Big Idea 1: Question and Explore
Developing and Revising Research Questions
Many of the problems students encounter with doing research have to do with poorly written or ill- defined research questions. If the research question fails, the paper fails; it’s important to get this right. A simple change in words can help align the research question to what you really want to investigate and ensure appropriate scope, focus, value, and feasibility.
Use the criteria you listed for developing effective research questions from your Thinking Ahead homework assignment to generate responses to the following questions:
What are the steps to take to transform a topic of inquiry or a problem into a well-defined research question capable of yielding a long- term investigation?
What are the critical elements of an effective research question, and how do you know if those elements are present?
“Research” versus “research”
You must be careful when crafting your research question. Your research question must be aligned with the purpose of Capital “R” Research or your work will not demonstrate achievement within the AP Research course.
To clarify:
Little “r” research is basically just searching for literature to develop an argument or stance around an issue or to report on what is known about a problem or question.
▶ Questions that look more like debates about controversial issues are little “r” research questions and must be avoided.
▶ Questions that can be answered by looking up scholarly works that have already been published are little “r” research questions and must be avoided.
Capital “R” Research is where a student has a well-articulated research method to generate evidence to support a new understanding or new piece of knowledge, which, if someone else “repeated” it, that person could come up with the same understanding and validate the new piece of knowledge.
▶ Questions that are narrow, focused, and unanswerable by the literature in the field are Capital “R” Research questions and are required for this course.