ABSTRACT
As texts on the nature of research widely acknowledge, with justice, research requires close attention to the questions being asked (see Punch, 1998: 38). For example, students are regularly taught to focus on the clarity of their research questions. Thus, for the research questions, we can ask: Are the topics clearly identified? Are appropriate questions driving this research? For example, are they clear, specific, and answerable? Are they interconnected (if there is more than one)? Moreover, are such questions substantively relevant (that is, interesting and worthwhile) so as to justify the research effort? Is the relevance to some theoretical concern, or some professional or practical concern, made clear? Does it draw on relevant concepts from the relevant disciplinary literature? Next we can ask if the design of the study is appropriate to those research questions. In particular, has the choice of methodologies been justified? Then, are the data collection and data analysis instruments and procedures adequate and appropriate for the research questions? As Punch notes, a simplified model of research might stress:
• framing the research in terms of the research questions; • determining what data are necessary to answer those questions; • designing research to collect and analyze those data; • using the data to answer the questions.
