A topic in research methodology
"…research questions turn a general purpose or aim into specific questions to which specific, data-driven, concrete, answers can be given."
Cohen et al., 2011, p.111
Research questions(RQ) play a pivotal role in a study, as they provide the key connections between
• the conceptual framework of the project (as developed out in the literature review)
• the research design (which sets out what is to be done and so what can possibly be found out)
RQ:
- – follow from the literature review
- – need to be focused such that they inform research design
- – have to support the planning of a viable project
- – that can be addressed by a feasible and ethical research design
- – that matches the available resources
(This leads to a simple framework for analysing research questions).
The importance of getting research questions right
Newby (2014) suggests that
"What is particularly important about research questions is that the way we phrase them can affect our approach to research. And this is why: research questions point us to the data we need and are also indicative of the methodology that will give us the data and process them."
Newby, 2014: 67
Newby also suggests that: "…we can 'break open' our research question and through this devise a model of the factors that we think may be influencing our research issue" (p.269). We might think that this rather reverses the logic – we want our research questions to reflect the model of factors we consider may be important (i.e., the conceptual framework we have constructed through our background reading, reflection, and possibly experience in the field).
Some research questions are 'compound' in the sense that they actually encompass several subsidiary questions.
Sources cited:
- Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2011). Research Methods in Education (7th ed.). Routledge.
- Newby, P. (2014). Research Methods for Education (Second ed.). Abingdon, Oxon.: Routledge.
Note:
1 The origin of this 'visual metaphor' for the 'shape' of a research project is explained here: What shape should a research thesis be?
My introduction to educational research:
Taber, K. S. (2013). Classroom-based Research and Evidence-based Practice: An introduction (2nd ed.). London: Sage.
