Design your research question

There are different types of research questions

Descriptive

These aim to characterise a phenomenon and outline its features or elements.

For example: What health conditions or factors make it unsafe for someone to receive a COVID-19 vaccine such as AstraZeneca? 

This question is designed to identify situations where receiving the vaccine could be unsafe. 

Explanatory

These try to outline causes behind some phenomenon.

For example: Does taking AstraZeneca vaccine cause heart problems?

Exploratory

These are questions that elicit information where limited information exists.

For example: How do COVID-19 vaccines impact other aspects of human health? 

Comparative

These questions are used when comparing two or more groups of things.

For example: How does AstraZeneca compare in terms of effects to other COVID-19 vaccines such as Moderna and Pfizer? 

Predictive

These are used to elicit forecasting predictions.

For example: Based on current adoption how long will AstraZeneca maintain its current COVID-19 effectiveness? 

(Costello, 2023) 

The aim is to create a question that will simultaneously be broad enough to allow for sustained scholarship in the area, and yet not so wide that there is spill-over that looks at adjacent related areas. Spill-over can make the focus of your question unclear. Avoid this problem by creating an open question.

What is an open question

The question should also be open, not closed. A closed question is one that leads to a superficial yes or no response. The preference is to open opportunities for debate and reflection. For example, this is a closed question:  

• Is there left hemisphere disfunction in middle-aged autistic females?  

The more detailed question, while an improvement, is still a closed question:  

• Are there statistically significant rates of left hemisphere disfunction in middle-aged autistic females and does this correlate with evidence of savant syndrome?

Both questions above foster yes or no answers, however, the topic might require more subtlety. In some cases, there may be a statistically significant rate, but in other circumstances there may not. By asking a closed question, you are effectively stopping debate.  

Create an open question

To get an open question, try using question-starters such as:  

• How… ?  
• Why …?   
• Is… and ...?  
• To what extent….?  

For example:  

• To what extent do statistically significant rates of left hemisphere disfunction occur in middle-aged autistic females and does this correlate with evidence of savant syndrome?   

This opens the issue up to discussion and debate. How it is answered becomes a matter of degree. To take another example:  

• Should the constitution be changed so that the President of the US can serve more than two terms?    

That’s a closed question. A subtler question might be:  

• To what extent is there merit in amending the US constitution to admit of changes to presidential term limits?  

Which question is likely to lead to fruitful discussion and debate? Clearly, it is the open question.  

Examples of open questions

Here are some alternative question types and research question formulations you might like to consider.  

Research aims	Research question formulations
Describing and exploring	What are the characteristics of X? How has X changed over time? What are the main factors in X? How does X experience Y? How has X dealt with Y?
Explaining and testing	What is the relationship between X and Y? What is the role of X in Y? What is the impact of X on Y? How does X influence Y? What are the causes of X?
Evaluating and acting	What are the advantages and disadvantages of X? How effective is X? How can X be achieved? What are the most effective strategies to improve X? How can X be used in Y?

Table adapted from: Alternative question forms (McCombes, 2022)

Don’t rest with your first iteration of a question. It needs to be assessed by scholars in your field who know the area. This is where your colleagues come in. Shop your question around with them in departmental seminars to get their opinion. 

• Is the question clear?  
• Is it interesting?  
• Is it sufficiently focused?  
• Is it complex and subtle enough?  
• Is it researchable? (Can research be done on the topic?)  
• Is there likely to be sufficient, current literature in the area? (Insufficient literature might mean a “cold” topic; too much literature might mean the field is overdone.)  

You are now in the position to begin your deep dive into the literature and to start on your literature review.