Research Questions

Research questions help keep you on track. Think of each question as a paragraph or page of your presentation.

Be sure that they:

· Are not too narrow or broad

· Interest you

· Might interest your audience

Try asking Who, What, When, Where, Why and How?

Some possible question stems:

How do / does / did . . . ?

What procedures or actions . . . ?

What problems . . . ?

What happens when . . . ?

What is/was the role of . . . in . . .?

What is/was the difference between . . . and . . . ?

What causes / caused . . . ?

What are / were the effects / results of . . . ?

How / why did . . . decide to . . . ?

Who / what influenced . . . to . . . ?

What is / was the relationship between . . . and . . . ?

What are the competing issues?

How does / did . . . change . . . ?

What was the result of . . . ? (Dalbotten 1997, Rankin 1999)

As you scan for information, if it doesn’t answer one of your research questions, you know that you do not need that information.

Number each research question and ask you find information to answer that question, put the number of the question with the information. When you are ready to organize your project, put all the information about question 1 together. Repeat for each question. This trick makes organizing your project much easier.

References:

Dalbotten, Mary S. 1997. Inquiry graduation standards and performance assessment. Paper presented at the English National Conference of the American Association of School Librarians, April in Portland, OR.

Rankin, Virginia. 1999. The thoughtful researcher: teaching the research process to middle school students. Englewood, CO : Libraries Unlimited. 33.