Write a Research Question

A research question is the question you want your academic project or paper to answer. This question should inform your research. Creating a research question is the first step to identifying what you will be researching – what is it that you want to explore, critique, or investigate?

Most research questions are open-ended rather than yes or no questions.  A research question should be focused and should reveal the purpose behind the research.

Your research question helps you define the following:

• Type of Research
  • e.g., case studies, archival research, laboratory work, interviews, and field research
• Scope of Research
  • i.e., parameters that you use to decide what information to include (for more information, refer to Four Steps to Narrow Your Research Topic)
• Method of Research
  • e.g., quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods 

For you as a writer, a strong research question serves as a guideline because it provides clear parameters for what you will accomplish with your project.  A research question helps you to determine which academic articles are relevant to your topic. You can also use a research question to decide if you need to read other sources such as government reports, policy documents, case studies, newspaper articles, blogs, or social media.

Creating a research question is a dynamic, iterative process. Consider developing your research question early so that your reading is more strategic and targeted. Because the research question helps to define your research, it’s helpful at the early stages of your project.  Once you’ve read more literature relevant to your topic, you may need to revise your research question. The research process often involves narrowing your focus, so you may find that you need to refine your research question more than once.

There are many different types of research questions, which will provide different outcomes for your research and shape the type of answer you will get. When deciding what type of question to ask, first determine the purpose of your research project, and then choose an interrogative word (e.g., how, why, what, etc.) to guide your investigation.

Here are some different categories of investigation: 

• Exploration: Is something happening?
• Description: What is happening?
• Explanatory: How is something happening?
• Analysis: Why is something happening?
• Evaluation: How effectively has something happened?
• Prediction: What will happen?
• Comparison: What are the similarities or differences?
• Observational/Relational: What is the relationship between two variables?
• Causal/Correlational: Does one variable cause or affect another?

To develop any research question (e.g., for a course paper), you will need to identify your topic and problem. To develop a research question for an original project (e.g., for a graduate thesis or grant application), you will need to identify your topic, problem, and gap. Then, you need to frame this information as a question. Start with words such as who, what, when, where, why, or how.

To develop a research question based on an assignment guideline, consider the assignment keywords and use them to determine the type of inquiry required (e.g., knowledge, prediction, synthesis, analysis).

The following chart provides examples of what questions correspond to specific keywords:

You can also use the following strategies to get started:

• Consider any personal, work, or educational interests that you what to explore and learn more about.
• Revisit related coursework for ideas that interested you.
• Read current research articles on a topic that you want to explore. Many articles conclude with recommendations for future study or indicate what is yet to be explored in the field. Check to see who has cited the article to determine if other researchers are conducting related research. Published literature reviews can also be a good starting point.
• Attend conferences in your field, where you can learn about research gaps and debates.
• Talk with your professor or supervisor to discover what central questions they are exploring in their own research. With their permission, you may be able to develop a research project from one of their subsidiary research questions.  

If you’re working with industry partners, community partners, or practitioners in the field:

• Think about what your dedicated audience wants to know or what would benefit them. Have conversations with these partners early to help you focus your research.

If you’ve been given a large data set:

• Use an inductive approach to create a research question based on what you want to know about the data that has been collected. Examine patterns and trends in existing data sets to generate your question.

Research questions can be framed in different ways in different disciplines. Read articles in your discipline to explore how research questions can be written. Some examples include the following:

• a research question written as a question
• a research question expressed as a purpose statement
• a research question accompanied by a hypothesis as a potential response
• a research question accompanied by aims and objectives as operational statements
• a thesis statement as an answer to the research question

Purpose Statement

Once you have answered your research question and need to report your findings in a paper, report, article, thesis, or dissertation, you can rewrite your research question as a purpose statement:

• use words that indicate purpose (e.g., aim, objective, purpose, goal, seek)
• use critical language that describes your inquiry process (e.g., analyze, assess, evaluate, examine)
• consider listing the sections of your project (e.g., approaches, methods, treatments)

Hypothesis

Your hypothesis should provide one (of many) possible answers to your research question.

• What are the specific hypotheses to be tested and/or issues to be explored?
• What results do you anticipate?

Usually, a hypothesis is written to show the relationship between the independent and dependent variables.

Your hypothesis must be

• An expected relationship between variables
• Testable
• Falsifiable
• Consistent with the existing body of knowledge

Aims and objectives

Aims are typically broader statements of what you are trying to accomplish and may or may not be measurable. What are you trying to accomplish?

Objectives are operational statements that indicate how you will accomplish the aims of your project. How are you going to address the research question?

Be specific and make sure your aims or objectives are realistic. You want to convey that it is feasible to answer this question with the objectives you have proposed.

Thesis statement

In some disciplines, the term thesis statement is discussed more commonly than research question. Thesis statement refers to the argument or major idea that the paper is advancing. However, while having a thesis is essential, taking a step backward and thinking about the question you’re trying to answer can help you develop your thesis statement.

For more support on writing thesis statements, check out these resources: