Developing Your Research Question
2 Final Tips and Resources
Final Advice
Remember, you don’t necessarily have to whatever you come up with initially as your final research question! You will use it as a starting point to explore what exists in the field, how you are interpreting the results you find, what key terms and voices you might be missing, and refine your knowledge about the topic.
Curiosity and openness to feedback will greatly benefit your research methods and ensure you develop an ability to develop a strong research topic.
If you need more examples of types of research questions you can pose, try this list below[1]:
- Definitions: While many people think X is Y, can one interpret it as Z?
- Evaluation: Is X good, better, or best (or bad, worse, or worst) compared to its peers like Y or Z?
- Compare/contrast: Are there elements or people that are similar or dissimilar to X?
- Explanation: How would Y not have happened without X; Alternative causes to X than the dominant narrative; Why does X cause Z and not Y?
- Counter argument: What if X is not about A/B/C but a matter of 1/2/3 instead?
- Justification: Why does X matter? And if it matters a lot, how does it impact things?
As always, ask your professor or contact us at Western Libraries if you need more support!
Resources
- PubMed Central: Formulation of a Research Question (Stepwise Approach)
- University of Guelph Library Research Guide: Write a Research Question
- University of Southampton Library: Developing Research Questions
- University of Toronto (Michener Institute of Education): Developing Research Questions
- University of Waterloo Writing and Communication Centre: Develop a Research Question
- Hacker, Diana. A Canadian writer’s reference: Includes 2009 MLA & 2010 APA updates. 4th ed. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2009. ↵
