Prospectus: Research Questions

The next section of the prospectus is your research questions. The research questions are your overall questions/ issues you are examining in your project. Keep in mind research questions are NOT interview questions (a common error), they are the more overarching questions. For a quantitative study, you should indicate any survey measures you will be using in your study in the research questions. Let me give you as an example, some research questions from the Stadtlander et al. (2013) mixed method paper. There were three primary research questions for the study:

(RQ1 qualitative) How do the oldest describe their relationship with their primary health provider relative to their reported health practices?

(RQ2 mixed methods) How do scores on the personality measures self-efficacy (as measured by Schwarzer & Jerusalem's, 1995 measure), resiliency (as measured by Wagnild & Young, 1993 measure) interact with primary health provider relationship descriptions and reported health practices?

(RQ3 quantitative) Schwarzer and Jerusalem (1995) and Halisch and Geppert (2012) reported self-efficacy correlates with LOC in younger elderly individuals. Does this relationship continue into the oldest-old age group?

Next time, we will finish the prospectus. Do you have an issue or a question that you would like me to discuss in a future post? Would you like to be a guest writer? Send me your ideas! leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu