Your research question helps readers to know the specific subject matter you will be addressing within the broad topic of environmental history. For instance, suppose you are interested in market development and its environmental effects. If you asked, "What is the relationship between market development and environmental degradation?” your question would be too broad. This question does not clearly define the problems you are interested in, nor does it put boundaries on your research project. Instead, you could ask, “How did large-scale agriculture contribute to the Dust Bowl in the 1930s?” This is a more specific question. A well-articulated research question provides you and your readers with critical information about your project by defining the focus of your research, its scope, and your motivation.
A research question defines which data you need to collect and which methods you will use to access and analyze your documents. Again, take the Dust Bowl question in the previous paragraph as an example. By narrowing your question to the relationship between large-scale agriculture and the Dust Bowl, you also narrow the scope of data collection and analysis. You may start archival research focusing on agriculture and settlement history, or decide to conduct oral histories concerning farmers' memories of the Dust Bowl.
However, as you collect data, your question is likely to change and grow. Defining questions within your project is not a linear process. Rather, questions will define your directions of inquiry and, in turn, the results of your inquiries will refine your question. Developing research questions is an iterative process evolving with your project. We have made a figure below to illustrate the process. You will start with something you are interested in. You will then create questions about this thing, and figure out what your next steps will be to investigate those questions further. As a result, you will (hopefully) learn something new, which will lead to a whole new “item of interest.”
Before you can begin this process, however, you need to find a general research topic.
Finding a Research Topic
Picking a topic from projects you have done before could help you find ideas that you are already interested in. Collect your previous term papers or reports and list the topics you have researched for those projects. Choose one or two that seem promising and relevant to environmental history. However, you shouldn’t just recycle topics from previously written papers. Instead, you should develop a new topic from the old research.
. List your interests (as many as you can!), and then rank them to come up with one or two which are the most compelling to you. One of the best ways to generate a topic from a general interest is to look up encyclopedia articles. They usually contain an overview outlining facts on a subject with a concise list of suggested readings. If you go to the library to find encyclopedia articles, you will have a good chance of finding a topic from them.
can be a good place to find a promising research question. For example, Hurricane Katrina brought ideas about poverty and environment into the mainstream press, as well as ideas about land-use patterns and natural disasters. Any of these topics would make a good starting place for an environmental history project. You may read newspapers and magazines, use Wikipedia, or even use Google to find current events. Listen to how people debate these events. What are people saying? What are their claims, and how do they make these claims? Jot down different ideas and perspectives, ask yourself whether you agree or disagree, and try to formulate interesting questions about what you are reading.
You may find a good research topic just from your everyday life. For example, a McDonald’s drive-through facility represents America’s unique fast food restaurant landscape. Think about why this particular type of landscape (highway systems and road systems) formed. Doing so will help you to come up with a research topic investigating the relationships between highway development and American fast food culture. Remember not to take things for granted. Try to observe through fresh eyes to produce rich research insights.
For example, suppose that you are a bird watcher and volunteer at a bird conservation society. Recently, you have noticed that it has become harder and harder to spot a specific species in the wild. For this reason, you have decided to participate in an initiative to protect the bird. Your own experiences may help you to look into the relationship between land use change and habitat loss, or make you curious about the historical relation between bird watching and the American conservation movement.
Making Your Question Specific
Research is complex and almost always leads to more questions. In fact, research could be a lifelong process of asking new questions and searching for answers! However, for your paper or project you will need to narrow your question down to something manageable within your time frame.
Here is an example of how to generate specific questions from a more general research topic. Let’s suppose you have selected urban gardening as your research topic. How do you move from “urban gardening” to a specific question? One way to begin is to talk to professors. A professor might mention “war gardens” to you, gardens that sprung up during World Wars I and II in all sorts of areas, including urban areas.
While browsing the shelves for material related to gardening during World War I, you find a book on war gardens in World War I called by Charles Lathrop Pack. Inside the book, you find this picture of Boston Common, taken in 1918:
by Charles Lathrop Pack, 1919.
You’re intrigued by the notion of Boston Common as a garden. You’ve been to Boston Common recently, but there were no vegetable gardens in sight. When and why was it turned into a garden? How long did the garden last? To help you figure out the answers to these questions, you look up some old photos of Boston Common in the Library of Congress. You find this photo of Tremont Street next to the Common, taken between 1910 and 1920. You note that the buildings in this photo exactly match the buildings in the top right corner of the previous photo!
You realize that these pictures were taken at approximately the same time, from only several hundred yards apart. Yet the photographs give two very different glimpses of Boston Common: one as city garden tended by civic-minded Girls Scouts, the other as bustling metropolitan street with cars, pedestrians, and a subway stop.
With a little more digging, you find a picture of this same street (Tremont Street) in 2008, taken by Google Maps:
What a difference! The street has been widened, there are far more cars than pedestrians, a new skyscraper has sprung up in the background, and the old subway station appears to be gone. These photos illustrate a few obvious ways in which Boston Common changed over time. But what about the changes that we can’t see in these photographs? Aha! You are getting closer to a research question.
Now take some time to think about what questions these photographs raise for you. How has the landscape of Boston Common changed throughout the years? Why did these changes happen? What can these three photos tell us about people’s relationship to their environment?
Finding a specific research question can be as simple as following a trail of documents until you get closer and closer. It can be helpful to document your steps while you are looking for a research question so that you can see a path to follow. For the Boston Common example above, your path might look like this:
The Iterative Flow of Questions, Documents, and Research Process
The lesson to take from this is that . You will go through many of the same steps again and again. You will have to read documents, pursue interesting ideas, read some more, create more questions, find documents, and so on. Continue doing this until you reach a question that is small enough that you think you could answer it in the time available to you. For example, “How has Boston Common changed?” is not specific enough to answer in one semester. However, a question like, “How did the uses of the grounds in Boston Common change during World War I?” might be more manageable for a semester.
If you are having difficulty revising and narrowing your research question, we strongly recommend reading by Wayne Booth et al. Chapters 3 and 4 in particular focus on defining a researchable question and will give you good advice about thinking through your topic. When you think that you have an appropriate research question, see if you can fill in the blanks in the following sentence. If you are unsure how to fill it in, there are many examples in Booth’s book, or you can consult a professor or peer for help.
How to Explore Your Questions
This section will suggest some steps you might take while researching your questions. These may fall into the “next steps” category from the diagram above. They can be used at many places in the research process, and you will often do these steps more than once.
? Why Historical research is constantly asking why certain events happened when and where they did. You should always be asking yourself, “What is the historical context that led to this event or situation? Why did it happen at this time and place?”
Historical research consists primarily of constructing arguments based on . You will want to spend significant time exploring which documents are available that are related to your topic. These documents may include photographs, newspaper or magazine articles, recordings, public records, and so on. As always, consult a librarian if you are unsure where to start.
. Reading academic literature is critical for you to identify the questions that have not yet been sufficiently studied, to locate your topic within a particular context, and to ask further questions. If you are uncertain how to find the books and articles you may need, you should ask a librarian for help. If you wish to read about how to use a library, we recommend Thomas Mann’s .
Don't just passively take the knowledge different authors convey to you. Try to really think about the ideas you read and have a conversation or debate with them. Figuring out what is not yet known about your topic is powerful. This gap in knowledge is a good area from which to generate research questions. Pay special attention to whether certain assumptions underpinning a conclusion should be re-examined, or whether scholars have significant disagreement about a subject.
. If you have no clue how to generate a researchable question from academic literature, discuss your ideas with your professors. They can give you suggested readings and potential research directions, as well as fill you in on current debates within the field. Also, don’t forget your fellow students! Some students have started study groups to help formulate ideas for research questions. Students can review each other’s research questions to give comments and criticisms.
. It is likely that your research topic has already been studied using certain theoretical approaches. (Theories are a way of organizing knowledge and explaining certain phenomena or events in the world.) Therefore, don’t be surprised if you come across a body of literature with similar arguments and theoretical approaches. You are always free to situate your research topic in relation to other theories to help you produce research questions. See our web pages on and relative to surrounding scholarly literatures.
. Many scholarly books and journal articles pose further research questions at the end of the books or review papers. Pay attention to these questions; they represent the thoughts of an experienced researcher about what still needs to be studied. Take them as guidelines for exploring your own research questions. Of course, you may wish to just absorb them as your research question if they fit your research interests well.
. From the preliminary reading that you do, pay attention to things that may be related. For example, suppose you are interested in how disease affects landscapes. As you do preliminary research, you find that in your landscape the rising rate of AIDS is concurrent with the declining area of crop planting. This initial finding will help you to frame a research question concerning the relationship between AIDS, crop planting, labor, and landscape transformation in the research site.
General Research Advice
. You should consider carefully the meaning of every term you wish to use and For example, a term like “globalization” could have a number of different meanings, depending on the topic and specialization of the author. A more specific term might be (for example) “increasing global interdependence of the financial industry.” Be specific, and try to write in language that your mother, father, siblings, or grandmother could understand.
As you develop your research ideas, consider carefully what assumptions you may be making. You should be able to verify your claims with appropriate primary or secondary sources. If you can’t verify a claim, consider whether it might be a bias or assumption. For example, suppose your research question is:
…The first assumption to note here is that the 1970’s environmental laws were “stringent.” Were they? Can you justify this “stringency” and explain why it is interesting? What was unique about the 1970’s that would make this question interesting? The second assumption to note is that your research question will explain how environmental legislation gets created and passed. What if your research topic represents an odd situation and therefore says nothing about how environmental legislation is passed? Be careful of overstating the importance of your topic and making assumptions about what your narrative can tell us. A more precise question (one more conscious of its assumptions) might look like this:
…Ask for their help in figuring out your assumptions. Talking with your professors cannot be emphasized enough. Most professors are delighted when a student is interested in their subject, and will be happy to talk with you about your ideas. They will also help you pick out your assumptions and biases, and help you articulate your research question in such a way as to acknowledge your biases without relying on them.
You may have the best research idea ever, but if you need to be in northern Alaska to do it, you are going to need to find a plane ticket and some time. Good research can be done at home in far away places. If you are lucky enough to have grant money or other money to help you travel, by all means, use it! But if you are not able to travel, consider what documents are available at your home institution, town, or state. Although the Internet has made interlibrary loan much easier, if you have to borrow from outside libraries it will slow down your research.
You never know what sort of surprises and interesting ideas you will encounter along the way. Keep a record of all interesting sources, documents, ideas, and questions. If something seems likely to be even marginally helpful or interesting, write it down. It is not likely that you will encounter it again.
Try This… If your instrument is made of wood, where has the wood come from? Which wood is used, and why? How might the demand for instruments affect a landscape? Dos and Don’ts
Interesting Links and Works Consulted
Booth, Wayne C., Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008.
Mann, Thomas. . New York: Oxford University Press US, 2005.
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Page revision date: 23-Mar-2009
by Imed Bouchrika, Phd
Co-Founder and Chief Data Scientist
To come up with an interesting research question requires an understanding of what is a research question. One needs to know its attributes and know some effective approaches to generate a good one. Often, formulating research questions entails breaking down the nature and intent of the research program.
Research is conducted in many ways by various disciplines and schools of thought. Hence, research questions can be posed and answered in various ways. There are research questions that require answers through empirical observations (e.g., medical research like clinical testing). Others can only be answered by following abstract trains of thought (e.g., pure mathematics and logic). There are those that require a good deal of both (e.g., physics and archaeology). And, there are also types of research that only require introspection and first-hand experience (i.e., phenomenological research).
Thus, a substantial explanation as to what a research question is, cannot come in the form of a simple one-liner. So, this document will serve not only as a guide on how to find potential research questions for a journal, conference, or even a class paper. It will also offer a cursory discussion of the nature and intent of research questions as well as some approaches you can take in finding knowledge gaps and research topics, applicable to different academic and industrial research fields. And, to put more flesh into the abstract discussion, famous examples will be given. For details on writing an entire research paper, here is a place to start and see a sample research paper outline .
What is a research question, attributes of a good research question.
So, what are research questions? A simple research question definition would be a question that a researcher wants to answer. Operationally, research questions are the main basis for how a research paper is made. As such, there are many types of research questions, depending on the field of study, accepted methodologies, and topics of interest you are dealing with. Research questions are also posed to fill in gaps in knowledge for a particular discipline or industry.
The knowledge gaps research questions seek to bridge generally fall into two main categories: (i) theoretical questions and (ii) empirical questions. This is because most disciplines, especially the sciences, employ both theories and empirical observations to build their body of knowledge. In addition, research questions have two main classes of desiderata or intent: (a) pure or basic research and (b) applied research. Understanding these concepts will help us grasp the nature and intent of research questions better.
Theoretical Research
Theoretical research is described as “a logical exploration of a system of beliefs and assumptions" about a system’s behavior and its implications (Edgar & Manz, 2017). It is mainly done in logical space or “the set of distinctions amongst ways for the world to be (Rayo, 2013)" or simply the space of possibilities. Theories are abstractly constructed to explain and predict phenomena or abstract research objects.
The term “theory" in science is used differently than in ordinary English. While in ordinary usage, “theory" is being used to mean rank speculation or a disputable hypothesis, among scientists, it is often used to describe an established subdiscipline with widely accepted laws, methods, foundations, and applications. It is a body of explanatory hypotheses with strong empirical support (Rosenberg, 2005).
So, crafting theoretical research questions is a delicate matter that often requires deep knowledge and understanding of the area of research.
Empirical Research
On the other hand, empirical research is not solely conducted in logical space. These are done through experiments and observations often mediated by instruments. And, creating empirical research questions can be quite complex as experimentalists would need to pay much mind to methodologies, measures, and the calibration of their particular instruments.
In both basic and applied research, theoretical and empirical research questions play important roles in building knowledge or finding practical applications for research knowledge.
Scientific research in its purest form employs both theory and empirical observation to form conceptual architectures used by an entire discipline, or a research program within it, to understand their research objects. However, research is not done solely with pure understanding in mind. Research questions are also posed to how knowledge and technology can be applied. This brings us to two main kinds of research considering intentions: (a) basic research and (b) applied research.
Basic Research
The Organization for Economic Cooperative Development (OECD) defines basic research as an “experimental or theoretical work undertaken primarily to acquire new knowledge of the underlying foundations of phenomena and observable facts, without any particular application or use in view" (OECD, 2015). It is research for research’s sake.
Many seminal works in the sciences, especially mathematics, would fall into this classification. For instance, Andrew Wiles’ proof of Fermat’s Last theorem and the Banach-Tarski Paradox virtually does not have any practical use. However, many basic research works that initially did not have real-world applications turned out to have some. One example is group theory in mathematics that started as an abstract investigation. Later, researchers found applications in physics (Dresselhaus & Jorio, 2007) and music (Zhang, 2009).
Applied Research
Applied research, on the other hand, is defined as an investigation to acquire new knowledge “directed towards a specific practical aim or objective" (OECD, 2015). Basically, it is trying to find practical applications for research knowledge. Moreover, applied research is much related to what OECD calls “experimental development" in R&D. This class of research “draws from knowledge gained from research and practical experience and producing additional knowledge, which is directed at producing new products or processes or to improving existing products or processes (OECD, 2015)." And, products here mean actual goods and services.
The research works of engineers, marketers, medical researchers, and designers largely fall into these related classes. These types of research efforts produce knowledge and design processes or things that can make life better for many people.
Thus, from these main desired outcomes of research, we know what is a research design and what research is for. One can also infer how research questions are being valued. These can be summarized by the two following points: (a) the value of basic research is derived from how it helps research communities understand the world or research objects better, and (b) the value of applied research is derived from actual and perceived practical utility gained by its target beneficiaries.
As discussed in the previous section, the characteristics of good research bridge the gaps (a) in understanding and/or (b) practical efficiency. And, asking good research questions is central to bridging these knowledge gaps. In this section, we will expound on what makes a good research question.
Below are the main attributes that make research questions useful. The rationale of why these are so will be discussed after. Additionally, read this guide to know more about how to cite research paper .
And, particularly for applied research and experimental developments in industries:
Progress in research entails novelty. In basic research, it is thought that a research program is “theoretically progressive" when theoretical modifications generate novel predictions. It is considered to be “empirical progressive" if some novel predictions are corroborated by empirical observations. Failing to do so would make it degenerative (Lakatos, 1978).
Also, the novelty of research questions and answers is not valued for novelty’s sake. Novelty is valued because it drives research programs forward. It is the questions that researchers ask that become the fuel for more research. And, good research questions generate more research questions. They do not only help in building research knowledge, they also keep research programs alive.
Novelty, in these ways, is considered by many to be a standard factor in how relevant or “how good" a research question is.
This, though, begs the question of “to what or to whom should it be relevant to?"
The quick answer here, in everyday terms, is your target audience. And, when it comes to research, the usual audiences of research papers are those who are part of a research community, industry stakeholders, and policymakers. Thus, the relevancy of your research question depends much on the specific research interests of your target community. This is also why research questions need to be specific as well.
Good research questions are not only specific in terms of which issues they wish to shed light upon. These should also be specific in form or by sentence construction. And, this is helpful for at least three reasons.
Firstly, by structuring research questions to be specific, you can dissect and define concepts or physical research objects easier. Secondly, it helps you map out relationships like correlation, precedence, succession, and infer causation, among others. Thirdly, it makes it easier for you to differentiate your research from previous ones. Let us illustrate through an example.
Consider this simple example of a not-so-good research question: “Is anthropogenic climate change real?"
Why is it not so good? Right off the bat, this question can be answered by a yes or no question. It is too broad and not specific enough. Also, many researchers have already touched on the subject. Hence, it is also not a novel question.
One way to make it specific is by limiting the scope and making it measurable. An improved version could be: “Is there a correlation between the number of building constructions and the frequency of hurricanes forming in the US Atlantic Coast from 1990 to 2020?"
This version does not only puts limits on the geographical scope but also on the timeframe. It dissects which phenomena you wish to explore and gives you an idea of what kind of data you need. Moreover, it helps you map out the relationship between two sets of data. And, with this more specific version, it is easier to know whether there are identical research questions in research databases or Google Scholar.
Applied Research: More and Better Practical Applications
In applied research, however, the metrics for progress are much more lenient than in basic research in some sense. Practical utility and pragmatism hold significant sway. And, in many cases, the construction of models for truth and reality only act as handmaidens for target utility. Space flight is a good example.
Theoretically speaking, the classical view of force was already superseded by Einstein’s theory (see Stinner, 1994). But, this does not stop Newtonian mechanics from being useful. In fact, it is still useful enough to send rockets to space (NASA, 2017). This is even though it is a less accurate model of reality.
So, even though pure research in physics veered away from Newton’s program, classical mechanics is still very much alive in applied research. Hence, in applied research practice, the perceived and actual utility of research works may outweigh the quest for objective understanding. The practical utility of knowledge is thus a major measure for the relevance of applied research. And, therefore by extension, it is an attribute of a good applied research question.
Research does not exist in a vacuum. And, as great scientific minds like Thomas Kuhn, Karl Popper, and Imre Lakatos have noted in their careers, research is largely a communal activity with different traditions of going about it. So, for a researcher to come up with good research topics and questions, he or she must be attuned to the pulse of research communities and interested industries. Online collaboration is one way of doing this, which you can facilitate using a website. You can create one using a domain ideas generator . Moreover, the researcher must be good at finding the research gaps. Below, a few tips and examples on how to achieve these are listed.
Tip # 1: Discuss with your supervisor, professors, and research colleagues for inspiring ideas to be turned into questions.
The first thing you should try is to tap into your own community. You can discuss topics that interest you with your supervisor or professors. This way, they may be able to share their knowledge, research papers, books, and even research contacts. They may even offer you topics and help you come up with research questions. Tap into their experience and stored knowledge.
Another thing you can do is to discuss research topics with your colleagues. They may have inspiring ideas or you can come up with great ideas together. In many research ventures, more heads can be better than one.
Discussions and debates are a good way to get an idea of what the zeitgeist is within your research community, industry, or discipline. So, it is also best to join conferences, attend talks, and be on social networks and connect to other people. This way, you will have a better idea of what your research community is interested in. So, start with your immediate community first.
Tip #2: Review state of the art literature
You can only find relevant research topics and questions when you are privy to what the current and relevant research topics and questions are in your field. And, the best way to look for them is through recent and landmark research literature.
To look for recent impactful literature, you can check out an author’s h-index on sites like Google Scholar and Scopus. The h-index measures both citation impact and the productivity of a researcher. The higher the number, the more likely it is to be impactful to other researchers in their fields. Moreover, you can also take a look at their publications and see which ones are being cited and talked about in the community.
And, thanks to research index sites, you can even see where these publications have been cited. In them, you can see issues, talking points, and directions for further research that can be a good topic to write about.
Tip #3: Read recent surveys/review papers
Furthermore, reading review papers, progress reports, responses, and rebuttals can give you a good idea of the context and the specifics of possible topics to write about and research questions to pose. In many fields in the sciences and the humanities, there are differing views when it comes to theory, interpretation of data, and the accuracy of methodologies. And, you can find these talking points and possible research topics in survey and review papers.
Survey and review papers are usually written by scholars to summarize the current view and understanding of a field with regards to a certain topic. It can be about the state of a theory, a methodology, a school of thought, a research program, or an entire disciplinary field. It is a great source of researches to follow and books or papers to read.
Moreover, these are excellent sources to find gaps in knowledge that can take many different forms. This will be the topic of our next subsection.
Now that you have an idea of how to tap into the current state of research, you need to develop the nose to find knowledge gaps. This is essential to finding interesting topics to formulate good research questions around. And, as mentioned, gaps in knowledge can come in different forms. A good way to identify them is to use the categories of research questions and the classes of research desiderata mentioned above: (1) theoretical and (2) empirical research questions; and (a) basic research and (b) applied research, respectively.
Explanatory Gaps
This kind of gap in knowledge can usually be found in theory-building work. However, it does not only apply to basic research but also to applied research. Basically, there is an explanatory gap in a theory when it fails to take into account or predict phenomena within its domain of interest. Here is an example.
In the 19th century, the then-current model of the solar system could not predict the orbit of Uranus accurately. The planet was falling behind its predicted position and George Airy, Britain’s Astronomer Royal, referred to the errors as “increasing with fearful rapidity" (Smart, 1946). This was not only the most puzzling problem in astronomy. It also put doubts on the popularly-favored Newtonian celestial mechanics, the prevailing theory at that time.
However, the pulse of the research community then was not to reject Newtonian celestial mechanics outright (Cleland & Brindel, 2013). So, they offered other hypotheses to be included in the theory. There were those that suggested that it had been struck by a comet before its discovery in 1781. Others hypothesized that there was an undiscovered planet affecting its orbit (Smart, 1946). These efforts then, including the celebrated mathematical or armchair prediction of Neptune by Urbain Le Verrier and John Couch Adams, tried to “rescue" or correct the prevailing theory then (they turned out to be right).
Put simply, if you work on explanatory gaps, you work on extending the explanatory power of a theory by modifying aspects, parameters, and even taking out or adding in new hypotheses (see, for instance, Westphal & Khanna, 2003). Often, you will see explicit gaps by reviewing the state of the art literature. Many times, other scholars will point them out, especially ones that publish critiques of a particular theory, hypothesis, or point of view.
Moreover, it is good to note that extending the explanatory power of a theory does not only mean accounting for anomalies. It could also mean seeing if a theory can also help explain phenomena that are usually situated outside their domains of interest. An interesting example of which is quantum biology where quantum mechanics and theoretical chemistry are applied to investigating biological processes like our sense of smell and avian navigation (McFadden & Al-Khalili, 2018).
Empirical Gaps
Empirical gaps come in different forms as well. The main one is when there is no experiment yet to test a prediction or a hypothesis. Going back to our previous example, when Le Verrier and Couch brought their mathematical predictions of the location of Neptune forward, the research community could not accept their claims without empirical evidence. And, this empirical gap in their scientific claims, can only be filled by empirical observation.
In the case of Neptune, the first empirical observation coming after Le Verrier’s and Couch’s predictions came from the Berlin Observatory on September 24, 1946, by Johann Gottfried Galle. This story shows that experimentalists are needed by theoreticians to find empirical pieces of evidence for their predictions. This is because, in most contexts, experiments can be the arbiter of whether a scientific statement is true or not.
Other experimental gaps come in the form of faulty or less accurate experimental designs. As experiments are used to corroborate predictions and claims, it is crucial to get them as close as you can to approximate objective reality. Both experimental designs and instruments play a key role. And, by instruments, it is not only the physical tangible observation tools that you use but also the thinking tools, such as statistical frameworks and other metrics of measurement.
One way researchers look for gaps in empirical knowledge is to look into published experiment results and analyze methodologies and procedures. And, the acid test to know if experiments hold is to replicate them. One example of this approach was the huge replication study done in experimental psychology. The study found that there was a publication bias towards successful results as independent replication of 100 experiments, only 39 attempts were found successful (Baker, 2015). This is an ingenious way of contributing new knowledge to science and it showed problems plaguing the field of experimental psychology (Francis, 2012).
Critiques and analysis of experimental designs and mentions for the total lack of empirical observations can be found in state-of-the-art literature surveys and reviews. One must dive deep into these publications to look for plausibly accurate predictions that still lack empirical evidence and experiments that may have limited scope and less accurate methods.
Experimental Development Gaps
While experimental and explanatory gaps cuts across basic and applied research, gaps in experimental development are special to applied research and experimental development activities. Again, OECD categorizes experimental development as a separate research activity seeking not only to develop practical uses for scientific knowledge but also to generate and improve products and processes. Thus, this includes research activities from commercial purposes to social good efforts.
It covers the creation and development of products and processes from technological devices to social policies. And, this is what most research work in industries and the public sector revolve around. So, experimental design is the domain for those who have the aptitude for improving things or creating new things.
Prime historical examples of this would be the works in the tradition of Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell, the works of inventors. The development of computers from Babbage and Turing to Jobs and Gates falls into this category. And, there still are many gaps. Inventing solutions may add even more.
Hot topics today revolve around social good issues, from climate change to deploying more ethical recommendation algorithms.
Gaps in experimental development can be found in industry reports, progress reports, and various writings outside academia. Sources can range from business journals to articles by journalists covering business, tech, and social policies.
Now that you have an idea of the kinds of knowledge gaps and where you can find them, it is time to discuss a few common approaches on how to deal with them. Keep in mind that any type of research requires the need to determine one of three problems: the outcomes could be enhanced, the current literature has conflicting results, or the evidence is insufficient (Fandino, 2019).
Of course, the suggested approaches listed will be very limited, considering the scope of general academic and industrial research. However, these will more or less hone in on some guiding principles that are ubiquitous in successful researches across various fields. Checking good research question examples can also provide you with ideas on how to structure your research query.
In the history of science and other academic disciplines, there are times when seemingly disparate concepts, theories, and methodologies have been found to work together well. Basically, research synthesis is the integration of existing research findings and knowledge about an issue. This aims to increase both the generality and applicability of existing findings to develop new knowledge (Wyborn et al., 2018).
Arguably, the greatest landmark achievement using this type of approach was that of Rene Descartes and Pierre de Fermat. Both independently invented analytic geometry, marrying the seemingly then-disparate areas of geometry and algebra to shed more light on the mathematical objects of interest in both areas (Stillwell, 2010).
Another prime example was the marrying of Charles Darwin’s natural selection with Gregor Mendel’s genetics into the Modern Synthesis in evolutionary biology. Two theories shed light on the same research interests while approaching it from two seemingly disparate levels. And, synthesizing theories amidst new experimental discoveries are still quite active in biology. Even to this day, many scholars are working towards a new theoretical synthesis in biology for richer explanatory power (see Pigliucci, 2007).
Of course, these examples are quite grand, and creating a revolutionary synthesis is a monumental task. However, this approach can be used for less conceptually complex, albeit not-so-simple concerns. One example of this approach in applied research would be to figure out the impacts of learning management systems (LMS) on education.
By using existing research findings and knowledge, one may very well create an integrated explanatory account for factors that affect knowledge acquisition via distance learning with the aid of an LMS. You can dip in different disciplines and integrate different points of view and theories. You may very well see that this research topic can be viewed from different lenses involving IT and analytics, psychology, education management, and many others. Thus, an integrative synthesis research approach can be used to form and answer particular questions.
Of course, drawing from different research findings and theories, you should fine-tune your research questions to investigate more specific problems. For instance, you can investigate the level of knowledge acquisition in mathematics and biology for elementary school or those in universities or institutions using LMS. This research topic has good potential for not just a research synthesis approach but also for an interdisciplinary approach.
The research synthesis or integrative approach is best suited to researchers that are good at recognizing similarities and abstracting generalities from various phenomena or abstract research objects.
In the sciences and the humanities, accounts of natural and social phenomena have undergone reconstruction over and over. Take history and archaeology as prime examples. In both disciplines, accounts of past events are often cast and re-casted in new lights, depending on new evidence acquired or novel postulates by scholars.
In fact, creating and reconstructing accounts of the past is central to various disciplines, such as archaeology, paleontology, and history. The first two, and to some extent the last one, even use empirical tools like dating techniques and forensics. Most historians, on the other hand, rely on public records, personal journals, and the works of past historians as well.
Account reconstructions primarily deal with answering specific “what likely could have happened" questions. However, there is another species of account reconstruction that can be an interesting subject as well as an approach to finding research questions. This mostly has to do with answering the questions of “what likely could have been thought" or “how was a concept understood. These questions can be directed at entire civilizations, several populations, a community, or a person.
Examples of this would be the reconstruction of a dead language (see Gamkrelidze & Ivanov, 2010), the reconstruction of the Babylonian sexagesimal number system (see Hodgkin, 2005), the reconstruction of Babbage’s analytical engine (see Markoff, 2011), and creating accounts of what Wittgenstein may have meant by his writings (see Muhlhölzer, 2016). Thus, reconstructing accounts also involve a good deal of interpretation or reinterpretation of the views that figures of academic interests held.
This is also not limited to scholars or phenomena that are the usual domains of far history. It could also pertain to interests in industries. For instance, economists conceptually reconstruct conditions for recessions and sociologists offer alternative accounts for the factors causing existing social problems. Also, this reconstruction of the past is being done by marketers and business analysts to gain insights for future business decisions.
Theory creation is one of, if not the most, valued activities in science. The accumulation of experimental facts and scientific observations are guided by or at least rely on scientific theories. For instance, public opinion surveys rely on the theories in probability and statistics and radio spectrometry used for cosmological observations relies on electromagnetic theory, among others.
Theory-making is ubiquitous in virtually all academic fields. Also, historically, theoretical work is the fecund birthplace of entire academic disciplines and even social movements. Work in theory creation and development does not stop. It may go on gradually or even in a quicker revolutionary way (Kuhn, 2012). Thus, it is also a fertile ground for many research questions.
One current example of theoretical work that has swept through different research disciplines spanning from cognitive science and philosophy of mind to mathematical psychology to neuroscience is Karl Friston’s free energy principle (FEP) or active inference. A synthesis of ideas and approaches that drew influence from physics to psychiatry, this theory, in simple terms, purports that living organisms keep themselves within survival range by changing internal parameters and actively sampling the environment by minimizing a quantity called free energy. Or, agents maximize their value by minimizing prediction error (Friston & Stephan, 2007). Its applications range from single neurons to an entire organism and even to a whole species. And, its formal models draw from the mathematics of machine learning, information theory, and game theory, among others. It has truly become an interdisciplinary interest with collaborators coming from different fields.
Other disciplines have very lively theory-making activities akin to the burgeoning FEP research program. And again, these kinds of lively theory-making activities can be identified by reviewing state-of-the-art literature, talking to colleagues, and literature survey papers. Also, as they are seen to be at the edge of their fields, community interests are at their peaks and fellow researchers are open to consultation and collaboration.
Work in theory development can come in different forms. Some researchers act as proponents of views. Others offer alternative views within the larger theory or research program. A researcher can also play the role of the devil’s advocate who tries to limit the scope of the theory’s explanatory domain. Others refute particular aspects of the theory, the theory as a whole, and even the research program as a whole. This can be done through theoretical arguments or by bringing to the fore empirical observations of anomalies or phenomena that contradict a theory’s predictions.
These activities are pretty much the norm in theoretical work, especially in a theory’s development stages within research programs. And, this, as mentioned, is always an ongoing enterprise within different disciplines and industries. Thus, theory development is a fertile place for developing research questions of your own.
Most examples mentioned here are landmark events in science. Not everyone can make revolutionary predictions, observations, or develop extraordinary products. However, everyone that made a discovery or has contributed useful research knowledge has started from somewhere. And, that somewhere is being connected to the loose network of individuals who think about and investigate similar things. They connect to the research or business community and build from shared cumulative knowledge.
Thus, it is best to follow in the footsteps of Isaac Newton and stand on the shoulders of giants so we could see a little further. Explore your institution’s library software or go online to uncover findings related to what you plan to study. Take the pulse of our target communities, understand how other researchers think of research objects in their domains of interest, and ask good research questions that can create useful knowledge further. This is through generating novel insights, theories, experiments, measurement methods, and even products and services. Remember, it is in the creation of useful novel knowledge and things that move the wheels of progress.
Also, as discussed in this article, novel things should not be necessarily totally about new things. They can be novel takes on research interests of the past. Just make sure that your novel contribution is relevant to the concerns of your target community, be it a research program, your company, a market, your city, or your nation.
Hopefully, you have a better idea of (1) the nature of research questions and their intents, (2) the attributes of what is a good research question, (3) how to take the pulse of research or industry communities, and (4) some approaches to find good research questions.
Once you have a good research question, why not read about how to write conclusion in research . And if you want a faster way to create citations, then you can check out some fo the best citation generator applications available.
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There's some good news for people with Parkinson's disease: The risk of developing dementia may be lower than previously thought, or dementia may occur later in the course of the disease than previously reported, according to a study published in the August 7, 2024, online issue of Neurology ® , the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
The development of dementia is feared by people with Parkinson's, and the combination of both a movement disorder and a cognitive disorder can be devastating to them and their loved ones. These results provide more hopeful estimates of the long-term risk of dementia for people with Parkinson's disease, suggesting that there is a longer window to intervene to prevent or delay cognitive decline." Daniel Weintraub, MD, Study Author of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Previous studies had indicated that about 80% of people with Parkinson's disease would develop dementia within 15-20 years after being diagnosed with Parkinson's.
"While these studies were important in highlighting the issue of cognitive decline in Parkinson's disease, the studies were conducted many years ago, were relatively small and had other limitations, so we wanted to re-evaluate these findings," Weintraub said.
For the study, researchers analyzed data from two large, prospective studies. An international study involved 417 participants with an average age of 62 who were newly diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and had not yet received treatment for the disease at study enrollment. A study at the University of Pennsylvania involved 389 people with Parkinson's with an average age of 69 who had been diagnosed with Parkinson's an average of six years before the start of the study. The participants were followed to see whether they developed dementia.
The international study showed an estimated probability of being diagnosed with dementia 10 years after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease of 9%. For the Pennsylvania study, the probability of being diagnosed with dementia 10 years after the Parkinson's diagnosis was 27%. For the latter study, researchers found an estimated risk of dementia at 50%, 15 years after a Parkinson's diagnosis and 74%, 20 years after diagnosis.
Factors that increased the risk of dementia in the Pennsylvania study included being older when Parkinson's was diagnosed, being male and having a lower level of education.
A limitation of both studies is that participants were highly educated, mainly white people and were recruited for participation in a research study, so they may not represent the general population.
The international study, the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative, is a public-private partnership funded by the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research and numerous funding partners. The University of Pennsylvania study was supported by the National Institute on Aging.
American Academy of Neurology
Gallagher, J., et al. (2024) Long-Term Dementia Risk in Parkinson Disease . Neurology . doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000209699 .
Posted in: Medical Research News | Medical Condition News
Tags: Aging , Brain , Concussion , Dementia , Doctor , Education , Epilepsy , Headache , Migraine , Movement Disorder , Multiple Sclerosis , Nervous System , Neurology , Neuroscience , Parkinson's Disease , Research , Sclerosis , Stroke
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The first question asks for a ready-made solution, and is not focused or researchable. The second question is a clearer comparative question, but note that it may not be practically feasible. For a smaller research project or thesis, it could be narrowed down further to focus on the effectiveness of drunk driving laws in just one or two countries.
25 examples of expertly crafted qualitative research questions. It's easy enough to cover the theory of writing a qualitative research question, but sometimes it's best if you can see the process in practice. In this section, we'll list 25 examples of B2B and B2C-related qualitative questions. Let's begin with five questions.
A well-crafted research question (or set of questions) sets the stage for a robust study and meaningful insights. But, if you're new to research, it's not always clear what exactly constitutes a good research question. In this post, we'll provide you with clear examples of quality research questions across various disciplines, so that you can approach your research project with confidence!
Cognitive psychology is the branch that focuses on the interactions of thinking, emotion, creativity, and problem-solving. It also explores the reasons humans think the way they do. This topic involves exploring how people think by measuring intelligence, thoughts, and cognition. Here are some research question ideas: 6.
However, developing a good research question is often challenging. But, doing appropriate data analysis or drawing meaningful conclusions from your investigation with a well-defined question make it easier. ... Emancipatory: uncovering data that can serve to emancipate a particular group of people, such as disadvantaged or marginalized ...
A good research question is essential to guide your research paper, dissertation, or thesis. All research questions should be: Focused on a single problem or issue. Researchable using primary and/or secondary sources. Feasible to answer within the timeframe and practical constraints. Specific enough to answer thoroughly.
Choose a broad topic, such as "learner support" or "social media influence" for your study. Select topics of interest to make research more enjoyable and stay motivated. Preliminary research. The goal is to refine and focus your research question. The following strategies can help: Skim various scholarly articles.
Moreover, these questions seek to understand the intent or future outcome surrounding a topic. Research Question Example: Asking why a consumer behaves in a certain way or chooses a certain option over other. iii. Interpretive Questions. This type of research question allows the study of people in the natural setting.
A good research question possesses several key components that contribute to the quality and impact of your study. Apart from providing a clear framework to generate meaningful results, a well-defined research question allows other researchers to understand the purpose and significance of your work. So, when working on your research question ...
Types of research questions. Now that we've defined what a research question is, let's look at the different types of research questions that you might come across. Broadly speaking, there are (at least) four different types of research questions - descriptive, comparative, relational, and explanatory. Descriptive questions ask what is happening. In other words, they seek to describe a ...
A good research question focuses on one researchable problem relevant to your subject area. To write a research paper, first make sure you have a strong, relevant topic. Then, conduct some preliminary research around that topic. It's important to complete these two initial steps because your research question will be formulated based on this ...
Definition: Research questions are the specific questions that guide a research study or inquiry. These questions help to define the scope of the research and provide a clear focus for the study. Research questions are usually developed at the beginning of a research project and are designed to address a particular research problem or objective.
Insights on Creating a Good Research Question. Junichi Tokuda, PhD, focuses on how to start successfully, and divulges the unique approach he has as a basic scientist when developing a good research question. Play Junichi Tokuda video. Ursula Kaiser, MD, encourages drawing on an already established interest in your subject matter to showcase ...
There are two types of research: Qualitative research and Quantitative research. There must be research questions for every type of research. Your research question will be based on the type of research you want to conduct and the type of data collection. The first step in designing research involves identifying a gap and creating a focused ...
Yet coming up with good research questions is something that novice researchers often find difficult and stressful. One reason is that this is a creative process that can appear mysterious—even magical—with experienced researchers seeming to pull interesting research questions out of thin air. ... The question of whether people feel pain ...
The examples of research questions provided in this guide have illustrated what good research questions look like. The key points outlined below should help researchers in the pursuit: The development of a research question is an iterative process that involves continuously updating one's knowledge on the topic and refining ideas at all ...
Learn how to formulate a good research question for your academic project with tips and examples from George Mason University Library.
10. Demographic research question. Demographic questions are based on a person's age, gender, family income, race, ethnicity, education, and other defining factors. Research about whether a specific product will be effective with a particular age or gender group can be carried out using demographic research questions.
In essence, the research question that guides the sciences and social sciences should do the following three things:2. 1) Post a problem. 2) Shape the problem into a testable hypothesis. 3) Report the results of the tested hypothesis. There are two types of data that can help shape research questions in the sciences and social sciences ...
Whatever the case, the target population should be chosen while keeping in mind social work's responsibility to work on behalf of marginalized and oppressed groups. In sum, a good research question generally has the following features: It is written in the form of a question. It is clearly written. It cannot be answered with "yes" or ...
Feasible - Writing a feasible research question means that it CAN be answered under objective aspects like time, scope, resources, expertise, or funding. Good questions must be amenable to the formulation of clear hypotheses. Interesting - The question or topic should be of interest to the researcher and the outside world. It should have a ...
A good research question defines the focus of your research project. ... Jot down different ideas and perspectives, ask yourself whether you agree or disagree, and try to formulate interesting questions about what you are reading. People sit on a roof waiting to be rescued after Hurricane Katrina Photo courtesy of FEMA, 2005. Digital ID 14512
So, it is also best to join conferences, attend talks, and be on social networks and connect to other people. This way, you will have a better idea of what your research community is interested in. So, start with your immediate community first. Tip #2: Review state of the art literature.
There's some good news for people with Parkinson's disease: The risk of developing dementia may be lower than previously thought, or dementia may occur later in the course of the disease than ...