A research question pinpoints exactly what you want to discover in your work. A good research question is essential to guide your research paper.
All research questions should be:
You will usually write a single research question to guide your progress in a research paper. Your answer then forms your thesis statement—the central assertion or position that your paper will argue for.
You can follow these steps to develop a strong research question:
Research questions anchor your whole project, so it’s important to refine them. The criteria below can help you evaluate the strength of your research question.
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| Explaining and testing |
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| Evaluating and acting |
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| Focused on a single topic | Your central research question should work together with your research problem to keep your work focused. If you have multiple questions, they should all 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 to develop your argument. If such data is impossible to access, you likely need to rethink your question. |
| Not based on value judgments |
Avoid subjective words like good, bad, better, and worse. These do not give clear criteria for answering the question.
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| Cannot be answered with yes or no | Closed-ended, yes/no questions are too simple to work as good research questions—they don’t provide enough scope for robust investigation and discussion.
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| Cannot be answered with easily-found facts | If you can answer the question through a single Google search, book, or article, it is probably not complex enough. A good research question requires original data, synthesis of multiple sources, and original interpretation and argumentation before providing an answer. |
| Teachers at the school do not have the skills to recognize or properly guide gifted children in the classroom. | What practical techniques can teachers use to better identify and guide gifted children? |
| Young people increasingly engage in the “gig economy,” rather than traditional full-time employment. However, it is unclear why they choose to do so. | What are the main factors influencing young people’s decisions to engage in the gig economy? |
| Answerable within practical constraints | Make sure you have enough time and resources to do all research to answer your question. If it seems you will not be able to gain access to the data you need, consider narrowing 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. Avoid vague language, jargon, and too-broad ideas.
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| Does not demand a conclusive solution, policy, or course of action | Research is about informing, not instructing. Even if your project is focused on a practical problem, it should aim to improve understanding rather than demand a ready-made solution.
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| Addresses a relevant problem | Your research question should be developed based on initial reading about 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 in your field or society. It should produce knowledge that future researchers or practitioners can later build on. |
| Has not already been answered | You don’t have to ask something that nobody has ever thought of before, but your question should have some originality. For example, you can focus on a specific location, or explore a new angle. |
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