crafting a research question and developing a plan mastery test

Developing Research Questions and Crafting Thesis Statements: Developing a Research Question

• Find Background Information
• Break Down a Topic
• Developing a Research Question
• Find Scholarly Articles
• Craft a Thesis Statement
• Find Opposing Viewpoints

Step 3: Develop a Research Question

Your research question is what you plan to investigate based on the concept map that you created in Step 2.  Use the video and the book chapter link below guide you to develop your research question.

Developing a Research Question (Produced by Steely Library NKU)

To understand how to develop a research question, read “ Identify: Understanding Your Information Need .”

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How to Craft a Successful Research Question – SOE

Count the number of concepts or phenomena that your research problem statement proposes to investigate. Do not include any concepts or phenomena that define the population, only those to be directly measured or examined or described. If your research problem statement contains only one concept or phenomenon to investigate, skip to Part 2 of the Activity. If it contains two or more concepts or phenomena, use Part 1 . Follow the steps in your chosen part sequentially.

Part 1 : Crafting Quantitative Research Questions

Practice example: The research problem is the effect of emotional intelligence, learning style, and personality type on student satisfaction in community college freshmen is not known. Your list of concepts would be:

• Emotional intelligence (IV 1).
• Learning style (IV 2).
• Personality type (IV 3).
• Student satisfaction (DV).
• Community college freshmen (sample).

Immediately, you notice that "community college freshmen" is a very broad category and does not help you determine specific sample characteristics and variables. A quick review of your literature suggests that you should study female freshmen attending rural community colleges. So to your list you add to "community college freshmen":

• Female (sample variable).
• Community college freshmen (sample characteristic).
• Enrolled in rural community colleges (sample variable).

Apply: Do Step 1 with your own research problem.

Next, write down exactly the form of measurement that your problem requires. The main forms include:

• Differences between IV-based groups on a DV score (used for causal and predictive questions).
• Correlations between two or more variables (used for correlational questions).
• Measures of individual variables (used for descriptive questions, usually subquestions).

Practice Example: In the example, what is not known is the impact of the three IVs on the DV. Therefore, the kind of relationship we are seeking will be a causal relationship, based on that word effect.

Apply: Do Step 2 with your own research problem.

Now, craft a conceptual version of your question using these ingredients. After you have a draft, examine it carefully. Does your question:

• Clearly name the variables you are going to measure?
• Clearly identify which is (are) the IV and which is (are) the DV?
• Clearly indicate what relationship between or among the variables will be investigated (by words such as relationship, correlation, cause, affect, effect, influence, difference, predict, impact, and so on)?
• The characteristics and sample variables of the sample?
• End in a question mark, and have the characteristics of a good English sentence?

What is the effect of personality type on the student satisfaction of female community college freshmen enrolled in rural community colleges?

How does personality type predict student satisfaction in female community college freshmen enrolled in rural community colleges?

Apply: Do Step 3, the conceptual version, for your own research question.

Practice Example: To determine effects (or impacts), one must do an experimental or a quasi-experimental design. This means that two or more groups are formed and the different effects of the IV are compared in those groups. To get to that, we look at the IV (or individual IVs if there is more than one). We ask ourselves what levels of the variable we are interested in. In reviewing the literature, we found that the so-called Big Five personality traits (Costa & McCrae, 1992) are widely used. This shows us five levels of personality type. But perhaps for some reason, we are most interested in the impact of extroversion and conscientiousness for the variable personality type.

What are the statistically significant differences in levels of student satisfaction for female community college freshmen enrolled in rural community colleges who are highly extroverted compared with those who are highly conscientious?

Apply: Do Step 4 for your own research question.

Practice example: Our question has three variables to be measured, and therefore we have three subquestions to write:

What are the levels of student satisfaction in female community college freshmen enrolled in rural community colleges?

What are the levels of extroversion in female community college freshmen enrolled in rural community colleges?

What are the levels of conscientiousness in female community college freshmen enrolled in rural community colleges?

Practice Example: Because we have only one main question, we will need two hypotheses, a null and an alternate.

• Null hypothesis (H 0 ) : There will be no statistically significant differences in levels of student satisfaction for female community college freshmen enrolled in rural community colleges who are highly extroverted compared with those who are highly conscientious.
• Alternate hypothesis (H 1 ) : There will be statistically significant differences in levels of student satisfaction for female community college freshmen enrolled in rural community colleges who are highly extroverted compared with those who are highly conscientious.

Prepare to revise and Reqwrite Your Question as Your Lit Review Deepens

Your search of the literature about your topic and research question will continue until you complete your dissertation. When you find new research that changes the nature or focus of your problem statement, your question will need to be revised accordingly. This is quite common. So plan to keep revisiting your research problem and question regularly, up to the point where they have been finally approved by your dissertation committee and the IRB and you are ready to start your participant recruitment. That question and only that question will be your final edition.

Part 2 : Crafting Qualitative Research Questions

Practice example: The research problem is how education students in an online graduate program describe their experience of the process of assimilating and accommodating complex learning theories. Your concept or phenomenon statement would be:

• The experience of assimilating and accommodating complex learning theories (the terms are borrowed from Piaget's theory of the process of learning).

Your sample characteristics identified in the problem statement would be:

• Graduate students in education.

Immediately, you notice that while the phenomenon is stated reasonably clearly, the sample characteristics are quite broadly stated. "Graduate students in education" does not help you determine specific sample characteristics to screen for. A quick review of your literature and reflection on your personal interests suggests that you should study female doctoral students in online programs affiliated with on-ground universities. Even that is too broad. There are many specializations within education, and at least two doctoral degrees, the EdD and the PhD. So to your list of sample characteristics, you decide to add:

• PhD students (the degree that is research and theory oriented).
• In curriculum and instruction, special education, and nursing education (specializations that require mastery of complex learning theories).
• Taking online courses within a doctoral program affiliated with an on-ground institution.

Next, write down exactly the form of inquiry that your problem requires. The main forms in qualitative research include:

• Conversational inquiry (talking with the participants). Typical words for this might be "describe," "relate," "discuss," and similar words.
• Observational inquiry (observing them in their natural habitat and operations). Typical words for this might be "researcher observe," "researcher describes the behavior of," or similar constructions.
• Inquiry of texts (analyzing written documents, journals, or other productions that cast light on the research problem). Words suggesting this might include "what do texts reveal," "how do documents describe," and similar constructions.
• Inquiry of objects and images (artifacts). Words suggesting this might include "what do artifacts indicate" or "how do images and artifacts reveal. . ."

Practice Example: In the example, the research problem (what is not known) is how these graduate students describe their personal experiences in coming to terms with and mastering (assimilating and accommodating) complex learning theories. Obviously, you could choose either a conversational inquiry or an analysis of texts. The latter might demonstrate accommodation (mastery), but would it allow you to learn about the experience of developing mastery (that is, of assimilating and then accommodating new learning)? It seems reasonable, then, since the problem is to learn how they describe their experiences of this process, to use a conversational inquiry.

Now, craft a conceptual version of your question using these ingredients. After you have a draft question, examine it carefully. Does your question:

• Clearly name the phenomenon you are going to investigate?
• Clearly indicate the characteristics of the sample?
• Clearly identify the kind of inquiry to be carried out, using words like "describe," "observe," "analyze," and the like?

How do women studying curriculum and instruction, special education, or nursing education in online PhD programs offered by a traditional on-ground graduate institution, describe their process of assimilating and accommodating complex learning theory?

Rewrite the research question as often as it takes to make it crystal clear, succinct, and yet complete. Work with the grammar to make the English reading of the sentence more graceful and clear. Prepare to Revise and Rewrite Your Question as Your Lit Review Deepens

Costa, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (1992). Revised NEO personality inventory (NEO-PI-R) and NEO five-factor inventory (NEO-FFI) professional manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc.

Doc. reference: phd_t2_soe_u04s4_h03_craftque.html

Crafting a Good Research Question

Research Strategies

• Planning Research

Getting Started: Library Research Strategy

• Choosing Your Topic
• Gathering Background Information
• Defining Key Terms

Crafting a Research Question

• Gathering Relevant Information
• Evaluating Sources This link opens in a new window
• Formulating a Thesis Statement
• Avoiding Plagiarism This link opens in a new window
• Citation Styles This link opens in a new window
• What makes a good research question?
• How To Video

A research question guides and centers your research. It helps you avoid the pitfall of finding too much information and drives the research to a defined end.

Choose a general topic of interest and conduct preliminary research on this topic in current periodicals and journals to see what research has already been done. This will help determine what kinds of questions the topic generates. Once you have conducted preliminary research, consider: Who is the audience? Is it an academic essay, or will it be read by a more general public? Once you have conducted preliminary research, start asking openended “How?” “What?” and Why?” questions. Then evaluate possible responses to those questions.

Here's an example:

Idea: Reality television

Research question: In what ways did the writers' strike of 2008 affect the rise in popularity of reality television?

As you find and review your sources, you will discover the answer to your research question. That answer becomes your thesis statement.

Watch this video for tips on how to formulate a defined question to drive your research and help you avoid the pitfall of too much information. Just click on the title above to access the video. ( Transcript  | 4:54)

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The Essential Guide to Doing Your Research Project

Student resources, chapter 7: designing a research plan.

A.    Checklist for Assessing Practicality

By running through the following questions, you can quickly assess the practicality of your methodological plan:

1.    Do you have/can you develop necessary expertise?

Interviewing, observing, theorizing, surveying, statistical analysis – various methods of data collection and analysis will require certain skills. And while you can develop new skills, time / interest can be an issue. Remember - competence is not a luxury. Your skills or lack thereof, will affect the quality of the data you collect and the credibility of the findings you generate.

2.    Is your method ethical? Is it likely to get required ethics approval?

A clear criterion of any research design is that it is ethical; and ethicality is likely to be audited by an ethics committee. If a study calls for interaction with people, it will often require formal workplace and/ or university ethics committee approval. Ethical studies take responsibility for integrity in the production of knowledge and ensures that the mental, emotional, and physical welfare of respondents is protected.

3.    Do you have required access to data?

A major challenge for researchers is gaining access to data. Whether you plan to explore documents, conduct interviews or surveys, or engage in observation, the best-laid plans are worthless if you can’t find a way to access people, places and/ or records.

4.    Is your time frame realistic?

If you have not given yourself long enough to do what your design demands, you are likely to: miss deadlines; compromise your study by changing your methods mid-stream; do a shoddy job with your original methods; compromise time that should be dedicated to other aspects of your job/ life; or finally, not completing your study at all.

5.    Do you have required financial/organizational support?

Whether you need to cover the cost of materials, postage, transcription etc., or the cost of bringing in a professional researcher to help with data collection or analysis, you will need finances. It is important to develop a realistic budget for your study. Research into any problem, no matter how worthy, will not be practical, or in fact, possible if you can’t cover costs. Also make sure that, if appropriate, you have organizational support for time to be dedicated to your project. Not being able to find time can be as debilitating to your study as not being able to find money.

B.    Checklist for Fundamental Methods Questions

-  Who do you want to be able to speak about?

-  Who do you plan to speak to/observe?

-  What is the physical domain of your sample?

-  Are settings relevant to the credibility of your methods?

-  How do your methods fit into your time frame?

-  Is timing relevant to the credibility of your methods?

-  How will I collect my data?

-  How will I implement my methods?

-  What will you look for/what will you ask?

ACRL Framework for Information Literacy Sandbox

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You are here, crafting a research question.

Coming up with a good research question is essential for any research! Whether you're joining a faculty-led group or initiating an independent research project, research questions will be central to your work.

By the end of this activity, you'll be able to:

Generate potential research questions

Refine and improve your research questions

Explain the broader significance of your research question

If you are joining a faculty-led project, you can still benefit from working through this tutorial.  Learning about the process of generating a research question can prepare you for your future independent projects. 

This workshop was created by  UCLA's WI+RE team .

Resource Type(s):

• Learning Object

Information Literacy Frame(s) Addressed:

• Research as Inquiry
• Scholarship as Conversation

Type of Institution:

• Community or Junior College
• Classroom-level
• Course-level
• Undergraduate Research at UCLA
• undergraduate research
• getting started
• Entering Research
• research question

Project Planning for the Beginner: Developing a Researchable Question

• Defining a Topic
• Reviewing the Literature
• Developing a Researchable Question
• Research Design
• Planning, Data, Writing and Dissemination

How Do I Develop a Research Question?

Here are four possible approaches to developing your research question(s). These are not mutually exclusive.

You may hope to work on a general description of a social context. Often, descriptive ethnography takes this form. However, you need to focus on particular aspects of that context which are especially interesting and which result in an understanding which can be generalized beyond the particular context of your research.

You may wish to test a hypothesis . This means you have constructed a specifically formulated statement which can be falsified. This is the dominant approach in experimental research . Usually you will employ statistical methods to test a null hypothesis , which asserts the opposite of the proposition you are testing.

If, for example, your hypothesis is that there is a difference in political attitudes among the people of different ethnic backgrounds in a specific country, you might look at a sample of survey data to test this. In this case, the null hypothesis is that no difference in political attitudes can be found.

You may have some developed ideas about what you wish to engage with, but not a formal testable hypothesis.

Alternatively, your methodological approach may be based on grounded theory . You do not have a hypothesis that you wish to test, but rather you will work in context and the important questions will emerge as you interact systematically with the data you generate from your research. 

Crafting Your Research Questions

Types of research questions: why when who how where.

When developing and answering your research questions, you should be aware of the specific usage of these words in a social science context. “Why” questions seek causal explanations. If you ask “why?” the answer begins with “because.”

When questions locate:

• Events in relation to the time at which they happened

• Processes in relation to when they happened and their duration

• The setting of things in temporal order, or sequencing

• Boundaries of the context of your research.

These last two types of “when” questions have implications for causality and for the generalizations you may be able to make from your research.

Who questions address agency. They seek to identify the persons, institutions, or collective bodies responsible for the things you are researching. You may use who questions simply to identify an informant: “Who told me this?” But you may also use them to indicate specific agency as the cause of an event.

How questions are about mechanisms. The answers describe ways in which things are done, which together result in a given outcome. These questions might cover:

• How you carry out your own research.

• The accounts you generate from your research to indicate how something happened.

Note that there is overlap between how and why questions when dealing with events or system states. Both are addressing cause. Where questions (like when questions) set your research in context. It is important to understand the social world in terms of contextual spaces and circumstances. Both where and when questions should generate answers which help you define the extent to which you can generalize the results of your research. 

What Kinds of Change Can My Research Identify?

Much of social research is concerned with change. In experiments and action research we try to create change. In observational studies we try to see what change has happened. Sometimes, of course, we are interested in why things stay the same.

Here are some examples of the types of change you might identify:

• Changes of kind : Most social science disciplines are concerned with changes of kind. We are interested in the way things become different in terms of the kind of things they are.

• Changes of degree : Some social science is concerned with changes of degree. For example, we may do research on changes in educational achievement.

Identifying change always involves some sort of measurement , even if that measurement is implicit.

• Taxonomies : Social scientists—and other scientists—use classifications to describe different systems. We would do this to identify changes in kind. This process involves the construction of taxonomies, which are systematic sets of types of entities.

• Continuous scales of measurement: To assess changes of degree, we use continuous scales of measurement. For example, we would use a scoring system to measure changes in educational achievement. 

What Makes a Researchable Question?

Here are seven questions to ask yourself. Remember, it’s possible that not all will apply to you. 

• Do I know enough about the area I’m working in to formulate one or more interesting questions which relate to current issues or debates? 
• Do I know which methods I am going to use in my research? If not, see Sage Research Methods "Which Methods Should I Use?"
• Do I have the necessary competence in these methods? If not, can I acquire it in time to do this research?
• Do I have the resources I need: equipment, office space, materials, support?
• Can I get access to the research field?
• Do I have the time needed to complete the work using the methods I’ve identified?
• Do I have time to analyze my research findings, write them up coherently, and draw the project to a conclusion?

Developing a Research Question

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