Inquiry & Research Overview

During this process, you'll go through a variety of emotions, too! 

See how the explore phase is lower than the others? That's because it's perfectly normal to feel overwhelmed and down when you start researching. You will experience information overload as you try to look at a topic from all different perspectives and make sense of a multitude of different sources. 

But as you identify your specific research questions and begin to gather relevant sources and collect data that addresses your questions, you'll start to feel more confident. 

And by the time you evaluate and look back on how much you learned, you'll feel great!

The stimulus for inquiry and research can come from any place--a class discussion or reading, a movie, a news article, or even a conversation with a friend. What sparks your interest and makes you curious to learn more?

Here's where you start your pre-search. Start asking questions of friends, teachers, or other people who might know more. This is when you're Googling or asking AI or reading Wikipedia. At this point, most of the sources are disposable, so you don't necessarily take any notes. You skim. You browse. Maybe jot down more sources that are mentioned or linked so that you remember to explore them later. It's likely that you won't cite anything from this pre-search. 

"The purpose of the [explore] stage is to find out as much about your topic as you can, constantly narrowing the focus and seeking greater depth of knowledge. You are trying to get a sense of what is unknown, not yet considered or is undecided in your narrowing topic area. [...]

"The pre-research or exploration stage may be the most iterative stage of the whole [research] process. You may feel as if you are going round in circles and trying to do many things at once. This is to be expected, so do not be alarmed or overwhelmed: research can be messy!

"For example, you might find that what you thought was a brilliant research question has already been asked and perhaps answered definitively. Or perhaps the question is unanswerable or needs resources that you do not have and would find hard to get. In these cases, you will need to rethink the question fundamentally.

"At this stage, do not try to read everything on the topic, nor read too deeply. Instead, skim read and check secondary sources to gain a quick understanding of the topic or sub-topics and the tools of analysis you will need to use to for investigation.

• Use the citations and references given in these sources to find primary sources and academic articles.

• Use keywords in academic articles to find other articles on the same subject.

• Read abstracts and conclusions; skim the main text and any illustrations and tables to get a sense of how academic articles are structured.

• Use your researcher’s reflection space (RRS) [or process journal] to record usable ideas and findings, quotations and questions that come to mind.

"There is no need to read too deeply at this stage, but later you are likely to need to read some of these sources in more depth—your [...] notes will prove invaluable in this regard.

"As you read and gain information and start formulating possible research questions, consider how you will answer those questions, what you will need to find out and how you will find it out, and then read more."

(Extended Essay Support Material, 29)

Your exploration will lead to the identify stage, and your focus will allow you to weed out the unnecessary information and throw away sources that become irrelevant. You will start to feel less overwhelmed and more locked in. 

The explore stage will help you construct a research question that is:

• focused—clear about what you intend to address in your essay

• worth answering—your answer will add something new or different to what is already known in the

subject(s)

• manageable in [the length of the assignment]—neither too broad nor too narrow a question

• manageable in terms of research methods, resources and time

• manageable in terms of the subject-specific guidance and IB policies

• analytical and arguable—rather than leading you towards a descriptive answer.

"As your research question emerges, try outlining or mind mapping what the essay will look like once it is written. Think of the section and subsection headings and the information or points you might include in each section and subsection; think how the argument is likely to flow. You may not have gathered and processed much of the information you will need for each section yet, but as you find out more, you will be able to add it to your outline and become more aware of what you still need to find out. By the time you are ready to write the essay, your outline may be so detailed that your essay will unfold relatively smoothly."

(Extended Essay Support Material, 29)

Because a good research question is essential to a good product, see the Developing a Research Question page for more help.

The gather phase is the biggest part of any inquiry project, so you have to keep careful notes! "As you go about your research, keeping notes to record your findings and thoughts in either paper or digital form will really help you to track your work. The notes will allow you to find important pieces of information later, develop your line of argument and begin the important work of accurate citation and referencing. These notes can be posted in your RRS" or journal (Extended Essay Support Material, 30)

See the Taking Notes page for templates and ideas to figure out what will work best for you.

Secondary Research

"In the research [or gather] stage of your investigation, you will probably need to reread some of the sources you skimmed through during the pre-research stage, but more closely this time. Make good use of your [journal] to decide which sources you need to look at more carefully. As you do this, consider whether the source content will really help you to answer your research question: you may find material that is 'interesting', but does it provide information that is truly relevant? If not, perhaps make a note in [your journal] to reconsider this source another time if you think it may yet be of some use, but otherwise you might choose to ignore it.

"Researching what others have already said about a topic is essential for all [research essays, including the EE], whatever the subject, and this is likely to form the backbone of the introduction to your essay. Secondary research enables you to:

• provide a context for your investigation and essay

• provide a springboard for your own specific research topic and question

• show why your investigation of the topic is worth doing

• provide material, information and data that you might use as you analyse and evaluate your findings and arguments.

"It is important that you use relevant and reliable sources. Popular websites like Wikipedia or news articles may be useful for giving you ideas, perhaps even the inspiration for investigating the topic in the [open and immerse stages], but it is strongly recommended that you find and use the sources that provided the information used in those articles. The nearer to the original source you can get, the more accurate and reliable it is likely to be. [See the sections on Finding Sources and Evaluating Sources.]

"Sometimes you might find information and data that contradict the information you are relying on. Do not ignore this—it can contribute to the overall answer you give in your essay. For example, you might be able to discount or discredit the contrary information or use it to discuss some controversies and uncertainties about what is known in this field. It is worth looking at what others have said about the contradictory information and what those who support it have said too. It is useful to evaluate your source materials in the body of your essay itself, instead of presenting them in a separate 'Evaluation' section.

(Extended Essay Support Material, 32-33)

Primary Research

"Not everything is already fully known in any field of knowledge. [For advanced research projects like the Personal Project and the Extended Essay,] your research question should be sufficiently original that you are making a genuine contribution to knowledge in that field. Secondary research will help you find data and information that tell you what others know and/or have found out, but there will be gaps in what you can find through secondary research. This is often a cue that primary research is needed." 

"Primary research collects original data. It is research that you carry out yourself, finding new data and information, then you apply the models, methods and tools of analysis of your discipline and subject(s) to produce new knowledge.

"Primary research is used when secondary research is not sufficient to answer your specific research question, that is, you must fill in knowledge gaps or extend what is known by carrying out original research yourself. To do this, you must choose a method or methods that are appropriate to the research question and also commonly used in your particular DP subject(s). Possible data collection methods include:

• experiments

• investigations and fieldwork

• interviews

• surveys.

"As well as using the data you collect to support your points and argument, it is essential that you also say how the data were collected and why you chose particular research methods. In the body of your essay, be sure to include the details of any primary research you carry out, including:

• the methods used—and how and why these were selected

• the persons involved—and how and why these were selected

• the relevant results

• any limitations and biases that may have influenced the results." 

(Extended Essay Support Material, 33)

For more in-depth information on various methods, including quantitative and qualitative see the section on Original Research .

When you begin creating your research product, you might wonder how to organize it.

Essays

If you're writing a formal research paper with primary or original research, your best models are scholarly journal articles in the same academic discipline. Your teacher might have an achor paper or exemplar to help you outline your own. Also see the Scholarly Sources page, which breaks down how many research papers are organized. 

If your formal research paper is an IB Extended Essay, look at the EE @AISL site page called Phase 3: Writing the Essay for tips. You'll also need to read the Incorporating Evidence page on this site, which will help you meld your primary and secondary research into the scholarly conversation. 

Posters

Slides