Questions and Topics We Can Help You To Answer:
Paper Instructions:
Practicing With Research Questions, Constructs, and Variables

Preparation

During this quarter, the literature review article, "How Was Your Day, Darling?" by Steiner and Krings (2016) will serve as the literature review model. Discussions in this course practice application of skills. The research design and analysis to answer two of the questions from the sample article will be demonstrated throughout the discussions, including consideration of the theories and model presented in the paper.

Terminology You Need to Know for Discussions

Below are examples of each type of research question.
o    Descriptive Question: What are the levels of negative work-to-family crossover and significant-other support among direct-care staff in outpatient mental health programs?
o    Associational: Is there an association among significant-other support of work and perceived feelings of work energy for direct-care staff working in outpatient mental health programs?
o    Associational (Prediction): Is employment tenure, significant-other support, and gender predictive of negative work-to-family crossover among direct-service staff in outpatient mental health programs?
o    Difference: Does staff with supervision responsibility have higher levels of negative work to family crossover than direct-care staff in outpatient mental health programs? Does planned carpooling reduce negative work-to-family crossover among direct-service staff working in an outpatient mental health program?


Questions: Instructions

Select one of the literature reviews that are provided, formulate a question that will be answered by a cross-sectional design and one to be answered by an experimental design. You will use these questions as the basis for many of the remaining discussion questions related to measurement and design.  For each question list the hypothesis that will be tested by your data collection effort.


Choose one of the following literature reviews to use throughout course activities:

1.    Degnan, A., Seymour-Hyde, A., Harris, A., & Berry, K. (2016). The role of therapist attachment in alliance and outcome: A systematic literature review.  Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 23(1), 47–65.
2.    Esmaeilzadeh, P., & Sambasivan, M. (2017). Patients support for health information exchange: A literature review and classification of key factors. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, 17(33), 1–22.
3.    Willis, K., Lewis, S., Ng, F., & Wilson, L. (2015). The experience of living with metastatic breast cancer—A review of the literature. Health Care for Women International, 36(5), 514–542. 
4.    Reed, K. P., Cooper, R. L., Nugent, W. R., & Russell, K. (2016). Cyberbullying: A literature review of its relationship to adolescent depression and current intervention strategies. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 26(1), 37–45. 



unit reading: •    Developing the Research Question 
Introduction
The research question is the foundation of the entire research process. It links the research problem to the process of conducting the research. It provides the framework for the research design and identifies the specific concepts under study. This latter characteristic is extremely relevant to quantitative research.
Jackson (2009) categorizes quantitative research questions into three fundamental types:

1.    Difference: Where the intent is to demonstrate differences in the level or scores in a dependent variable for different groups identified by an independent variable or variables. These questions require a hypothesis and are answered with the use of inferential statistics. Questions of differences may be answered by cross-sectional or longitudinal designs. If the research is looking at differences over time or between data points (such as pre- to post-test) this would be a longitudinal, quasi-experimental, or experimental design.
2.    Associational: Where the intent is to see if one or more variables co-vary; or if one or several variables may predict changes in a dependent variable. These questions also require a hypothesis and are answered with the use of inferential statistics. However, associational questions are usually answered by cross-sectional designs.
3.    Descriptive: Where the intent is to provide a summary of characteristics of a group. Inferential statistics are not used to answer these questions.
A “researchable question” is one that is empirical.  This means that it is answered with observations made under defined conditions (data collection procedures).  These observations must be able to be replicated and that others can replicate these procedures and yield similar results. 
The research question in quantitative research contains discernible constructs that can be operationally defined.

Bordens and Abbott (2008) provide these guidelines for a good quantitative research question:
o    It will clarify relationships among variables known to affect the behavior under study.
o    It is probably important if the answer can support only one of several competing models or theoretical views.
o    A question is probably important if its answer leads to obvious practical applications.
It should be noted that an important research question is one for which the answer is already known, either through a review of the literature or common sense.

References
Bordens, K., & Abbott, B. B. (2008). Research designs & methods: A process approach (8th ed.). McGraw Hill: New York, NY.
Gliner, J. A., Morgan, G. A., & Leech, N. L. (2009). Research methods in applied settings: An integrated approach to design and analysis (2nd ed.). Routledge: New York, NY.