The document provides guidance on developing a research question by having the user brainstorm what they already know about their topic of interest and what they want to know. It then walks the user through refining their ideas into well-structured open-ended questions. The user is encouraged to modify any closed questions so that they require further investigation and analysis rather than a simple yes/no answer. Question stems are provided to help improve the questions. In the end, the user has developed two questions for further research: (1) Why is there such a huge wealth gap between the poor and wealthy in some places around the world? (2) To what extent are the poor treated differently from the rich?

1. RESEARCH QUESTION
GENERATION
Focus – What is the topic?
Describe your topic here

2. Thing we Know and Want to Know
Brainstorm under the two columns as much as you can about the topic already and ideas about what you could or want to find out about it. You
can use this tool to help with your question generation.
DON’T JUDGE ANYTHING AT THIS STAGE!!
Think we know
Want to know
• 40% of the world's population lives
• What could end poverty?
• What are the main causes of
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on $1 US a day
Nottingham is UK's poorest city
10 million children died from
poverty before the age of 5 in the
year of 2003
HK experiences a huge wealth
gap
Over a billion of world's children
live in poverty
The world has resources available
to feed twice of the world's
population
The cost of living across the world
is continuing to increase
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poverty?
Why are some countries more
developed than others?
Why are the poor treated differently
from the rich?
What are the leading
causes/resources for poverty today?
Are there any solutions?
What can individuals/government do
to lessen the effects of poverty?
If the wealthy gave to the
poor, could we eradicate poverty?
(religious ideas)

3. 10 of the
Best!
1.
Copy the best 10
statements/
questions from
the last exercise.
• 1. What could end poverty?
• 2. What are the leading causes/resources for
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2.
3.
Change any
statements to
questions at this
point.
Identify any
closed question
by highlighting
them.
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poverty today?
3. Why are some countries more developed
than others?
4. Why are the poor treated differently from the
rich?
5. Are there any solutions for poverty?
6. What can individuals/government do to
lessen the effects of poverty?
7. If the wealthy gave to the poor, could we
eradicate poverty? (religious ideas)
8. Why is there such a huge wealth gap
between the poor and wealthy in some places
around the world?
9. Was poverty before different from poverty
now?
10. If poverty is such a big issue
nowadays, why are so many still unwilling to
change this issue?

4. Closed to Open
For genuine effective enquiry it is better to have a series of open questions. These are questions that cannot be answered
simply but instead, need research and analysis to be addressed. If any of the questions in your list are closed, then now is
the time to try and make them open.
Closed
Open
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.
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
Open
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Was poverty before different from poverty now?
Are there any solutions for poverty?
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•
•
•
•
•
•
If poverty is such a big issue nowadays, why are so many
still unwilling to change this issue?
What can individuals/government do to lessen the effects
of poverty?
If the wealthy gave to the poor, could we eradicate
poverty? (religious ideas)
Why is there such a huge wealth gap between the poor
and wealthy in some places around the world?
What could end poverty?
What are the leading causes/resources for poverty today?
Why are some countries more developed than others?
Why are the poor treated differently from the rich?

5. Review
and
Improve
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…?
Your improved questions here:
• Is the eradication of poverty as a
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simple act of the rich giving to the
poor? (religious ideas)
Explore how the experience of
poverty differs in different countries
around the world?
Compare and contrast how the
government lessens poverty differ
between more developed and less
developed countries?
What responsibility do we have to the
poor?
To what extent is the minimum wage
an effective way to reduce poverty?
Analyze aspects of various political
ideologies that contribute to an
increase in poverty?

6. Actions
Numbers
Nature
1. If the wealthy gave to the
poor, could we eradicate
poverty? (religious ideas)
2. What are the leading
causes/resources for
poverty today?
1. What are the leading
causes/resources for poverty today?
Words
1. If the wealthy gave to the poor, could
we eradicate poverty? (religious ideas)
2. Why is there such a huge wealth gap
between the poor and wealthy in some
places around the world?
3. To what extent are the poor treated
differently from the rich?
4. What are the leading
causes/resources for poverty today?
1. If the wealthy gave to the
poor, could we eradicate
poverty? (religious ideas)
2. What are the leading
causes/resources for
poverty today?
1. Why is there such a huge
wealth gap between the poor
and wealthy in some places 1. Why is there such a huge wealth Your questions here
around the world?
gap between the poor and wealthy in
some places around the world?
2. To what extent are the poor treated
differently from the rich?

7. Evaluate Your Final Question
This tool might help you take a final critical look at your question. How does it score on the scales? A “good” question will
score highly in all areas.