Conducting Educational Research

ORGANIZING AND WRITING CHAPTER ONE
WRITING A RESEARCH QUESTION
Once you have your problem statement, you are ready to begin writing your
research paper. You have what you need to write Chapter One, The Introduction.
An introduction is a narrative in which you make the case that your research
question is worth asking. As an exercise, select a published research study or use
one of those included in this book and try to write a short phrase or sentence that
summarizes the main point(s) of each paragraph in the introduction of the paper.
More often than not you will discover that the notes you have made form a logical
argument. Each point or paragraph works toward making the case that the research
study needs to be done. For this reason, problem statements usually appear at the
end of the introduction.
A simple way to structure an introduction is outlined in Table 2.2. Once you
structure your argument, take each point and expand it into one or several
paragraphs. This will provide you with the bulk of your introduction. Let’s look at
an example. Suppose you think some of your students suffered from test anxiety.
You want to see if you can reduce this test anxiety and get a better measure of your
students’ actual learning. Your introductory outline might look like this:
I. History
What prompted the study
Types of assessments generally used
II. Context
Where do you teach (brief description of school/community)
Description of students
(Note: descriptions are kept anonymous)
III. Theoretical constructs
Purpose of assessment
Why test anxiety is an issue
Theories that shed light on the issue of test anxiety
Strategies that exist to reduce test anxiety
IV. Why is it important?
Importance in terms of accurately measuring student learning
Improved test scores
Personal teaching goals
Meaning of scores for district/federal funding
V. Problem Statement
Write the problem statement
Which strategy will you implement to try and reduce students’ test anxiety
VI. Terms
Define test anxiety
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