A research question defines the primary objective of your work and is one of the most important components of your paper. In this blog, we will look at some examples of good and bad research questions.
1. Research Question Example #1
You have to design your research question in such a way that it is focused and is not too broad. Let’s look at the example here. We are saying that we are going to study the impact of social media on young people. The research question is too broad. As you can see there is no clear direction, and the study attempts to take on too much.
✖ Bad example – Too broad and unfocussed
The research aims to find out the impact of social media on young people.
Now, look at the example below. It is much more focused. We are very specific about our research questions. We are saying that we are attempting to measure the average time spent by teenagers on social media. And, we are also trying to understand the exact nature of their interactions on social media. We will be using an online questionnaire to answer the questions and we will be choosing participants from England and Scotland. This is a good research question, because it clearly defines what you have set out to do and how you plan to achieve it.
✔ Good example – Focussed and a very clear definition
The research aims to estimate the average time spent by 18-24 year-olds on social media, and investigate the nature of interactions and conversions they have on social media. We attempt to answer these questions by conducting an online questionnaire survey in England and Scotland.
_ Research aims _ Plan of action
2. Research Question Example #2
Another thing to remember is that your research question should not be too simple. Your research question should be reasonably complex and there should be scope for you to conduct research. And most importantly, it should be reasonably original and should not have been answered before.
Look at the example here. “Does Co2 causes global warming?”. We all know that Co2 causes global warming. If you can answer your question with a simple yes or no, then it is too simple.
✖ Bad example – Too simple
Does Co2 causes global warming?
Now, look at this research question below. The research question is reasonably complex. You need to perform quantitative and qualitative experiments to answer this question. It is realistic, and it is possible to complete your measurements and calculations in a reasonable time scale. It ticks all the boxes and that is the reason why this is a good research question.
✔ Good example – Realistic and challenging question
What percentage of the CO2 in the atmosphere has been produced by human beings through the burning of fossil fuels?
3. Research Question Example #3
Your research question should align with your research gap and the problem statement. In the example below, the author is talking about the practical challenges of using biomass as a renewable source of electricity, because you need to cut down a lot of trees for this. So when readers are expecting a research question along the lines of finding better and more efficient ways to produce biomass, the author mentions that the objective of his work is to investigate the competency requirements of managers working in the Biomass industry. This has nothing to do with the problem statement and research gap the author had identified.
✖ Bad example – Research question doesn’t align with the problem definition
Successfully utilizing biomass as a source of energy poses challenges because of various reasons, such as deforestation. This study aims to investigate the competency requirements of managers working in the biomass industry.
_ Problem definition _ Misaligned Research question
In the example below, the authors say that their work aims to propose a new method for generating electricity from biomass. This nicely aligns with the problem definition of finding new ways to use biomass for energy production.
✔ Good example – Research question nicely aligns with the problem definition
Successfully utilizing biomass as a source of energy poses challenges because of various reasons, such as deforestation. In this paper, we propose a comprehensive method for the generation of electricity using biomass which builds and expands on direct combustion approaches.
_ Problem definition _ Well-aligned Research question
4. Summary
I hope you found the blog useful. A strong research question lies at the heart of any research work, so please make use of the tips outlined in this blog. If you have any questions, please drop a comment below, and we will answer as soon as possible. For further reading, please refer to our blog on how to formulate a research question? We also recommend you to refer to our other blogs on academic writing tools, academic writing resources, and academic phrase-bank, which are relevant to the topic discussed in this blog.
