Research Questions

Research Questions

By the end of this class, you will...

+ Know what a research question is

+ Recognise the difference between good and bad research questions

+ Have practised writing your own research questions

Research questions are confusing

• We all know what questions are

• But why are research questions so difficult?

• And what exactly is a research question?

Simply put...

A research question is a question about your topic that needs to be answered

Multiple Choice

What do you think is the first step to writing a research question?

• do some background research to decide on a good topic

• write the essay first and then write the question

• write a list of things you already know and make a question about that

• pick 2 topics and flip a coin to decide which one to choose

Step 1: Background research

• This gives you ideas for directions you can explore

• Allows you to find a topic that you like

• We have already completed this step!

So what???

Your topic should be important and interesting. If your question is not interesting to you or others, it's probably not worth researching

Step 2: Consider what makes a good or bad research question

Mistake 1: Too narrow

Your question can't be too narrow. This means a question that doesn't have very much information available

Mistake 2: Too Broad

Your question can't be too broad. This means a question that has TOO much information available

Research questions must be specific

Not so broad that you could write a whole book about the topic...

... and not so narrow that you can only write 1 paragraph!

Open vs. Closed questions

• Closed questions can be answered yes/no, a few words, or a list

• Open questions are more complicated to answer and can have many different answers

Multiple Choice

Which question type is better for a research question?

• Open question

• Closed question

Research questions should always be OPEN questions

Closed questions are too narrow to be used for research!

Research questions normally begin with how and what

• What effect/impact does....

• How does....

See if you can tell the difference between these good and bad research questions

Multiple Select

Are white mice better than gray mice?

• Good research question

• Bad research question

Multiple Choice

Which national park is the best?

• Good research question

• Bad research question

Multiple Select

Has the population of the world increased in the past

century?

• Good research question

• Bad research question

Multiple Choice

How do government regulations prevent big companies from polluting the water?

• Good research question

• Bad research question

Multiple Select

Does owning a pet improve quality of life for older people?

• Good research question

• Bad research question

Multiple Choice

What effect does daily use of Twitter have on the attention span of under-16s?

• Good research question

• Bad research question

Step 3: Start writing your question

There is a process you can follow to help you write a good question

Lets see what you have learned...

Multiple Choice

True or False? The best research questions begin with why and who.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Which types of research questions are best?

• Questions about broad topics

• Questions about narrow topics

• Questions about specific topics

Multiple Choice

Yes/no questions are bad because...

• They are too narrow

• They are boring

• They are too specific

Multiple Choice

What kind of topic should you choose for your research?

• A topic that is interesting to you

• A topic that you know a little bit about

• A topic that you find really boring

To summarize...

Now it is your turn

Go to Google Classroom to the activity "Practice writing a research question"