Question

Which of the following represents a well-written basic research problem? Group of answer choices "Which general education course is more interesting, U.S. History or World Music?" "How do business teams of six or fewer members compare to teams of more than six members in terms of productivity?" "How does the organization of mathematical information in long-term memory differ between 3-year-olds and 13-year-olds?" "What is the ratio of native-born students to international students on the campuses of major U.S. state universities?"

Answer 1

The answer is C

Step-by-step explanation:

For option (a), this is a mere question that any single person can answer and give satisfaction to the researcher or inquirer. The researcher does not state the class of people he wants the answer from.

For option (b), it is quite obvious that business teams of more than 6 members will be more productive than teams of maximum 6 members. The question says "how?" but doesn't tell the qualities or age of each team member in each of the teams.

For option (d), it is a very simple research problem. To solve this is to get data (from the admissions offices of the major U.S. state universities) on the number of native-born students and that of international students. Once these numbers are summed up for both categories of students, the ratio (division) can easily be gotten.

Now, this is a problem/question with a solution/answer but it doesn't add value to life. The researcher just wants to know the ratio but isn't going to use it to point out something that can improve the existence of man in society.

For option (c), the researcher wants to know how the organization of mathematical information in the long term memory of 3 year olds differs from that of 13 year olds.

This is a well written basic research problem. When the researcher asks "how does it differ from...?" or "what is the relationship between/among...?", he is prepared to test some elements such as the volume of mathematical information stored in the long term memory or the level or extent of coordination of mathematical information in each group.

These are elements whose numeric value can be tested statistically against one another and there is no basic research without statistical measures and testing because that is where conclusion on the relationship among the variables is drawn from.

From this particular research problem, the researcher can properly develop a null hypothesis and an alternative hypothesis. He will observe a number of individuals in each age group, to derive data to work with.

The solution to this problem/question can very well be of use in society or in future research sojourns.

Answer 2

Answer:The well written research problem is "Which general education course is more interesting, U.S. History or World Music?"

Explanation: This is the best research question among all in the group of answer choice, because the research question has set a boundary limit for the research by setting U.S History and world music to be a comparison of the most interesting general education course.

In the second example, six or fewer number, and numbers above six, has made the research to become limitless, which will lead to large volume of research work. Because six has more than a million numbers that are fewer than it, and more than a million numbers that are higher than it. The same is applicable to the other example because between 3 years old and 13years old, are a very large number of years. In the last one, their is no definition on how to determine the major state Universities in the U.S, and even if it is been defined, the state Universities will be very much, which will make the research work too large.