2. Thing we Know and Want to Know
Brainstormunderthetwocolumnsasmuchasyoucanaboutthetopicalreadyandideasaboutwhatyoucouldorwanttofindoutaboutit. You
canusethistooltohelpwithyourquestiongeneration.
DON’TJUDGEANYTHINGAT THISSTAGE!!
• Think we know • Want to know
3. 10 of the
Best!
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
1. Copy the best 10
statements/
questions from
the last exercise.
2. Change any
statements to
questions at this
point.
3. Identify any
closed question
by highlighting
them.
4. Closed to Open
Forgenuineeffectiveenquiryitisbettertohaveaseriesofopenquestions. Thesearequestionsthatcannotbeanswered
simplybutinstead,needresearchandanalysistobeaddressed. Ifanyofthequestionsinyourlistareclosed,thennowis
thetimetotryandmakethemopen.
Closed
e.g. “How can climate change be stopped?”
This is a relatively closed question because
the answer is simply to stop putting CO2 into
the atmosphere.
Open
An improved version of this question might
be…”To what extent can the effects of climate
change be off set?”. This question requires
investigation and analysis of the conflicting
information that will be out there.
Closed
Write any closed questions here
Open
Write the open versions of your questions here
5. Review
and
Improve
Your improved questions here
Question stems are a good
way of helping to improve your
questions. The stems below
are useful in constructing good
research questions. Use these
to modify your questions and
see if you can improve them.
To what extent…?
How far…?
Whose
responsibility is
it…?
Should…?
Do the benefits of…
outweigh the
disadvantages?
What is more
important…?
7. Evaluate Your Final Question
Thistoolmighthelpyoutakeafinalcriticallookatyourquestion. Howdoesitscoreonthescales? A“good”questionwill
scorehighlyinallareas.
