At the Walden residencies one of the themes you hear over and over again is Align, Align, Align. But what does that really mean? Alignment refers to the elements of a research study building on one another in a logical manner.

At residency 3 you work on the historic alignment tool, or the HAT. This tool helps you accomplish the alignment of the main elements of a research study. One element leads to the next, which leads to the next. If you answer “no” to any of the following questions, the study is not aligned.

• Does the background research show evidence of a problem?
• Is there a gap in understanding of the problem?
• Does the problem align to the purpose?
• Does the purpose align to the research question?
• Does the theoretical or conceptual framework logically help answer the research questions?
• Does the research question drive the methodology?

These are the exact…