EVALUATING RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND QUALITATIVE RESEARCH DESIGNS

Just as in quantitative research, when researchers set out to design a qualitative research study, they are guided by its purpose, and their research questions align with their selected approach and the data that will be collected.

As you learned in previous weeks, alignment means that a research study possesses clear and logical connections among all of its various components. In addition to considering alignment, qualitative researchers must also consider the ethical implications of their design choice, including, for example, what their choice means for participant recruitment, procedures, and privacy.

For this Discussion, you will evaluate qualitative research questions in assigned journal articles in your discipline and consider the alignment of theory, problem, purpose, research questions, and design. You will also identify the type of qualitative research design or approach the authors used and explain how it was implemented. Narrative, ethnographic, grounded theory, case study, and phenomenology are examples of types of research designs or approaches used in qualitative research.

With these thoughts in mind, refer to the Journal Articles document for your assigned articles for this Discussion. If your last name starts with A through I, use Article A. If your last name starts with J through R, use Article B. If your last name starts with S through Z, use Article C.

I AM ARTICLE B

Post a critique of the research study in which you:

• Evaluate the research questions and hypotheses.

  The Research Questions and Hypotheses Checklist serves as a guide for your evaluation. Please do not respond to the checklist in a Yes/No format in writing your Discussion post.

• Identify the type of qualitative research approach used and explain how the researchers implemented the design.
• Analyze alignment among the theoretical or conceptual framework, problem, purpose, research questions, and design.

Be sure to support your Main Issue Post and Response Post with reference to the week’s Learning Resources and other scholarly evidence in APA Style.

REFERENCES/RESOURCES

• Babbie, E. (2017). Basics of social research (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
  • Chapter 10, “Qualitative Field Research”
• Burkholder, G. J., Cox, K. A., Crawford, L. M., & Hitchcock, J.H. (Eds.) (2020). Research design and methods: An applied guide for the scholar-practitioner. SAGE Publications, Inc.
  • Chapter 6, “Qualitative Research Designs”
• Document: Journal Articles (Word Document)Download Journal Articles (Word Document)

  For the Discussion, download this document, refer to the assigned journal articles for your program, and find these articles in the Walden Library.

• Document: Research Questions and Hypotheses Checklist (PDF)Download Research Questions and Hypotheses Checklist (PDF)

  For this Discussion, use the prompts in this checklist to look for indications of the research questions criteria in your assigned qualitative research article.