Research Design Activity: Researchable Question
Designer's Name: Oh, Eunjung
Note: The following example is based on one of the research studies of Eunjung Oh.
Responses to the RDA fields are shown below in blue.
A research project begins with a problem or feeling of curiosity. After some initial reading for background, the next step is to compose a researchable question. It can be a major challenge to write a question that is truly "researchable." Do your best to make your question specific and answerable. The question serves as the focus for any research project. The research question itself is actually a component of a short section of a research proposal called the "Statement of the Problem" which succinctly provides the background and context of the problem and culminates with a researchable question.
Components of a Statement of the Problem Containing a Researchable Question
- An opening explicit statement (one sentence, if possible) describing the research topic: My study is about...
- Justification: Within the space of a paragraph, explain why you perceive this to be a problem worthy of research for a lay audience (i.e. a principal, parent, company executive officer, or some other interested, educated person who knows nothing about our field)
- Context: Provide a brief explanation (1 or 2 sentences) of where this problem is situated - corporate board room, classroom, company delivery van, etc.
- Research Participants: Give a brief description of the type of people who would participate in the research
- Research Question: it should be one sentence, and it should be stated as a question
Components
One-Sentence Description of your Research Project
The purpose of this study is to understand learners’ perspectives on and experiences of their group learning in online learning environments.
Justification for this Topic
Why do you perceive this to be a problem worthy of research? Justify your study in language that a lay audience can understand. Imagine this person in your mind as your write this, such as a CEO, principal, state legislator, parent, or some other interested, educated person who knows nothing about our field.
Increasingly, online learning environments are being developed for use in colleges and universities, and the enrollment of students in online learning programs is steadily increasing in higher education institutions in the USA and around the world. However, both the quality of online learning and the assumption that it is actually fulfilling the authentic needs of students have been challenged. The information society demands that adults pursue continuous professional development and life-long learning; therefore, more adults are enrolling in online classes in higher education. These adult learners tend to have specific goals to pursue and real needs to fulfill in their professional and personal lives. Accordingly, learning environments and tasks should be designed in such a way that learners can maximize their retention and transfer what they learn to their complex daily lives.
Many advocates of online education claim that online learning environments provide features that can effectively support collaborative learning, and collaborative learning has been recognized as a powerful strategy for online learning in higher education. Not only from a pedagogical standpoint but also from a communication standpoint, collaborative learning in online learning environments has also been regarded as crucial because it provides a way of overcoming the isolation that learners can easily experience in distance learning environments. Additionally, adult learners have different talents and backgrounds that can enrich a class as a learning community. Moreover, organizations in modern society claim that their employees should have not only a high level of expertise specific to their jobs but also general abilities to work with other people that involve social, collaboration and communication skills. However, collaborative learning has not been practiced as widely in online classes at the higher education level as would be expected given its purported benefits. We also do not have much understanding about what happens in group learning in online environments, especially how to support effective groupwork in online learning environments.
Description of the Research Participants
Give a brief description of the type of people who would participate in the research. Again, the purpose is to help other people tell at a glance who the research is about. Typical examples: Older Adults, Corporate Executives, Young Adults, High School Students, Elementary School Students, Pre-School Students.
The participants in this study will be graduatestudents who are enrolled in an online course. The age of these students ranges from early 20s to 50s. There will be both males and female students. The students have diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Most of the participants work full-time and consequently will be taking this course as part-time graduate students. Their jobsvary from being a teacher to being a HRD specialist.
Description of the Research Context or Setting
Where would this research project take place? In a school? At a company's headquarters? At the local YMCA? Also describe the specifics of the setting. Would the research take place in a classroom, at the cashier section of a retail store, in the programmer's suite at a multimedia development company, or at the YMCA's pool?
The context of this study will be an online instructional design course which is offered by the College of Education at a southeastern university in the United States. The course requires a number of learning activities, including reading, individual instructional design activities, and participating in a final group project. For the final project, the students have to form a group with 3-4 people.Students form their groups and decide their group instructional design projects.To support their communication to work together, the instructor will createa group space for each team on WebCT discussion board. The students have both WebCT e-mail and regular university e-mail accounts for communication, and they also communicatewith each other using Horizon Wimba synchronously.
What is the Research Problem or Question Being Researched?
State briefly the nature of the research. This can be stated in the form of a research problem or as a research question (most people find writing it as a question as most helpful). Try to be as specific as possible, that is, avoid questions like "Does technology influence learning?" Research statements or questions that are too general are pretty much meaningless.
Examples:
- What is the relationship between motivation and learning in an educational video game?
- Does competition within an educational video game motivate students to invest more time and effort in the game?
- Learning: How do team members work together in online learning environments to accomplish their learning goals?
- Quality of experience: How do team members value this learning experience?
- Challenges: What do students identify as challenges during their group learning process?
- Benefits: What do students identify as benefits of this group learning experience?