>
    • Ethical: <\/strong>Are there any potential ethical considerations (for participants, the college, or you in your professional capacity). As a member of the Research Ethics Board (REB), I can also help you consider your project form this lens \ud83d\ude0a<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Final tips<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      • Make sure to operationalize\/define the terms in your research question (what does \u201cgood performance\u201d or \u201chappiness\u201d or \u201cimprove mental health\u201d mean? How will you measure that?)<\/li>
      • You can also ask your favourite Generative AI (e.g., Copilot) to help you fine-tune your topic into a research question, or ask it how you can improve your research question once you\u2019ve come up with something.<\/li>
      • What is your hypothesis? What do you think you will find\/show with your project (based on what you\u2019ve read or your gut feeling (for now)? This is another place where you could leverage GenAI\u2019s vast knowledge to see what it would predict based on published literature (but be sure to fact-check to make sure the output doesn\u2019t contain any hallucinations!)<\/li>
      • Here are a few examples of research questions for you to consider. Feel free to take these for your own future project or adapt them to your needs if they interest you (Please note that they aren\u2019t currently specific enough (because that part needs to come from your specific course, assessment, pedagogical approach, etc.), but I\u2019m happy to work with you on that!
        • \u201cWhat motivates students to come to class regularly\/What internal rationalizing do students make when they miss class?\u201d<\/li><\/ul>
          • \u201cWill incentivizing class attendance with points increase student attendance?\u201d<\/li><\/ul>
            • \u201cCan explicitly reframing interactions with students during the first 3 weeks of class in a way that helps to develop instructor rapport (i.e., intentionally inviting) result in better student engagement\/attendance in class?\u201d<\/li><\/ul>
              • \u201cWill students be more honest about their (un)authorized use of Generative AI in an anonymous survey?\u201d<\/li><\/ul>
                • \u201cDoes adding personalized messages to students using intelligent agents increase student grades on the final test?\u201d<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                  That\u2019s all for this month! Next month, we\u2019ll look at specific methodology and the Research Ethics Board application(s)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                  Inquiry from the perspective of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) can vary, but one common taxonomy is that of Hutchings (2000) who described 4 types of research questions (though the first two types are the most common). You can watch her explain these types of questions in this video (~4 minutes) and\/or read […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drlynnekennette.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drlynnekennette.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drlynnekennette.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drlynnekennette.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drlynnekennette.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2660"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/drlynnekennette.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2688,"href":"https:\/\/drlynnekennette.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2660\/revisions\/2688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drlynnekennette.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drlynnekennette.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drlynnekennette.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}