Formulating Research Questions

When you first approach a research assignment, you might have only a vague sense of what interests you. During the Formulation stage of the research process, which we will discuss in greater detail in the Research Process module, you're trying to narrow your focus and develop a clear direction. The difficulty lies in transforming this general interest into a specific, answerable question that aligns with disciplinary expectations.

Without a clear research question, the Collection stage will be inefficient and unfocused. You might gather too much irrelevant information or miss crucial sources. Identifying the research problem is essential to determining what the objective of your research is. One way to think about this is by considering disciplinarity and epistemological paradigms.

Understanding Disciplinarity and Epistemological Foundations

What is Disciplinarity?

Different academic disciplines approach knowledge and research differently. Understanding these differences will help you formulate appropriate research questions as you interact with resources from a variety of disciplinary areas. Each discipline has its own epistemological traditions that shape what questions are asked and how those questions are investigated.

Think of Epistemology as the body of knowledge that is associated with that discipline – including their limits, methods, reliability, and perspective. Biologists will ask different questions about the effects of the 1980 Mt. St. Helen's eruption than an Engineering scholar.

Major Epistemological Paradigms

Each discipline's epistemological orientation is shaped by a set of overarching and interconnected assumptions about the nature of reality. These are called epistemological paradigms which can be used as broad categories to describe academic disciplines:

Positivist Paradigm:

Assumes an objective reality exists independent of the researcher
Seeks to discover laws and causal relationships
Common in natural sciences, physics, chemistry, mathematics, economics, and quantitative social science
Research questions often focus on "what causes X?" or "what is the relationship between X and Y?"

Interpretivist Paradigm:

Focuses on understanding meanings and interpretations
Reality is seen as socially constructed
Common in qualitative social sciences, history, philosophy, literature, and cultural studies
Research questions often explore "how do people experience X?" or "what does X mean in this context?"

Constructivist Paradigm:

Knowledge is constructed rather than discovered
Reality is created through human interactions
Common in education, psychology, sociology, communications, and interdisciplinary fields
Research questions might ask "how is X constructed in this context?" or "how do different factors interact to create X?"

Disciplinary Examples and Their Approaches

Discipline	Typical Research Approach	Sample Research Question Format
Biology	Predominantly positivist, experimental	"What effect does X have on Y under conditions Z?"
Literature	Predominantly interpretivist, analytical	"How does author X use literary device Y to convey theme Z?"
Sociology	May use all three paradigms	"What factors correlate with X?" or "How do people in situation X make meaning of Y?"
Business	Often combines approaches	"What is the relationship between X and company performance?" or "How do managers interpret and respond to X?"

From Brainstorming to a Researchable Question

Step 1: Start with Your Interest Area

Begin by identifying a topic or issue that genuinely interests you. Your initial idea might be broad (this is discussed in more detail in the Brainstorming module):

"I'm interested in social media."
"Climate change seems important."
"I want to learn about healthcare disparities."

Step 2: Explore and Narrow Your Focus

To narrow your focus:

Read broadly about your topic to identify patterns, debates, or gaps in knowledge
Consider disciplinary perspectives – how would different fields approach this topic?
Identify specific aspects that particularly interest you
Note controversies or unanswered questions in the literature

Step 3: Consider the Type of Question You Want to Ask

Different types of questions lead to different research approaches:

Descriptive Questions: What is happening? What are the characteristics?
Example: "What are the current recycling rates across different neighborhoods in our city?"

Relational Questions: How are things connected? What patterns exist?
Example: "Is there a relationship between social media use and reported anxiety levels among first-year college students?"

Causal Questions: What causes what? What are the effects?
Example: "How does the implementation of flexible work policies affect employee retention?"

Interpretive Questions: What does this mean? How is this understood?
Example: "How do healthcare providers interpret and respond to cultural differences in pain expression?"

Evaluative Questions: How well does something work? What is its value?
Example: "How effective are peer mentoring programs for improving academic outcomes for community college students?"

Step 4: Apply the FINER Criteria

A good research question should be:

Feasible: Can be answered within your available time, resources, and abilities
Interesting: Engages your curiosity and potentially others' interest
Novel: Adds something new or examines a new angle
Ethical: Can be studied without causing harm
Relevant: Connects to ongoing conversations in the field and has practical or theoretical implications in society

Step 5: Formulate Your Research Question

Transform your focused interest into a specific, answerable question. For example:

General interest: "Social media effects on teenagers"

Narrowed focus: "Social media use and mental health among teens"

Research question: "How does daily Instagram use correlate with reported anxiety symptoms among suburban high school students aged 14-17?"

Testing and Refining Your Research Question

Too broad: "How does social media affect people?" (Too many variables, impossible to study comprehensively)

Too narrow: "How does exactly 30 minutes of Instagram use affect the anxiety levels of 16-year-old female students at Hudson's Bay High School on Tuesdays?" (Too specific, limited applicability)

Just right: "How does daily Instagram use correlate with anxiety symptoms among high school students aged 14-17 in suburban settings?"

Test Your Question Against Disciplinary Expectations

For positivist approaches: Is your question testable? Can you measure the variables? Can you establish potential causality?
For interpretivist approaches: Does your question allow for exploring meanings and interpretations? Can you gather rich qualitative data?
For constructivist approaches: Does your question examine how knowledge or reality is constructed in a particular context?

Moving to the Collection Stage

Once you have a well-formulated research question, you can focus your research to relevant sources and data. It's still important to evaluate data, as we'll discuss in another section about evaluating information, but finding information that is relevant and appropriate for the purposes of what you're trying to accomplish usually gets easier once you have a well-formulated research question.

In Kuhlthau's information-seeking process (ISP) research model, which we will discuss in greater detail in the Research Process module, this stage is marked with increased focus and confidence, and a clearer sense of purpose, as well as reduced feelings of anxiety. This is the fun part.

From Question to Information Need

Your research question helps define what information you need, which in turn, helps clarify what types of resources and what places to look for them:

What concepts or variables are in your question?
What background information do you need?
What evidence would help answer your question?

Identifying Appropriate Sources

Different questions require different types of sources:

Scholarly articles and books: Peer-reviewed research providing in-depth analysis
Data sets: Statistical information for quantitative questions
Primary sources: Original documents, interviews, or observations
Grey literature: Reports, working papers, government documents

Identifying where to look

Different sources are located in different locations:

Scholarly articles and books can be found in academic libraries, library databases, Google Scholar, and open-educational resources online (OER).

Data sets can be found in library databases, Government Statistical Agencies (e.g., U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), Research institutions and Think Tanks, and Company and Industry Reports.

Primary sources can be found in archives and special collections (in academic libraries and museums), oral history collections, field notes and personal observations, government documents, and historical documents.

Grey literature can be found in library databases, Government Agency Websites (federal, state, and local governments), University and Research Institution Repositories, Think Tank websites, Professional Organization websites, conference proceedings, dissertations and theses, and technical reports.

Learning Activities to Explore Disciplinarity and Researchable Questions

Activity 1: Concept Mapping Your Research Interest

Create a concept map of your research interest, showing related concepts, questions, and potential connections to disciplinary areas of study.

Activity 2: Discipline Analysis

Identify 2-3 different disciplines that might approach your topic. How would their research questions differ? What methods might they use?

Activity 3: Research Question Workshop

Draft three versions of a potential research question on your topic - one too broad, one too narrow, and one "just right." Share with a partner for feedback.

Additional Resources and Bibliography

Booth, W. C., Colomb, G. G., & Williams, J. M. (2016). The craft of research (4th ed.). University of Chicago Press.
Alvesson, M., & Sandberg, J. (2013). Constructing research questions: Doing interesting research. SAGE Publications.
Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (5th ed.). SAGE Publications.
Kuhn, T. S. (1970). The structure of scientific revolutions (2nd ed.). University of Chicago Press.
Kuhlthau, C. C. (2004). Seeking meaning: A process approach to library and information services (2nd ed.). Libraries Unlimited.
Badke, W. (2021). Research strategies: Finding your way through the information fog (7th ed.). iUniverse.
Thiétart, R. (Ed.) (2001). Doing management research. SAGE Publications Ltd, https://doi.org/10.4135/9781849208970
Malenczyk, Rita, et al., editors. Composition, Rhetoric, and Disciplinarity. Utah State University Press, 2018. eBook.
Zarefsky, David. The Practice of Argumentation: Effective Reasoning in Communication. Cambridge University Press, 2019.
Alden, Andrea, et al., editors. Reinventing (with) Theory in Rhetoric and Writing Studies: Essays in Honor of Sharon Crowley. Utah State University Press, 2019.
Christie, Frances, and Karl Maton, editors. Disciplinarity: Functional Linguistic and Sociological Perspectives. 1st ed., Continuum International, 2011. eBook.
Corneanu, Sorana. Ordering Knowledge: Disciplinarity and the Shaping of European Modernity. Presses Universitaires de Strasbourg, 2023.