Research questions refer to what we want to learn about our focal topic. They can take one of three forms: as sentences that literally ask a question, as hypotheses, or as propositions. Usually, the research questions may occur at the end of the Literature Review, a stand alone section following a Literature Review, or early in the Methods section.
There are no rules for the number of research questions we need to formulate in one research proposal. Sometimes, a qualitative research may need only one well-constructed research question, while a quantitative research may need a list of hypotheses and alternative hypotheses. However, it is also common to have around 3-7 research questions in one proposal.
The process of creating research questions is iterative, especially when the research is qualitative in nature. The research questions formulated at the proposal might end up different when the study is conducted. More importantly, we need to narrow down the research questions that specify what factors and what relationships will be looked at. The process of narrowing the focus is shown in Figure 3.2.
Figure 3.2. Narrowing down the research focus
In the case of phenomena that are directly observable or measurable, the research questions can be about events that will be observed, variables that will be measured, or behavior that will be monitored. Nevertheless, where the phenomenon being studied does not lend itself to direct observation or measurement, the research questions might include indicators such as belief of motive that will be interpreted, experience that will be described, attitude or opinion that will be detected, or lifestyle or culture that will be portrayed. The questions should be answerable, which means that the solution or resolution to the problem should be able to be found after data collection and analysis. Try to compare these two questions:
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What does it mean to be a child?
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How do children experience the construction of “the innocence of childhood” as a concept and in practical terms in their lives?
The first question is not a good research question because it is too vague and thus the researcher will almost definitely never reach a satisfying answer or conclusion. In contrast, the second question is answerable at least partially by observing a sample of children. Therefore, it is considered a good research question.
A simple way to create a research question is to turn the purpose or aim statement into a question. For example, a study whose purpose is “to describe the feelings, perceptions, and practices of teachers who are knowledgeable about Title IX and who implement the spirit of gender equality in their classrooms,” may have the following research questions:
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What does the spirit of gender equality look like when teachers live it out in their classrooms?
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What are the feelings, perceptions, and practices of teachers who are knowledgeable to Title IX and who implement the spirit of gender equality in their classrooms?
Another example, a quantitative study whose purpose is “to determine the relationship between measures of success in school of similar groups of middle school students: groups that are tracked according to ability, groups that are not tracked,” may have a research question such as “What is the statistical relationship between measures of success in school of similar groups of middle school students: groups that are tracked according to ability, groups that are not tracked?”
When writing research questions, we need to pay particular attention to some aspects. Firstly, it is important to avoid assumptions as portrayed in the question “Why is the bus system poorly managed?”. The aforementioned question is based on an assumption that the bus system is poorly managed, whereas we do not know exactly whether it is true or not. Secondly, the questions should avoid combining two or more separate issues or variables in one question. For example, the question “Why are some bus companies run efficiently and others not, and what recommendations can be made from looking at the management of profitable bus companies?” is not a good research question because it can actually be broken down into some parts with each research question being self-contained. Let’s compare the following questions with the previous one:
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‘What are the distinctive features of the management of bus companies that are profitable?’
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‘In what ways, if any, do management practices in profitable bus companies differ from management practices in less profitable companies?’
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‘What elements, if any, of the management practices of profitable bus companies can be used to enhance the performance of less profitable companies?’
Thirdly, the research questions should be presented in a sequential order – logically building from one to the next or from the most general to more subsidiary questions. Then, the questions should be introduced in a way that explicitly links them to the previous discussions within the proposal and emphasizes the way the questions have been derived from literature review. Not to mention, we should avoid mixing or confusing between research questions and the questions we ask during an interview.
After creating the research questions, we need to evaluate them before deciding to submit them for the final draft of our research proposal. The evaluation can be based on three aspects: a) feasibility, b) relevance, and c) scientific importance. Feasibility means that the research questions can be answered within the scheduled timeline, the available financial source, as well as the accessible research facilities and data. Relevance refers to how the research questions are socially relevant or how the research later will benefit the society. However, we need to be realistic about our research contribution and never think that our research will definitely fix the world. Finally, the research questions should also be scientifically important or how the research will advance knowledge in the field. If for example, our research is merely a duplication of past research without giving new insights or without any sense of novelty, it can be considered not scientifically important.
There is a basic difference in nature between qualitative and quantitative research questions, in which qualitative research questions tend to be written more broadly, open-ended, and rely on a couple of sub questions to help specify the foci of the study. Meanwhile, quantitative research questions tend to suggest the relationship between a set of variables under study. Figure 3.3 shows the types of research questions for qualitative studies, and Figure 3.4 shows the types of research questions for quantitative studies.
Figure 3.3. Types of Research Questions for Qualitative studies
Figure 3.4. Types of Research Questions for Quantitative Studies