EDUC 500: Stating Research Problems

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EDUC 500 Stating Research Problems
Dr. Stephen Petrina Dr. Franc Feng Department of
Curriculum Studies University of British Columbia
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Introduction to Research Designs

• Problem Statement (Due on 10 July).
• Identify and state a general problem, research
  question or hypothesis, clearly defining terms
  and variables. Provide a justification or
  rationale for its background and relevance in
  Education. Include statement of problem, purpose
  and rationale. (20 of final mark length, 2-3
  pages maximum)

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Introduction to Research Designs

• Topic (what)- General area of inquiry or study
  (e.g., immigrant womens rights and independence
  second language literacy acquisition addiction
  and needle exchange programs)
• Purpose (why)- Statement of intent or objective
  in conducting the research. The statement of
  purpose tells the audience what the research is
  likely to accomplish. Research typically involves
  one of six major purposes to describe, explain,
  evaluate, interpret, deconstruct or predict (or
  confirm or discriminate). To explore is also a
  viable purpose, as is to emancipate, especially
  in qualitative research.
• Problem Statement, Hypothesis or Question (what)-
  Articulates and focuses the problem to be
  addressed in a researchable way. Questions have
  an advantage of sharpening or focusing the topic
  but declarative statements are more common.
• Avoid overly broad problems i.e., Research topic
  v. problem), overly narrow, local or trivial
  problems, and hortatory (i.e., urging specific
  people to take a specific course of action)
  problems.
• Remember, you will not prove anything in
  research.
• The goal is, however, to persuade people.
• Rationale (why)- Provides a justification for the
  research, based on personal interests and
  desires, institutional needs, and, especially,
  existing research and current theory. In this
  way, the significance of the research is provided
  as well. Typically, the rationale suggests your
  contribution to existing research literature by
  identifying the significance for practice,
  policy, action or theory.

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Stating Purposes and Problems
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Qualitative Research Designs
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Quantitative Research Designs
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Example (from xx doctoral dissertation)
Purpose of the Research Study The purpose of this
study was to research ICT literacy in both
elementary and secondary teacher education
programs and to investigate the status of ICT
literacy among teacher education students at UBC.
My rationale for conducting this research lies in
the following. First, the shift from traditional
practice to the incorporation of newer
technological practices in education is underway.
Second, a systematic study of the characteristics
and basic structure of ICT literacy will help
policy makers effectively design technology
curriculum. Third, making analytical comparisons
between the data collected from pre- and
post-program surveys on pre-service teachers
skills and beliefs pertaining to ICT literacy
will provide better understanding of the
pedagogical usefulness of technology.
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Example (from xx doctoral dissertation)
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Example (from xx doctoral dissertation)
Research Problems or Questions As the integration
of ICT in teacher education is an imperative for
many universities, my research interest focused
on how teacher candidates are prepared and how
they obtain ICT literacy. Although there exists a
significant body of research addressing aspects
of this double-pronged question, including some
large-scale studies (e.g., Watson, 1997 Gibson
Nocente, 1998), much of the literature consists
of reports of small-scale projects (Albion, 2001
Kellenberger, 1996 Watson, 1997 Watson,
Proctor, Finger Lang, 2004 Wetzel, Zambo,
Buss, 1996 Wetzel, 1993). These case studies
suggest the degree to which educators are
laboring to bring ICT into teacher education.
However, these studies fail to present a more
general sense of whether various efforts to
integrate technology in teacher education
programs are significantly improving student
teachers competence and comfort levels with ICT.
With a view to examining this two-pronged
question at UBC, the Faculty of Education
conducted a large-scale study of pre-service
teachers enrolled in two academic years
(2001/2002 and 2003/2004). This study was guided
by the following research questions 1. Are
there differences between pre- and post-program
perceptions of ICT competencies? 2. Are there
gender differences in pre-service teachers views
of, and attitudes toward, ICT competencies? 3.
How do the student teachers perceive their
progress in ICT competencies?
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Critical MassHow can we study critical mass?

• Critical mass begins at 600 on the last Friday
  of each month at the Vancouver Art Gallery. This
  large crowd or critical mass of bicyclists ride
  rather democratically through the streets,
  corking cars and stopping vehicular traffic
  until the critical mass moves on. The CM bike
  ride typically lasts about 2.5 hours.
• For the June 28th CM, about 2500 bicyclists
  converged for a ride up Howe St. across the
  Granville Street Bridge, east of 6th and across
  the Cambie Street Bridge, over the Georgia Street
  Viaduct, down Hastings through Strathcona to
  Clark St. and back down Hastings to Georgia to
  Denman and a split-up...

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Critical MassHow can we study critical mass?

• What research methods and designs can be used to
  study Critical Mass?
• What are the challenges or implications of these
  methods and designs?