Precise wording in your research question matters more than you think. Define terms like "unhealthy food" clearly and use them the same way everywhere in your prospectus, or your dissertation design falls apart.
So that example, lunch versus dinner, is pretty obvious. But let's look at it again another way. Hey, the problem is we don't know the effect of eating Pop-Tarts for lunch for 32-year-olds. The purpose is I want to do this quantitative— or this quantitative study will explore the impact of eating unhealthy food for lunch for 32-year-olds. Well, a lot of people will agree that Pop-Tarts are probably unhealthy. But that's different than saying Pop-Tarts and Pop-Tarts. Unhealthy could include other things. Twinkies? Example. So once you have chosen wording, stick with it. That's the key to alignment. If you're working on your prospectus and you're looking for help, you can join our free dissertation help community.
