Research Question – Need for expert advice

[Sivnit Krisan Mudaliar]

Greetings to all,

I am hyping for the start of my Case Research on the following case at hand:

Type of Research Question:        Relationship establishing: Causal of Independent Variable to the        

                                                 dependent

Independent variable:                  Racial dissonance

Dependent variable                     Land tenure conflicts

Units of analysis:                        Group1:               iTaukei native land owners

                                                 Group 2:              Indo-Fijian native land tenants

Site:                                           Ba Province, Fiji

Please assist me in formulating a suitable Research Question. Your advice and comments on the topic would be also very interesting .

Much thanks,

Sivnit Mudaliar

[Stephen Gorard]

You have this the wrong way around. Settle the RQ first. Once you know what you want to find out then think about the most appropriate research design.

But your notes on the question suggest you want to find out about a causal process, and therefore we know already that a case study is not appropriate (in fact it would be the least suitable of the common designs).  

[Sivnit Krisan Mudaliar]

Thanks Stephen for your insight. Let me rephrase myself;

I would like to find out

RQ:     What are the potential racial dissonance that is inducing land tenure conflicts between iTaukei native land owners and the respective Indo-Fijian native land tenants in Ba Province, Fiji.

Please critique on this (harshly if you have to).

[Stephen Gorard]

My first concern would be the presumption of the question. Do we know that racial dissonance is a cause? If so what more can you find out? If not your research will fail because the question assumes it.

 

Note the difference to:

 

What is the role of racial dissonance in…..?

 

Because the latter allows the answer no role at all. You must allow yourself to be surprised by your findings.

 

Then – your question and mine are both causal. So you need a causal research design.

 

Perhaps read.

 

https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/research-design/book238004

 

before proceeding.

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