19.3: Developing Research Questions

Students often imagine that they should begin the research process with a thesis statement in mind, as if it were a hypothesis for a scientific experiment. While you will need to develop a thesis eventually, it is best to start from a place of curiosity and begin by asking an open-ended question. Once you have this question, you can use it to identify potential keywords to use while searching for sources online, and the answer to the question will become your thesis statement.

Let’s move through an example to see how you can move from a general topic idea to a focused research question. If you wonder, as in one of the example questions above, how women are treated when they give birth in prison, you would not begin with a statement like “Prisons mistreat new mothers.” Doing this would steer you, consciously or otherwise, toward only the research that supports your initial opinion. Beginning with a question like “How do prisons treat inmates who deliver babies while incarcerated?” would allow you to follow the evidence wherever it leads. Whether you find that prison administrators treat expecting mothers well or poorly, your thesis will naturally develop from whatever the evidence shows.

Regular vs. Research Questions 

Are research questions any different from most of the questions for which we seek information? Yes.  Compare the questions below and discuss with your peers how a research question is different from a regular question.

Examples

Regular Question: What time is my movie showing at Lennox on Friday?

Research Question: How do “sleeper” films end up having outstanding attendance figures?

 

Regular Question: What year was metformin approved by the U.S. Food and Drug administration?

Research Question: Why are nanomedicines, such as doxorubicin, worth developing?

 

Regular Question: Could citizens register to vote at branches of the Columbus Public Library in 2016?

Research Question: How do public libraries in the United States support democracy?

 

Regular Question: What is Mers?

Research Question: How could decision making about whether to declare a pandemic be improved?

 

Research Question Criteria

To be truly helpful, research questions should meet the following criteria:

• Complex: open-ended “how” or “why” questions will allow you to explore an issue more fully than simple questions you could answer with a “yes” or “no”
• Clear: use straightforward terms and concepts
• Focused: choose one aspect of your topic to research
• Concise: the question should be specific enough to be addressed fully within the length of your paper

(and if you are writing a persuasive paper)

• Arguable: for a persuasive paper, your question should lead to a claim with which reasonable people could agree or disagree

Example Research Questions for an Informative Essay Why is it so expensive to run electoral campaigns in the U.S.? How do K-12 schools in the U.S. define and measure “student success”?

Example Research Questions for a Persuasive Essay How does teacher pay impact learning outcomes for K-12 students? How should campaign finance law be changed to help average Americans run for elected office?

As you can see in the example questions above, slight tweaks to the structure of your research question can steer you toward an informative or persuasive focus, so it’s important to double check that your question is setting you up to write the kind of paper you’ve been asked to write.

Once you have a good working research question, you can mine it for keywords to begin searching for sources online. We will focus more specifically on keywords and online searching, in Chapter 20.

Tactics for Generating Research Questions

Generate a Research Question using a Concept Map

To generate a research question, one strategy you can try is to use your concept map to generate a main question, using the topic in the largest, central circle. Also, come up with 5-10 sub-questions from the smaller circles. What you are trying to do here is figure out what you want to learn about your topic.

Generate Research Questions Using 5 Ws

Another strategy you can use to generate research questions about your topic is to simply come up with questions using the 5 Ws. The chart below shows an example of this strategy on the topic of freedom of speech. 

Example Freedom of Speech

Who? Who have been defenders of freedom of speech in America's history?

What? What legal challenges to restrictions against free speech have been made?

When? In the past few years how has the exercise of the First Amendment in America changed?

Where? In America's key states, such as Texas or New York, how ha the exercise of the First Amendment changed in the 21st century?

Why? Why has the exercise of the First Amendment in Anmricam changed in the 21st century?

 

Exercise 19.3: Identify the Better Research Question

Directions: Determine which option is the better research question; justify your response. 

1. Which of the following is the better research question? Justify your answer.

    A. Is global warming harmful?

     B. What are the adverse effects of global warming?

2. Which of the following is the better research question? Justify your answer.

     A. Do doctors charge too much?

     B. What factors influence the operating costs of physicians?

3.  A good working thesis statement saves you time and keeps you focused. Decide whether the following working thesis statements are good or bad. Justify your choices.

     A. Man has had a major impact on the environment.

     B. Marijuana use in Mishawaka, Indiana has been a problem for law enforcement since the 1970s.

     C.  Beyoncé Knowles is a horrible singer.

     D. Profilers have played a necessary role in catching serial killers.