02_research-questions.Rmd

# Research Questions

**Learning objectives:**

- Define what a Research Question is
- Compare Data Mining and Research Questions
- Determine if a question is good

## What is a Research Question? {-}

- Section 2.1 p. 9-12, Section 2.3 p. 15-16
- When answered, will improve understanding of how the world works.
- There exists data when found results in believable answer
- Can be Answerable with evidence: Avoid ambiguous questions such as "best"
- It should inform theory: answer something broader than itself

- Theory
  - Tells us why
  - May be True or False - but explains why we might see outcomes
  
- Good Question takes us from Theory to Hypothesis
  - When answered improves ability to explain why
  - If this is how the world works, what should I expect to observe?
  - Gives us something new about why
 
- Theory -> Research Question or Research Question -> Theory

- Right data for right questions

- Two Checks for Condition for Research Question:
  1. Could we answer the question?
  2. Does the question tell us about how the world works?
  
- Checks if Research Question Informs Theory:
  1. Would unexpected result change your understanding of the world?
  2. If unexpected result doesn't change understanding, then bad question
  3. If answered, hard to explain away if inconvenient

## Data Mining vs. Research Q's {-}
- Section 2.2 p.13 - 16
- Data Mining is good at finding patterns and making predictions under stability
- Not good at improving understanding nor improve theory main reason are:
  1. Answers what's in the data , not explaining why. Correlation != Causation
  2. Does not deal with abstraction, can see observations but not at developing theory
  3. Results in false positives - observations found in sample but not outside of it. Random relationships eventually occur when testing everything
  
- Can lead to Research Questions
  - Come to data without a theory, noticed interesting data patterns
  - Confirm it holds up in other data aka replication of data patterns 


## Considerations for a good Research Q {-}
- Section 2.3 p. 15-16, Section 2.4 p. 16-18
- Sources of Questions:
  - Curiosity
  - Theory
    - If this is what I expect the world to work, what would I expect to see in the world?
  - Opportunity
    - What questions would this data allow me to answer?
 
- Research Questions tells us why hypothesis to test

1. Potential Results
  - If you cant say something interesting from results, Question and Theory not closely linked
2. Feasibility
  - Possible vs. Realistically Obtainable Data
3. Scale
  - Consider time, resource constraints
4. Design
  - Finding a reasonable research design that can answer it
5. Simplicity
  - Don't combine multiple determinants into the question to answer

## Discussion/Practicals {-}
Questions, Discussions, or Examples to fill in during Book Club Meeting

## Meeting Videos {-}

### Cohort 1 {-}

`r knitr::include_url("https://www.youtube.com/embed/URL")`

<details>
<summary> Meeting chat log </summary>

```
LOG
```
</details>