Pay attention to your research questions

A research starts always with a question which the researcher seeks to answer through observation, data analysis or experimentation; or a mix of all these methods. However,when you form research questions, you have to be careful to present the question in manner that makes it easy for any reader to understand the purpose of the work.

There are various aims that the questions achieve, depending on where they appear. In a proposal, they are responsible for giving information to the readers about the objectives of the research and identify the goal. On the other hand, when they are included in the research design in the dissertation, they help the writer to focus on the topic of the research, as well as decide upon the methodology to be followed for research. The question itself gives an indication towards the method which can be best used for finding the answers. 

Because of such importance of the questions, they must always be specific. There must be no ambiguity in the formation and presentation of questions. It becomes difficult to identify the methods to be adopted for collection of data, locations that are fit for collection of data, participants of the study and methods for analysis of data. 

The reason is simple. When you do not know the place where you want to reach, how will you decide what route to take and what transportation will be best suited? Generation of a relevant theory is dependent on the proper framing of the research question. Specifically framed questions will point a researcher towards a module that can be used for developing and understanding the study. 

However, there is a potential danger if the question is too specific or has a narrow scope. In such a case, the scholar will overlook some points which are not factored in by the questions, but do impact the study. Some prior theory or variables may be left out of the scope of research. Thus, the tightly bound questions form a knowledge tunnel, and shuts out the light of external factors or prior theories. Also, the students may not be careful enough to connect the questions with the goals of the study in the proposal. Such negligence will make it tough to get an approval.

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Measure and compare data over time

While doing surveys for research, you can either take a onetime approach, getting information at a particular point of time, or you can be wiser and adopt a method that measures the opinions and responses of people at different points in time. This second approach is also known as longitudinal surveys, probably named so because of the relation between time and longitudes. This methodology is used a lot by students who pursue social science research, medicine or ecology.

Taking this approach becomes necessary for making a comparison of responses, or tracking the changes in the preferences of people over time. Without this comparison, many studies would be meaningless. There can be three types of longitudinal surveys. The first is trend study, wherein you would select a sample from the entire population, which changes every year or every quarter. An example for this can be considering the data for a class, which will have new students every year. The image below shows a comparison of various skills of students for four years.

Another type of longitudinal survey can be Cohort study. A cohort is a group which has the same characteristics. So, in such a study, all the members of a group are studied over time. The observation can be for a group based on culture, ethnicity, education level, caste, economic background or age.

The last category is that of panel studies. This will be useful to you when you wish to follow the progress of a particular group of people over time. Here the subjects will be the same, but the data will change every time you collect a sample. For evaluating the contribution of a course to the development of skills and aptitude of students, the same set of students will form the sample group over the duration of the course. This period might be a few months, or some years. So, if you intend to use cohort study, plan well in advance to be able to finish the research in time. Also, keep a track of the members of the group that you choose. If you end up providing data for just half the population in the last cycle, the study is only 50 per cent complete. For Help in Dissertation Data analysis and Research Methodology, contact us at info@dissertationindia.com or call at  +91-11-45680335.