Government Social Research
Common to all types of REA questions is that there will be many assumptions within them that need to be made explicit. These form the conceptual framework for the REA and underpin the:
The REA team, ideally including users, would start unpacking the question by defining each of the key concepts.
The process of doing this is specific to each REA question but the example illustrates how this can work in practice.
REA question: “How do parents influence the impact of homework on attainment in primary school children?”
The REA team would need to consider:
They would need to consider further sub questions:
To do so, the researchers would start by defining what kinds of homework they were interested in, and which kinds of parent and child. They might also specify a focus on research done in the UK and say that they were only going to look at homework for children in primary schools.
They might also state, at the start of their work, which kinds of research study would be most appropriate for answering this question. This could, for example, specify that both written questionnaire and more in-depth interview studies were relevant as long as parents, or children of a given age, were asked to describe and/or reflect upon the homework they had come into contact with.
In setting out their conceptual framework, the researchers might be very specific about what aspects of homework are of interest, maybe taking a particular stance about how children are likely to learn and saying that they are interested primarily in the ways in which parents and children talk about homework in terms of problem solving. In contrast, the researchers might say they were planning to use a more flexible, open frame and state that they aimed to see which ways of looking at homework are voiced by the parents and children themselves.
Understanding of the key concepts within the REA question may vary according to the experience, views and values of individuals and groups involved in the REA process. These different preconceptions, concerns and interests will influence the methods and conclusions of the REA. For that reason, it is fundamental to include REA ‘users’ in the construction and development of the REA.