BONUS Unit 2: Types of Questions
Types of Questions
Ok, ok, I’ll admit it. This might not be the most exciting unit it your book when it comes to linking it to our quest to become competent information consumers and have Super Sonic Should You Believe It Sleuthing Skills. Partly because the most exciting part is still linked to operationalization and conceptualization, which I already previewed.
So, how about this – check this out. PEW doesn’t seem terribly impressed with Americans making big decisions because they “rely on their own research.” Basically did the whole “question of definition“[1] thing – “The 96% of those in the survey who said they rely on their own research a lot or a little were asked to explain in their own words what they mean by “doing their own research.” In answering this open-ended question, they cited a host of sources that often start – but do not end – with searching on the internet. ” But guess what? After this course you’ll be a SUPER PRO and PEW shouldn’t be concerned about you doing your own research because you’re a Competent Information Consumer[2]. Also, can’t resist, look at PEW throwing some low-key shade on one of our everyday ways of knowing: “For some, it meant letting their instincts and “gut” inform their decision.”
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/03/05/most-americans-rely-on-their-own-research-to-make-big-decisions-and-that-often-means-online-searches/
Real Talk
Here lies another conundrum. As I expressed at the outset of your ologies chapter, scooting along in an average journal article, next on our agenda is a closer look at research questions and hypotheses. However, if we’re talking about RQs and HYs, we ought to also be talking about variables (ahem, and variables, and variables)- the major components of RQs and HYs. Thus, my advice should give you deja vu: circle through the chapters and videos in the units in this exam “section” (yes, back to the ologies, paradigms, methodology. The more you do it, the less painful it becomes. I think.). Read/watch them in order, read/watch them again in another order. Use your notes to think about how these concepts are interrelated. Rinse, recycle, repeat.
After this unit you should be able to:
Describe and produce questions that guide research. Classify and compare RQ and Hypotheses. Explain how to conceptually and operationally define ideas. Locate the central question of a study. (Aligns with Learning Outcomes 1 & 2).
Have you memorized this one yet?
We’re going to cover some pretty complicated concepts in this course. I recommend that you watch this video at the outset of each unit, and think about the major concepts and how they related to the content of each unit. Each unit has an entire chapter dedicated to the concepts described in this video. You will only be tested on the concepts when they are included in a chapter. Re-watching this video allows you to think about how the concepts all fit together.