The Research Question

The research question is what directs the research toward what the researcher has chosen to address the problem. It is the vehicle of research. It is the point of the investigation.

The research question is the direction of the research. It is what will be answered as the result.

• The research question should be one sentence.
• The research question must address the problem.
• The question must address the issues.
• The question must contain the measured research variables.

What are the characteristics of a research question? How important is the research question to planning a study?

If you want to know what can go wrong when planning an expedition and how not to organize a survival effort read "The Wreck of the Medusa: The Tragic Story of the Death Raft" by Alexander McKee the author of The French Lieutenant's Woman. To emphasize how important planning is I would brief my JROTC cadets about where wrong decisions lead to. I would give a pack list briefing to the cadets before our annual Yosemite Half-Dome hike. At the end of the brief I asked if anyone had any questions. I expected questions like: Can we bring snacks? How many socks? How much spending money? An autistic student in the class raised his hand. "Does an inert gas maintain its properties in a zero-g environment?" Now, I have a Bachelor's degree in aeronautics and a MBA degree in Aviation and I did not know the answer to that question. It serves me right for asking for "any" questions. Inert gases or noble gases such as helium, argon, neon and krypton dissipate in space but to this day, I don't know the exact answer to that question.

In research, ask "specific" questions about the topic.