Forming research questions in applied research projects

¶ … War on Drugs

Under the quantitative research domain, the study would be anchored on the main concepts discussed in the previous chapter, which determined that the focus of the research will be on success rate of legal punishments on drug/substance abuse. As explicated in the preceding discussion, it is critical to approach sensitive issues such as substance abuse to eliminate any subjective factors and variables that could lead to a lack of focus from the researcher's end. Further, an objective, evidence-based quantitative study will help provide a stronger argument for establishing the current state and performance of legislation against substance abuse in American society.

The main research question (or main objective) of the study is: What is the success rate of legal restrictions and punishments on substance abuse in the United States in the past five (5) years? Alternatively, this main research question can be developed into the main objective of the study, which is: To determine the success rate of legal restrictions and punishments on substance abuse in the United States in the past five (5) years.

The main research question subsists to the design of the study, which will provide a quantitative measure and result to determine whether legal restrictions on substance abuse in the U.S. have been effective and performing in delivering its objectives and purpose, which are the reasons why these restrictions are put in place in the first place. Further, the rationale for putting a time frame of five (5) years will help establish a trend on the performance of these legal restrictions on substance abuse.

The main research question is also anchored on two other research questions or specific objectives. The first sub-question is based on the determination of factors or variables that will help provide a quantitative measure to identify specific elements of legal restrictions and punishments. This will involve a review of all extant legal punishments on substance abuse, including a meta-analysis of relevant literature on these laws/regulations. From the meta-analysis and legal review, the variables and factors deemed appropriate for the study will be determined. Thus, the first sub-research question is, "What are the variables or factors that will help determine the success of legal punishments in curbing substance abuse?" Alternatively, the specific objective could be developed as, "To identify the variables or factors that will determine the success of legal punishments in curbing substance abuse."