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WHAT IS A RESEARCH QUESTION?
by Kathy McLain, M.A.   Poor Research Question | Focused Research Question
Instructors in English 101 or English 102 may ask you to turn in a research question for approval after you have selected your topic.  Other instructors may ask instead that you submit a preliminary thesis statement even though you have not as yet done your research.

If your instructor has asked for a research question, usually he or she wants a question that is focused and limited, and one that will yield an argumentative paper after the research has been conducted and the paper has been written. The reason the instructor wants a question at the beginning of the research project instead of an answer is that a question allows the student writer to have an open mind about possible different results in addition to the ones originally hypothesized.  If a writer starts out with a preconceived thesis statement, he or she may only look for material which supports the hypothesis while ignoring significant and important research that may offer a different yet more credible answer to the research question.

A good research question should have all of the following elements:

1. The research question should be written as a single sentence question.
2. The research question should contain a limited topic.
3. The research question should ultimately generate an argumentative paper.

Poor Research Question

The following is an example of a poor research question because it has two broad general topics contained within the question--"obesity" and "anorexia nervosa"--instead of a single limited topic.  The phrase "too much stress in our society" is very general and may cause the research and the subsequent paper to be unfocused. The statement also uses second person "our"; most instructors require third person references only. 

Are obesity and anorexia nervosa related to too much stress in our society?

This next research question is a little more focused because it contains a single topic, but it is still quite general:

Is anorexia nervosa related to too much stress in our society?

Focused Research Question

Using the specialized indexes as suggested under the heading "How to Choose a Topic for a Research Paper," you may have already discovered that these indexes can help you limit and focus your topic to subjects that others are actually researching.  Using this method you can come up with a much clearer, more focused research question.  

Is there a link between anorexia nervosa in adolescent girls and media-images of thin women?

Here are other samples of good research questions:  

Do infants of teen mothers benefit from adoption?

Why has the death penalty been reinstated despite the fact that most research suggests it has little if any deterrent effect on crime?

After choosing a focused and limited research question or a preliminary thesis statement, the final test in determining whether you have a good question is that there are adequate sources available.