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Chapter 2: The Research Process --Research Questions/Hypotheses
The
research process is relatively simple. First you come up with
an idea or research question (sometimes called a hypothesis),
then you develop a method to answer the question, find some
people to study, collect information from them, enter the
data into a computer and analyze it, and write a report or
article. Obviously, it's not quite this easy or everybody
would be doing it, so the next several sections go through
each step of the process and outline some of the problems
that can occur. Before we do that, how about if you outline
a research project for your agency or a specific client population
you serve? Describe below your research question (what is
the goal of the study?), and give a brief rationale for why
this topic is important, who you would study, and how you
would carry out the study. You can ignore the data analysis
part for now. Make this good, because you'll be referring
back to this study in later sections.
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