Exploring Relationship between Design and the Question - Research Proposal Example

Exploring Relationship between Research Designs and the Research Question By Submitted to May He/She did not follow the instructions I submitted in terms of the APA format: the front page is not correct; he/she included pictures; authors citations...APA essays, are not divided into "chapters", "Brief"... These are the insctructions: 1. Develop a research question for a quantitative research study of interest to you using the University: Research Question/Hypotheses Grading Guide. 2. Choose an appropriate research design that works with the research question to guide the proposed study. 3. Provide an example of the hypothesis for the study. 4. Write a 750-word paper including the research question and design, and explain why the research design is appropriate for the research question. 5. Identify the research design as correlational, quasi-experimental, or experimental, and defend your choice using a critical approach including cited references. 6. Provide an example of how you could change the research question to use a different research design. Topic: Exploring Research Designs and The Relationship to the Research Question Exploring relationship between research design and the research question By The present study aims to explore the linkage between the research design and the research question. While “research is the discovery of answers to questions through the application of scientific and systematic procedures”; the research question asks what the tentative relationship among variables might be, or it asks about the state of nature of some phenomenon (Keyton, 2006). On the other hand, a research design can be viewed as somewhat like a master plan. It stipulates the methods and procedures that are to be adopted for collecting and analysing the necessary information for the research (Zikmund & Babin, 2007). A different perspective of research design was presented by Zikumnd & Babin (2007) – that the research design is somewhat like a master plan, which specifies the methods and procedures to be adopted for collecting and analysing the required information. The research problem Considering these definitions, the present work proceeds to develop a research question for a quantitative study on the relationship between one dependent variable ‘wage’ and three independent variables - (1) educational attainment, (2) skill (professional qualification) and (3) ability (experience). A variable is an element that is specifically identified in the research hypotheses or questions, necessitating to be expressed as more than one value or in various categories (Keyton, 2006). It is common wisdom that education benefits the individual, the nation and the society as well in many ways. While, the individual is benefitted in the form of increase wages and consequently a better lifestyle; the nation is benefitted in terms of increased taxes. The society too is benefitted as researchers have observed that college graduates have shown to have lower smoking rates, more positive perception towards personal health, and healthier lifestyles than the less educated (Baum & Ma, 2007). Overall the society is benefitted in the form of more responsible citizens, which is believed to be due to educational achievement. Whereas, these benefits generally delineate the qualitative characteristics of the issue, there is a need to know how educational attainment, professional qualification and experience influence the wages earned by an individual. The research question The study is significant and desirable and therefore, it is worthwhile to undertake a research on the subject. Accordingly, the purpose of the study was to explore the correlation between educational attainment, professional qualification and experience with the wages earned. While this is a very broad subject; to limit its geographical area, the Oxford area in UK was selected. Consequently, the research question was framed as: in the context of Oxford area in UK, is there a correlation between wage earned and educational attainment, professional qualification and experience. If yes, what is the type of relationship it would be such as positive or negative; and what would be the strength of relationship between these variables such as weak or strong. The hypotheses To answer the research question, the researcher began by believing that there is positive correlation between (1) educational attainment, (2) professional qualification, (3) experience and the wages earned. This is a hypothesis, which needed to be proved. Trochim (1998) explained “a hypothesis is a specific statement of prediction. It describes in concrete (rather than theoretical) terms what you expect will happen in your study” (Trochim, Research Methods, 1998, p. 16). Accordingly, three sets of hypotheses statements were developed. Each set of hypotheses in turn would contain the statement that describes the prediction of the researcher and the other that describes all other possible outcomes with respect to the hypothesized relationship (Trochim, Research Methods, 1998). The three sets of hypotheses are as follows: Hypotheses Set 1 H1A: There is a positive correlation between educational attainment and wages earned. H1B: There is no positive correlation between educational attainment and wages earned. Hypotheses Set 2 H2A: There is a positive correlation between professional qualification and wages earned. H2B: There is no positive correlation between professional qualification and wages earned. Hypotheses Set 3 H3A: There is a positive correlation between experience and wages earned. H3B: There is no positive correlation between experience and wages earned. The research design The research question has to be empirically established indicating the exact extent to which educational attainments, professional qualification and experience correlate with wages earned. As Trochim (1998) suggests, usually answering three key questions help in establishing the research design for a research project. These are (1) does the design use random selection to groups (2) if random selection is used, the design will be a true experiment can have a randomised experiment format. In case, a random selection is not used, then the second question is asked - does the design use either multiple groups or multiple waves of measurement? If the answer is in the affirmative, then it can follow the quasi-experimental design. If the answer is no, then it would follow a non-experimental design (Trochim, Research Methods, 1998). From the foregoing, the present research project qualifies to be a non-experimental research design. The researcher proposes an empirical, longitudinal, descriptive correlational quantitative research design for the study. Justification The research design suggested above involves four key considerations (1) empirical, (2) longitudinal, (3) correlational and (4) quantitative. As an empirical study refers to “observations or experiences; empirical methodologies are based on or are derived from experiences with observable phenomena” (Keyton, 2006); the present study intends to measure observations made by human samples (respondents), which are derived from experiences; hence would be more appropriate than a mere theoretical study. Similarly, since a longitudinal study design would be suitable as it allows multiple measurements of the dependent variable over time (Keyton, 2006). Similarly, in social sciences research projects, primarily three types of questions can be addressed (1) descriptive, (2) relational, (3) causal. In the present project, a hybrid of descriptive correlational study design would be appropriate as the researcher lacks direct control over variation in the independent variables and temporal order of variables. Besides, the participants are not randomly assigned to conditions (Keyton, 2006), hence the correlational study would be more appropriate. Finally, the quantitative method, which enable the researcher to rely on numerical measurement would be most appropriate as in the present case, the researcher will have collect data pertaining to the wages earned by the respondents, vis-à-vis their educational attainment, professional qualification, and experiences gathered over time. If, however, a situation is considered where the researcher had the chance to have two groups of samples, one of which is a controlled group, where the candidates were provided with same educational attainment as the other group, but were also provided with additional professional training and the difference in the wages of the two groups of samples were compared, then the experimental research design would have been appropriate. The above delineation depicted the relationship between wages earned on one hand; and educational attainment, professional education and experience on the other. It demonstrated how the research question is developed from a phenomenon and subsequently a suitable design for the research is formulated. It also demonstrated the linkage between the research question and the research design. From the theoretical underpinning and the illustration discussed in the study, it is evident that the research question is intricately related to the research design. This leads to the conclusion that if the research is a voyage, a research question seeks the destination, and the research design provides the passage plan. References Barros, R., & Ramos, L. (1996). Temporal evolution of the relationship between wages and education of Brazilian men. In Opportunity foregone: education in Brazil (pp. 193-214). Washington D.C: Inter-American Development Bank. Baum, S., & Ma, J. (2007). Education Pays: The Benefits of Higher Education and Society. The College Board. Washington, DC: The College Board. Berg, B. L. (2001). Qualtitative Research Methods of Social Sciences (4th Edition ed.). (K. Hanson, Ed.) Singapore: Allyn and Bacon. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2010). Education pays, May 27, 2010. Retrieved May 28, 2011, from http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_chart_001.htm Card, D. (1999). The causal effect of education on earnings. In O. C. Card (Ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics (pp. 1801-1863). Elsevier B.V. Keyton, J. (2006). Glossary of Research Terms. Retrieved May 02, 2011, from highered.mcgraw-hill.com: http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0073049506/student_view0/glossary.html Trochim, W. M. (1998). Research Methods (Electronic Edition ed.). Trochim, William M.K. Zikmund, W., & Babin, B. (2007). Essentials of Marketing Research (3rd ed.). Indiana: Thompson South-Western. Read More