The research question

In my previous post, I told the story of why I decided to do research on the health and well-being of people who fly for a living. Now I'll tell you how that kernel of an idea began to grow into a full-fledged study.

All research begins with a question. In this case, the central research question was:

"What effects does job stress have on the health and well-being of people who fly for a living?"

If you think about this question for a moment you'll notice that, while it sounds straightforward on the surface, it cannot be answered unless we first know things such as:

What is stressful about a flying job in the first place?

How can we measure what is stressful?

What, exactly, do we mean by 'health and well-being' -- and how do we measure that?

Are all flying jobs stressful in the same way?

And so on...

The research question indicates what we want to know, in sum, by the end of the study. But long before we get to that point, all of these earlier issues have to be addressed.

Next: The groundwork...

** Copyright © 2007 by Bobbie Sullivan. All rights reserved. **