Developing a Research Question

What makes a "good" research question?

 

Although we do our best to create an effective and manageable research question from the beginning of the research process, it is very common to make changes to a topic of inquiry as we begin our searching. Don't worry if you start your research and find that you need to rewrite your question--the ability to recognize this need and to make necessary changes to a question is actually the sign of a skilled researcher.

 

Staying open

Essential to the research process is also a willingness to learn something new and an awareness of our own biases. Having a predetermined or desired outcome increases our chances of ignoring differing perspectives and excluding any research that doesn’t support our own claims or beliefs. Nichols and Cormack (2017) list “using multiple perspectives on practice” as a key principle of teacher inquiry (pg. 110), and the ways in which we frame our questions is one way to demonstrate that we are open to multiple perspectives.

Sometimes the phrasing of a question can demonstrate a lack of openness or a reliance on uninformed assumptions.

In the first version of the question, the outcomes and impacts of recess are assumed, with no indication that there is any previous research being used as a basis for this belief. The second version of the question eliminates any predetermined or desired outcomes, demonstrating much more openness on the part of the researcher.

 

Making it Manageable

Determining the scope of your research can be difficult, but creating a question that is manageable is key to completing your research well. It is common to begin the process with a fairly broad question--likely one that is too broad to reasonably be answered within the scope of the project or assignment. It is only when we begin to search for information to answer the question that we find far more research than we can manage to take in over the course of the assignment. This is a normal part of the research process and it does not require you to abandon your initial question. Instead, we look for ways to narrow down the original question in order to make the question more manageable.

Note that, in some cases, we have the opposite problem and we start our search only to find that the inquiry question is too narrow. In those cases, reversing the above tips and removing one element from the question may help you to create a searchable question.

 

Your turn!

Download the Search Planning Template Download Search Planning Template and write your research question in the box labelled "your search topic". 

 

References:

Lankshear, C., & Knobel, M. (2004). A handbook for teacher research: From design to implementation. Maidenhead, England: Open University Press.

Nichols, S., & Cormack, P. (2017). Impactful practitioner inquiry: The ripple effect on classrooms, schools, and teacher professionalism. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.