21890 Chap.3 Writing Researchable Research Questions
Writing Researchable Research Questions
What a question must do
The Week 3 lecture calls the research question the central issue a project sets out to resolve, and the Week 1 lecture describes it as a bridge from problem to research design. Two questions at most are recommended.
Forms and faults
Questions can be descriptive, explanatory, exploratory or interpretive.
Avoid yes or no questions, speculative ones and dead ends, and watch for drafts that are too broad, too narrow, beyond your skills or out of time.
Checking the wording
The lecture's criteria from Rose et al. and the proposal's seven characteristics overlap, and the issue, symptom, question principle ties each question to the literature.
What this chapter covers
- 01
The research question as a bridge
- 02
Descriptive, explanatory, exploratory and interpretive forms
- 03
Questions to avoid
- 04
Common faults in drafts
- 05
Two checklists compared
- 06
Issue, symptom and question
Worked example · free
Rewrite a yes or no question about remote work in four forms
- 1Descriptive: how has the share of Australian professional staff working remotely changed since 2019?
- 1Explanatory: why do published employer surveys link hybrid schedules to lower reported team cohesion?
- 1Exploratory: what is the scale and cause of isolation reported by remote graduate employees in published studies?
- 1Interpretive: what impact do employees describe remote work having on workplace relationships in published accounts?
Key terms
- Explanatory Question
- A research question that asks why something happens or what leads to an outcome.
- Interpretive Question
- A research question that asks what impact or meaning a change has for the people involved.
- Dead-End Question
- A question whose answer leaves the reader asking so what, because it changes nothing.
- Issue, Symptom, Question
- A principle that links each research question to observable symptoms and the issue behind them.
Writing Researchable Research Questions FAQ
What makes a research question researchable?
It must be answerable by research that is feasible given practical and ethical limits, and scoped so it is neither too broad nor too narrow. In this subject that also means answerable from secondary data you can name, since primary data collection is not permitted.
Why should I avoid yes or no questions?
A question answered with a single word gives a study no direction and no design. Rewording it to ask how, why, what scale or what impact forces you to decide what evidence you need and what your reader should understand at the end.
How do I link my research question to the literature?
Use the tutorial's issue, symptom, question principle. Write your draft question, name the symptoms and underlying issue it responds to, then identify the literature where those symptoms and issues are discussed. A question with no traceable symptom usually needs rethinking.
What is the difference between an exploratory and a descriptive question?
A descriptive question asks what has happened or changed, such as how consumption shifted over ten years. An exploratory question investigates the scale and cause of something less understood, such as alcohol misuse among people under 18, where the variables are not yet clear.
What common faults appear in draft research questions?
The Week 3 tutorial lists questions that are too broad, too narrow, beyond the investigator's skills, impossible to finish in the time available or too expensive, and not relevant or interesting. Checking a draft against each fault is quicker than rewriting it repeatedly.
Which checklist does the proposal brief use for research questions?
Seven characteristics: relevant, manageable, specific, clear and simple, interesting, legitimate and answerable, taken from a University of Melbourne Academic Skills video. Section 3 asks you to explain how your questions meet them with reference to the literature, the industry and secondary data.
How much is the research question worth in the proposal?
Research question and objectives is one of the four proposal rubric criteria, worth 15 of the 100 points. The top band describes an outstanding, original question that gives superior understanding of the challenges in the chosen industry issue.
Assessment move
Write three versions of your question in different forms and test each against both checklists in the chapter. Ask a classmate which one they understand fastest. Keep the final wording provisional until the proposal is due, and record the feedback that changed it. A useful drill is to rewrite one question in all four forms, descriptive, explanatory, exploratory and interpretive, and note which data each would need.
Pick the form whose data you can actually reach. If you keep two questions, make sure the second depends on the first, for example a descriptive question followed by one about responses or strategies.
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