Chapter 6 -- Introducing and Focusing the Study
This introduction consists of stating the problem or issue leading to the study, formulating the central purpose of the study, and providing the research questions. All three aspects of an introduction need to be related to a researcher's tradition of inquiry.
The Problem Statement
In the first few paragraphs of a study, the researcher introduces the "problem" leading to the study.
The strongest and most scholarly rationale for a study follow from a documented need in the literature for increased understanding and dialogue about an issue.
Besides dialogue and understanding, a qualitative study may fill a void in existing literature, establish a new line of thinking, or assess an issue with an understudied group or population.
qualitative researchers need to encode the problem discussion with language that foreshadows their tradition of inquiry. This can be done by mentioning the foci of the tradition of choice. The need for the study, or the problem leading to it, can be related to the specific focus of the tradition of choice.
The Purpose Statement
This interrelationship between design and tradition continues with the purpose statement, the major objective or intent for the study that provides an essential "road map" for the reader.
Encoding a passage for a specific tradition of inquiry:
| The writer identifies the specific tradition of inquiry being used in the study by mentioning the type. |
| The writer encodes the passage with words that indicate the action of the researcher and the focus of the tradition. |
| The writer foreshadows data collection. |
| Included is the central focus and a general definition for it in the purpose statement. |
The Central Question
Questions are open-ended, evolving, and nondirectional; restate the purpose of the study in more specific terms; start with words such as "what" or "how" rather than "why"; and are few in number (5 to 7). I recommend that a researcher reduce his entire study to a single, overarching question and several subquestions.
The overarching question should be the broadest question possible.
The central question can be encoded with the language of a tradition of inquiry.
Subquestions
An author typically represents a small number of subquestions that follow the central question. Issue subquestions address the major concerns and perplexities to be resolved. Topical subquestions cover the anticipated needs for information (call for information needed for description of the case).
In a qualitative study, one can write subquestions that address issues on the topic being explored and use terms that encode the work within a tradition. Also, topical subquestions can foreshadow the steps in the procedures of data collection, analysis, and narrative format construction.
Creswell, J. W. (1997). Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among the Five Traditions. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.