Formulate Questions

Formulate Questions Meaning

Formulating questions in research means coming up with a question to investigate through the research process. A research question is the starting point for a research project. The question should be one the researcher wants to know the answer to and believes can be found through research or experimentation.

Fig. 1 - Formulating questions means developing an inquiry to investigate through research.

Formulate Questions Technique

Research questions are not just any questions. They need to be complex, detailed questions, and the answers require evidence and argumentation. For example, consider the following simple yes or no question:

This is not a research question because it is a question that a researcher can easily find an answer to with a quick internet search. A research question needs to be more open-ended. To craft a more nuanced question, researchers should follow the steps in the example below.

Formulate Questions Example

Instead of immediately attempting to write a research question, readers should follow these pre-writing steps.

1. Brainstorm

When given a research assignment, researchers should start by brainstorming how they will approach the task. The brainstorming process will depend partly on the task at hand, but it is always useful to consult notes and jot down the first ideas that come to mind. For example, imagine an English professor instructs students to research Emily Dickinson. This is a broad topic, so readers should brainstorm sub-topics to research by noting what they already know about Dickinson and what they want to know more about.

2. Do a Little Research

Next, researchers should look into the broad topic and see what information interests them. For example, a student assigned to research Emily Dickinson might do an internet search about her life and learn that she was an influential female poet. This might spark the reader's interest in what Dickinson's impact was.

Fig. 2. - Background research on a broad topic can help researchers fine-tune a research question.

3. Fine Tune the Topic

Next, researchers need to focus their research to narrow their assignment to a specific domain of interest. For instance, the student from the above example might decide to focus on the impact of Emily Dickinson's poetry. "What was Emily Dickinson's impact?" is still too broad of a question because her influence might be quite extensive and, therefore, too difficult to discuss within one essay. The student should work on whittling the topic down even more, perhaps to Dickinson's impact on one group of people, like other female poets from her time period.

4. Craft an Original Question

Once the researcher has decided on their specific topic, they should work on crafting a concise, straightforward question that sums up what they are interested in researching. The student from the example might ask:

This is a more complex question that the researcher will need to design a research project to answer. The answer to this question will require the researcher to make an evidence-based claim using comparisons between texts.

Fig. 3 - The second sample question about Emily Dickinson is a more nuanced, focused research question.

Formulate Questions Topic

The topic of a research question should align with the class or field of study. For example, imagine a student is tasked with writing a research paper about 18th-century Romantic poets. The student's research question should be about a topic within this field. Discussing Victorian playwrights, even as an anecdote, would be off-topic and unhelpful.

The most crucial point to remember about a research question is that it should be specific. For example, consider the following research question:

This research question is far too broad for a researcher to address in a paper for English class. Instead, the researcher should try to find a specific topic within the required field so that they can address it in their papers. For example, the researcher could use one of the following research questions:

This research question is more specific because it focuses on a single sub-topic within the broad topic of 18th-century Romantic poetry. It also limits the scope to discussing a single poet's body of work, which is much more reasonable than trying to encompass the entire Romantic movement. The researcher could address this question by investigating Wordsworth's poetry and then craft a unique, defensible claim about the implications of Wordsworth's themes.

Guidelines for Formulating Questions

When crafting a research question, researchers should follow the following guidelines.

Be Original

When choosing a specific topic, one should read what other people have written about the general topic. However, do not simply use the same research questions that someone has asked before. This would be plagiarism, the act of pretending someone else's work is one's own. Plagiarism is disrespectful to other writers and can result in losing academic credibility, as well as failure or suspension in an academic environment. Even if you do not plagiarize, your work will simply be retreading common ground. Creating something new means adding new discussion to the field.

Address the Intended Audience

Researchers should keep in mind who will be reading their paper. For example, if they are writing an essay for English class, they should keep in mind that their instructor will read it. Thus, the research question should address the instructor's prompt. Researchers should also consider what their audience would want to know about. For example, if a student asks a research question that their English professor has already answered in a lecture, the professor will not be as impressed with the student's work as they would be if the research question was original.

Fig. 4. - Researchers should consider the interest of their intended audience when formulating a research question.

Make Sure the Question is Clear

A reader should be able to read a research question and understand the intention of the researcher's research. This means that the author should use clear, direct language. They should avoid esoteric and technical vocabulary and make it as short and to the point as possible.