Defining the Research Question Prepared bY : Smirkou Ahmed, Hammani Mohamed, Idabdallah Abdelhadi

outline
Sources of research questions
Scope of research Feasibility of research Stating research questions and hypotheses Collecting research evidence Internal and external validity of studies

Definition of the concept Research

Research has been defined as a systematic approach to

searching for answers to questions. (9)

1) Sources of Research Questions

A) From the teachers themselves o for them, research was something that people did at universities or labs. They described research as having great theoretical scope,with numbers and symbols that made it difficult to understand. (9)

A List of Questions
Do teachers have questions about teaching? 2. Do they wonder about the use of teaching materials, techniques, etc.? 3. Do they share such questions with their students or with other teachers? 4. Why some teachers believe that research should be conducted elsewhere?
1.

Research Interests
Top Down instructions: Devorced from true curiosity The results are probably predictable It is like being asked to write a composition with an open-choice topic:

Lack of directions Much time is spent complaining or worrying about the way you can please the person who gave directions

Supervising Faculty

Questions are our own

Questions we truly want to investigate
Questions must be important to us Our questions are shaped by our experience Our teachers,colleagues, students, and the reading we

do guide us towards the important issues in our fields

 B) Another source of research: Journals of our

field

They show which questions are especially interesting at a particular time The wide range of possibilities for research They offer specific ideas for further research Some researchs major areas:

Classroom Research

Learner / teacher Characteristic s

Language analysis

Picking up particular research topics

Reasons:

We research what we like or what appeals to us We research what we think we already know

How to define what interests you:

1. Use a research journal

2. Form a study group: find critical friends/ friendly

enemies

Practice1.1
Start a research journal:
Write your notes and questions in the journal for one week

Compare the research interests of the study group members Report on a range of interests

Pick up a certain article or a research topic from your

recent journal:

 In addition to Personal Interest, research quetions have other characteristics:

to generate new information to conform old information in new ways

Thats why a review of the literature on the

research topic must be done

This helps you locate your research area.

Also it helps you not to select the topic if you

thought that it had already been sufficiently addressed.

An Example:
If you are to carry out your research on how students

can perform basic Speech Acts

1)

2) 3) 4)

First, you need to undertake a review of previous speech act: the university library might help o Look for key words and key authors : in the case of Speech Act, you might find terms like directive, assertive, commissive or such authors as Austin, Searle, Gumperz. The topic is still too broad Narrow down the scope of the search Ask yourself such questions: Which speech act do I want to investigate? What type of learners/ students am I going to talk about? Which area am I going to focus on? What kind of situations should be investigated?

The process of narrowing the scope of research

1)

Via key words:

Speech Acts Directive, commissive, etc.

2) Via key setences:
Investigate how well second langauge learners perform speech acts Investigate Moroccan ESL students ability to recognize complaint behaviour appropriate in an accademic university setting

 Even a fairly narrow question may need to be more

carefully defined because previous researchers may already have done it. Use operational definitions to subcategorize or narrow the concept:
Motivation

Intrinsic extrinsic instrumental integrative

 Operational definitions give a tried and true definition and an

accepted method for observing or assessing it. (15) Sometimes there are no accepted definitions or no agreement as to what the terms mean as the case of abstract theoretical concepts such as the terms motivation, acquisition, bilingualism. (15) Terms must be operationally defined: an operational definition is a clear statement of how you judge or identify a term in your research. (15)

Ex: Acquisition in my study means and will be measured or observed by.. Good operational definitions can be drawn from the existing literature Sometimes research is difficult to carry out because operational definitions cannot be found that will satisfy the researcher. Sometimes no operational definitions exist in the literature and the researcher must define terms. Thats why the attempt to establish concepts is an important area of research.

The operational definition is important for three reasons:

1.
You will need to be absolutely consistent throughout the research processin your definition. 2. It is important for consumers of your research so that they do not misinterpret your findings. 3. It is important to the research community that your study be replicable.
A Similar project but a different definition may result in different findings.

Balance between scope and interest

We may lose the interest in the topic because it no longer addresses the larger question
Try to maintain the original research interest by carrying out a number of studies with limited scope

Research questions should:

1. Interest us
2. Promise new information or conform old

information in new ways 3. have reasonable scope 4. have key terms that are clearly defined and operationalized. (17)

 Before making a further step or stating the questions

in a more formal way, we need to consider whether or not the research is feasible.

The factors that affect the feasibility of research:

know the time span it will take do you have that amount of time to spend?

( when the topic is very broad, it may take a lifetime to be investigated )

 Longitudinal studies: it follows an individual or

group over a period of time. Cross-sectional approach: data are gathered from different groups of learners of different ages or different levels of proficiency. Longitudinal study of Luisa 0:9 1:0 1:3 1:6 1:9 2:0 Cross-Sectional Study of 30 children

5 at 0:9 5 at 1:0 5 at 1:3 5 at 1:6 5 at 1:9 5 at 2:0

 In Cross-sectional approach: data could be

collected at one time rather than spread out over two years. This makes the study more feasible. However, age may not be a very satisfactory way to equate stages. The researcher must be able to locate appropriate learners and have time to collect the data from each of them.

 By quantity and quality of access: For example assume that

the government is interested in finding out the extent of bilingualism in your country. One way they could do this is by including questions on the next United States census questionnaire. First, the quality of the sample is likely to be biased given the existence of undocumented aliens, who may or may not want to be part of the census count. Second, quantity (the number of questions that could be allocated to this issue on the questionnaire) would be severly constrained Third, the cost, if bilingual census takers must be found to conduct census taking,might not make the project feasible

Feasibility may be determined

By time
By access: you may have great difficulty in gaining

access to the classroom. Many schools and teachers require a statement that the research will not disrupt regular instruction. Restrictions may be placed on the data-gathering procedure by the school.

The cost of research in planning a project

Prepare a reasonble budget Do you need tape recorders and tapes? If videotaped data are required for your study, are

videocamera and tapes available? Can you operate the videocamera and observe a class at the same time, or must you hire a camera? Do you need paper supplies, travel to and from a school,photocopies? List the procedures needed to gain access to the classroom Try to make a complete list of everything you need

Stating Research Questions and Hypotheses

After the scope and feasibility of research questions, it

is time to consider how these questions can be clearly stated: Imagine you want to describe the bilingual language development of the child, Luisa. Your basic research question: Can I describe the bilingual language development of Luisa? Can I describe the first 50 Spanish and first 50 English words acquired by Luisa?

What do you expect in the data?

Do you expect to see a change in meanings over time?
Do you expect to see parallel words in the two

langauges? Etc.

 We often begin a research with questions like:

Can I describe X ? Rather than Why do I want to

describe X ? Can I describe questions are often difficult, for we seldom know how we will go about this descriptive task until we begin to examine the data.

Example
Consider the work that is done in needs-assessment

research: One basic question that pops up: Can I describe how X perceive their needs regarding instruction ( or whatever)? You should expect what to find out: If you involve parents in the instruction process, do you expect all parents to respond in the same way? If not, what factors might help explain differences in their responses?... Once we start thinking about what might happen in the data, we begin to think about how to explain the findings.

Practice
Select one question from your research journal. Explain why it is an interesting question to the field. 2) Frame the general research question for the study. 3) Consider the possible outcomes of the study. What factors may enter into the research that might influence the outcomes.
1)

It is time to:
Read
Observe Think about the project very carefully Look at your research journal and revise your research

question many times and think about many aternatives and the possible outcomes. Dont plunge into a project without taking time to let your minds sort through many possibilities

HYPOTHESES
When we have questions about something, we really dont

know the answers for sure. This doesnt mean that we have no idea about what those answers might be or where to look for them. Our hunches about answers may come from reviewing the literature on the toip, from talking with colleagues, or from observing classrooms. These hunches about answers,when written in a formal way, are called hypotheses. We carry out our research to see if the hypotheses are supported or not. Dont forget that research is a way to prove that an answer is right or wrong.

 You may state the alternative hypothesis in a

directional form ( positive or negative): Ex: There is a positive/negative relationship between L2 proficiency and placement on the spelling contiuum.

 It will seldom be possible to prove that your answer is the

right one. A hypothesis is a statement of possible outcome of research. A hypothesis may be stated as: 1) a null hypothesis. Ex: There is no order of acquisition of English spelling patterns: in null hypothesis, there is no relationship between L2 proficiency and placement on the spelling continnum. 2) an alternative hypothesis. Ex: There is an order of acquisition of English spelling patterns: in alternative hypothesis, there is a relationship between L2 proficiency and placement on the spelling continnum.

The null hypothesis is tested rather than a directional alternative hypothesis

It is easier to find evidence that supports a directional

hypothesis than it is to reject a null hypothesis. Different statistics will be used on the distinction of whether the hypothesis is directional. Sometimes you need to write more than one hypothesis to cover the research question

-1 Collecting research evidence.

-2 Internal and external validity..

DEFINITION

Scientific evidence: evidence which serves to either support or counter a scientifc theory or hypothesis.

What should be done?

When planning a research one should

consider the kinds of evidence that are needed. Your findings will allow you to SUPPORT or REJECT your hypotheses. Data collection: how to find the most EFFICIENT way to collect data. The research question(s) determine(s) your data collection method.

 Efficiency: depends on the amount of time one has to carry out the project in.
Ample time allows you to think of different

ways to gather evidence. - Good BUT: 1/ Time is mostly restricted. 2/ too strong. Ex: Suppose you want to investigate the types of spelling errors made by men and women from different first language groups:

 In this case There are a series of questions to be

answered like: - How might you OPERATIONALLY define advanced so that you are sure the samples come from the appropriate group? - how many compositions will you need? - Will words representing all the spelling patterns actually occur in all compositions? - HOW LONG will it be before all the samples arrive?

Hence EFFICIENCY isnt everything If the method you use is dull or frightening or TAKES TOO LONG, it is unlikely that your subjects will be motivated to perform as well as they might.

 The data collection method should not

only motivate subjects to participate, but should allow them to give their best possible performance.

Questionnaires
Time requirements and task boredom can discourage

people from responding. To ensure a better way of response and return of questionnaires, its important to consider exactly what information must be obtained from the respondent and what information can EASILY be gathered from other sources.

Internal and external validity

Cambel and stanely(1963), note that internal validty

has to do with the interpretation of the research findings within the study iteself. Whereas external validty, has to do with the extension of the research findings beyond the confinments of the study.

Threats to internal validity

Subject selection : When conducting a

reserach, the subjects or your sample group tend to bring with them certain characteristics, some learnt and some inherent. Examples inculde : sex, attitude, personality,mental ability etc).

 During our review and assessment of subject selection,

we should consider the following issues: - The purposes of the research. - The setting in which the research would be conducted. - The Population.

 Maturation : In any research, there is always the

threat that the subjects may change in the course of the experiment due to the passage of time. For example BECAUSE OF FATIGUE.

 History : Refers to the outisde events that may

influence subjects in the course of an experiment or between repeated measures of the dependent variable. Suppose that the dependent varibale is measured twice for a group of subjects, once at time or place A and later at time or place B, in this case the independent varibale changes and therefore the results are not valid.

 Instrumentation : refers to the

objectivity and validity of the research measurments. Data that is nonobjective threatens a studys internal validity. Ex : questionnaire with grammar questions to test fluency not valid.

Task directions : Refers to how valid are the instructions of the

instrument used in the reserach. Long , hard to understand, time demanding etc.

 Adequate Data Base : Here, if you are to measure

one thing with different items, these items should be carefully arranged. That is , there should be some sort of consitency ; The items should be close to each other in terms of expectation on the part of the subject so that it is easy for them to fill it honestly and comfortably. This is called : FORMING A SET RESPONSE. To be valid, the data gathering procedure should allow us to tap the true abilities of the Subjects.

 Testing effects consist of either reactivity

as a result of testing or practice/learning from exposure to repeated testing. Longitudinal studies which require participants to take certain tests on a number of occasions are subject to this threat to internal validity.

External validity
If a study deos not have internal valdity, it cant have

the external one. we cannot generalize. How representative the data are for the group(s) to which we hope to generalize?

Threats to external validity

Sample selection: the selection SHOULD NOT be by

convenience sampling that is, they happened to be the group that was available. EX: if we have specified the population as ESL university students elsewhere, then our sample Ss must be selected to REPRESENT ESL students everywhere. Hence: The group should be slected RANDOMLY. HOWEVER: There are problems with this method; for examlple: There may be more men that women , more immigrant that foreign students, more students from the sciences that humanities etc. ONE WAY TO SOLVE THIS IS THROUGh a STRATIFIED RANDOM SAMPLE.

Finally: In order to avoid threats to external validity, a detailed description of the population to which you will generalize must be given, Ss must be randomly slected using that description, and threats to internal validity must be met. Otherwise, no generalization can be made.

Thank you for your attention