The Ten Research Questions: An Analytic Tool for Critiquing Empirical Studies and Teaching Research Rigor

Abstract

One of the most onerous tasks for research neophytes like students is deciphering the often complex and technical empirical research article and determining its scientific merit. With limited research method knowledge and experience designing and conducting research, the neophyte is left with little to draw upon when trying to understand the findings, whether standards of rigor were met, and if replication and application may be warranted. In particular, this lack of understanding can contribute much to students’ negative attitudes, perceptions, beliefs, and conceptions about research. This state of affairs is unfortunate because each can lessen the likelihood of subsequent engagement with the research literature, often at the cost of poorer student well-being (Pyhaltö et al., 2012), less timely graduation and greater attrition (Meyer et al., 2005, 2007). Because higher education is increasingly costly, and the need for talented social science researchers (e.g., human resource development [HRD] researchers) has never been greater, we cannot afford to allow the curious, but inexperienced to languish unnecessarily in their research endeavors (Earley, 2014; Tashakkori & Teddlie, 2003). Thus, proposing that one must think and act like a researcher to be a researcher, we must find ways to help learners methodically analyze existing research and enter the “research conversation” with authors of empirical research in one’s discipline and beyond (Chatterjee-Padmanabhan et al., 2019). The purpose of this article, then, is to help learners enter the research conversation by presenting an analytic tool for