{"id":222,"date":"2019-05-08T13:40:42","date_gmt":"2019-05-08T17:40:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/professionalcomms\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=222"},"modified":"2019-05-12T01:00:22","modified_gmt":"2019-05-12T05:00:22","slug":"2-1-research-questions","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/professionalcomms\/chapter\/2-1-research-questions\/","title":{"raw":"2.1 Research questions","rendered":"2.1 Research questions"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"textbox textbox--exercises\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<h2 class=\"textbox__title\"><span style=\"color: #ffffff\">Questions for reflection<\/span><\/h2>\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Think about the last time that you did research. What kind of research did you do? Were you able to find all the sources you needed? If not, what kind of sources did you struggle to find?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>How do you use the internet when you research? What kind of sites do you visit? Why?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What does academic integrity mean to you?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>How do you determine what sources to trust online?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>If you\u2019ve also attended school in a different country, how does that school system teach source use?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nBoth professional researchers and successful student researchers develop research questions. That\u2019s because research questions are more than handy tools; they are essential to the research process.\r\n\r\nBy defining exactly what the researcher is trying to find out, these questions influence most of the rest of the steps taken to conduct the research. That\u2019s true even if the research is not for academic purposes but for other areas of our lives.\r\n\r\nFor instance, if you\u2019re seeking information about a health problem in order to learn whether you have anything to worry about, research questions will make it possible for you to more effectively decide whether to seek medical help\u2013and how quickly.\r\n\r\nOr, if you\u2019re researching a potential employer, having developed and used research questions will mean you\u2019re able to more confidently decide whether to apply for an internship or job there.\r\n\r\nThe confidence you\u2019ll have when making such decisions will come from knowing that the information they\u2019re based on was gathered by conscious thought rather than serendipity and whim.\r\n<h2>Narrowing a topic<\/h2>\r\nFor 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 university research projects. It\u2019s a process of working from the outside in: you start with the world of all possible topics (or your assigned topic) and narrow down until you\u2019ve focused your interest enough to be able to tell precisely what you want to find out, instead of only what you want to \u201cwrite about.\u201d\r\n<h3>Process of narrowing a topic<\/h3>\r\nVisualize narrowing a topic as starting with all possible topics\u00a0and choosing narrower and narrower subsets until you have a specific\u00a0enough topic to form a research question.\r\n\r\n<strong>All possible topics<\/strong> \u2013\u00a0You\u2019ll 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.\r\n\r\n<strong>Assigned topics<\/strong> \u2013\u00a0Ideas about a narrower topic can come from anywhere. Often, a narrower topic boils down to deciding what\u2019s interesting to you. One way to get ideas is to read background information in a source like Wikipedia.\r\n\r\n<strong>Topic narrowed by initial exploration<\/strong> \u2013\u00a0It\u2019s wise to do some more reading about that narrower topic to a) learn more about it and b) learn specialized terms used by professionals and scholars who study it.\r\n\r\n<strong>Topic narrowed to research question(s)<\/strong> \u2013\u00a0A research question defines exactly what you are trying to find out. It will influence most of the steps you take to conduct the research.\r\n<h2>Background reading<\/h2>\r\nIt\u2019s wise to do some more reading about that narrower topic once you have it. For one reason, you probably don\u2019t know much about it yet. For another, such reading will help you learn the terms used by professionals and scholars who have studied your narrower topic. Those terms are certain to be helpful when you\u2019re looking for sources later, so jot them down or otherwise remember them.\r\n\r\nFor instance, if you were going to do research about the treatment for humans with bird flu, this background reading would teach you that professionals and scholars usually use the term avian influenza instead of bird flu when they write about it. (Often, they also use H1N1 or H1N9 to identify the strain.) If you didn\u2019t learn that, you would miss the kinds of sources you\u2019ll eventually need for your assignment.\r\n\r\nMost sources other than journal articles are good sources for this initial reading, including the\u00a0Globe and Mail\u00a0or other mainline Canadian \u00a0news outlets, Wikipedia, encyclopedias for the discipline your topic is in, dictionaries for the discipline, and manuals, handbooks, blogs, and web pages that could be relevant.\r\n\r\nThis initial reading could cause you to narrow your topic further, which is fine because narrower topics lead to greater specificity for what you have to find out. After this upfront work, you\u2019re ready to start developing the research question(s) you will try to answer for your assignment.\r\n<h2>Developing your research question<\/h2>\r\nBecause of all their influence, you might worry that research questions are very difficult to develop. Sometimes it can seem that way. But we\u2019ll help you get the hang of it and, luckily, none of us has to come up with perfect ones right off. It\u2019s more like doing a rough draft and then improving it. That\u2019s why we talk about\u00a0developing\u00a0research questions instead of just writing them.\r\n<h3>Steps for developing a research question<\/h3>\r\nThe steps for developing a research question, listed below, can help you organize your thoughts.\r\n\r\n<strong>Step 1:<\/strong>\u00a0Pick a topic (or consider the one assigned to you).\r\n\r\n<strong>Step 2:\u00a0<\/strong>Write a narrower\/smaller topic that is related to the first.\r\n\r\n<strong>Step 3:<\/strong>\u00a0List some potential questions that could logically be asked in relation to the narrow topic.\r\n\r\n<strong>Step 4:\u00a0<\/strong>Pick the question that you are most interested in.\r\n\r\n<strong>Step 5:<\/strong>\u00a0Revise question you\u2019re interested in so that it is more focused and less vague.\r\n\r\nAfter you think of each research question, evaluate it by asking whether it is:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Logically related to the topic<\/li>\r\n \t<li>In question form<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Not answerable with a quick Google search<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Specific, not vague<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nSometimes the first draft of a research question is still too broad, which can make your search for sources more challenging. Refining your question to remove vagueness or to target a specific aspect of the topic can help.\r\n\r\nMost of us look for information to answer questions every day, but research questions are different from what we might call \u201cregular questions.\u201d\r\n<table>\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td><strong>Regular\u00a0 question<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td><strong>Research question<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>What time does the movie start?<\/td>\r\n<td>How can movie theatres use attendance and sales data to inform scheduling of upcoming films?<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>Who invented the first computer?<\/td>\r\n<td>Why is the lifespan of new technologies decreasing?<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>What is social media?<\/td>\r\n<td>Why is social media an important tool to use in post-secondary classrooms?<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>Which store in my neighbourhood has the lowest priced produce?<\/td>\r\n<td>How does the location of a store affect the types and prices of produce offered for sale?<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n<h2>Attributions<\/h2>\r\nThis chapter contains information taken from multiple sources:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ohiostate.pressbooks.pub\/choosingsources\/chapter\/purpose-of-research-questions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Purpose of Research Questions<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/ohiostate.pressbooks.pub\/choosingsources\/chapter\/narrowing-a-topic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Narrowing a Topic<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/ohiostate.pressbooks.pub\/choosingsources\/chapter\/background-reading\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Background Reading<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/ohiostate.pressbooks.pub\/choosingsources\/chapter\/developing-research-question\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Developing your Research Question<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/ohiostate.pressbooks.pub\/choosingsources\/chapter\/developing-research-question\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Regular vs Research Questions<\/a> in <a href=\"https:\/\/ohiostate.pressbooks.pub\/choosingsources\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Choosing &amp; Using Sources: A Guide to Academic Research<\/a>, which is used under a <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CC-BY 4.0 International license<\/a><\/li>\r\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/arley\/chapter\/ch-9-the-research-process\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Research Process<\/a> in <a href=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/arley\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Business Writing for Everyone<\/a>, which is used under a <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CC-BY-NC 4.0 International license<\/a>.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>","rendered":"<div class=\"textbox textbox--exercises\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<h2 class=\"textbox__title\"><span style=\"color: #ffffff\">Questions for reflection<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<ul>\n<li>Think about the last time that you did research. What kind of research did you do? Were you able to find all the sources you needed? If not, what kind of sources did you struggle to find?<\/li>\n<li>How do you use the internet when you research? What kind of sites do you visit? Why?<\/li>\n<li>What does academic integrity mean to you?<\/li>\n<li>How do you determine what sources to trust online?<\/li>\n<li>If you\u2019ve also attended school in a different country, how does that school system teach source use?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Both professional researchers and successful student researchers develop research questions. That\u2019s because research questions are more than handy tools; they are essential to the research process.<\/p>\n<p>By defining exactly what the researcher is trying to find out, these questions influence most of the rest of the steps taken to conduct the research. That\u2019s true even if the research is not for academic purposes but for other areas of our lives.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, if you\u2019re seeking information about a health problem in order to learn whether you have anything to worry about, research questions will make it possible for you to more effectively decide whether to seek medical help\u2013and how quickly.<\/p>\n<p>Or, if you\u2019re researching a potential employer, having developed and used research questions will mean you\u2019re able to more confidently decide whether to apply for an internship or job there.<\/p>\n<p>The confidence you\u2019ll have when making such decisions will come from knowing that the information they\u2019re based on was gathered by conscious thought rather than serendipity and whim.<\/p>\n<h2>Narrowing a topic<\/h2>\n<p>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 university research projects. It\u2019s a process of working from the outside in: you start with the world of all possible topics (or your assigned topic) and narrow down until you\u2019ve focused your interest enough to be able to tell precisely what you want to find out, instead of only what you want to \u201cwrite about.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Process of narrowing a topic<\/h3>\n<p>Visualize narrowing a topic as starting with all possible topics\u00a0and choosing narrower and narrower subsets until you have a specific\u00a0enough topic to form a research question.<\/p>\n<p><strong>All possible topics<\/strong> \u2013\u00a0You\u2019ll 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.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Assigned topics<\/strong> \u2013\u00a0Ideas about a narrower topic can come from anywhere. Often, a narrower topic boils down to deciding what\u2019s interesting to you. One way to get ideas is to read background information in a source like Wikipedia.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Topic narrowed by initial exploration<\/strong> \u2013\u00a0It\u2019s wise to do some more reading about that narrower topic to a) learn more about it and b) learn specialized terms used by professionals and scholars who study it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Topic narrowed to research question(s)<\/strong> \u2013\u00a0A research question defines exactly what you are trying to find out. It will influence most of the steps you take to conduct the research.<\/p>\n<h2>Background reading<\/h2>\n<p>It\u2019s wise to do some more reading about that narrower topic once you have it. For one reason, you probably don\u2019t know much about it yet. For another, such reading will help you learn the terms used by professionals and scholars who have studied your narrower topic. Those terms are certain to be helpful when you\u2019re looking for sources later, so jot them down or otherwise remember them.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, if you were going to do research about the treatment for humans with bird flu, this background reading would teach you that professionals and scholars usually use the term avian influenza instead of bird flu when they write about it. (Often, they also use H1N1 or H1N9 to identify the strain.) If you didn\u2019t learn that, you would miss the kinds of sources you\u2019ll eventually need for your assignment.<\/p>\n<p>Most sources other than journal articles are good sources for this initial reading, including the\u00a0Globe and Mail\u00a0or other mainline Canadian \u00a0news outlets, Wikipedia, encyclopedias for the discipline your topic is in, dictionaries for the discipline, and manuals, handbooks, blogs, and web pages that could be relevant.<\/p>\n<p>This initial reading could cause you to narrow your topic further, which is fine because narrower topics lead to greater specificity for what you have to find out. After this upfront work, you\u2019re ready to start developing the research question(s) you will try to answer for your assignment.<\/p>\n<h2>Developing your research question<\/h2>\n<p>Because of all their influence, you might worry that research questions are very difficult to develop. Sometimes it can seem that way. But we\u2019ll help you get the hang of it and, luckily, none of us has to come up with perfect ones right off. It\u2019s more like doing a rough draft and then improving it. That\u2019s why we talk about\u00a0developing\u00a0research questions instead of just writing them.<\/p>\n<h3>Steps for developing a research question<\/h3>\n<p>The steps for developing a research question, listed below, can help you organize your thoughts.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 1:<\/strong>\u00a0Pick a topic (or consider the one assigned to you).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 2:\u00a0<\/strong>Write a narrower\/smaller topic that is related to the first.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 3:<\/strong>\u00a0List some potential questions that could logically be asked in relation to the narrow topic.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 4:\u00a0<\/strong>Pick the question that you are most interested in.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 5:<\/strong>\u00a0Revise question you\u2019re interested in so that it is more focused and less vague.<\/p>\n<p>After you think of each research question, evaluate it by asking whether it is:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Logically related to the topic<\/li>\n<li>In question form<\/li>\n<li>Not answerable with a quick Google search<\/li>\n<li>Specific, not vague<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Sometimes the first draft of a research question is still too broad, which can make your search for sources more challenging. Refining your question to remove vagueness or to target a specific aspect of the topic can help.<\/p>\n<p>Most of us look for information to answer questions every day, but research questions are different from what we might call \u201cregular questions.\u201d<\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Regular\u00a0 question<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Research question<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>What time does the movie start?<\/td>\n<td>How can movie theatres use attendance and sales data to inform scheduling of upcoming films?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Who invented the first computer?<\/td>\n<td>Why is the lifespan of new technologies decreasing?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>What is social media?<\/td>\n<td>Why is social media an important tool to use in post-secondary classrooms?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Which store in my neighbourhood has the lowest priced produce?<\/td>\n<td>How does the location of a store affect the types and prices of produce offered for sale?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h2>Attributions<\/h2>\n<p>This chapter contains information taken from multiple sources:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ohiostate.pressbooks.pub\/choosingsources\/chapter\/purpose-of-research-questions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Purpose of Research Questions<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/ohiostate.pressbooks.pub\/choosingsources\/chapter\/narrowing-a-topic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Narrowing a Topic<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/ohiostate.pressbooks.pub\/choosingsources\/chapter\/background-reading\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Background Reading<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/ohiostate.pressbooks.pub\/choosingsources\/chapter\/developing-research-question\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Developing your Research Question<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/ohiostate.pressbooks.pub\/choosingsources\/chapter\/developing-research-question\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Regular vs Research Questions<\/a> in <a href=\"https:\/\/ohiostate.pressbooks.pub\/choosingsources\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Choosing &amp; Using Sources: A Guide to Academic Research<\/a>, which is used under a <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CC-BY 4.0 International license<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/arley\/chapter\/ch-9-the-research-process\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Research Process<\/a> in <a href=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/arley\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Business Writing for Everyone<\/a>, which is used under a <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CC-BY-NC 4.0 International license<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"author":320,"menu_order":4,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-222","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":247,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/professionalcomms\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/professionalcomms\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/professionalcomms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/professionalcomms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/320"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/professionalcomms\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":329,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/professionalcomms\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/222\/revisions\/329"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/professionalcomms\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/247"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/professionalcomms\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/222\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/professionalcomms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/professionalcomms\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=222"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/professionalcomms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=222"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/professionalcomms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}