Week 3 – Discussion 

Your initial discussion thread is due on Day 3 (Thursday) and you have until Day 7 (Monday) to respond to your classmates. Your grade will reflect both the quality of your initial post and the depth of your responses. Refer to the Discussion Forum Grading Rubric under the Settings icon above for guidance on how your discussion will be evaluated.

Research Design:   Abstract/Introduction, Purpose, and Questions/Hypotheses [WLOs: 1, 2] [CLOs:   1, 2, 3]. 

Prior to beginning work on this discussion, read Chapter 5, Chapter 6, and Chapter 7 of the course text.

The abstract/introduction and purpose statement are important elements of a research study in that they advise the readers of your scholarly work what you intend to share with them, as well as the importance and context of your work. Similarly, the importance of a good research question or hypothesis cannot be overstated. It is integral to a research study and ensures the researcher is focused on a measurable target for the success of the research results. It also ensures that the research objective is clearly defined and that the target is specifically measureable.

In your initial post, address the following:

• Critique the following abstract      based on the five elements of an abstract as covered by the text. What      elements are present, and what elements are missing?

“Across the world, people are required, or want, to work until an increasingly old age. But how might prospective employers view job applicants who have skills and qualities that they associate with older adults? This article draws on social role theory, age stereotypes and research on hiring biases, and reports three studies using age‐diverse North American participants. These studies reveal that: (1) positive older age stereotype characteristics are viewed less favorably as criteria for job hire, (2) even when the job role is low‐status, a younger stereotype profile tends to be preferred, and (3) an older stereotype profile is only considered hirable when the role is explicitly cast as subordinate to that of a candidate with a younger age profile. Implications for age‐positive selection procedures and ways to reduce the impact of implicit age biases are discussed. (Abrams, Swift, & Drury, 2016, p. 105).”

• Describe the elements that      constitute a good qualitative purpose statement.
• Describe the elements of a good      quantitative purpose statement.
• Discuss the rationale for using      a mixed methods approach.
• Explain how research questions      and/or a hypothesis work in conjunction with the purpose statement.

Your initial post should be at least 650 words in length. Support your claims with examples from the required material(s) and/or other scholarly resources, and properly cite any references.

Guided Response: Respond to at least two of your classmates’ posts by Day 7. In your responses, be sure to note any interesting aspects of their response, such as the elements they chose for the purpose statements and their rationale for using a mixed methods approach. Your responses should be at least 200 words in length.