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A more precise research
question might look something like the one below:
Does a 12
week inpatient cognitive-behavioral program for adolescent
males reduce the use of drugs and alcohol over a one year
period?
Even though this question
is more specific, the researcher would need to elaborate on
each of the terms in the question. How many hours of actual
intervention are involved: an hour a day for 12 weeks, or
6 hours per day? What kinds of skills or knowledge does the
program attempt to provide? How is "adolescent male"
defined? Are they age 12, age 15, or a wide age range? What
other characteristics of the sample are important: are they
urban youth or youth living in frontier areas, racially mixed
or all the same race, in school or drop-outs, etc. What do
we mean by "reduce" alcohol and drug use? How much
of a reduction is sufficient to say the program was a success?
When we answer all of these questions, we have established
"operational definitions" for our study.
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