| |
AEE 578--Scientific Inquiry in Agricultural and Extension Education |
 |
The Research Problem |
Introduction:  |
There is an old
saying
that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Conducting
research is very much like going on a long journey. So what is the
first
step in research? The first step in research is to come up with a
good
research question. It is not uncommon for graduate students who are
doing
research to flounder around at this stage of the research process.
Graduate
students may take months or even years to identify and succintly state
a
research problem. In this lesson we will focus on how to
identify
and develp a good research question. Once this is accomplished, the
research
process is much easier. For people working in extension or agricultural education, they encounter problems every day. So the identification of problems to research may be a little easier for the practicioner in the field. |
Learning
Objectives:  |
 Give
some
examples of potential research problems in extension or education Formulate a research
question Distinguish between
researchable
and non-researchable research questions Name 4
characteristics that
good research questions possessDescribe
3 ways to
clarify
unclear research questions Give an
example of an
operational
definition, and explain how these
differ from other kinds of definitions |
| Instructional Activities:  |
Read
Chapter 2 " The Research Problem" in the course text, How
to Design and Evaluate Research in
Education
(Fraenkel & Wallen). The Research Assistant web site
provides several questions
to consider when identifying a research problem. Read
the Word document from Virginia
Commonwealth
University on the Criteria
for Good Questions. Read
Trochim's work on Problem
Formulation
from his Research Knoweldge Base web site.
The National Council for
Agricultural Education has identified the National
Research Agenda for the profession. Review the document to
see what the Council says are priorities for research in the field. Two researchers asked Deans of Agriculture,
Deans of Education and Directors of Experiment Stations what
problems should be researched in agricultural education. See what was
identified in the article Mission,
Initiatives, and
Obstacles...: A National Delphi Using External
Decision-Makers published in
the Journal
of Agricultural Education
('89, Vol. 30, No.
4). Did the profession agree with the
recommendations for research in the previous study? A study of
professionals in the field were asked
to identify research priorites. Read "Priorities
for Research in Agricultural Education" from the Journal of
Agricultural Education ('90, Vol 31, No. 3) to see. Now that we know what the profession should
be
researching (from the previous two articles) the question is, "Is this
what
we are actually researching?" Radhakrishna and Xu
answer this question in their article "A Review
of Subject Matter Topics Researched in Agricultural and Extension
Education" in the Journal of
Agricultural Education ('97, Vo. 38, No. 3). View the PowerPoint presentation on Research
Problems. |
|
Review:
 |
The
publisher of the textbook has some excellent
information to support the text; you should
check it out: Visit the
text site and complete the multiple
choice questions for Chapter
2 |
Additional
Resources: |
IF you want to see
more (NOT required):
Also
the text's url is: http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0073525960/student_view0/.
|
Assignments:
 |
Complete the research
problem worksheet. |