UMass Amherst

The Dean's Book Course Guide to
Formulating Research Questions

Real research starts with a question. A good research question will focus your research and writing. But a research question is not the same as a thesis statement. A research question is an open-ended beginning, not an already determined endpoint.

Narrowing Topics into Focused Questions

The UCLA Library provides a number of quick routes from research topics that are too broad or too narrow to clearly focused research questions. This one is particularly easy to remember--just follow the W's.

Following the W's

(Adapted from UCLA Library’s “Help Guides”)

Begin with a general topic or theme. Then apply some specific questions to it:

• What is your general topic?
• What time period do you want to cover?
• What geographic region do you want to focus on?
• What person or group is involved?


What?
(topic)

domestic economic situation


When?
(time period)

1979-present


Where?
(geographic region)

Iran


Who?
(person or group)


Fundamentalist vs. progressive


Question:

 


How does the economic situation of fundamentalist men and women in Iran compare with that of progressive men and women since the Islamic Revolution?

 

Generating Directed Research Questions

Colorado State University offers many useful guides to a host of writing issues, including methods for working with research topics. The particular guide presented here was adapted from CSU's guide to narrowing a research topic through directed questioning.

Using Directed Questions

(From Colorado State University’s “Writing Guides”)

Directed questions provided by classical rhetoric can be used to narrow a research topic. These directed questions function in four different ways, categorized as follows:

Definition:

These questions help you to define your topic.

Comparison:

These questions ask you to compare and contrast your topic with other related topics.

Relationship:

These questions lead you to examine the causes and/or the effects of your topic.

Testimony:

These questions ask you to determine what has already been said or written about your topic.


Example of Questioning

If my general topic is "memoir," I might try to narrow my focus by applying questions with specific functions to this topic area. Here are some of the questions I might ask:

Questions of Definition:


What is considered the first memoir?

How is "memoir" defined?

How is "memoir" defined in relation to autobiography?

How is "memoir" defined in relation to historical or travel writing

How is "memoir" defined in relation to fiction?

What separates "memoir" from history, fiction, travel, and autobiography?

Questions of Comparison:

 

How have memoirs and opinions of them changed over time?

Does memoir exist as a genre in all cultures?

Are expectations of memoirs similar or different across cultures? time periods?

What other graphic memoirs exist?

How do graphic memoirs differ from all-prose memoirs?

Questions of Relationships:


What time period produced the greatest number of memoirs?

Do memoirs cluster around specific and common personal or political events?

What memoirs have had greatest impact on popular consciousness?

What are the psychological or therapeutic effects of memoir writing on author?

Testimony:


What do some noted memoir writers say about memoir as a genre?

What do psychologists say about memoir and memory?

What do readers today expect from memoirs and their authors?


After generating as many questions as possible, I might well discover the focus of my research in one of them. Or I might combine elements from questions generated in two or more categories to produce additional, even more sharply focused questions for my research. For example,

• Does Satrapi's Persepolis change when viewed in the light of the following Persepolis 2?

•What accounts for the current popularity of memoirs among readers in the U.S.?