itis bestto hae a east some ies about a topic or area of interest It you have yor co this tage you will beable to follow some of he dvie proved ton your ial ides into research questions or fefne your essing questions even father. FURTHER READING ‘oth Dillon and Campa etal. provide empl even oth sk of ero en rrnrh ures probls thi restes ‘Compbath} 2, Daly Re Hain CL 1982) Whor To Say Generting “nd Delong Restareb Questions Beverley Pils, Cs Sas ilear ST (190 The Ue of Querions to Edacsonal Reach "Edncatoal Retrcer 12S). T= Detailed sie on reading and reviewing reach plato can be found lnc, sibexnan Si Spied, WW. (2000 Reading ond Under “hodngResarah nd an. Thousand Oaks, CA: Ses [Abrahamson proves» clear diction om th ole of theory soi fearch [Nshanon, ME (198) Soi! Resorch Methods. Englewood Cit, Prete Hl mer’ explanation ofthe coacepe of abaracion is botk clear ad well Haraed ‘Buimen M. (1979) ‘Black 2A; Begining Rest’, DEROE Reerch So Elan wad ve Soca Seces: Mion Keynes Open User rae 1SBN 0355 070367. 2 What makes a research question? “Thischaperexaminesthenatureofsocalscentic research questions Teenplais why only can types of question can be addressed by Ltnpie rsatch, and how thinking about wat ype of quesion Sou teasing cam help develop, suactare and order yout research ‘uestions The cole of hypaeses in socal esearch also expined. ‘The chap begins by exarining te portant ferences beween research guesons and other Kinds of statements RESEARCH TOPICS, AIMS AND OBJECTIVES Formulring good revearch questions canbe very dent. Seadets tend tbe much more comfortable answering questions than aking them, perhaps becase moet programmes of education puk More fred on he former (Dillon 1988) IIs usually much easier to Bena tops or area ot erst han er pedace tof ‘wellsrucured and coherent questions. While topics and ares can be ocflstarting points for generating research ideas they donot provide suficient direction fr conducting esearch, This beause, Unlike questions, hey are not sufcienl speci o inform you whee date need tobe cll or how these should be aalaed Te alo he case that not every tope can be transformed ito 4 feat racarch projet (Selle eal. 1965) and, im any cas, most topics usally need to be narrowed considerably before they can (unernte reusable questions (Labovitz 8 Hagedorn 1971, Kane {fo34, Lewis & Munn 1997). Booth eal (2003) sogest hx top, ice thc ceanor be sunimarized ia four or five words ate to0 broad Ended ther refinement befor tempts at formulating research ‘uestons are made. “Moving from topics to aims and objectives can be a wef step towards lrmalating research questions. Aims and objectives pro- ‘ice more direction shan do topics and can help you sare kinking 2ELH Aen sO about exactly wit you want to achieve in your stud. While he aims and objectives of study tend tobe les speci than research {questions they are more useful han topics or teas of interest for lectin an invexigation, Unlike topics hey Mentify the ocomes (or goals? that are desired and point co the ind of gucstons thet would need to be asked inorder to achive thete outcomes. The directive ole played by ams, objectives and purpeses can be very ‘valuable, and thivking abou the goa of vesearch project eam be ‘useful incermestary stage between deciding on atopic and formu lating eesarch questions ‘An example of an objective and some corresponding research ‘uestons prov ded below: OBE To find out why corsa individuals and groups adope new technologies beet others. RESEARCH QUESTIONS 1, What are the patems of consumption of new technologies amongst different groups of adulks in che United Kingdom? 2. What reasons do diferent indvkluals provide for adoping oF not adopeing ne technologies? As youcan see, often necessary to hreak down a single objective into more than ore question. Indeed this particlor obese could have been broken down into thee ot even four questions ks also importa o nove cha the language inthe teearch questions ‘much more spe: han in the objective The stay hasbeen limited to researching adults residing in the United Kingdom, for exae ple I would also be necestary to provide a working defiion of "new technologies’ before any data could be collected The language used in research questions i a topic that is returned to lates The ‘importa poincinterms ofthe present dicusion sth reformulat. ing your aims or abetives as research question ores yout think ‘more carefully abou what you wane find cat and can help you be mote specific abou what you want 0 achieve in yout study As isthe ease withropies or areas, the more clearly defined the ams ‘he beter they are able ro direct your research (Denscombe 2003), ™ Vague aims and obictives can ead to researcher bei ererambious, collecting unnecessary dat, focnéctay in ek imc data and wasing thei tine down ind ays an tu for pooty formulated resenrch questions of couse Wie 's posible fr aims and ebjeie ro bested sufceny eceh togide an investigation fn whch case t ould bes avg ooo ‘mater to derive research questions fom them) & on oe ‘alpl othink about your esearch in terms ofthe cuetons nee Key Pines 1 Tait ant areas of resell sarc ple or ay + Thigh aa ccs oye cob + Relering yor ais ad baie a research quo wit {ores yout thnk more city hove nt ou vn indoor ‘+The ore pci our tech or ats questa ees leo deen and plan yours clacton aaah =———— ‘THE FORM OF QUESTIONS AND THEIR CONTENT Not all questions are socal science research questions, Some ‘questions do nor relate to the socal world and so are feyond the cope of socal research. Other questions might be ineesing "social sciemisis but eannot be answered using empetal ce ence and so are not researchable’ In his sections sm contnon problems with the form and content of esearch questions we highlighted to help new researchers avoid formulating problem ate questions Problems of form Problems of frm relate othe way a question i structared rather shan the subject materi addzeses, Three problems relating the% a —— form of questions are examined below, alongside advice on how they can be avoided, Questions and other statements Questions should always be ‘open-ended If 2 sentence cannot propery be followed by a question mark, es ot an intercopative Stafement and itcaunor be considered to be a question. Questions invite adiree response and so ate ‘open’ in'a way hat omer statements are not. Posing a queston wuggtts that 2 dioogue i ‘unfinished and thatthe questioner seks addtional information (scher 197), Some readers may think that this point is so obvious that ic does not need stating. Ii akin to poiming ou thot “questions showld be questions However, when asked to state thet research ques: ‘ons, cis common even for experienced researchers to reply with declarative statements eather than questions (Punch 1998), in my experience, for example, undergraduate and postgraduate students often reply that they wane -prove™ 4 particular relationship of ‘demonstrate’ the existence of a pariclar phenomenon of ef. ‘The situation is complicated Title Because ofthe relationship between research questions and hypotheses, Both ae useful in empirical inguiey bur while ceeafch questions are interogate, hypothess are declarative statements These statement, owevey, are intended ro be tested not proven) and, a is discussed ltr in ‘his chapter, play «particular role in sient inquiry. As Bypoch {ses can easly be reformulated a questions the two are in some ‘ways two sides ofthe sme coin A theme that rans throughout this book ie that its important, foe Iany reasons to begin an ivesigation with question ors of sqvestions. While we all use questions in out daly lives acon easily dinguish them fom other statements i i noe aways so straightforvard to translate ideas fora research projec into set of questions. This i, however, one ofthe most important sages ‘ofthe research procs. Iie vital that investigators ranlae thet ‘Meat into question form at soon as its posible Fine versions of research question may need considerable modifcaton, sod questions may change over the course ofa study bit moving on 0 construct a research design should only be atempd after ast of ‘gestions have inially Been generated, "Many questions’ and ase dichotomies? Methods texts often caution against asking respondents two 4vestions at once usually inthe context of conducting nerviews ot ‘questionnaires. However tis abo unkelpfl for cesarch questions ‘once more than one question, fora number ol reasons {Including more than one nguiry in single question has ben called “the fallacy af many questions. This fallacy can arise in sevenal ‘ways, some of which are more obvious than others Fischer (1970, 8) identifies four ways ths problem can ae 1. Framing a question in such a way that two or ore questions ae asked at once, area single answers required 2. Framing a question in uch away aso bey anoter question. 5. Framing a question which male fale presumption, 4. Framing a complex question bur demanding 2 simple answer, The fst type of question ie easy fo avoid. Athough many commentators warn agaiast having ton many reserch questions lece Chapter 3) a sentence that contains more than one question «an usually be slic unproblemaically into two single questions, For example, What were the aims of comprehensnsation and to what extent were chese aims achieved?” i's compeand question, i atually conan two separate questions. Indeed, regis to ‘separate abe elated, anewers inorder tobe sddtcwed satisfac ‘ly This question could easily be separated int the following 1. What wer the ams of comprehensiviation? 2! To what extent were hese ame achicved? Fes important o separate thee elements becuse exh ofthe two ‘weston ha different implications forthe Lin of dats eoecton and analy that woul be required to addres The cusion What were the aims of comprchensvsaon?” may require the reel _ or ars aes QueON? ”