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Writing Strong Research Questions | Criteria & Examples

Published on October 26, 2022 by Shona McCombes . Revised on November 21, 2023.

A research question pinpoints exactly what you want to find out in your work. A good research question is essential to guide your research paper , dissertation , or thesis .

All research questions should be:

• Focused on a single problem or issue
• Researchable using primary and/or secondary sources
• Feasible to answer within the timeframe and practical constraints
• Specific enough to answer thoroughly
• Complex enough to develop the answer over the space of a paper or thesis
• Relevant to your field of study and/or society more broadly

Table of contents

How to write a research question, what makes a strong research question, using sub-questions to strengthen your main research question, research questions quiz, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about research questions.

You can follow these steps to develop a strong research question:

• Choose your topic
• Do some preliminary reading about the current state of the field
• Narrow your focus to a specific niche
• Identify the research problem that you will address

The way you frame your question depends on what your research aims to achieve. The table below shows some examples of how you might formulate questions for different purposes.

Using your research problem to develop your research question

Note that while most research questions can be answered with various types of research , the way you frame your question should help determine your choices.

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Research questions anchor your whole project, so it’s important to spend some time refining them. The criteria below can help you evaluate the strength of your research question.

Focused and researchable

Feasible and specific

Complex and arguable

Relevant and original

Chances are that your main research question likely can’t be answered all at once. That’s why sub-questions are important: they allow you to answer your main question in a step-by-step manner.

Good sub-questions should be:

• Less complex than the main question
• Focused only on 1 type of research
• Presented in a logical order

Here are a few examples of descriptive and framing questions:

• Descriptive: According to current government arguments, how should a European bank tax be implemented?
• Descriptive: Which countries have a bank tax/levy on financial transactions?
• Framing: How should a bank tax/levy on financial transactions look at a European level?

Keep in mind that sub-questions are by no means mandatory. They should only be asked if you need the findings to answer your main question. If your main question is simple enough to stand on its own, it’s okay to skip the sub-question part. As a rule of thumb, the more complex your subject, the more sub-questions you’ll need.

Try to limit yourself to 4 or 5 sub-questions, maximum. If you feel you need more than this, it may be indication that your main research question is not sufficiently specific. In this case, it’s is better to revisit your problem statement and try to tighten your main question up.

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If you want to know more about the research process , methodology , research bias , or statistics , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Methodology

• Sampling methods
• Simple random sampling
• Stratified sampling
• Cluster sampling
• Likert scales
• Reproducibility

 Statistics

• Null hypothesis
• Statistical power
• Probability distribution
• Effect size
• Poisson distribution

Research bias

• Optimism bias
• Cognitive bias
• Implicit bias
• Hawthorne effect
• Anchoring bias
• Explicit bias

The way you present your research problem in your introduction varies depending on the nature of your research paper . A research paper that presents a sustained argument will usually encapsulate this argument in a thesis statement .

A research paper designed to present the results of empirical research tends to present a research question that it seeks to answer. It may also include a hypothesis —a prediction that will be confirmed or disproved by your research.

As you cannot possibly read every source related to your topic, it’s important to evaluate sources to assess their relevance. Use preliminary evaluation to determine whether a source is worth examining in more depth.

This involves:

• Reading abstracts , prefaces, introductions , and conclusions
• Looking at the table of contents to determine the scope of the work
• Consulting the index for key terms or the names of important scholars

A research hypothesis is your proposed answer to your research question. The research hypothesis usually includes an explanation (“ x affects y because …”).

A statistical hypothesis, on the other hand, is a mathematical statement about a population parameter. Statistical hypotheses always come in pairs: the null and alternative hypotheses . In a well-designed study , the statistical hypotheses correspond logically to the research hypothesis.

Formulating a main research question can be a difficult task. Overall, your question should contribute to solving the problem that you have defined in your problem statement .

However, it should also fulfill criteria in three main areas:

• Researchability
• Feasibility and specificity
• Relevance and originality

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How to Write a Research Question: Types and Examples 

The first step in any research project is framing the research question. It can be considered the core of any systematic investigation as the research outcomes are tied to asking the right questions. Thus, this primary interrogation point sets the pace for your research as it helps collect relevant and insightful information that ultimately influences your work.   

Typically, the research question guides the stages of inquiry, analysis, and reporting. Depending on the use of quantifiable or quantitative data, research questions are broadly categorized into quantitative or qualitative research questions. Both types of research questions can be used independently or together, considering the overall focus and objectives of your research.  

What is a research question?

A research question is a clear, focused, concise, and arguable question on which your research and writing are centered. 1 It states various aspects of the study, including the population and variables to be studied and the problem the study addresses. These questions also set the boundaries of the study, ensuring cohesion. 

Designing the research question is a dynamic process where the researcher can change or refine the research question as they review related literature and develop a framework for the study. Depending on the scale of your research, the study can include single or multiple research questions. 

A good research question has the following features: 

• It is relevant to the chosen field of study. 
• The question posed is arguable and open for debate, requiring synthesizing and analysis of ideas. 
• It is focused and concisely framed. 
• A feasible solution is possible within the given practical constraint and timeframe. 

A poorly formulated research question poses several risks. 1   

• Researchers can adopt an erroneous design. 
• It can create confusion and hinder the thought process, including developing a clear protocol.  
• It can jeopardize publication efforts.  
• It causes difficulty in determining the relevance of the study findings.  
• It causes difficulty in whether the study fulfils the inclusion criteria for systematic review and meta-analysis. This creates challenges in determining whether additional studies or data collection is needed to answer the question.  
• Readers may fail to understand the objective of the study. This reduces the likelihood of the study being cited by others. 

Now that you know “What is a research question?”, let’s look at the different types of research questions. 

Types of research questions

Depending on the type of research to be done, research questions can be classified broadly into quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods studies. Knowing the type of research helps determine the best type of research question that reflects the direction and epistemological underpinnings of your research. 

The structure and wording of quantitative 2 and qualitative research 3 questions differ significantly. The quantitative study looks at causal relationships, whereas the qualitative study aims at exploring a phenomenon. 

• Quantitative research questions:  
• Seeks to investigate social, familial, or educational experiences or processes in a particular context and/or location.  
• Answers ‘how,’ ‘what,’ or ‘why’ questions. 
• Investigates connections, relations, or comparisons between independent and dependent variables. 

Quantitative research questions can be further categorized into descriptive, comparative, and relationship, as explained in the Table below. 

• Qualitative research questions  

Qualitative research questions are adaptable, non-directional, and more flexible. It concerns broad areas of research or more specific areas of study to discover, explain, or explore a phenomenon. These are further classified as follows: 

• Mixed-methods studies  

Mixed-methods studies use both quantitative and qualitative research questions to answer your research question. Mixed methods provide a complete picture than standalone quantitative or qualitative research, as it integrates the benefits of both methods. Mixed methods research is often used in multidisciplinary settings and complex situational or societal research, especially in the behavioral, health, and social science fields. 

What makes a good research question

A good research question should be clear and focused to guide your research. It should synthesize multiple sources to present your unique argument, and should ideally be something that you are interested in. But avoid questions that can be answered in a few factual statements. The following are the main attributes of a good research question. 

• Specific: The research question should not be a fishing expedition performed in the hopes that some new information will be found that will benefit the researcher. The central research question should work with your research problem to keep your work focused. If using multiple questions, they should all tie back to the central aim. 
• Measurable: The research question must be answerable using quantitative and/or qualitative data or from scholarly sources to develop your research question. If such data is impossible to access, it is better to rethink your question. 
• Attainable: Ensure you have enough time and resources to do all research required to answer your question. If it seems you will not be able to gain access to the data you need, consider narrowing down your question to be more specific. 
• You have the expertise 
• You have the equipment and resources 
• Realistic: Developing your research question should be based on initial reading about your topic. It should focus on addressing a problem or gap in the existing knowledge in your field or discipline. 
• Based on some sort of rational physics 
• Can be done in a reasonable time frame 
• Timely: The research question should contribute to an existing and current debate in your field or in society at large. It should produce knowledge that future researchers or practitioners can later build on. 
• Novel 
• Based on current technologies. 
• Important to answer current problems or concerns. 
• Lead to new directions. 
• Important: Your question should have some aspect of originality. Incremental research is as important as exploring disruptive technologies. For example, you can focus on a specific location or explore a new angle. 
• Meaningful whether the answer is “Yes” or “No.” Closed-ended, yes/no questions are too simple to work as good research questions. Such questions do not provide enough scope for robust investigation and discussion. A good research question requires original data, synthesis of multiple sources, and original interpretation and argumentation before providing an answer. 

Steps for developing a good research question

The importance of research questions cannot be understated. When drafting a research question, use the following frameworks to guide the components of your question to ease the process. 4  

• Determine the requirements: Before constructing a good research question, set your research requirements. What is the purpose? Is it descriptive, comparative, or explorative research? Determining the research aim will help you choose the most appropriate topic and word your question appropriately. 
• Select a broad research topic: Identify a broader subject area of interest that requires investigation. Techniques such as brainstorming or concept mapping can help identify relevant connections and themes within a broad research topic. For example, how to learn and help students learn. 
• Perform preliminary investigation: Preliminary research is needed to obtain up-to-date and relevant knowledge on your topic. It also helps identify issues currently being discussed from which information gaps can be identified. 
• Narrow your focus: Narrow the scope and focus of your research to a specific niche. This involves focusing on gaps in existing knowledge or recent literature or extending or complementing the findings of existing literature. Another approach involves constructing strong research questions that challenge your views or knowledge of the area of study (Example: Is learning consistent with the existing learning theory and research). 
• Identify the research problem: Once the research question has been framed, one should evaluate it. This is to realize the importance of the research questions and if there is a need for more revising (Example: How do your beliefs on learning theory and research impact your instructional practices). 

How to write a research question

Those struggling to understand how to write a research question, these simple steps can help you simplify the process of writing a research question. 

Sample Research Questions

The following are some bad and good research question examples 

• Example 1 

• Example 2 

References:  

• Thabane, L., Thomas, T., Ye, C., & Paul, J. (2009). Posing the research question: not so simple.  Canadian Journal of Anesthesia/Journal canadien d’anesthésie ,  56 (1), 71-79. 
• Rutberg, S., & Bouikidis, C. D. (2018). Focusing on the fundamentals: A simplistic differentiation between qualitative and quantitative research.  Nephrology Nursing Journal ,  45 (2), 209-213. 
• Kyngäs, H. (2020). Qualitative research and content analysis.  The application of content analysis in nursing science research , 3-11. 
• Mattick, K., Johnston, J., & de la Croix, A. (2018). How to… write a good research question.  The clinical teacher ,  15 (2), 104-108. 
• Fandino, W. (2019). Formulating a good research question: Pearls and pitfalls.  Indian Journal of Anaesthesia ,  63 (8), 611. 
• Richardson, W. S., Wilson, M. C., Nishikawa, J., & Hayward, R. S. (1995). The well-built clinical question: a key to evidence-based decisions.  ACP journal club ,  123 (3), A12-A13 

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Developing a Research Question

by acburton | Mar 22, 2024 | Resources for Students , Writing Resources

Selecting your research question and creating a clear goal and structure for your writing can be challenging – whether you are doing it for the first time or if you’ve done it many times before. It can be especially difficult when your research question starts to look and feel a little different somewhere between your first and final draft. Don’t panic! It’s normal for your research question to change a little (or even quite a bit) as you move through and engage with the writing process. Anticipating this can remind you to stay on track while you work and that it’ll be okay even if the literature takes you in a different direction.

What Makes an Effective Research Question?

The most effective research question will usually be a critical thinking question and should use “how” or “why” to ensure it can move beyond a yes/no or one-word type of answer. Consider how your research question can aim to reveal something new, fill in a gap, even if small, and contribute to the field in a meaningful way; How might the proposed project move knowledge forward about a particular place or process? This should be specific and achievable!

The CEWC’s Grad Writing Consultant Tariq says, “I definitely concentrated on those aspects of what I saw in the field where I believed there was an opportunity to move the discipline forward.”

General Tips

Do your research.

Utilize the librarians at your university and take the time to research your topic first. Try looking at very general sources to get an idea of what could be interesting to you before you move to more academic articles that support your rough idea of the topic. It is important that research is grounded in what you see or experience regarding the topic you have chosen and what is already known in the literature. Spend time researching articles, books, etc. that supports your thesis. Once you have a number of sources that you know support what you want to write about, formulate a research question that serves as the interrogative form of your thesis statement.

Grad Writing Consultant Deni advises, “Delineate your intervention in the literature (i.e., be strategic about the literature you discuss and clear about your contributions to it).”

Start Broadly…. then Narrow Your Topic Down to Something Manageable

When brainstorming your research question, let your mind veer toward connections or associations that you might have already considered or that seem to make sense and consider if new research terms, language or concepts come to mind that may be interesting or exciting for you as a researcher. Sometimes testing out a research question while doing some preliminary researching is also useful to see if the language you are using or the direction you are heading toward is fruitful when trying to search strategically in academic databases. Be prepared to focus on a specific area of a broad topic.

Writing Consultant Jessie recommends outlining: “I think some rough outlining with a research question in mind can be helpful for me. I’ll have a research question and maybe a working thesis that I feel may be my claim to the research question based on some preliminary materials, brainstorming, etc.” — Jessie, CEWC Writing Consultant

Try an Exercise

In the earliest phase of brainstorming, try an exercise suggested by CEWC Writing Specialist, Percival! While it is normally used in classroom or workshop settings, this exercise can easily be modified for someone working alone. The flow of the activity, if done within a group setting, is 1) someone starts with an idea, 2) three other people share their idea, and 3) the starting person picks two of these new ideas they like best and combines their original idea with those. The activity then begins again with the idea that was not chosen. The solo version of this exercise substitutes a ‘word bank,’ created using words, topics, or ideas similar to your broad, overarching theme. Pick two words or phrases from your word bank, combine it with your original idea or topic, and ‘start again’ with two different words. This serves as a replacement for different people’s suggestions. Ideas for your ‘word bank’ can range from vague prompts about mapping or webbing (e.g., where your topic falls within the discipline and others like it), to more specific concepts that come from tracing the history of an idea (its past, present, future) or mapping the idea’s related ideas, influences, etc. Care for a physics analogy? There is a particle (your topic) that you can describe, a wave that the particle traces, and a field that the particle is mapped on.

Get Feedback and Affirm Your Confidence!

Creating a few different versions of your research question (they may be the same topic/issue/theme or differ slightly) can be useful during this process. Sharing these with trusted friends, colleagues, mentors, (or tutors!) and having conversations about your questions and ideas with other people can help you decide which version you may feel most confident or interested in. Ask colleagues and mentors to share their research questions with you to get a lot of examples. Once you have done the work of developing an effective research question, do not forget to affirm your confidence! Based on your working thesis, think about how you might organize your chapters or paragraphs and what resources you have for supporting this structure and organization. This can help boost your confidence that the research question you have created is effective and fruitful.

Be Open to Change

Remember, your research question may change from your first to final draft. For questions along the way, make an appointment with the Writing Center. We are here to help you develop an effective and engaging research question and build the foundation for a solid research paper!

Example 1: In my field developing a research question involves navigating the relationship between 1) what one sees/experiences at their field site and 2) what is already known in the literature. During my preliminary research, I found that the financial value of land was often a matter of precisely these cultural factors. So, my research question ended up being: How do the social and material qualities of land entangle with processes of financialization in the city of Lahore. Regarding point #1, this question was absolutely informed by what I saw in the field. But regarding point #2, the question was also heavily shaped by the literature. – Tariq

Example 2: A research question should not be a yes/no question like “Is pollution bad?”; but an open-ended question where the answer has to be supported with reasons and explanation. The question also has to be narrowed down to a specific topic—using the same example as before—”Is pollution bad?” can be revised to “How does pollution affect people?” I would encourage students to be more specific then; e.g., what area of pollution do you want to talk about: water, air, plastic, climate change… what type of people or demographic can we focus on? …how does this affect marginalized communities, minorities, or specific areas in California? After researching and deciding on a focus, your question might sound something like: How does government policy affect water pollution and how does it affect the marginalized communities in the state of California? -Janella

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How to Craft a Strong Research Question (With Research Question Examples)

A sound and effective research question is a key element that must be identified and pinned down before researchers can even begin their research study or work. A strong research question lays the foundation for your entire study, guiding your investigation and shaping your findings. Hence, it is critical that researchers spend considerable time assessing and refining the research question based on in-depth reading and comprehensive literature review. In this article, we will discuss how to write a strong research question and provide you with some good examples of research questions across various disciplines.

Table of Contents

The importance of a research question

A research question plays a crucial role in driving scientific inquiry, setting the direction and purpose of your study, and guiding your entire research process. By formulating a clear and focused research question, you lay the foundation for your investigation, ensuring that your research remains on track and aligned with your objectives so you can make meaningful contribution to the existing body of knowledge. A well-crafted research question also helps you define the scope of your study and identify the appropriate methodologies and data collection techniques to employ.

Key components of a strong research question

A good research question possesses several key components that contribute to the quality and impact of your study. Apart from providing a clear framework to generate meaningful results, a well-defined research question allows other researchers to understand the purpose and significance of your work. So, when working on your research question, incorporate the following elements:

• Specificity : A strong research question should be specific about the main focus of your study, enabling you to gather precise data and draw accurate conclusions. It clearly defines the variables, participants, and context involved, leaving no room for ambiguity.
• Clarity : A good research question is clear and easily understood, so articulate the purpose and intent of your study concisely without being generic or vague. Ensuring clarity in your research question helps both you and your readers grasp the research objective.
• Feasibility : While crafting a research question, consider the practicality of conducting the research and availability of necessary data or access to participants. Think whether your study is realistic and achievable within the constraints of time, resources, and ethical considerations.

How to craft a well-defined research question

A first step that will help save time and effort is knowing what your aims are and thinking about a few problem statements on the area or aspect one wants to study or do research on. Contemplating these statements as one undertakes more progressive reading can help the researcher in reassessing and fine-tuning the research question. This can be done over time as they read and learn more about the research topic, along with a broad literature review and parallel discussions with peer researchers and supervisors. In some cases, a researcher can have more than one research question if the research being undertaken is a PhD thesis or dissertation, but try not to cover multiple concerns on a topic.

A strong research question must be researchable, original, complex, and relevant. Here are five simple steps that can make the entire process easier.

• Identify a broad topic from your areas of interest, something that is relevant, and you are passionate about since you’ll be spending a lot of time conducting your research.
• Do a thorough literature review to weed out potential gaps in research and stay updated on what’s currently being done in your chosen topic and subject area.
• Shortlist possible research questions based on the research gaps or see how you can build on or refute previously published ideas and concepts.
• Assess your chosen research question using the FINER criteria that helps you evaluate whether the research is Feasible, Interesting, Novel, Ethical, and Relevant. 1
• Formulate the final research question, while ensuring it is clear, well-written, and addresses all the key elements of a strong research question.

Examples of research questions

Remember to adapt your research question to suit your purpose, whether it’s exploratory, descriptive, comparative, experimental, qualitative, or quantitative. Embrace the iterative nature of the research process, continually evaluating and refining your question as you progress. Here are some good examples of research questions across various disciplines.

Exploratory research question examples

• How does social media impact interpersonal relationships among teenagers?
• What are the potential benefits of incorporating mindfulness practices in the workplace?

Descriptive research question examples

• What factors influence customer loyalty in the e-commerce industry?
• Is there a relationship between socioeconomic status and academic performance among elementary school students?

Comparative research question examples

• How does the effectiveness of traditional teaching methods compare to online learning platforms in mathematics education?
• What is the impact of different healthcare policies on patient outcomes in various countries?

Experimental research question examples

• What are the effects of a new drug on reducing symptoms of a specific medical condition?
• Does a dietary intervention have an impact on weight loss among individuals with obesity?

Qualitative research question examples

• What are the lived experiences of immigrants adapting to a new culture?
• What factors influence job satisfaction among healthcare professionals?

Quantitative research question examples

• Is there a relationship between sleep duration and academic performance among college students?
• How effective is a specific intervention in reducing anxiety levels among individuals with phobias?

With these simple guidelines and inspiring examples of research questions, you are equipped to embark on your research journey with confidence and purpose. Here’s wishing you all the best for your future endeavors!

References:

• How to write a research question: Steps and examples. Indeed Career Guide. Available online at https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/how-to-write-research-questions

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Research Toolkit: Creating a Research Question

• Understand Your Assignment
• Choosing a Topic
• Creating a Research Question
• Where to Begin Your Search
• Find a Book
• Find Articles - The Basics
• Find an Article - Advanced Strategies
• Books from Another Library
• Find a Scholarly Article
• Found Too Much/Too Little
• Quickly evaluate a book
• Quickly evaluate an article
• Quickly evaluate a website
• What is peer review?
• Quickly Read an Article or Book
• Lateral Reading
• Know when to cite
• Cite Specific Source
• Find a Citation Tool
• Find a Source Again
• Google vs. Library Resources
• Discover Google Search Tips
• Use Google Scholar
• Using LibKey Nomad

  Prepare to Research

 find books, articles &  other sources,   evaluating sources  (are they any good),   citing sources,  use the web for  research, create a research question, choosing a research topic.

What is a Research Question?

A research question focuses your research and centers your thinking.  A good research question requires you to think critically and ask further questions. It is broad enough that you can find plenty of sources, and focused enough that you can fully consider it.  Your research question should be interesting to you and get you excited to learn more.  If a question leaves you asking “so what?” or “who cares?,” it is not worth investigating. Your research question can evolve as you learn more about your topic, and you can revise or modify your question as you learn more.

Elements of a good research question:

• Clear and focused - your question makes sense and is not vague.
• Arguable - your question is open to debate and cannot be answered with a report of facts.
• Complex - your question requires critical analysis of ideas and sources; it cannot be answered with a simple “yes” or “no.”

Adapted from an explanation by Dr. Jennifer Einspahr, with many thanks.

How to develop your research question:

• Before you can develop a research question, you need to choose a topic .
• Choose an idea or issue that you are curious and passionate about.
• Think critically and ask further questions: Ask “how” and “why” questions about your topic. For example, “How did films from the 1930s reflect or respond to the conditions of the Great Depression?”
• What issues are scholars and researchers discussing?
• What questions come up as you read these sources?
• Search library databases for encyclopedias, scholarly books, and articles.
• Consult bibliographies of sources you have read in class.
• Is your research question clear and understandable ? 
• Is your research question focused ?  - Research questions must be specific in order to be covered in depth.
• Is your research question complex ?  - Research questions should not be answerable with “yes” or “no,” or by easily found facts. They require research and analysis, and they often begin with “How” or “Why.”
• Intensify your research.   What are the possible paths your research question could take? What types of sources should you consult? What approach to your research will ensure that you find a variety of perspectives and responses to your question?

Example Research Questions

Unclear : How should social networking sites address the harm they cause? Clear : What action should social networking sites like Instagram and Facebook take to protect users’ personal information and privacy?

The unclear version of this question doesn’t specify which social networking sites or suggest what kind of harm the sites might be causing. It also assumes that this “harm” is proven and/or accepted. The clearer version specifies sites (Instagram and Facebook), the type of potential harm (privacy issues), and who may be experiencing that harm (users). A strong research question leaves no room for ambiguity or misinterpretation.

Unfocused :  What is the effect on the environment from global warming? Focused :  What is the most significant effect of glacial melting on the lives of penguins in Antarctica?

The unfocused research question is so broad that it couldn’t be adequately answered in a book-length work, let alone a standard college-level paper. The focused version is narrowed to a specific effect of global warming (glacial melting), a specific place (Antarctica), and a specific animal that is affected (penguins). It also requires the writer to take a stance on which effect has the greatest impact on the affected animal. When in doubt, make a research question as narrow and focused as possible.

Too simple :  How are doctors addressing diabetes in the U.S.? Appropriately Complex :   What environmental, behavioral, and genetic factors predict whether some Americans will develop diabetes, and how can these commonalities be analysed to further medical research toward prevention of the disease?

The simple version of this question can be looked up online and answered in a few factual sentences, leaving no room for analysis. The more complex version is written in two parts; it is thought provoking and requires both significant investigation and evaluation from the writer. If a quick Google search can answer a research question, then the question does not pose sufficient analysis and critical thinking.

Adapted from George Mason University Writing Center. (2018). How to write a research question. Retrieved from http://writingcenter.gmu.edu/guides/how-to-write-a-research-question

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Writing Studio

Formulating your research question (rq).

In an effort to make our handouts more accessible, we have begun converting our PDF handouts to web pages. Download this page as a PDF: Formulating Your Research Question Return to Writing Studio Handouts

In a research paper, the emphasis is on generating a unique question and then synthesizing diverse sources into a coherent essay that supports your argument about the topic. In other words, you integrate information from publications with your own thoughts in order to formulate an argument. Your topic is your starting place: from here, you will develop an engaging research question. Merely presenting a topic in the form of a question does not transform it into a good research question.

Research Topic Versus Research Question Examples

1. broad topic versus narrow question, 1a. broad topic.

“What forces affect race relations in America?”

1b. NARROWER QUESTION

“How do corporate hiring practices affect race relations in Nashville?”

The question “What is the percentage of racial minorities holding management positions in corporate offices in Nashville?” is much too specific and would yield, at best, a statistic that could become part of a larger argument.

2. Neutral Topic Versus Argumentative Question

2a. neutral topic.

“How does KFC market its low-fat food offerings?”

2b. Argumentative question

“Does KFC put more money into marketing its high-fat food offerings than its lower-fat ones?”

The latter question is somewhat better, since it may lead you to take a stance or formulate an argument about consumer awareness or benefit.

3. Objective Topic Versus Subjective Question

Objective subjects are factual and do not have sides to be argued. Subjective subjects are those about which you can take a side.

3a. Objective topic

“How much time do youth between the ages of 10 and 15 spend playing video games?”

3b. Subjective Question

“What are the effects of video-gaming on the attention spans of youth between the ages of 10 and 15?”

The first question is likely to lead to some data, though not necessarily to an argument or issue. The second question is somewhat better, since it might lead you to formulate an argument for or against time spent playing video games.

4. Open-Ended Topic Versus Direct Question

4a. open-ended topic.

“Does the author of this text use allusion?”

4b. Direct question (gives direction to research)

“Does the ironic use of allusion in this text reveal anything about the author’s unwillingness to divulge his political commitments?”

The second question gives focus by putting the use of allusion into the specific context of a question about the author’s political commitments and perhaps also about the circumstances under which the text was produced.

Research Question (RQ) Checklist

• Is my RQ something that I am curious about and that others might care about? Does it present an issue on which I can take a stand?
• Does my RQ put a new spin on an old issue, or does it try to solve a problem?
• Is my RQ too broad, too narrow, or OK?
• within the time frame of the assignment?
• given the resources available at my location?
• Is my RQ measurable? What type of information do I need? Can I find actual data to support or contradict a position?
• What sources will have the type of information that I need to answer my RQ (journals, books, internet resources, government documents, interviews with people)?

Final Thoughts

The answer to a good research question will often be the THESIS of your research paper! And the results of your research may not always be what you expected them to be. Not only is this ok, it can be an indication that you are doing careful work!

Adapted from an online tutorial at Empire State College: http://www.esc.edu/htmlpages/writerold/menus.htm#develop (broken link)

Last revised: November 2022 | Adapted for web delivery: November 2022

In order to access certain content on this page, you may need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader or an equivalent PDF viewer software.

LBST 2301 (SOCY): Critical Thinking & Communication - Karen Cushing

• How to Develop a Research Question
• Writing a Research Proposal
• Popular vs. Scholarly Resources
• Annotated Bibliography
• Citing Your Sources

Developing a Research Question

Developing Strong Research Questions

A good research question is essential to guide your research paper, project or thesis. It pinpoints exactly what you want to find out and gives your work a clear focus and purpose. All research questions should be:

• Focused on a single problem or issue
• Researchable using primary and/or secondary sources
• Feasible to answer within the timeframe and practical constraints
• Specific enough to answer thoroughly
• Complex enough to develop the answer over the space of a paper or thesis
• Relevant to your field of study and/or society more broadly

In a research paper or essay, you will usually write a single research question to guide your reading and thinking. The answer that you develop is your thesis statement — the central assertion or position that your paper will argue for.

In a bigger research project, such as a thesis or dissertation, you might have multiple research questions, but they should all be clearly connected and focused around a central research problem.

From: Scribbr

How to Write a Research Question

How to write a research question.

The process of developing your research question follows several steps:

• Choose a broad topic
• Do some preliminary reading to find out about topical debates and issues
• Narrow down a specific niche that you want to focus on
• Identify a practical or theoretical research problem that you will address

When you have a clearly-defined problem, you need to formulate one or more questions. Think about exactly what you want to know and how it will contribute to resolving the problem.

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Formulation of Research Question – Stepwise Approach

Simmi k. ratan.

Department of Pediatric Surgery, Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, India

1 Department of Community Medicine, North Delhi Municipal Corporation Medical College, New Delhi, India

2 Department of Pediatric Surgery, Batra Hospital and Research Centre, New Delhi, India

Formulation of research question (RQ) is an essentiality before starting any research. It aims to explore an existing uncertainty in an area of concern and points to a need for deliberate investigation. It is, therefore, pertinent to formulate a good RQ. The present paper aims to discuss the process of formulation of RQ with stepwise approach. The characteristics of good RQ are expressed by acronym “FINERMAPS” expanded as feasible, interesting, novel, ethical, relevant, manageable, appropriate, potential value, publishability, and systematic. A RQ can address different formats depending on the aspect to be evaluated. Based on this, there can be different types of RQ such as based on the existence of the phenomenon, description and classification, composition, relationship, comparative, and causality. To develop a RQ, one needs to begin by identifying the subject of interest and then do preliminary research on that subject. The researcher then defines what still needs to be known in that particular subject and assesses the implied questions. After narrowing the focus and scope of the research subject, researcher frames a RQ and then evaluates it. Thus, conception to formulation of RQ is very systematic process and has to be performed meticulously as research guided by such question can have wider impact in the field of social and health research by leading to formulation of policies for the benefit of larger population.

I NTRODUCTION

A good research question (RQ) forms backbone of a good research, which in turn is vital in unraveling mysteries of nature and giving insight into a problem.[ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ] RQ identifies the problem to be studied and guides to the methodology. It leads to building up of an appropriate hypothesis (Hs). Hence, RQ aims to explore an existing uncertainty in an area of concern and points to a need for deliberate investigation. A good RQ helps support a focused arguable thesis and construction of a logical argument. Hence, formulation of a good RQ is undoubtedly one of the first critical steps in the research process, especially in the field of social and health research, where the systematic generation of knowledge that can be used to promote, restore, maintain, and/or protect health of individuals and populations.[ 1 , 3 , 4 ] Basically, the research can be classified as action, applied, basic, clinical, empirical, administrative, theoretical, or qualitative or quantitative research, depending on its purpose.[ 2 ]

Research plays an important role in developing clinical practices and instituting new health policies. Hence, there is a need for a logical scientific approach as research has an important goal of generating new claims.[ 1 ]

C HARACTERISTICS OF G OOD R ESEARCH Q UESTION

“The most successful research topics are narrowly focused and carefully defined but are important parts of a broad-ranging, complex problem.”

A good RQ is an asset as it:

• Details the problem statement
• Further describes and refines the issue under study
• Adds focus to the problem statement
• Guides data collection and analysis
• Sets context of research.

Hence, while writing RQ, it is important to see if it is relevant to the existing time frame and conditions. For example, the impact of “odd-even” vehicle formula in decreasing the level of air particulate pollution in various districts of Delhi.

A good research is represented by acronym FINERMAPS[ 5 ]

Interesting.

• Appropriate
• Potential value and publishability
• Systematic.

Feasibility means that it is within the ability of the investigator to carry out. It should be backed by an appropriate number of subjects and methodology as well as time and funds to reach the conclusions. One needs to be realistic about the scope and scale of the project. One has to have access to the people, gadgets, documents, statistics, etc. One should be able to relate the concepts of the RQ to the observations, phenomena, indicators, or variables that one can access. One should be clear that the collection of data and the proceedings of project can be completed within the limited time and resources available to the investigator. Sometimes, a RQ appears feasible, but when fieldwork or study gets started, it proves otherwise. In this situation, it is important to write up the problems honestly and to reflect on what has been learned. One should try to discuss with more experienced colleagues or the supervisor so as to develop a contingency plan to anticipate possible problems while working on a RQ and find possible solutions in such situations.

This is essential that one has a real grounded interest in one's RQ and one can explore this and back it up with academic and intellectual debate. This interest will motivate one to keep going with RQ.

The question should not simply copy questions investigated by other workers but should have scope to be investigated. It may aim at confirming or refuting the already established findings, establish new facts, or find new aspects of the established facts. It should show imagination of the researcher. Above all, the question has to be simple and clear. The complexity of a question can frequently hide unclear thoughts and lead to a confused research process. A very elaborate RQ, or a question which is not differentiated into different parts, may hide concepts that are contradictory or not relevant. This needs to be clear and thought-through. Having one key question with several subcomponents will guide your research.

This is the foremost requirement of any RQ and is mandatory to get clearance from appropriate authorities before stating research on the question. Further, the RQ should be such that it minimizes the risk of harm to the participants in the research, protect the privacy and maintain their confidentiality, and provide the participants right to withdraw from research. It should also guide in avoiding deceptive practices in research.

The question should of academic and intellectual interest to people in the field you have chosen to study. The question preferably should arise from issues raised in the current situation, literature, or in practice. It should establish a clear purpose for the research in relation to the chosen field. For example, filling a gap in knowledge, analyzing academic assumptions or professional practice, monitoring a development in practice, comparing different approaches, or testing theories within a specific population are some of the relevant RQs.

Manageable (M): It has the similar essence as of feasibility but mainly means that the following research can be managed by the researcher.

Appropriate (A): RQ should be appropriate logically and scientifically for the community and institution.

Potential value and publishability (P): The study can make significant health impact in clinical and community practices. Therefore, research should aim for significant economic impact to reduce unnecessary or excessive costs. Furthermore, the proposed study should exist within a clinical, consumer, or policy-making context that is amenable to evidence-based change. Above all, a good RQ must address a topic that has clear implications for resolving important dilemmas in health and health-care decisions made by one or more stakeholder groups.

Systematic (S): Research is structured with specified steps to be taken in a specified sequence in accordance with the well-defined set of rules though it does not rule out creative thinking.

Example of RQ: Would the topical skin application of oil as a skin barrier reduces hypothermia in preterm infants? This question fulfills the criteria of a good RQ, that is, feasible, interesting, novel, ethical, and relevant.

Types of research question

A RQ can address different formats depending on the aspect to be evaluated.[ 6 ] For example:

• Existence: This is designed to uphold the existence of a particular phenomenon or to rule out rival explanation, for example, can neonates perceive pain?
• Description and classification: This type of question encompasses statement of uniqueness, for example, what are characteristics and types of neuropathic bladders?
• Composition: It calls for breakdown of whole into components, for example, what are stages of reflux nephropathy?
• Relationship: Evaluate relation between variables, for example, association between tumor rupture and recurrence rates in Wilm's tumor
• Descriptive—comparative: Expected that researcher will ensure that all is same between groups except issue in question, for example, Are germ cell tumors occurring in gonads more aggressive than those occurring in extragonadal sites?
• Causality: Does deletion of p53 leads to worse outcome in patients with neuroblastoma?
• Causality—comparative: Such questions frequently aim to see effect of two rival treatments, for example, does adding surgical resection improves survival rate outcome in children with neuroblastoma than with chemotherapy alone?
• Causality–Comparative interactions: Does immunotherapy leads to better survival outcome in neuroblastoma Stage IV S than with chemotherapy in the setting of adverse genetic profile than without it? (Does X cause more changes in Y than those caused by Z under certain condition and not under other conditions).

How to develop a research question

• Begin by identifying a broader subject of interest that lends itself to investigate, for example, hormone levels among hypospadias
• Do preliminary research on the general topic to find out what research has already been done and what literature already exists.[ 7 ] Therefore, one should begin with “information gaps” (What do you already know about the problem? For example, studies with results on testosterone levels among hypospadias
• What do you still need to know? (e.g., levels of other reproductive hormones among hypospadias)
• What are the implied questions: The need to know about a problem will lead to few implied questions. Each general question should lead to more specific questions (e.g., how hormone levels differ among isolated hypospadias with respect to that in normal population)
• Narrow the scope and focus of research (e.g., assessment of reproductive hormone levels among isolated hypospadias and hypospadias those with associated anomalies)
• Is RQ clear? With so much research available on any given topic, RQs must be as clear as possible in order to be effective in helping the writer direct his or her research
• Is the RQ focused? RQs must be specific enough to be well covered in the space available
• Is the RQ complex? RQs should not be answerable with a simple “yes” or “no” or by easily found facts. They should, instead, require both research and analysis on the part of the writer
• Is the RQ one that is of interest to the researcher and potentially useful to others? Is it a new issue or problem that needs to be solved or is it attempting to shed light on previously researched topic
• Is the RQ researchable? Consider the available time frame and the required resources. Is the methodology to conduct the research feasible?
• Is the RQ measurable and will the process produce data that can be supported or contradicted?
• Is the RQ too broad or too narrow?
• Create Hs: After formulating RQ, think where research is likely to be progressing? What kind of argument is likely to be made/supported? What would it mean if the research disputed the planned argument? At this step, one can well be on the way to have a focus for the research and construction of a thesis. Hs consists of more specific predictions about the nature and direction of the relationship between two variables. It is a predictive statement about the outcome of the research, dictate the method, and design of the research[ 1 ]
• Understand implications of your research: This is important for application: whether one achieves to fill gap in knowledge and how the results of the research have practical implications, for example, to develop health policies or improve educational policies.[ 1 , 8 ]

Brainstorm/Concept map for formulating research question

• First, identify what types of studies have been done in the past?
• Is there a unique area that is yet to be investigated or is there a particular question that may be worth replicating?
• Begin to narrow the topic by asking open-ended “how” and “why” questions
• Evaluate the question
• Develop a Hypothesis (Hs)
• Write down the RQ.

Writing down the research question

• State the question in your own words
• Write down the RQ as completely as possible.

For example, Evaluation of reproductive hormonal profile in children presenting with isolated hypospadias)

• Divide your question into concepts. Narrow to two or three concepts (reproductive hormonal profile, isolated hypospadias, compare with normal/not isolated hypospadias–implied)
• Specify the population to be studied (children with isolated hypospadias)
• Refer to the exposure or intervention to be investigated, if any
• Reflect the outcome of interest (hormonal profile).

Another example of a research question

Would the topical skin application of oil as a skin barrier reduces hypothermia in preterm infants? Apart from fulfilling the criteria of a good RQ, that is, feasible, interesting, novel, ethical, and relevant, it also details about the intervention done (topical skin application of oil), rationale of intervention (as a skin barrier), population to be studied (preterm infants), and outcome (reduces hypothermia).

Other important points to be heeded to while framing research question

• Make reference to a population when a relationship is expected among a certain type of subjects
• RQs and Hs should be made as specific as possible
• Avoid words or terms that do not add to the meaning of RQs and Hs
• Stick to what will be studied, not implications
• Name the variables in the order in which they occur/will be measured
• Avoid the words significant/”prove”
• Avoid using two different terms to refer to the same variable.

Some of the other problems and their possible solutions have been discussed in Table 1 .

Potential problems and solutions while making research question

G OING B EYOND F ORMULATION OF R ESEARCH Q UESTION–THE P ATH A HEAD

Once RQ is formulated, a Hs can be developed. Hs means transformation of a RQ into an operational analog.[ 1 ] It means a statement as to what prediction one makes about the phenomenon to be examined.[ 4 ] More often, for case–control trial, null Hs is generated which is later accepted or refuted.

A strong Hs should have following characteristics:

• Give insight into a RQ
• Are testable and measurable by the proposed experiments
• Have logical basis
• Follows the most likely outcome, not the exceptional outcome.

E XAMPLES OF R ESEARCH Q UESTION AND H YPOTHESIS

Research question-1.

• Does reduced gap between the two segments of the esophagus in patients of esophageal atresia reduces the mortality and morbidity of such patients?

Hypothesis-1

• Reduced gap between the two segments of the esophagus in patients of esophageal atresia reduces the mortality and morbidity of such patients
• In pediatric patients with esophageal atresia, gap of <2 cm between two segments of the esophagus and proper mobilization of proximal pouch reduces the morbidity and mortality among such patients.

Research question-2

• Does application of mitomycin C improves the outcome in patient of corrosive esophageal strictures?

Hypothesis-2

In patients aged 2–9 years with corrosive esophageal strictures, 34 applications of mitomycin C in dosage of 0.4 mg/ml for 5 min over a period of 6 months improve the outcome in terms of symptomatic and radiological relief. Some other examples of good and bad RQs have been shown in Table 2 .

Examples of few bad (left-hand side column) and few good (right-hand side) research questions

R ESEARCH Q UESTION AND S TUDY D ESIGN

RQ determines study design, for example, the question aimed to find the incidence of a disease in population will lead to conducting a survey; to find risk factors for a disease will need case–control study or a cohort study. RQ may also culminate into clinical trial.[ 9 , 10 ] For example, effect of administration of folic acid tablet in the perinatal period in decreasing incidence of neural tube defect. Accordingly, Hs is framed.

Appropriate statistical calculations are instituted to generate sample size. The subject inclusion, exclusion criteria and time frame of research are carefully defined. The detailed subject information sheet and pro forma are carefully defined. Moreover, research is set off few examples of research methodology guided by RQ:

• Incidence of anorectal malformations among adolescent females (hospital-based survey)
• Risk factors for the development of spontaneous pneumoperitoneum in pediatric patients (case–control design and cohort study)
• Effect of technique of extramucosal ureteric reimplantation without the creation of submucosal tunnel for the preservation of upper tract in bladder exstrophy (clinical trial).

The results of the research are then be available for wider applications for health and social life

C ONCLUSION

A good RQ needs thorough literature search and deep insight into the specific area/problem to be investigated. A RQ has to be focused yet simple. Research guided by such question can have wider impact in the field of social and health research by leading to formulation of policies for the benefit of larger population.

Financial support and sponsorship

Conflicts of interest.

There are no conflicts of interest.

R EFERENCES

A Guide to Evidence Synthesis: 1. Draft your Research Question

• Meet Our Team
• Our Published Reviews and Protocols
• What is Evidence Synthesis?
• Types of Evidence Synthesis
• Evidence Synthesis Across Disciplines
• Finding and Appraising Existing Systematic Reviews
• 0. Develop a Protocol
• 1. Draft your Research Question
• 2. Select Databases
• 3. Select Grey Literature Sources
• 4. Write a Search Strategy
• 5. Register a Protocol
• 6. Translate Search Strategies
• 7. Citation Management
• 8. Article Screening
• 9. Risk of Bias Assessment
• 10. Data Extraction
• 11. Synthesize, Map, or Describe the Results
• Evidence Synthesis Institute for Librarians
• Open Access Evidence Synthesis Resources

Video: Formulating a research question (4:43 minutes)

Developing a Research Question

Developing your research question.

Developing your research question is one of the most important steps in the evidence synthesis process. At this stage in the process, you and your team have identified a knowledge gap in your field and are aiming to answer a specific question:

• If X is prescribed, then Y will happen to patients?

OR assess an intervention:

• How does X affect Y?

OR synthesize the existing evidence

• What is the nature of X? ​

​​Whatever your aim, formulating a clear, well-defined research question of appropriate scope is key to a successful evidence synthesis . The research question will be the foundation of your  synthesis and from it your research team will identify 2-5 possible search concepts. These search concepts will later be used in step 5 to build your search strategy. 

Search Concepts

Research question frameworks.

Formulating a research question takes time and your team may go through different versions until settling on the right research question. To help formulate your research question, some research question frameworks are listed below (there are dozen of different types of these frameworks--for a comprehensive overview, see this guide from the University of Maryland )

Think of these frameworks as you would for a house or building. A framework is there to provide support and to be a scaffold for the rest of the structure. In the same way, a research question framework can also help structure your evidence synthesis  question.  Probably the most common framework is PICO:

PICO for Quantitative Studies

• P        Population/Problem
• I         Intervention/Exposure
• C        Comparison
• O       Outcome

Example: Is gabapentin (intervention), compared to placebo (comparison), effective in decreasing pain symptoms (outcome) in middle aged male amputees suffering phantom limb pain  (population)?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- While PICO is a helpful framework for clinical research questions, it may not be the best choice for other types of research questions, especially outside the health sciences.  Here are a few others (for a comprehensive, but concise, overview of the almost 40 different types of research question frameworks, see this review from the British Medical Journal: Rapid review of existing question formulation frameworks)

PICo for Qualitative Studies

• P         Population/Problem
• I           Phenomenon of Interest 
• Co     Context

Example: What are the experiences (phenomenon of interest) of caregivers providing home based care to patients with Alzheimer's disease  (population) in Australia  (context)?

• S     Setting
• P    Perspective (for whom)
• I     Intervention/Exposure
• C    Comparison
• E   Evaluation

Example: What are the benefits (evaluation) of a doula  (intervention) for low income mothers (perspective) in the developed world (setting) compared to no support (comparison)?

• S     Sample
• PI    Phenomenon of Interest
• D    Design
• E     Evaluation
• R    Study Type

Example: What are the experiences (evaluation) of women (sample) undergoing IVF treatment (phenomenon of interest) as assessed?

Design:    questionnaire or survey or interview

Study Type:  qualitative or mixed method

Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria

Inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Inclusion and exclusion criteria are developed after a research question is finalized but before a search is carried out. They determine the limits for the evidence synthesis and are typically reported in the methods section of the publication. For unfamiliar or unclear concepts, a definition may be necessary to adequately describe the criterion for readers. 

From University of Melbourne Library LibGuide

How a Librarian Can Help

How librarians can help.

Librarians can help you learn how to search for existing information on your topic. Finding existing reviews on your topic will inform the development of your research question, identify gaps, and confirm that you are not duplicating the efforts of previous reviews.  Email us at [email protected] to learn more about developing a research question.

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Think Like a Researcher: Instruction Resources: #6 Developing Successful Research Questions

• Guide Organization
• Overall Summary
• #1 Think Like a Researcher!
• #2 How to Read a Scholarly Article
• #3 Reading for Keywords (CREDO)
• #4 Using Google for Academic Research
• #4 Using Google for Academic Research (Alternate)
• #5 Integrating Sources
• Research Question Discussion
• #7 Avoiding Researcher Bias
• #8 Understanding the Information Cycle
• #9 Exploring Databases
• #10 Library Session
• #11 Post Library Session Activities
• Summary - Readings
• Summary - Research Journal Prompts
• Summary - Key Assignments
• Jigsaw Readings
• Permission Form

Course Learning Outcome:   Develop ability to synthesize and express complex ideas; demonstrate information literacy and be able to work with evidence

Goal:  Develop students’ ability to recognize and create successful research questions

Specifically, students will be able to

• identify the components of a successful research question.
• create a viable research question.

What Makes a Good Research Topic Handout

These handouts are intended to be used as a discussion generator that will help students develop a solid research topic or question. Many students start with topics that are poorly articulated, too broad, unarguable, or are socially insignificant. Each of these problems may result in a topic that is virtually un-researchable. Starting with a researchable topic is critical to writing an effective paper.

Research shows that students are much more invested in writing when they are able to choose their own topics. However, there is also research to support the notion that students are completely overwhelmed and frustrated when they are given complete freedom to write about whatever they choose. Providing some structure or topic themes that allow students to make bounded choices may be a way mitigate these competing realities.

These handouts can be modified or edited for your purposes.  One can be used as a handout for students while the other can serve as a sample answer key.  The document is best used as part of a process.  For instance, perhaps starting with discussing the issues and potential research questions, moving on to problems and social significance but returning to proposals/solutions at a later date.

• Research Questions - Handout Key (2 pgs) This document is a condensed version of "What Makes a Good Research Topic". It serves as a key.
• Research Questions - Handout for Students (2 pgs) This document could be used with a class to discuss sample research questions (are they suitable?) and to have them start thinking about problems, social significance, and solutions for additional sample research questions.
• Research Question Discussion This tab includes materials for introduction students to research question criteria for a problem/solution essay.

Additional Resources

These documents have similarities to those above.  They represent original documents and conversations about research questions from previous TRAIL trainings.

• What Makes a Good Research Topic? - Original Handout (4 pgs)
• What Makes a Good Research Topic? Revised Jan. 2016 (4 pgs)
• What Makes a Good Research Topic? Revised Jan 2016 with comments

Topic Selection (NCSU Libraries)

Howard, Rebecca Moore, Tricia Serviss, and Tanya K. Rodrigues. " Writing from sources, writing from sentences ." Writing & Pedagogy 2.2 (2010): 177-192.

Research Journal

Assign after students have participated in the Developing Successful Research Topics/Questions Lesson OR have drafted a Research Proposal.

Think about your potential research question.

• What is the problem that underlies your question?
• Is the problem of social significance? Explain.
• Is your proposed solution to the problem feasible? Explain.
• Do you think there is evidence to support your solution?

Keys for Writers - Additional Resource

Keys for Writers (Raimes and Miller-Cochran) includes a section to guide students in the formation of an arguable claim (thesis).  The authors advise students to avoid the following since they are not debatable. 

• "a neutral statement, which gives no hint of the writer's position"
• "an announcement of the paper's broad subject"
• "a fact, which is not arguable"
• "a truism (statement that is obviously true)"
• "a personal or religious conviction that cannot be logically debated"
• "an opinion based only on your feelings"
• "a sweeping generalization" (Section 4C, pg. 52)

The book also provides examples and key points (pg. 53) for a good working thesis.

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Writing about Design

Principles and tips for design-oriented research.

How to define a research question or a design problem

Introduction.

Many texts state that identifying a good research question (or, equivalently, a design problem) is important for research. Wikipedia, for example, starts (as of writing this text, at least) with the following two sentences:

“A research question is ‘a question that a research project sets out to answer’. Choosing a research question is an essential element of both quantitative and qualitative research.” (Wikipedia, 2020)

However, finding a good research question (RQ) can be a painful experience. It may feel impossible to understand what are the criteria for a good RQ, how a good RQ can be found, and to notice when there are problems with some RQ candidate.

In this text, I will address the pains described above. I start by presenting a scenario of a project that has problems with its RQ. The analysis of that scenario allows me then to describe how to turn the situation described in the scenario for a better research or design project.

Scenario of a problematic project

Let us consider a scenario that you are starting a new research or design project. You have already an idea: your work will be related to communication with instant messaging (IM). Because you are a design-minded person, you are planning to design and develop a new IM feature: a possibility to send predefined replies on a mobile IM app. Your idea is that this feature will allow the user to communicate quickly with others in difficult situations where the they can only connect with others through their mobile phone. Your plan is to supply the mobile IM app with messages like “I’m late by 10 minutes but see you soon”, “I can’t answer back now but will do that later today”, and so on.

Therefore, your plan involves designing such an app, maybe first by sketching it and then illustrating its interaction with a prototyping software like Figma or Adobe XD. You may also decide to make your design functional by programming it and letting a selected number of participants to use it. These kinds of activities will let you demonstrate your skills as a designer-researcher.

Although predefined messages for a mobile IM app can be a topic of a great study, there are some problems with this project that require you to think more about it before you start. As the project is currently defined, it is difficult to provide convincing answers to these challenges:

• Challenge 1: Why would this be a relevant topic for research or design? Good studies address topics that may interest also other people than the author only. The current research topic, however, does not do that self-evidently yet: it lacks an explanation why it would make sense to equip mobile IM apps with predefined replies. There is only a guess that this could be useful in some situations, but this may not convince the reader about the ingenuity of this project.
• Challenge 2: How do you demonstrate that your solution is particularly good? For an outsider who will see the project’s outcome, it may not be clear why your final design would be the best one among the other possible designs. If you propose one interaction design for such a feature, what makes that a good one? In other words, the project lacks a yardstick by which its quality should be measured.
• Challenge 3: How does this project lead to learning or new knowledge? Even if you can show that the topic is relevant (point 1) and that the solution works well (2), the solution may feel too “particularized” – not usable in any other design context. This is an important matter in applied research fields like design and human–computer interaction, because these fields require some form of generalizability from their studies. Findings of a study should result in some kind of knowledge, such as skills, sensitivity to important matters, design solutions or patterns, etc. that could be used also at a later time in other projects, preferably by other people too.

All these problems relate to a problem that this study does not have a RQ yet . Identifying a good research question will help clarify all the above matters, as we will see below.

Adding a research question / design problem

RQs are of many kinds, and they are closely tied to the intended finding of the study: what contribution  should the study deliver. A contribution can be, for example, a solution to a problem or creation of novel information or knowledge. Novel information, in turn, can be a new theory, model or hypothesis, analysis that offers deeper understanding, identification of an unattended problem, description about poorly understood phenomenon, a new viewpoint, or many other things.

The researcher or thesis author usually has a lot of freedom in choosing the exact type of contribution that they want to make. This can feel difficult to the author: there may be no-one telling what they should study. In a way, in such a situation, the thesis/article author is the client of their own research: they both define what needs to be done, and then accomplish that work. Some starting points for narrowing down the space of possibilities is offered here.

Most importantly, the RQ needs to be focused on a topic that the author genuinely does not know, and which is important to find out on the path to the intended contribution. In our scenario about a mobile IM app’s predefined replies, there are currently too many alternatives for an intended contribution, and an outsider would not be able to know which one of them to expect:

• Demonstration that mobile IM apps will be better to use when they have this new feature.
• Report on the ways by which people would use the new feature, if their mobile IM apps would have such a feature.
• Requirements analysis for the specific design and detailed features by which the feature should be designed.
• Analysis of the situations where the feature would be most needed, and user groups who would most often be in such situations.

All of these are valid contributions, and the author can choose to focus on any one of them. This depends also on the author’s personal interests. This gives a possibility for formulating a RQ for the project. It is important to notice that each one of the possible contributions listed above calls for a different corresponding RQ:

RQ1: Do predefined replies in mobile IM apps improve their usability?

RQ2: How will users start using the predefined replies in mobile IM apps?

RQ3: How should the interaction in the IM app be designed, and what kind of predefined replies need to be offered to the users?

RQ4: When are predefined replies in IM apps needed?

This list of four RQs, matched with the four possible contributions, shows why the scenario presented in the beginning of this text was problematic. Only after asking these kinds of questions one is able to seek to answer to the earlier-presented three challenges in the end of the previous section. Also, each of the RQs needs a different research or design method, and its own kind of background research.

The choice and fine-tuning of the research question / design problem

Which one of the above RQs should our hypothetical researcher/designer choose? Lists of basic requisites for good RQs have been presented in many websites. They can help identify RQs that will still need refinement. Monash University offers the following kind of helpful list:

• Clear and focused.  In other words, the question should clearly state what the writer needs to do.
• Not too broad and not too narrow.  The question should have an appropriate scope. If the question is too broad it will not be possible to answer it thoroughly within the word limit. If it is too narrow you will not have enough to write about and you will struggle to develop a strong argument.
• Not too easy to answer.  For example, the question should require more than a simple yes or no answer.
• Not too difficult to answer.  You must be able to answer the question thoroughly within the given timeframe and word limit.
• Researchable.  You must have access to a suitable amount of quality research materials, such as academic books and refereed journal articles.
• Analytical rather than descriptive.  In other words, your research question should allow you to produce an analysis of an issue or problem rather than a simple description of it.

If a study meets the above criteria, it has a good chance of avoiding a problem of presenting a “non-contribution” : A laboriously produced finding that nonetheless does not provide new, interesting information. The points 3 and 6 above particularly guard against such studies: they warn the readers from focusing their efforts on something that is already known (3) and only describing what was done or what observations were made, instead of analysing them in more detail (6).

In fine-tuning a possible RQ, it is important to situate it to the right scope. The first possible RQ that comes to one’s mind is often too broad and needs to be narrowed. RQ4 above (“ When are predefined replies in IM apps most needed? ”), for example, is a very relevant question, but it is probably too broad.

Why is RQ4 too broad? The reason is that RQs are usually considered very literally. If you leave an aspect in your RQ unspecified, then it means that you intend that your RQ and your findings will be generalisable (i.e., applicable) to all the possible contexts and cases that your RQ can be applied to. Consider the following diagram:

With a question “ When are predefined replies in IM apps most needed?”, you are asking a question that covers both leisure-oriented and work-oriented IM apps which can be of very different kinds. Some of the IM apps are mobile-oriented (such as WhatsApp) and others are desktop-oriented (such as Slack or Teams). Unless you specify your RQ more narrowly, your findings should be applicable to all these kinds of apps. Also, RQ4 is unspecific also about the people that you are thinking as communication partners. It may be impossible for you to make a study so broad that it applies to all of these cases.

Therefore, a more manageable-sized scoping could be something like this:

RQ4 (version 2): In which away-from-desktop leisure life situations are predefined replies in IM apps most needed?

Furthermore, you can also narrow down your focus theoretically. In our example scenario, the researcher/designer can decide, for example, that they will consider predefined IM replies from the viewpoint of “face-work” in social interaction. By adopting this viewpoint, the researcher/designer can decide that they will design the IM’s replies with a goal that they help the user to maintain an active, positive image in the eyes of others. When they start designing the reply feature, they can now ask much more specific questions. For example: how could my design help a user in doing face-work in cases where they are in a hurry and can only send a short and blunt message to another person? How could the predefined replies help in situations where the users would not have time to answer but they know they should? Ultimately, would the predefined replies make it easier for users to do face-work in computer-mediated communications (CMC)?

You can therefore further specify RQ4 into this:

RQ4 (version 3): In which away-from-desktop leisure life situations are predefined replies in IM apps most needed when it is important to react quickly to arriving messages?

As you may notice, it is possible to scope the RQ too narrowly so that it starts to be close to absurd. But if that does not become a problem, the choice of methods (i.e., the research design ) becomes much easier to do.

The benefit of theoretically narrowed-down RQs (in this case, building on the concept of face-work in RQ4 version 3) have the benefit that they point you to useful background literature. Non-theoretical RQs (e.g., RQ4 version 2), in contrast, require that you identify the relevant literature more independently, relying on your own judgment. In the present case, you can base your thinking about IM apps’ on sociological research on interpersonal interaction and self-presentation (e.g., Goffman 1967) and its earlier applications to CMC (Nardi et al., 2000; Salovaara et al., 2011). Such a literature provides the starting points for deeper design considerations. Deeper considerations, in turn, increase the contribution of the research, and make it interesting for the readers.

As said, the first RQ that one comes to think of is not necessarily the best and final one. The RQ may need to be adapted (and also can be adapted) over the course of the research. In qualitative research this is very typical, and the same applies to exploratory design projects that proceed through small design experiments (i.e., through their own smaller RQs).

This text promised to address the pains that definition of a RQ or a design problem may pose for a student or a researcher. The main points of the answer may be summarized as follows:

• The search for a good RQ is a negotiation process between three objectives : what is personally motivating, what is realistically possible to do (e.g., that the work can be built on some earlier literature and there is a method that can answer to the RQ), and what motivates its relevance (i.e., can it lead to interesting findings).
• The search for a RQ or a design problem is a process and not a task that must be fixed immediately . It is, however, good to get started somewhere, since a RQ gives a lot of focus for future activities: what to read and what methods to choose, for example.

With the presentation of the scenario and its analysis, I sought to demonstrate why and how choosing an additional analytical viewpoint can be a useful strategy. With it, a project whose meaningfulness may be otherwise questionable for an outsider can become interesting when its underpinnings and assumptions are explicated. That helps ensure that the reader will appreciate the work that the author has done with their research.

In the problematization of the scenario, I presented the three challenges related to it. I can now offer possible answers to them, by highlighting why a RQ can serve as a tool for finding them:  

• Why would this be a relevant topic for research or design? Choice of a RQ often requires some amount of background research that helps the researcher/designer to understand how much about the problem has already been solved by others. This awareness helps shape the RQ to focus on a topic where information is not yet known and more information is needed for a high-quality outcome.
• How do you demonstrate that your solution is particularly good? By having a question, it is possible to analyse what are the right methods for answering it. The quality of executing these becomes then evaluatable. The focus on a particular question also will permit that the author compromises optimality in other, less central outcomes. For example, if smoothness of interaction is in the focus, then it is easy to explain why long-term robustness and durability of a prototype may not be critical.
• How does this project lead to learning or new knowledge? Presentation of the results or findings allows the researcher/design to devote their Discussion section (see the IMRaD article format ) to topics that would have been impossible to predict before the study. That will demonstrate that the project has generated novel understanding: it has generated knowledge that can be considered insightful.

If and when the researcher/designer pursues further in design and research, the experience of thinking about RQs and design problems accumulates. As one reads literature , the ability to consider different research questions becomes better too. Similarly, as one carries out projects with different RQs and problems, and notices how adjusting them along the way helps shape one’s work, the experience similarly grows. Eventually, one may even learn to enjoy the analytical process of identifying a good research question.

As a suggestion for further reading, Carsten Sørensen’s text  (2002) about writing and planning an article in information systems research field is a highly recommended one. It combines the question of choosing the RQ with the question on how to write a paper about it.

Goffman, E. (1967). On face-work: An analysis of ritual elements in social interaction. Psychiatry , 18 (3), 213–231.  https://doi.org/10.1080/00332747.1955.11023008

Nardi, B. A., Whittaker, S., & Bradner, E. (2000). Interaction and outeraction: Instant messaging in action. In Proceedings of the 2000 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW 2000) (pp. 79–88). New York, NY: ACM Press. https://doi.org/10.1145/358916.358975

Salovaara, A., Lindqvist, A., Hasu, T., & Häkkilä, J. (2011). The phone rings but the user doesn’t answer: unavailability in mobile communication. In Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Human Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services (MobileHCI 2011) (pp. 503–512). New York, NY: ACM Press. https://doi.org/10.1145/2037373.2037448

Sørensen, C. (2002): This is Not an Article — Just Some Food for Thoughts on How to Write One. Working Paper. Department of Information Systems, The London School of Economics and Political Science. No. 121.

Wikipedia (2020). Research question. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_question (30 November 2020).

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Whether you’re developing research questions for your personal life, your work for an employer, or for academic purposes, the process always forces you to figure out exactly:

• What you’re interested in finding out.
• What is feasible for you to find out given your time, money, and access to information sources.
• How to find information, including what research methods will be necessary and what information sources will be relevant.
• What kind of claims you’ll be able to make or conclusions you’ll be able to draw about what you found out.

For academic purposes, you may have to develop research questions to carry out both small and large assignments. A smaller assignment may include doing research for a class discussion or to, say, write a blog post for a class; larger assignments may have you conduct research and critical assessment, then report it in a lab report, poster, term paper, or article. For large projects, the research question (or questions) you develop will define or at least heavily influence:

• Your topic , which is a part of your research question, effectively narrows the topic you’ve first chosen or been assigned by your instructor.
• What, if any, hypotheses you test.
• Which information sources are relevant to your project.
• Which research methods are appropriate.
• What claims you can make or conclusions you can come to as a result of your research, including what thesis statement you should write for a term paper or what you should write about in the results section based on the data you collected in your science or social science study.

Influence on Thesis

Within an essay, poster, or term paper, the thesis is the researcher’s answer to the research question(s). So as you develop research questions, you are effectively specifying what any thesis in your project will be about. While perhaps many research questions could have come from your original topic, your question states exactly which one(s) your thesis will be answering . For example, a topic that starts as “desert symbiosis” could eventually lead to a research question that is “how does the diversity of bacteria in the gut of the Sonoran Desert termite contribute to the termite’s survival?” In turn, the researcher’s thesis will answer that particular research question instead of the numerous other questions that could have come from the desert symbiosis topic.

Developing research questions is all part of a process that leads to the specificity of your project.

Tip: Don’t Make These Mistakes

Sometimes students inexperienced at working with research questions confuse them with the search statements they will type into the search box of a search engine or database when looking for sources for their project. Or, they confuse research questions with the thesis statement they will write when they report their research. The activity below will help you sort things out.

Influence on Hypothesis

If you’re doing a study that predicts how variables are related, you’ll have to write at least one hypothesis. The research questions you write will contain the variables that will later appear in your hypothesis(es).

Influence on Resources

You can’t tell whether an information source is relevant to your research until you know exactly what you’re trying to find out. Since it’s the research questions that define that, they divide all information sources into two groups: those that are relevant to your research and those that are not—all based on whether each source can help you find out what you want to find out and/or report the answer.

Influence on Research Methods

Your research question(s) will help you figure out what research methods you should use because the questions reflect what your research is intended to do. For instance, if your research question relates to describing a group, survey methods may work well. But they can’t answer cause-and-effect questions.

Influence on Claims or Conclusions

The research questions you write will reflect whether your research is intended to describe a group or situation, to explain or predict outcomes, or to demonstrate a cause-and-effect relationship(s) among variables. It’s those intentions and how well you carry out the study, including whether you used methods appropriate to the intentions, that will determine what claims or conclusions you can make as a result of your research.

Exercise: From Topic to Thesis Statement

Critical Thinking in Academic Research Copyright © 2022 by Cindy Gruwell and Robin Ewing is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Research Skills

Creating a research question, mapping your research ideas.

For many students, having to start with a research question is the biggest difference between how they did research in high school and how they are required to carry out their college research projects. Developing a research question is a process of working from the outside in: you start with the world of all possible topics (or your assigned topic) and narrow your ideas down until you’ve focused your interest enough to be able to tell precisely what you want to find out instead of only what you want to “write about.”

All Possible Topics – You’ll need to narrow your topic in order to do research effectively. Without specific areas of focus, it will be hard to even know where to begin.

Assigned Topics – Ideas about a narrower topic can come from anywhere, and even when you are assigned a topic you typically will need to further define the focus for your project. Often, a narrower topic boils down to deciding what’s interesting to you (e.g., why do you care about the topic, how does it affect you now and/or how may it affect you in the future, etc.). One way to get ideas is to read background information in a source like Wikipedia.

Topic Narrowed by Initial Exploration – It’s helpful to do some more reading about that narrower topic to both learn more about it and learn specialized terms used by professionals and scholars who study it. You may be able to use those specialized terms to help you look for further source material to use in your project.

Topic Narrowed to Research Question(s) – A research question defines exactly what you are trying to find out. It will influence most of the steps you take to conduct the research.

Most of us look for information to answer questions every day, and we often act on the answers to those questions. You may be wondering then, are research questions any different from most of the questions for which we seek information? Yes.

See the chart below for examples of regular questions and research questions that are based on them.

Research questions cannot be answered by a quick web search. Answering them involves using more critical thinking than answering everyday questions because they seem more debatable. Research questions require more sources of information to answer and, consequently, take more time to answer. They, more often than regular questions, start with the word “How” or “Why.”

Check your understanding

• Choosing & Using Sources: A Guide to Academic Research: Narrowing your Sources. Provided by : Ohio State University Libraries. Located at : https://osu.pb.unizin.org/choosingsources/chapter/narrowing-a-topic/ . Project : Ohio State University Libraries Teaching and Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution
• Mapping your Research Ideas. Provided by : UCLA Library. Located at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj-F6YVtsxI . License : CC BY: Attribution

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Thesis support: your research question.

• Describe the importance of a strong research question
• Identify methods for exploring existing literature
• Understand the difference between keywords and controlled vocabulary
• Produce a basic concept chart from your research question

Research Skills Tutorial

• Turning A Topic Into A Research Question
• Getting Background Information About Your Topic
• Portfolio Activity 1
• Types of Information Sources
• Scholarly, Popular and Trade Information Sources
• Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Information Sources
• Current and Retrospective Information Sources
• Information Sources for Different Audiences and Purposes
• Portfolio Activity 2
• Library Databases vs. the Web
• Creating a Concept Chart
• Boolean Operators
• Refining Results by Date, Peer Review and Document Type
• Advanced Searching
• Advanced Searching with Descriptors
• Descriptor Chaining
• Citation Chaining (or Reference Mining)
• Searching Outside the SUNY Empire Library
• Searching Google
• Portfolio Activity 3
• Understanding Search Results
• Saving Search Results
• Portfolio Activity 4
• Credible Sources
• What Does the Information Source Tell You About Itself?
• Reliability
• Some More About Validity
• Portfolio Activity 5
• What Is Citing?
• What Is a Citation?
• Citation Styles
• Citing Tools and Tips
• Practice Activity 6
• Practice Activity 7 - Final Project

Turn A Topic Into A Research Question

Choose your starting research topic.

When you get an assignment where you need to choose your own topic, begin by considering topics covered in your course and textbooks/readings that fit the assignment. Then do a some background research (covered on next page) on one or more of those topics to get a a bird's eye historical view. This will not only help you narrow your focus, but equip you with the necessary vocabulary (names of people, places and things related to the topic) to search the scholarly literature. 

Let's look at a brief example of how this narrowing process might look on paper:

Starting idea: cyberbullying

What things would you need to find out in order to write about this topic? What people ( high school, middle school, or college students? ), places ( U.S., NYS, or a comparison between places? ) and related concepts ( internet trolls, state and federal laws, school policies, social media platforms, statistics, such as number of people who experience or see it? ) are connected to this idea?

Some background readings (click links to explore): Encyclopedia entry , Wikipedia , Gov't site

Ideas for narrowing the topic (freeform brainstorm - look at aspects of the topic from above that appeal to you - put into the form of questions): Cyberbullying and child development? Cyberbullying and post-traumatic stress? Is there a connection between those who troll on the internet and those who engage in cyberbullying? What policies have been put in place in NYS (or my local school district) to combat cyberbullying? What is the relationship, if any, between economic and or ethnic status and cyberbullying?

Locate more information sources related to the topic (books, journal articles, government reports, etc.). Read or skim them and begin to formulate a more concrete direction for your research to take. Take notes . As your knowledge of the topic grows, ideas for what ultimate question(s) your paper will attempt to answer should start taking shape.

The following video explains how to find a balance between too broad and general, and too narrow. That way you are able to find enough research materials to write intelligently about, but aren't overwhelmed. 

Turn your topic into a research question and thesis statement.

Research is a form of problem solving, and the first step in problem solving is always to identify the problem. In other words, what question do you hope to answer with your research?

Once you have your research question, the next step is to reformulate it as a thesis statement. The thesis statement answers your research question in such a way that it leads into the major points that you will make in your paper. 

Accessibility Note

Please note: If you need to request accommodations with content linked to on this guide, on the basis of a disability, please contact Accessibility Resources and Services by emailing them .  Requests for accommodations should be submitted as early as possible to allow for sufficient planning. If you have questions, please visit the Accessibility Resources and Services website .

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Search catalog, critical thinking and academic research: intro.

• Information
• Point of View
• Assumptions
• Implications

Critical Thinking and Academic Research

Academic research focuses on the creation of new ideas, perspectives, and arguments. The researcher seeks relevant information in articles, books, and other sources, then develops an informed point of view within this ongoing "conversation" among researchers.

The research process is not simply collecting data, evidence, or "facts," then piecing together this preexisting information into a paper. Instead, the research process is about inquiry—asking questions and developing answers through serious critical thinking and thoughtful reflection.

As a result, the research process is recursive, meaning that the researcher regularly revisits ideas, seeks new information when necessary, and reconsiders and refines the research question, topic, or approach. In other words, research almost always involves constant reflection and revision.

This guide is designed to help you think through various aspects of the research process. The steps are not sequential, nor are they prescriptive about what steps you should take at particular points in the research process. Instead, the guide should help you consider the larger, interrelated elements of thinking involved in research.

Research Anxiety?

Research is not often easy or straightforward, so it's completely normal to feel anxious, frustrated, or confused. In fact, if you feel anxious, it can be a good sign that you're engaging in the type of critical thinking necessary to research and write a high-quality paper.

Think of the research process not as one giant, impossibly complicated task, but as a series of smaller, interconnected steps. These steps can be messy, and there is not one correct sequence of steps that will work for every researcher. However, thinking about research in small steps can help you be more productive and alleviate anxiety.

Paul-Elder Framework

This guide is based on the "Elements of Reasoning" from the Paul-Elder framework for critical thinking. For more information about the Paul-Elder framework, click the link below.

Some of the content in this guide has been adapted from The Aspiring Thinker's Guide to Critical Thinking (2009) by Linda Elder and Richard Paul.

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thinking about research questions

I’ve been asked a few times to post about research questions. My response up to now has been that there is already a lot out there on the topic and I’m not sure what I could add. But of course that’s a bit of a cop-out. So I’ve been thinking about what people get stuck on when developing their questions. And this week, as a bit of a break from blogging the conferences I’m at, I thought I’d have a go at research questions. As it’s also the time of year when people are starting doctorates, or taking on new doctoral researchers and/or writing bids, maybe my timing is right!

I reckon it’s pretty helpful to understand and use the fact that there are are different kinds of research questions. They’re not all the same. Questions can do different things. Let me explain… You can investigate a topic using a variety of questions. Each kind of question in turn allows a range of possible projects which use different approaches.

Here’s a starting list of ten different types of research questions* that you might use to begin to think about your research area. There’s a very big health warning here too – this is by no means a complete list. It’s a tiny beginning intended to give you some starters and to support the idea that there is a diversity of research purposes and approaches for every area of research interest. You might want to take this list and talk about and expand on it with your mates or your supervisor.

Question types

(1) Interpretation What might x mean?

Examples: • Interpretation of a text: What might Dicken’s metaphors of illness mean? • Ethnography: What happens in a dementia ward?

(2) Hypothesis What is the best explanation for x? – usually stated as a proposition to be tested.

Examples: • Randomised control trial: Teaching phonics helps children read.

(3) Relationships What is the relationship between x and y? What might be the cause of x? – this usually implies correlation of factors

Examples: • Mixed methods study: What influence do business leaders have on policy-making processes and how is this exercised? • Network analysis: How do philanthropists influence public policy?

(4) Claim: What does the evidence about x suggest?

Examples: • Meta analysis: What does existing research say about how to encourage children’s healthy eating? • Evidence based review: Is there any evidence to suggest that public health advertisements about exercise change children’s behaviour?

(5) Comparison How is x different in y and z? Why is x different from y and z?

• Comparative case study: Why do some hospitals have more satisfied staff? • Discourse analysis: How do different professions understand ‘client satisfaction’? • Survey: How do hospital staff regard the notion of ‘equal pay’?

(6) Policy/practice What should be done about x?

• Action research: What might be ethical guidelines for online research? • Market research: What might be done to encourage online shopping? • Design research: What might be a better way to design online learning?

(7) Value How good is x?

• Evaluation: How satisfied are students with the HE student loan system?

(8) Effect What happens when…

• Intervention study: What happens when we flip lectures?

(9) Effectiveness What makes x good?

Mixed methods study: What do successful business leaders do?

(10) Equity How much of y does x get? Why does x get less of y? What happens to x when y happens? This is often accompanied by a policy/practice question – and therefore, what should be done to redress the situation for x.

• Secondary data analysis: Which groups of young people do not go to university? • Comparative case studies: Why do some universities attract more diverse student populations than others? • Narrative analysis: What are the experiences of ‘nontraditional students’ attending an elite university?

Using the above, or your own expanded list of question types, can help you think about your options. Start off your project thinking not only about the topic you are interested in, but also what aspects of the topic interest you . You might also think about why you are interested in the topic . You can even think about what you hope to happen as a result of your research. It can be very useful to take some time to go through possible questions to see how they frame your topic in different ways. And it’s useful too, once you’ve arrived at the question you want to ask, to think of the various ways in which it might be researched . This ‘possibility generation’ of questions and approaches is not a bad way to clarify and focus your research project. So it goes, area – interests – questions -approaches.. .

Have a go. It’s not the only way to sort out a research question of course, but it’s a strategy which could help make your options clearer.

* These ten question types were prompted by Bruce Ballenger’s list of six types of inquiry, p. 42 The curious researcher: A guide to writing research papers . However I’ve elaborated these, a lot, and Ballenger shouldn’t be blamed for this set!

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The Myth that J.D. Vance Bootstrapped His Way to the Top

I grew up in eastern Kentucky, in the heart of Appalachia, immersed in all that the region has to offer—lush forests filled with oak trees and wild orchids; lively streams, teeming with crawfish and minnows. Life abounded and flourished and though gunshots sometimes ricocheted off the hills I loved to climb and explore, I knew the forest to be safe. Copperheads lurked there, sure, but no grown-ups ever followed me into the woods, carrying danger with them. My home held a different story—a story of childhood anguish—which I learned to tell through written words only, knowing silence was a tool for survival.

With J.D. Vance’s recent nomination as Trump’s VP pick , there’s a renewed interest in our region as his memoir, Hillbilly Elegy , has once again become a bestseller , much to our community’s collective frustration. Appalachians have spoken out in droves to reclaim our “hillbilly” identity that Vance co-opted while prescribing bootstrapping as a solution to our problems.

Read More: J.D. Vance’s Vision of Appalachia Is Nothing New

But for those of us who grew up mired in poverty, surrounded by addiction, these systemic problems feel like being trapped in quicksand that only wants to pull you further into despair. There are no boots nor bootstraps, no solid ground to get your footing, when each day is a struggle for survival. But neither the outcry of offended Appalachians nor the book’s glaring inconsistencies mattered to readers or voters in the past; it seems unlikely they will impact Vance’s narrative now.

His story still matters, though. Most notably because, while his memoir resonated with readers for its quintessentially American narrative of a self-made man, the reality is he did not get here alone. He got here because of the policies and programs that support working class people. In fact, it’s one of the few things he and I have in common.

Despite his middle-class upbringing in the Rust Belt, J.D. Vance and I both grew up suffering with the chaos and pain that come with having an addicted parent, violence in the home, and familial mental illness. Any one of those factors will have a negative impact on a child’s well-being and future prospects; growing up with all three, studies show, sets a child up for failure .

Vance and I also both received valuable higher education due to the generosity of others who funded our scholarships. I went to Berea College, a tuition-free college here in Eastern Kentucky where every student works and which has a stated mission to educate low-income Appalachians just as it has educated men and women, Blacks and whites, since its inception in 1855. Vance attended Yale Law School on a generous scholarship , which is a benefit some of our nation’s top schools offer to low-income students. But it’s hardly well-known to most Americans who are just trying to survive. We were lucky to even have known about these schools, much less to get in.

It wasn’t just higher education that helped Vance and me pull ourselves out of the circumstances we grew up in. Despite its imperfections, our national public school system provided a foundation to attend college and even to become writers. My parents and later I, as a single mother, benefitted from social programs like food stamps and medical cards. Welfare programs often keep children fed and even alive—which means that some of us can grow up to become productive adults who not only pay our taxes, but make invaluable contributions to society and our families.  

Vance helped perpetuate stereotypes about the “lazy poor” in his memoir when he shared his frustration about discovering, at 17 years old, that there are adults on welfare who dare to own cell phones and buy things that food stamps doesn’t cover (i.e., alcohol and cigarettes). However, he is seemingly also aware of another point that is critical to this discussion, though it isn’t a popular topic in political discourse: Our choices are shaped by our culture, and none of the class issues he critiques can or should be chalked up to immorality.

Read More: The Demonization of Rural America

The reality is that these complex problems require careful thinking and sometimes, complex solutions. Not everyone needs or wants to go to college, and it’s not a guaranteed path to success for those who do go. Addiction and mental illness have become dire problems in our country while resources for treatment have dwindled. Working Americans struggle to keep up with the cost of groceries and utilities, while a lot of mental health support and medical care is prohibitively expensive.

Some of Vance’s political views are easy to identify, like his stance on border control and immigration , while his thoughts on abortion (and even Trump himself) have covered broader ground. And there’s plenty of detailed coverage of his thoughts on digital currency and other financial topics . But there’s far less to be found regarding his stances on ensuring high-quality public education for all American children or social welfare programs that support struggling families—which are often in the crosshairs of Republican spending cuts.

This exclusion leads me to wonder: Has Vance forgotten how he rose to his position? Does he think about the other kids in Middletown and throughout Cincinnati who are suffering like he once did, and the parents who are raising them, also struggling to cope?

Vance and I are both lucky to have come out alive, much less as functional and successful adults. What we have in common is grit, yes, but we didn’t just save ourselves: our educational and even our job opportunities offered a path forward. Others who are just like us need mental health support, job training, and the benefits of being taught self-discipline and structure, like the Marines offered Vance.

The economic and cultural pressures we are facing have left American families in turmoil, and children are the ones who bear the greatest burden. They also represent the next generation of our country, whose success we all should be highly invested in. The lifelines that paved the way for both me and Vance have not just served countless Americans; they are crucial to our country’s greatness.

More than 15 years ago, I taught undergraduate classes as an adjunct instructor in English at Eastern Kentucky University for a time after getting my master’s degree there. I had a student in one class who liked to share his political views. I listened but didn’t offer my own. One day, he told me how he thought all social programs should be eliminated.

“What do you think should be done for sick people who can’t afford medical care?” I asked.

And he told me, “We should let them die.”

He would have been 18 or so. I knew there was a chance a lot of his beliefs would change in the near future. As shocking as it was to hear him say that, I know it’s a lot easier to see things in black-and-white when we’re younger, still naïve in ways, before we find ourselves in the midst of complicated situations. I’m sure he couldn’t fathom what it really looks like when we abandon the most vulnerable among us to die in underfunded hospitals or on the streets themselves. And like so many firmly held political beliefs, it’s easier to condemn the people we don’t identify with and think we never will.

If that was 15 years ago, I’m dismayed by some of the ways we are demonized now. When I’m inundated by the obituaries of my former classmates in Eastern Kentucky, lost to opioids in middle age, or horrified by the rampant homelessness and addiction in our cities, I want to know how politicians like Vance will address the despair that has permeated our communities—his community. How will the working class in Appalachia and beyond—which has always fueled our nation’s success, with our coal and timber and bodies—be fairly recompensated? How will we move beyond the impotent speeches about wages and inflation to actually ensure American families aren’t stuck in survival mode?

Our country’s well-being includes the well-being of all. Your neighbor’s addiction or poverty or pain remains isolated for only so long. Our leaders—Democrat, Republican, or otherwise—need to attend to the problems we see all around us, which are not indicative of individual weakness, but of our greater cultural struggles.

Our great country faces a number of challenges, but we also have a myriad of tools and solutions to help us create a better way forward. J.D. Vance has experienced firsthand some of the ways we can do this, and they don’t include the bootstraps he prescribed in his memoir.

Throughout his career, Vance has developed opinions on every hot-button issue in our political landscape. He claims to be for the working class. But it’s now time to ask what will he actually do for us? After all, we know what the working class has done for him.

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Where Questions Come From

A lot of emphasis in education is placed on showing what you know. But for at least a decade now, as I’ve thought about the twin challenges of engaging students and defending the place of philosophy in a college education, I’ve stopped emphasizing the mastery of content for its own sake. Instead, I’ve emphasized using content as a starting point for critical thinking. In doing so, I realized that critical thinking is at least as much about asking questions as answering them: questions are part of a critical stance.  

I teach at a pair of small, Catholic Benedictine liberal arts colleges—one for men, one for women—that share a single academic program. Most of the students in my classes are there for one general education requirement or another, even in upper-division courses. So I think broadly about what it means to have a liberal arts education and the skills students can take with them beyond college. Among these, one of the most valuable is also one of our departmental learning goals: resisting the urge for quick and easy answers . Asking questions is one way of learning to do this. 

So for the past few years, I’ve been trying to teach my students to articulate where questions come from: their context and motivation, the mystery that drives them, and the hook that engages us in inquiry. I have three motivations for this specific approach.  

First, and most practically, I want them to write better introductions to papers. A lot of my students know that an introduction needs to contain a thesis, and they know there’s supposed to be some kind of hook to engage their audience. But they frequently need help crafting a narrow and interesting thesis, and they rarely know how to craft a relevant and engaging hook. I realized that we can solve both of these issues if they can articulate a question the thesis is answering. “People have been talking about X since the dawn of time”—maybe—but why? If we know what’s bugging our proverbial/mythical ancestors, then we can see what kind of answer is interesting. And we also have our hook, because questions are engaging. They alert us to something interesting: a gap in knowledge, something unusual that needs explanation, a puzzle, a mystery. 

Second, we are told that philosophy begins in wonder. That means (among other things) asking questions. If I want my students to really do philosophy and not just learn about it (and I do), they need questions.  

Third, and relatedly, there are lots of kinds of wondering, so wonder alone doesn’t define philosophy. What makes philosophical wondering different from scientific or historical or economic wondering? I find it handy to define the field of philosophy in terms of its questions. But just listing the big philosophical questions, as we often do, is defining by example and doesn’t get to the heart of the issue. It doesn’t really explain what makes philosophy different from, say, science, and how to know a philosophical question when you meet one. It’s a good start to say that philosophical questions are not settled empirically (though facts might be needed to answer them); they’re open-ended and difficult to settle in any definitive way; and they’re about “fundamental” issues like concepts, knowledge, and values (though this is defining by example again). Still, this is pretty vague and high-level for students. I want to see if we can define philosophical questions more accessibly, so that students have a way in. 

These three motivations led me to try teaching students to think about where questions come from. We talk about what makes us ask questions. Sometimes we want information or clarification. Sometimes we’re surprised or confused or puzzled or curious. (Sometimes we’re just trying to show off or be a pain in the butt, too, but I’ll assume this isn’t serious questioning and set it aside.) We ask questions when we get stopped, stuck on something that’s in the way of our understanding whatever it is we’re trying to understand—when we’ve run into a mystery. (By this standard, test questions aren’t really questions, they’re instructions: show me what you know about X; demonstrate your Y skills.) 

This mystery quality is what the questions in my three motivations have in common. Thus, I started asking students to introduce questions by identifying what stops someone’s understanding of something and articulating the mystery that leads to the question. A well-stated question will provide some background and then end with “So, ?” I provide templates to help them get started. 

One template is the “clashing intuitions” approach. A lot of (philosophical) questions arise when we notice that we have two intuitions about something that isn’t compatible, at least on the face of it. The template for this kind of question is: On the one hand, it looks like X. On the other hand, it looks like not-X. So how should we make sense of this? 

Free will provides a nice example of this one. On the one hand, it certainly feels like you’re deciding what to eat for lunch, and that nothing is compelling you in any particular direction. On the other hand, any physical event has a physical cause—and your reaching out to grab the sandwich is a physical event. Those two things can’t be true at the same time, because if my reaching for the sandwich is the result of other physical events, my apparent choice had nothing to do with it. Still, the feeling of choice is strong. So do we have free will?  

A second template is the “wait, I don’t actually know what that is” approach. In a discussion, it often happens that we’re using some term pretty freely, and at some point, we realize that not everybody understands it the same way, so we need to spend some time defining what we mean. The template I give students for this one is: We all think we understand X; after all, we use the concept in regular life and people seem to (more or less) understand each other. But do we? There are cases (Y, Z) that make us realize that we don’t really understand X. So, what is X? 

Just about any big concept provides an example for this one. Take beauty. We can all name some definitely beautiful things, and some definitely not-beautiful things. But when you meet an edge case—say when you disagree with someone and try to argue about whether that person, painting, landscape, building, etc. is beautiful—you realize you only have fuzzy working knowledge of beauty, not well-defined knowledge. So, what is beauty? 

A third template is the “What’s the meaning of this?” approach. It’s based on the fact that we sometimes worry about the consequences of different ideas, and that motivates us to wonder why, or what’s at stake. The template goes like this: X is (or might be) the case. But if that’s true, then it has consequences that don’t fit with our usual understanding of things, or that we haven’t thought (enough) about yet, such as Y. So what does X mean for us? 

For example: We know that humans are animals. But we have a long history of thinking we’re special or separate or superior to other animals. So what should we make of this—the fact that we’re animals, and/or the fact that we think we’re special? In other words: What does it mean for us that we’re animals? 

On a very general level, then, and for pedagogical purposes, a useful formula for getting students to introduce a question usually involves an initial statement, followed by a “but” that introduces some contrast or problem with the statement, and ends with “so,” the question. Obviously, this won’t cover every case, but it gives students a path into territory they’ve never entered before, or have been in but often haphazardly, without orientation.  

This formula works well for setting up a thesis as an answer to the question. And it provides grounds for more detailed and richer theses, because the setup already shows where there will be difficulties in taking one side of the issue. This way, they’re more likely to argue for something focused and narrow: “I will argue that A, because B and C outweigh D.” It’s not foolproof, and they still need practice crafting theses, but I find it helps get beyond a simple report about what they’ll argue for. 

I start by having students practice introducing questions I’ve given them, and from there we can move to them writing their own questions, noticing where they get stopped when thinking about a topic. Asking students to introduce questions also has the advantage of tending to make paper assignments more authentic because students are investigating questions that they can at least see the logic of, if not actually own for themselves. They especially come to see the value of this in the “ Philosophy in the Wild ” assignment I have them do, in which they go “undercover” and hold a philosophical conversation with someone who doesn’t know they’re doing an assignment. They can’t just spring a question on their partner out of the blue; they need to set it up so that it seems natural.  

Practice with introducing questions also helps students get more of a feel for the difference between philosophical questions and other kinds. “Are we alone in the universe?” comes up when I have them read the short story “ They’re Made out of Meat ” by Terry Bisson. The question can be introduced using the “clashing intuitions” template: On the one hand, we don’t have solid evidence that there are aliens; on the other hand, given the vastness of the universe, the probability that life has also evolved elsewhere is pretty good. So, are we alone in the universe? Now we see what arrested our attention. But it’s also clearer that this isn’t a philosophical question, because it’s asking for information. In theory, it could be answered by science.  

Maybe we can get from this to a philosophical question, though. In a case like this, the “What’s the meaning of this?” template comes in handy. I ask students to think about the interests that might have motivated us to ask whether there are aliens, because maybe we can find philosophical questions in the neighborhood. It seems to matter to us whether there is life elsewhere. But why? Because that will mean we need to adjust our understanding of our place in the universe. Or because we’ll need to figure out how to treat them. “What will it mean for us if there are aliens?” or “If we ever meet aliens, how should we treat them?”—those are invitations to philosophy. 

So I’ve found a lot of pedagogical value in teaching students to think through the motivations for questions. But wait, there’s more! I think it comes in handy not only in motivating students, but also when philosophers are asked to justify our ongoing existence as a department (and, more broadly, a field). When asked by a student, administrator, politician, or average person, Why should we care about this? , it’s hard (though not impossible!) to say things that will convince a skeptic when philosophy is framed as a matter of knowledge. What is the use of knowing Plato’s theory of the Forms?  

But when philosophy is framed as a matter of thinking—including asking questions—it’s much easier to make a case. What’s the use of getting surprised or confused or puzzled or curious— wondering about— Plato’s theory of the Forms? A number of answers open up. For one thing, the questions are interesting and important. Plato’s theory arises from, and leads to, important questions about knowledge, reality, and even ethics—questions that still matter today, even if we don’t accept Plato’s view.  

Furthermore, I don’t have systematic evidence for this, but I’ll bet that practice with articulating questions’ background makes it more likely that we’ll notice questions in the first place. When we start to frame questions as mysteries, we might start to see more things as surprising, puzzling, confusing, or curious. Or, at least, we might realize that more things are mysterious than we would otherwise notice. This is itself an important critical thinking skill: the readiness to suspend belief in the status quo. 

But also, the ability to articulate where questions come from is part of the very valuable skill of getting to the heart of an issue. When we understand the motivations for our questions, we’re better able to understand what will count as answers and why those answers matter. (Once or twice a year, a major publication comes out with an article that tells us that employers really want this skill, and like philosophy/humanities/liberal arts majors because they have it.) 

In short: questioning is thinking, and to the extent that we want to teach thinking, we should be teaching students to frame questions as well as answer them. 

The Question-Focused Pedagogy series of the APA Blog is focused on how we can, ought to, fail to, and might teach question-skills and pass on the values and importance of questions and questioning to students. If you would like to publish in the Question-Focused Pedagogy series, please reach out to its editor, Stephen Bloch-Schulman at sschulman@elon.edu.

Erica Stonestreet

Erica Lucast Stonestreet is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Philosophy department at the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University in central Minnesota. She is most interested in the ethical dimensions of love and caring, and the relationships, projects and things that make us who we are. She is currently working on a popular-audience book tentatively called Who We Are and How to Live, which aims to show how conceptions of human nature influence theories of ethics, and argue for a more relational conception of human beings. She is the 2023 recipient of her institutions’ Sister Mary Grell / Robert Spaeth Teacher of Distinction award. 

• Author: Erica Stonestreet
• Editor: Smrutipriya Pattnaik
• Stephen Bloch-Schulman
• teaching questions

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Key facts about Americans and guns

Guns are deeply ingrained in American society and the nation’s political debates.

The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees the right to bear arms, and about a third of U.S. adults say they personally own a gun. At the same time, in response to concerns such as  rising gun death rates  and  mass shootings , the U.S. surgeon general has taken the unprecedented step of declaring gun violence a public health crisis .

Here are some key findings about Americans’ views of gun ownership, gun policy and other subjects, drawn from Pew Research Center surveys. 

Pew Research Center conducted this analysis to summarize key facts about Americans’ relationships with guns. We used data from recent Center surveys to provide insights into Americans’ views on gun policy and how those views have changed over time, as well as to examine the proportion of adults who own guns and their reasons for doing so.

The Center survey questions used in this analysis, and more information about the surveys’ methodologies, and can be found at the links in the text.

Measuring gun ownership in the United States comes with unique challenges. Unlike many demographic measures, there is not a definitive data source from the government or elsewhere on how many American adults own guns.

The Pew Research Center survey conducted June 5-11, 2023, on the Center’s American Trends Panel, used two separate questions to measure personal and household ownership. About a third of adults (32%) say they own a gun, while another 10% say they do not personally own a gun but someone else in their household does. These shares have changed little from surveys conducted in  2021  and  2017 . In each of those surveys, 30% reported they owned a gun.

These numbers are largely consistent with  rates of gun ownership reported by Gallup and those reported by  NORC’s General Social Survey .  

The FBI maintains data on background checks on individuals attempting to purchase firearms in the United States. The FBI reported  a surge in background checks  in 2020 and 2021, during the coronavirus pandemic, but FBI statistics show that the number of federal background checks declined in 2022 and 2023. This pattern seems to be continuing so far in 2024. As of June, fewer background checks have been conducted than at the same point in 2023, according to FBI statistics.

About   four-in-ten U.S. adults say they live in a household with a gun, including 32% who say they personally own one,  according to  a Center survey conducted in June 2023 . These numbers are virtually unchanged since the last time we asked this question in 2021.

There are differences in gun ownership rates by political affiliation, gender, community type and other factors.

• Party: 45% of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents say they personally own a gun, compared with 20% of Democrats and Democratic leaners.
• Gender: 40% of men say they own a gun, versus 25% of women.
• Community type: 47% of adults living in rural areas report owning a firearm, as do smaller shares of those who live in suburbs (30%) or urban areas (20%).
• Race and ethnicity: 38% of White Americans own a gun, compared with smaller shares of Black (24%), Hispanic (20%) and Asian (10%) Americans.

Personal protection tops the list of reasons gun owners give for having a firearm.  About seven-in-ten gun owners (72%) say protection is a major reason they own a gun. Considerably smaller shares say that a major reason they own a gun is for hunting (32%), for sport shooting (30%), as part of a gun collection (15%) or for their job (7%). 

Americans’ reasons behind gun ownership have changed only modestly since we fielded a separate survey  about these topics in spring 2017. At that time, 67% of gun owners cited protection as a major reason they had a firearm.

Gun owners tend to have much more positive feelings about having a gun in the house than nonowners who live with them do.  For instance, 71% of gun owners say they enjoy owning a gun – but just 31% of nonowners living in a household with a gun say they enjoy having one in the home. And while 81% of gun owners say owning a gun makes them feel safer, a narrower majority of nonowners in gun households (57%) say the same. Nonowners are also more likely than owners to worry about having a gun at home (27% vs. 12%).

Feelings about gun ownership also differ by political affiliation, even among those who personally own a firearm. Republican gun owners are more likely than Democratic owners to say owning one gives them feelings of safety and enjoyment, while Democratic owners are more likely to say they worry about having a gun in the home.

Non-gun owners are split on whether they see themselves owning a firearm in the future.  About half of Americans who don’t own a gun (52%) say they could never see themselves owning one, while nearly as many (47%) could imagine themselves as gun owners in the future.

Among those who currently do not own a gun, attitudes about owning one in the future differ by party and other factors.

• Party: 61% of Republicans who don’t own a gun say they could see themselves owning one in the future, compared with 40% of Democrats.
• Gender: 56% of men who don’t own a gun say they could see themselves owning one someday; 40% of women nonowners say the same.
• Race and ethnicity: 56% of Black nonowners say they could see themselves owning a gun one day, compared with smaller shares of White (48%), Hispanic (40%) and Asian (38%) nonowners.

A majority of Americans (61%) say it is too easy to legally obtain a gun in this country, according to the June 2023 survey. Far fewer (9%) say it is too hard, while another 30% say it’s about right.

Non-gun owners are nearly twice as likely as gun owners to say it is too easy to legally obtain a gun (73% vs. 38%). Gun owners, in turn, are more than twice as likely as nonowners to say the ease of obtaining a gun is about right (48% vs. 20%).

There are differences by party and community type on this question, too. While 86% of Democrats say it is too easy to obtain a gun legally, far fewer Republicans (34%) say the same. Most urban (72%) and suburban (63%) residents say it’s too easy to legally obtain a gun, but rural residents are more divided: 47% say it is too easy, 41% say it is about right and 11% say it is too hard.

About six-in-ten U.S. adults (58%) favor stricter gun laws. Another 26% say that U.S. gun laws are about right, while 15% favor less strict gun laws.

There   is broad partisan agreement on some gun policy proposals, but most are politically divisive. Majorities of U.S. adults in both partisan coalitions somewhat or strongly favor two policies that would restrict gun access: preventing those with mental illnesses from purchasing guns (88% of Republicans and 89% of Democrats support this) and increasing the minimum age for buying guns to 21 years old (69% of Republicans, 90% of Democrats). Majorities in both parties also  oppose  allowing people to carry concealed firearms without a permit (60% of Republicans and 91% of Democrats oppose this).

Republicans and Democrats differ on several other proposals. While 85% of Democrats favor banning both assault-style weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 rounds, majorities of Republicans oppose  these proposals (57% and 54%, respectively).

Most Republicans, on the other hand, support allowing teachers and school officials to carry guns in K-12 schools (74%) and allowing people to carry concealed guns in more places (71%). These proposals are supported by just 27% and 19% of Democrats, respectively.

The public remains closely divided over whether it’s more important to protect gun rights or control gun ownership, according to an April 2024 survey . Overall, 51% of U.S. adults say it’s more important to protect the right of Americans to own guns, while a similar share (48%) say controlling gun ownership is more important.

Views have shifted slightly since 2022, when we last asked this question. That year, 47% of adults prioritized protecting Americans’ rights to own guns, while 52% said controlling gun ownership was more important.

Views on this topic differ sharply by party. In the most recent survey, 83% of Republicans say protecting gun rights is more important, while 79% of Democrats prioritize controlling gun ownership.

Americans are slightly more likely to say gun ownership does more to increase safety than to decrease it.  Around half of Americans (52%) say gun ownership does more to increase safety by allowing law-abiding citizens to protect themselves, while a slightly smaller share (47%) say gun ownership does more to reduce safety by giving too many people access to firearms and increasing misuse. Views were evenly divided (49% vs. 49%) when we last asked in 2023.

Republicans and Democrats differ widely on this question: 81% of Republicans say gun ownership does more to increase safety, while 74% of Democrats say it does more to reduce safety.

Rural and urban Americans also have starkly different views. Among adults who live in rural areas, 64% say gun ownership increases safety, while among those in urban areas, 57% say it  reduces  safety. Those living in the suburbs are about evenly split in their views.

More than half of U.S. adults say an increase in the number of guns in the country is bad for society, according to the April 2024 survey. Some 54% say, generally, this is very or somewhat bad for society. Another 21% say it is very or somewhat good for society, and a quarter say it is neither good nor bad for society.

About half of Americans (49%) see gun violence as a major problem,  according to a May 2024 survey. This is down from 60% in June 2023, but roughly on par with views in previous years. In the more recent survey, 27% say gun violence is a moderately big problem, and about a quarter say it is either a small problem (19%) or not a problem at all (4%).

A majority of public K-12 teachers (59%) say they are at least somewhat worried about the possibility of a shooting ever happening at their school, including 18% who are very or extremely worried, according to a fall 2023 Center survey of teachers . A smaller share of teachers (39%) say they are not too or not at all worried about a shooting occurring at their school.

School shootings are a concern for K-12 parents as well: 32% say they are very or extremely worried about a shooting ever happening at their children’s school, while 37% are somewhat worried, according to  a fall 2022 Center survey of parents with at least one child younger than 18 who is not homeschooled. Another 31% of K-12 parents say they are not too or not at all worried about this.

Note: This is an update of a post originally published on Jan. 5, 2016 .

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Katherine Schaeffer is a research analyst at Pew Research Center .

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More From Forbes

5 Interview Questions That Gauge Critical Thinking Skills

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As a job candidate, you're likely to encounter interview questions designed to assess your critical thinking skills. Employers highly value these skills because they demonstrate your ability to analyze information, solve problems creatively, and make sound decisions. In a world filled with AI, an overabundance of data, increasingly rapid decision-making, and greater autonomy with remote work, critical thinking skills are atop employers' lists of desired candidate traits.

Questions That Assess Critical Thinking Skills

Every company will put their own spin of critical thinking interview questions, but here are five of the most common questions that you should be ready to answer:

• Tell me about a time you had to solve a complex problem at work. What was your approach?
• What do you think are the three biggest challenges facing our industry right now? How would you address them?
• Describe a time when you had to make an important decision with limited information or time. How did you handle it?
• Tell me about a time your initial approach to solving a problem didn't work. How did you pivot?
• If you were in charge of our company, what's one major change you would make and why?

The good news with these five questions is that if you construct good answers for each of them, you'll be well-positioned to handle any other variations you come across.

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Best 5% interest savings accounts of 2024, key points, words and themes to included in your response.

When you're answering critical thinking interview questions, it's vital for you to demonstrate how you analyze situations, assess and solve challenges, and reflect and learn from your experiences. And that's where the SHER Method can be especially helpful.

The SHER Method is a structured approach to answering interview questions that stands for Situation, Hurdle, Endgame, and Reflection. When using this method, you start by briefly describing the Situation or context of the experience you're sharing. Next, you explain the Hurdle or challenge you faced. Then, you detail the Endgame, which includes the actions you took to address the challenge and the results you achieved. Finally, you conclude with a Reflection, sharing what you learned from the experience and how it has influenced your subsequent professional conduct.

The SHER Method is particularly powerful for demonstrating critical thinking skills because it guides candidates to systematically analyze a situation, identify challenges, explain their problem-solving process, and reflect on outcomes and lessons learned. It showcases your ability to think critically and learn from experiences in a structured and compelling way. And that's really the foundation of critical thinking skills.

When answering critical thinking interview questions, keep these points in mind:

• Use specific examples from your experience
• Clearly explain your thought process and reasoning
• Demonstrate a systematic approach to problem-solving
• Show that you consider multiple perspectives
• Emphasize data-driven decision making
• Highlight your ability to adapt and learn from experiences
• Be prepared to discuss both successes and failures
• Show how you've applied lessons learned to future situations

Specific Answers To Critical Thinking Interview Questions

Let's look at some specific answers to some of the aforementioned questions that assess critical thinking skills.

Question 1: Tell me about a time you had to solve a complex problem at work. What was your approach?

Why is this an important question that is often included in interviews? It's because there is no shortage of complex problems that need solving, and when a company is making a big hire, it hopes the candidate has some good solutions.

In your answer, describe the complex problem you faced, explain the main challenges you encountered, detail the steps you took to solve the problem, and share what you learned from the experience.

Here's an example answer: "In my previous role as a project manager, we were tasked with implementing a new software system that would integrate multiple departments. The primary challenge was significant resistance to change from each department. I started by mapping out all the current processes and identifying areas of overlap. Then, I conducted interviews with key stakeholders from each department to understand their specific needs and concerns. Using this information, I created a phased implementation plan that addressed each department's unique requirements while still achieving our overall integration goals. This experience taught me the importance of stakeholder engagement in managing complex changes. I've since incorporated regular cross-departmental meetings into all my projects to ensure alignment and address concerns proactively."

Question 2: What do you think are the three biggest challenges facing our industry right now? How would you address them?

Why is this an important question that is often included in interviews? Simply put, it evaluates your strategic thinking and industry knowledge. If you're interviewing somewhere that prioritizes industry veterans, this question is quite common.

In your response, acknowledge the current state of the industry, identify three specific challenges, propose solutions for each challenge, and conclude with a forward-looking statement.

Here's an example answer: "The [specific] industry is currently facing significant disruption due to technological advancements, changing consumer behaviors, and regulatory pressures. The three biggest challenges I see are: 1) Adapting to rapidly evolving technology, 2) Meeting increasing customer demands for personalization, and 3) Navigating complex regulatory environments. To address these challenges, I would: 1) Implement a continuous learning program to keep our team updated on the latest technologies, 2) Invest in data analytics to better understand and predict customer preferences, and 3) Establish a dedicated regulatory compliance team to ensure we stay ahead of legal requirements. These challenges also present opportunities for companies that can adapt quickly. By addressing them proactively, we can position ourselves as industry leaders."

Question 3: Describe a time when you had to make an important decision with limited information or time. How did you handle it?

This question assesses your decision-making skills under pressure, which are relevant to lots of companies these days. In your answer, set the scene, explain the constraints you faced, detail your decision-making process, and share the outcome and lessons learned.

For example: "During a critical product launch, we discovered a potential safety issue just 24 hours before the scheduled release. We had limited time to gather information and make a decision, and any delay would result in significant financial losses. I quickly assembled a cross-functional team including engineering, legal, and marketing. We conducted a rapid risk assessment, weighing the potential safety concerns against the impact of delaying the launch. Based on our analysis, we decided to postpone the launch by one week to thoroughly address the safety issue. This decision ultimately saved us from potential legal issues and reputational damage. It reinforced for me the importance of prioritizing safety and quality over short-term gains, and the value of having a diverse team for rapid problem-solving."

Demonstrate Critical Thinking Skills Through Your Answers

Remember that when companies ask about critical thinking skills, they're not just looking for the correct answer but for insight into how you think and approach challenges. By demonstrating your ability to analyze situations, overcome obstacles, implement solutions, and learn from outcomes, you'll position yourself as someone who exercises critical thinking skills all day, every day.

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Common Grounds: Toward (Re)Thinking Global Indigeneity

Published September 1, 2022

Kahn Institute Long-Term Project, 2022-23

A year-long collaboration between the Kahn Liberal Arts Institute and the Five College NAIS Mellon Grant. Organized by Christen Mucher,  American Studies,  and Javier Puente,  Latin American and Latino/a Studies

Project Description

Around the world indigenous peoples and their histories face questions of marginalization, climate change and global hegemony while maintaining their histories and distinct sovereignties. We are called to consider the forces of colonization, settler colonialism, and racial capitalism across North America, the western hemisphere, and the globe. Whether focused on Andean weavers, Maya tourism entrepreneurs, Cree forest management, Navajo language, Chicanx activisms, Anishinaabeg video games, Inuit throat-singing, Maori filmmaking or Sami reindeer herding, scholarly attention to Indigenous lives and histories must be bound in place as well as vastly networked across interdisciplinary understandings of space and time. Emerging opportunities for re-centering indigeneity, lying at the intersection of the arts and humanities, the social sciences, and STEM disciplines, should also  include reappraisals of energy economies, legal innovations, food science, migration, and city planning, among others.

Common Grounds seeks scholars working on topics that address the indigenous question “within” urgent issues such as: sea-level rise, femicide, agricultural sciences, territorial sovereignties, the digital world, public health, climate justice, border-crossing, the Anthropocene, global trade, and internationalism, among others. Our goal is to open discussions and develop collaborations across scholarship’s colonial/national, racial/ethnic, and linguistic borders, bringing together AAPI/Pasifika scholars, Latin Americanists, Russian-Americanists, Caribbeanists, NAIS scholars, and others who work on issues of indigeneity around the world from a diverse set of disciplinary and methodological perspectives. Can we foster a space to imagine and ask complex questions of labor, environmental resilience, knowledge-creation, art, and alternate economies in their relation to Indigenous peoples? What commonalities can we draw out while remaining grounded in the specificities of our own places and knowledges?  How can we share best practices to build on work already being done in classrooms, conference spaces, and community centers? From mathematical and economic modeling to data mining and management, and from geological and environmental questions to issues of labor and LGBTQI2S+ struggles, we can tackle the crises of colonialism together better than when we are apart.

With Common Grounds, we intend to revise the traditional Kahn seminar model to dovetail with the goals of the Mellon grant by increasing the number of Five College faculty fellows and allowing – for the first time – a small cohort of Smith student fellows. Building an inclusive community will also help us lay the foundation for expanded NAIS teaching and learning across the region, and begin the work of envisioning an interdisciplinary Indigenous Studies Center for the Five Colleges consortium. Each fellow will come to the project with an individual research project, but each will also be prepared to set aside occasional sessions for strategic planning conversations. In addition, the project will also program the annual NAIS spring symposium, to be held in the Skyline Room at the newly reopened, Maya Lin-designed Neilson Library at Smith. The site itself will animate conversations about place, history, and the grounds on which we situate ourselves and our work.

Project Fellows

• Christen Mucher,  American Studies,  Organizing Fellow Broadening knowledge of indigeneity across the globe and thinking about comparative structures of power and resistance, especially around questions of land and belonging.  
• Javier Puente,  Latin American and Latino/a Studies,  Organizing Fellow Spurring conversations about the intertwined narratives of colonialism and imperialism across the world as the foundations for discussing global questions of Indigeneity with a particular interest in the intersection of climate, anthropocentric notions of (natural) disasters, and Indigenous livelihoods of the past, present, and future.  
• Nell Adkins '23,  Government  and  Dance  
• Kiara Alvarez '24,  Study of Women and Gender Exploring the intersection of indigeneity and movement by focusing on Indigenous narratives of migration and studying how border enforcement laws and practices in the Americas act as an agent of settler colonialism.  
• Johanna Brewer , Computer Science Investigating how Indigenous online content creators adopt and adapt platform surveillance technologies like live streaming to broadcast their own narratives of 21st century Native culture.  
• Abigail Chabitnoy , English , UMass–Amherst  
• Sylvia Cifuentes, Environmental Studies , Mount Holyoke College Analyzing how gender difference can (re)shape climate planning in Amazonia. Drawing from feminist political ecology and the literature on decolonial and Indigenous feminisms, this project seeks to illuminate the intersections among Indigenous women's territorial knowledges, their politics, and climate change adaptation.  
• Yanlong Guo , Art Focusing on the annual “national art exhibitions” organized by the puppet Manchukuo government (1931-1945), this project addresses the tension between indigeneity and coloniality in the Japanese-occupied Manchurian State in northeast China. It further complicates the current Indigenous Studies theories primarily derived from the histories of Euro-American colonialism.  
• Alice Hearst,  Government Following the US Supreme Court challenge to the Indian Child Welfare Act, which, among other things, vests jurisdiction over the adoptive and foster care placement of children who are, or are eligible to be, members of a recognized tribe with the appropriate tribal authorities while, on a broader level, looking at the impact of the adoption of the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples on the adoption and foster care treatment of a variety of indigenous children in several countries, exploring the emergence of global norms around the treatment of children of indigenous communities are being absorbed, if at all, into domestic legal regimes.  
• Pinky Hota, Anthropology Locating right wing violence in India in the long arc of caste capitalism, and shows how indiegenity can operate as a fulcrum of racialized forms of capitalism to the detriment of landless minorities while also exploring how Indian indigenous groups are marginalized by state discourses of ecological conservation and ecotourism.  
• Yancey Orr , Environmental Science and Policy Analyze changes in the themes and methods in research articles among American Indian and Indigenous journals over the past 20 years through the use of National Language Processing.   
• Yarrow Skoblow '24,  Native American Indigenous Studies , Hampshire College  
• Nora Sullivan '24,  Middle East Studies Exploring how Indigeneity is employed as a political identity and instrument in the Middle East and North Africa, focusing especially on the Amazigh in Morocco and how the authoritarian government co-opts the indigenous rights movement for its own political gains and positive international perception.   
• Erica Tibbetts , Exercise and Sports Studies  
• Izzy Zheng '24,  Economics

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