Research Questions

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to develop a focused, researchable question, narrow a broad topic into a manageable inquiry, and distinguish a research question from a thesis.

The Research Question

A research question is the question that guides your inquiry. It is not the answer — it's the question that your research will help you answer.

A good research question is:

• Focused (not so broad that no essay could answer it)
• Researchable (you can find evidence; it's not purely a matter of opinion)
• Genuinely uncertain (you don't already know the answer)
• Complex enough to be interesting

Moving from Topic to Question

Topic → Researchable Question → Thesis

Topic: climate change

Too broad: "What is climate change?"

Better: "How have climate change policies affected low-income communities in the United States?"

Even more focused: "What are the specific economic impacts of carbon pricing on low-income households, and how do existing proposals address these impacts?"

Types of Research Questions

Descriptive: What is the current state of X?

Comparative: How does X compare to Y?

Causal: What causes X? What are the effects of X?

Evaluative: How effective is X? Is X good or bad?

Policy: What should be done about X?

The Research Question vs. the Thesis

A research question is what you are investigating. A thesis is the answer you arrived at after investigation.

Research question: Why do some literary traditions produce more enduring narratives of collective trauma than others?

Thesis (after research): Literary traditions with sustained oral storytelling practices — where stories are transmitted between generations in communal contexts — produce more emotionally complex and culturally resonant narratives of trauma than those in which trauma is primarily processed through private, written journals.

Narrowing Your Question

Too broad: "Is social media bad for teenagers?"

Questions to narrow:

• Which social media platforms?
• Which aspects of health? (mental health, physical, social)
• Which age group within teenagers?
• Which time period?