Week 3 

Defining the Research Problem; Justifying the Study; Reviewing Existing Literature 

Resources 

Readings 

• Yegidis, B. L., Weinbach, R. W., & Myers, L. L. (2018). Research methods for social workers (8th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson.
  o Chapter 3, “Developing Research Problems and Research Questions” (pp. 52-70)
  o Chapter 4, “Conducting the Literature Review and Developing Research Hypothesis” (pp. 71-99)
   
• Bem, D. J. (2003). Writing the empirical journal article. In J. M. Darley, M. P. Zanna, & H. L. Roediger III (Eds.), The compleat academic: A practical guide for the beginning social scientist (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Retrieved from http://writingcenter.uconn.edu/wp- content/uploads/sites/593/2014/06/Writing_the_Empirical_Jour nal_Article_BEM1.pdf
   
• Plummer, S.-B., Makris, S., Brocksen S. (Eds.). (2014). Sessions: Case histories. Baltimore, MD: Laureate International Universities Publishing. [Vital Sourcee-reader].
  o The Johnson Family Media
  Laureate Education. (Producer). (2013). Johnson family (Episode 1) [Video file]. In Sessions. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu
   

Assignment 

Quantitative and Qualitative Research Questions 

According to Creswell (2009), quantitative research is a “means for testing objective theories by examining the relationship among variables that can be measured and analyzed using statistical procedures.” Qualitative research, Creswell posits, is a “means for exploring and understanding the meaning individuals or groups ascribe to social or human problems.”

Consider the phenomenon of pain. Ethics committees and institutional review boards do not allow researchers to inflict equal doses of pain on subjects to examine their physiological response. In quantitative research, pain can be measured physiologically by blood pressure, changes in blood chemistry, muscle contractions, and pain scales (which are still subjective, but at least quantifiable). Researchers using a qualitative perspective may ask participants about their experience of being in physical pain, whether being in pain has changed them in any way, or what they have learned from experiencing physical pain.

For this Assignment, consider differences in how you might frame a research question in order to explore it using quantitative or qualitative research methods.

Submit a 2-page paper that highlights one of the research questions you shared in your Discussion post. Design a quantitative research question related to this problem and a qualitative research question related to the same problem. Please use the Learning Resources to support your answer.