The document outlines the process of developing a strong research question, emphasizing its significance in guiding research and filling knowledge gaps. It categorizes different types of research, describes characteristics of effective research questions, and provides criteria for formulating them to ensure they are focused, researchable, and relevant. The document also highlights the role of sub-questions in structuring research inquiries and encourages readers to identify knowledge gaps and contributions for their studies.

1. Developing your research question
Nathalie Butt
nathalie.butt@TNC.ORG
Empowering Global Voices Program

2. Empowering Global Voices Program
Reminder - the importance of committing to the writing process
• Please don’t make me chase you up!
• Communicate with me/update me regularly.
• Ask for help if you need it – that’s what I’m here for ☺
• This is for your benefit and professional development.

3. 1. Experimental: Involves manipulating one or more variables to test a hypothesis. It is usually conducted in a
controlled environment, such as a laboratory.
2. Observational: Involves the observation of natural phenomena without any involvement or manipulation.
3. Descriptive: Describes and documents a particular phenomenon or behaviour. It does not involve any guidance of
variables or testing of hypotheses.
4. Correlational: Establishes a relationship between two or more variables; not cause-and-effect relationships.
5. Applied Research: This type of research aims to solve practical problems by applying scientific knowledge to real-
world situations.
6. Primary Research: Aims to advance scientific knowledge without any immediate practical application.
Qualitative: Involves the collection and analysis of non-numerical data: interviews, observations, and case studies. It
aims to understand the complexity and richness of human experiences.
Quantitative Research: Involves gathering and analysing numerical data, such as survey responses or test scores. It
aims to establish cause-and-effect relationships between variables.
Researchers often use multiple types of research to answer their research questions.
Types of research
Empowering Global Voices Program

4. Empowering Global Voices Program
What is a research question?
• It is the central question that a paper/thesis/project sets out to answer.
• It aims to explore an existing uncertainty, or fill a knowledge gap.
• It focusses on a single issue or problem.
• It is the driver of the work.
Identify your objective – clarify your main message:
• What is the problem?
• So what?
• What are the solutions?
• What are the benefits?

5. Empowering Global Voices Program
www.scribbr.com/research-process/research-questions/
All research questions should be:
• Focussed 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
Good research question characteristics

6. Research objectives Research question formulations
Describing and exploring •What are the characteristics of X?
•How has X changed over time?
•What are the causes of X?
•How has X dealt with Y?
Explaining and testing •What is the relationship between X and Y?
•What is the role of X in Y?
•What is the impact of X on Y?
•How does X influence Y?
Evaluating and acting •What are the advantages and disadvantages of X?
•How effective is X?
•How can X be improved?
Developing a strong research question
Empowering Global Voices Program

7. Criteria Explanation
Focussed on a single topic Your central research question should work
together with your research problem to keep
your work focused. Multiple questions should tie
back to your central aim.
Answerable using credible
sources
Your question must be answerable
using quantitative and/or qualitative data, or by
reading scholarly sources on the topic to develop
your argument. If you can’t find such data,
rethink your question.
Not based on value
judgements
Avoid subjective words; good, bad, better, worse.
Rather than: Is X or Y a better policy?,
ask: How effective are X and Y policies at
reducing rates of Z?
Empowering Global Voices Program
Focussed and researchable

8. Criteria Explanation
Answerable within practical
constraints
Make sure you have enough time and resources
to do all research required. If not, narrow down
your question to be more specific.
Uses specific, well-defined
concepts
All the terms you use in the research question
should have clear meanings.
Rather than: What effect does social media have
on people’s minds?
Ask: What effect does daily use of Tiktok have on
the attention span of 16-year-olds at your local
high school?
Does not demand a conclusive
solution, policy, or course of
action
Research is about informing, not instructing. If
ready-made solutions are necessary, maybe
conduct action research.
Empowering Global Voices Program
Feasible and specific

9. Criteria Explanation
Cannot be answered
with yes or no
Closed-ended, yes/no questions are too simple to
work as good research questions.
Rather than: Has there been an increase in those
experiencing homelessness in the US in the past
ten years?
ask: How have economic and political factors
affected patterns of experiencing homelessness in
the US over the past ten years?
Cannot be answered with
easily-found facts
If you can answer the question with a single
Google search, book, or article, it is not complex
enough.
Original data, synthesis of multiple sources, and
original interpretation and argumentation prior to
providing an answer are needed.
Empowering Global Voices Program
Complex and arguable

10. Criteria Explanation
Addresses a relevant
problem
Your research question should be developed based
on initial reading around your topic.
It should focus on addressing a problem or gap in
the existing knowledge in your field or discipline.
Contributes to a timely
social or academic debate
The question should aim to contribute to an existing
and current debate.
It should produce knowledge that future researchers
or practitioners can later build on.
Has not already been
answered
Your question should have some aspect of
originality.
For example, you can focus on a specific location, or
explore a new angle.
Empowering Global Voices Program
Relevant and original

11. McCombes, S. (2023, November 21). Writing Strong Research Questions | Criteria & Examples. Scribbr.
https://www.scribbr.com/research-process/research-questions/
Empowering Global Voices Program
Adding a brick…

12. Empowering Global Voices Program
Question or hypothesis?
• You need a good research question to do good science, and if the reader can’t
tell what it is, you are not writing good science!
• Traditionally, hypothesis testing was held to be a critical part of science, and in
some fields, this is still the case.
• Framing a hypothesis – which then allows you to test it and to report whether
your findings disproved or supported it – can be useful for structuring your
thoughts and planning your research, but it is not necessary.
• A hypothesis is basically your research question transformed into a prediction.
• Be clear – state your question,
lay out your objectives (or sub-questions).
• Remember the “So what?”

13. Empowering Global Voices Program
Using sub-questions
Sub-questions allow you to answer your main question in a step-by-step manner.
They should be:
• Less complex than the main question
• Focused only on one type of research
• Presented in a logical order
• They are not required, but can be useful if you need the findings to answer your
main question.
• Generally, the more complex your subject, the more sub-questions you might
need.
• Sub-questions may be framed as Objectives within your Aims section – the
overall aim is your overall research question, and the objectives, or sub-
questions are how you will go about answering it.

14. Empowering Global Voices Program
Aims, objectives, sub-questions
We aimed to assess the vulnerability of species and species groups to climate
change and predict the magnitude and direction of shifts in distribution. We applied
a bioclimatic modeling approach to 108 eucalypt species. We examined the
importance of seasonal and mean annual climate and compared the impacts of
precipitation and temperature under different climate scenarios on species’ climate
space. This allowed us to identify which groups of species will be affected by climate
change, how the impacts will differentially drive changes in distribution though
shifts in suitable climate space, and what are the consequences for biodiversity.
1. Aim - to answer the research question: How are
eucalyptus species vulnerable to climate change?
2. Objectives - to achieve
the aim by answering the
sub-questions
3. Sub-questions: Which groups
will be affected? How will the
impacts change distributions?
What are the consequences?

15. Empowering Global Voices Program
Summary
Spend time reading and thinking –
o work out where the knowledge gap is in your topic,
o identify what new knowledge your paper can contribute,
o establish what your data can/will show.
Research questions should be:
• Focussed
• Researchable
• Feasible to answer
• Specific enough
• Complex enough
• Relevant

16. Empowering Global Voices Program
Exercise
• Write your overarching research question!
• Discuss, feedback, comments & suggestions.
Schimel Chapter 6.3 for next time