A note on research issues, research objectives and research questions for different research types: for Housing Studies students
In the
context of doing a part-time Housing dissertation project, what would the
research issues, research objectives and research questions look like with
regard to the following research types: descriptive research, exploratory
research, causal research and evaluation research. It would be useful to
give a few brief illustrative examples with reference to the research theme of
"the residential experience of the Hong Kong adult residents living with
their parents in the public estates"
Here’s how
research issues, objectives and questions typically look for each research
type, tailored to your theme: “the residential experience of Hong Kong adult
residents living with their parents in public estates”. I’ll keep the
examples brief and dissertation-ready.
Descriptive research
Research issue
There is limited systematic description of who these adult children are,
what their living arrangements look like, and how they experience
daily life in public housing while co-residing with parents.
Typical research
objectives
- To describe the
socio-demographic profile of adult residents (e.g. age, gender, education,
employment) living with parents in public estates.
- To describe the characteristics
of their housing arrangements (e.g. flat size, room sharing, length of
co-residence).
- To describe key dimensions
of their residential experience (e.g. satisfaction, perceived privacy,
intergenerational relations, sense of home).
Example research
questions
- What are the
socio-demographic characteristics of adult residents living with their
parents in Hong Kong public housing estates?
- What are the typical spatial
and tenure arrangements of these multi-generational households (e.g.
number of rooms, sharing patterns, duration of co-residence)?
- How do these adult residents
rate their overall residential satisfaction and specific aspects such as
privacy, autonomy and family relations within the flat?
Illustration: A survey of 300 adult children in Kwai
Chung and Tin Shui Wai estates measuring age, income, room-sharing, and
Likert-scale satisfaction with privacy and family harmony.
Exploratory research
Research issue
The phenomenon is under-theorised in the Hong Kong context: we do not yet know which
issues matter most to these residents, how they make sense of
co-residence, or what unanticipated tensions or benefits emerge.
Typical research
objectives
- To explore how adult
residents interpret and make sense of living with their parents in public
housing.
- To identify emergent themes,
tensions and coping strategies in their everyday residential experience.
- To generate conceptual
categories that can inform later explanatory or evaluative work.
Example research
questions
- How do adult residents
describe and interpret their experience of living with their parents in
public estates?
- What benefits and challenges
do they perceive in this living arrangement, and how do these vary by
gender, age or employment status?
- What strategies do residents
use to negotiate privacy, autonomy and intergenerational conflict within
the constraints of public housing design?
Illustration: 20–30 in-depth interviews with adult
children in different estates, using open-ended questions and thematic analysis
to surface themes like “filial duty vs personal freedom” or “stigma of delayed
independence”.
Causal (explanatory) research
Research issue
We want to move beyond description to explain why some residents report
better or worse residential experiences, and which factors (individual,
household, or estate-level) causally influence outcomes like satisfaction, mental
wellbeing, or intention to move out.
Typical research
objectives
- To examine the effect of
specific factors (e.g. room sharing, perceived crowding, quality of
parent–child relationship, estate facilities) on residents’ residential
satisfaction or psychological wellbeing.
- To test hypothesised causal
pathways between housing conditions, family dynamics and residential
outcomes.
- To identify which variables
are the strongest predictors of positive or negative residential
experience.
Example research
questions
- To what extent does
perceived crowding (e.g. sharing a bedroom with parents) affect the
residential satisfaction of adult children living in public housing,
controlling for income and employment status?
- How does the quality of the
parent–child relationship mediate the effect of housing constraints (e.g.
small flat size) on residents’ mental wellbeing?
- Do estate-level factors
(e.g. access to communal spaces, neighbourhood facilities) significantly
predict adult residents’ intention to remain in or leave the public
estate?
Illustration: A structured questionnaire with validated
scales (e.g. residential satisfaction, perceived crowding, family relationship
quality) analysed via regression or structural equation modelling to test
causal paths.
Evaluation research
Research issue
Policies and programmes (e.g. flat allocation rules, renovation schemes, family
support services) may affect these residents, but their effectiveness in
improving residential experience is not systematically evaluated from the
residents’ perspective.
Typical research
objectives
- To evaluate the
effectiveness of specific public housing policies or interventions (e.g.
flat redesign, community programmes) in improving the residential experience
of adult children co-residing with parents.
- To assess the extent to
which current housing policies meet the needs of multi-generational
households in public estates.
- To identify gaps between
policy intentions and residents’ lived outcomes, and propose evidence-based
recommendations.
Example research
questions
- How effective are recent
public housing renovation programmes in improving perceived privacy and
autonomy for adult children living with their parents?
- To what extent do current
flat allocation policies accommodate the needs of multi-generational
households, as perceived by adult residents?
- What gaps do residents
identify between existing support services (e.g. family counselling,
community facilities) and their actual needs for managing intergenerational
living in public estates?
Illustration: A mixed-methods evaluation combining
resident surveys (pre/post renovation or by estate type) and focus groups to
judge policy performance against criteria like “improved privacy”, “reduced
conflict”, and “greater sense of control”.
A collection of blog notes on using chatgpt for research purpose.
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