It is not worthwhile to go around the world to count the
cats in Zanzibar (Maxwell 2005, citing Thoreau)
It is important to be clear about the reason why you are
undertaking your study. An unclear purpose will result in a muddied up process,
and therefore, results that may not be either credible or valid. The purpose statement is the central controlling idea in a study (Creswell, 2009, p. 111).
Maxwell (2005) “Qualitative Research Design” recommends that
researchers write regularly and systematically about their research for the
researchers own consumption, as well as for discussion with others. In his very
helpful chapter 2, he discusses goals of research leading with the following
question: Why are you doing this study?
The point is that you need to be clear on the purpose of
your study, and that purpose has to lead to a question/questions whose answers
are worth knowing. Clear goals serve as a guide for your study= goal here
includes desires, motives and purposes, whatever is leading you to want to
engage in your study.
Maxwell reminds us that goals a) help to guide your other
design decisions to ensure that your study is worth doing, and b) they are
essential to justifying your study. It
is likely that you have personal, practical and intellectual goals for you
study. Personal goals motivate you to engage in the study but may not be of much
value to others (e.g. need to advance your career, desire to change a
situation). Often, personal goals influence your choice of dissertation topic,
and are likely to impact your motivation (and persistence) through the
dissertation process. More often than not, personal goals remain unstated –
however, it is helpful to be clear on what your own personal goals are even if
you will not discuss them in your study. Off course if you engage in
qualitative, there is room to indicate the personal goals that are impacting
your choices. For example, one of my mentees chose to study successful African
immigrant faculty in US institutions, one because she is an African immigrant,
and two, because as someone who desires to enter the professorial ranks, she is
interested in learning how they ‘made it’. Another chose to study long term
health care because this was his industry for many years as owner of nursing
homes, and he consults to nursing homes today – thus his study would help to
improve his consulting work. Being clear about your personal goals also enables
you to be reflective of your subjectivities – it helps you beware of
looking only for the answers that fit your presuppositions.
Practical and intellectual/scholarly goals are important to
you as well as to other people. Practical goals focus on accomplishing
something, meeting a need, changing a situation, achieving a particular
objective; intellectual goals focus on understanding something, often filling a
gap that other research has not adequately addressed. The second student
(now a newly minted PhD) mentioned above, aimed at improving his own consulting practice by gaining a
better understanding of leadership praxis within the long term health care
industry. His study was endorsed by one of the industry professional associations
in recognition of its practical utility.
Generally, the intellectual/scholarly goal of your study is framed
in terms of ‘purpose statement’. This begins with a sentence such as:
The purpose of this study is to…(a verb here, such as
evaluate, explore, explain, describe, determine, examine, etc. You then expand on that purpose in several sentences/a paragraph.
Your practical goal is framed in terms of the “Significance
of the Study” where you talk about the relevance or practical utility of your
study to practitioners – teachers, administrators, managers, pastors – the ‘second’
audience of your study. Your significance section also discusses further your
scholarly goal by discussing how your study will expand our understanding of a
particular area of study. In qualitative studies, you would need to discuss
your personal goals, either in chapter 1 or chapter 3 (Introduction, or
Methods) with a sub-heading such as ‘role of the researcher’, ‘researcher
presuppositions’, ‘researchers predilections’, ‘how I came to this study area’…etc.
Maxwell, Joseph A. 2005. Qualitative research design: An interactive approach. 2 ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage. (3rd Edition will be published by June 2012).
Creswell, John W. 2009. Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
