How does your problem statement, purpose statement, and research question align?
What did you do to make sure that transpired or what do you need to do?
What does alignment mean to a qualitative study?
Research Question Revised
Does Dysfunctional leadership generate bad organizational culture? This research
question will be answered by observations made on the impacts that dysfunctional leadership
may have on the organizational cultures.
How the problem statement, purpose statement, and research question align?
The problem statement, purpose statement, and research question align in two
perspectives. The first perspective is that the three parameters relate dysfunctional leadership
with bad organizational culture. In other words, the problem statement, purpose statement and
research question all attribute dysfunctional leadership to bad organizational culture as a
common element. In this regard, they are in alignment. The second perspective by which the
ALIGNMENT 3
problem statement, purpose statement, and research question align is that they all seek to
highlight the issues associated with dysfunctional leadership in organization. The problem
statement explains why dysfunctional leadership is bad, the purpose statement shows the need to
avoid dysfunctional leadership and the research question seeks to answer the effects of bad
leadership.
What I Did To Make Sure the Alignment Transpired
To ensure that the problem statement, purpose statement, and research question were
aligned, I included the same issue to be addressed by the three aspects. Put another way, I
ascertained that the problem statement, purpose statement, and research question all contained
the primary intent of the study which was to investigate the impacts of dysfunctional leadership
on organizational culture. According to Wright (2006) alignment should express the intent of the
research in all areas.
The Meaning of Alignment to a Qualitative Study
In a qualitative study, the meaning of alignment is to enhance the descriptiveness of the
findings so that one gets diverse insights into the issue being investigated. This implies that
alignment brings the focus of the study into perspective and provides new insights (Johnson,
2008; Morse, 2008).
ALIGNMENT 4
References
Johnson, T. S. (2008). Qualitative Research in Question: A Narrative of Disciplinary Power
With/in the IRB. Qualitative Inquiry, 14(2), 212-232.
Morse, J. M. (2008). “It’s Only a Qualitative Study!” Considering the Qualitative Foundations of
Social Sciences. Qualitative Health Research, 18(2), 147-148. Doi:
Wright, H. K. (2006). Qualitative researchers on paradigm proliferation in educational research:
A question‐and‐answer session as multi‐voiced text. International Journal of Qualitative
Studies in Education, 19(1), 77-95.
