Kumar-2011-Research-Methodology_-A-Step-by-Step-Guide-for-Beginners

Glossary 397
Research objectives are specific statements of goals that you set out to be achieved at the
end of your research journey.
Research problem: Any issue, problem or question that becomes the basis of your enquiry is
called a research problem. It is what you want to find out about during your research endeavour.
Research questions: Questions that you would like to find answers to through your research,
like ‘What does it mean to have a child with ADHD in a family?’ or ‘What is the impact of
immigration on family roles?’ Research questions become the basis of research objectives.
The main difference between research questions and research objectives is the way they are
worded. Research questions take the form of questions whereas research objectives are statements
of achievements expressed using action-oriented words.
Retrospective study: A retrospective study investigates a phenomenon, situation, problem or
issue that has happened in the past. Such studies are usually conducted either on the basis of
the data available for that period or on the basis of respondents’ recall of the situation.
Retrospective–prospective study: A retrospective–prospective study focuses on past trends
in a phenomenon and studies it into the future. A study where you measure the impact of
an intervention without having a control group by ‘constructing’ a previous baseline from
either respondents’ recall or secondary sources, then introducing the intervention to study
its effect, is considered a retrospective–prospective study. In fact, most before-and-after studies,
if carried out without having a control – where the baseline is constructed from the
same population before introducing the intervention – will be classified as retrospective–
prospective studies.
Row percentages are calculated from the total of all the subcategories of one variable that
are displayed along a row in different columns.
Sample: A sample is a subgroup of the population which is the focus of your research enquiry
and is selected in such a way that it represents the study population. A sample is composed of
a few individuals from whom you collect the required information. It is done to save time,
money and other resources.
Sample size: The number of individuals from whom you obtain the required information is
called the sample size and is usually denoted by the letter n.
Sample statistics: Findings based on the information obtained from your respondents (sample)
are called sample statistics.
Sampling is the process of selecting a few respondents (a sample) from a bigger group (the
sampling population) to become the basis for estimating the prevalence of information of
interest to you.