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:
How to write a research question
The process of developing your research question follows several steps:
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.
What makes a strong research question?
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.
Your central research question should follow from your research problem to keep your work focused. If you have multiple questions, they should all clearly relate to this central aim.
Answerable using primary or secondary data
You must be able to find an answer by collecting quantitative and/or qualitative data, or by reading scholarly sources on the topic to develop an argument. If such data is impossible to access, you will have to rethink your question and ask something more concrete.
Does not ask for a subjective value judgement
Avoid subjective words like good, bad, better and worse, as these do not give clear criteria for answering the question. If your question is evaluating something, use terms with more measurable definitions.
Make sure you have enough time and resources to do the research required to answer the question. If you think you might struggle to gain access to enough data, consider narrowing down the question to be more specific.
Uses specific, well-defined concepts
All the terms you use in the research question should have clear meanings. Avoid vague language and broad ideas, and be clear about what, who, where and when your question addresses.
Does not ask for a conclusive solution, policy, or course of action
Research is about informing, not instructing. Even if your project is focused on a practical problem, it should aim to improve understanding and suggest possibilities rather than asking for a ready-made solution.
Closed yes/no questions are too simple to work as good research questions — they don’t provide enough scope for investigation and discussion.
Cannot be answered with easily found facts and figures
If you can answer the question through a Google search or by reading a single book or article, it is probably not complex enough. A good research question requires original data, synthesis of multiple sources, interpretation and/or argument to provide an answer.
Provides scope for debate and deliberation
The answer to the question should not just be a simple statement of fact: there needs to be space for you to discuss and interpret what you found. This is especially important in an essay or research paper, where the answer to your question often takes the form of an argumentative thesis statement.
The research question should be developed based on initial reading around your topic, and it should focus on addressing a problem or gap in the existing knowledge.
Contributes to a topical social or academic debate
The question should aim to contribute to an existing debate — ideally one that is current in your field or in society at large. It should produce knowledge that future researchers or practitioners can build on.
Has not already been answered
You don’t have to ask something groundbreaking that nobody has ever thought of before, but the question should have some aspect of originality (for example, by focusing on a specific location or taking a new angle on a long-running debate).
Published on April 16, 2019 by Shona McCombes. Revised on March 22, 2021.
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
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.
What makes a strong research question?
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
- Criteria
- Explanation
- Focuses on a single topic and problem
Your central research question should follow from your research problem to keep your work focused. If you have multiple questions, they should all clearly relate to this central aim.
Answerable using primary or secondary data
You must be able to find an answer by collecting quantitative and/or qualitative data, or by reading scholarly sources on the topic to develop an argument. If such data is impossible to access, you will have to rethink your question and ask something more concrete.
Does not ask for a subjective value judgement
Avoid subjective words like good, bad, better and worse, as these do not give clear criteria for answering the question. If your question is evaluating something, use terms with more measurable definitions.
- Is X or Y a better policy?
- How effective are X and Y policies at reducing rates of Z?
- Feasible and specific
- Criteria
- Explanation
Make sure you have enough time and resources to do the research required to answer the question. If you think you might struggle to gain access to enough data, consider narrowing down the question to be more specific.
Uses specific, well-defined concepts
All the terms you use in the research question should have clear meanings. Avoid vague language and broad ideas, and be clear about what, who, where and when your question addresses.
- What effect does social media have on people’s minds?
- What effect does daily use of Twitter have on the attention span of under-16s?
Does not ask for a conclusive solution, policy, or course of action
Research is about informing, not instructing. Even if your project is focused on a practical problem, it should aim to improve understanding and suggest possibilities rather than asking for a ready-made solution.
- What should the government do about low voter turnout?
- What are the most effective communication strategies for increasing voter turnout among under-30s?
- Complex and arguable
- Criteria
- Explanation
- Criteria
Closed yes/no questions are too simple to work as good research questions — they don’t provide enough scope for investigation and discussion.
- Has there been an increase in homelessness in the UK in the past ten years?
- How have economic and political factors affected patterns of homelessness in the UK over the past ten years?
Cannot be answered with easily found facts and figures
If you can answer the question through a Google search or by reading a single book or article, it is probably not complex enough. A good research question requires original data, synthesis of multiple sources, interpretation and/or argument to provide an answer.
Provides scope for debate and deliberation
The answer to the question should not just be a simple statement of fact: there needs to be space for you to discuss and interpret what you found. This is especially important in an essay or research paper, where the answer to your question often takes the form of an argumentative thesis statement.
- Relevant and original
- Criteria
- Explanation
The research question should be developed based on initial reading around your topic, and it should focus on addressing a problem or gap in the existing knowledge.
Contributes to a topical social or academic debate
The question should aim to contribute to an existing debate — ideally one that is current in your field or in society at large. It should produce knowledge that future researchers or practitioners can build on.
Has not already been answered
You don’t have to ask something groundbreaking that nobody has ever thought of before, but the question should have some aspect of originality (for example, by focusing on a specific location or taking a new angle on a long-running debate).
Published on April 16, 2019 by Shona McCombes. Revised on March 22, 2021.