Month: July 2017

It can take a lot of time to come up with a good research question, involving the conception, revising, and finalizing. While having a general theme of what your research will be about may not be too difficult, creating a research question that hones in on what you are truly trying to find out takes some work. In my option, a good research question should have these factors:

1. Clear focus and scope – A research question cannot be too broad as it can be difficult to make generalizations with your research project. For example, a study on students should be narrowed down to high school students, adult students, or visa students, etc. Proceeding with the study will be simpler once your subjects of interest are clearly defined.
2. Be feasible – This is something that seems obvious, but can be easily overlooked. We can all ask good questions, but a good research question needs to be something that is possible be examined with available resources and expertise.
3. Examines something new – A good research question would ideally lead to new research. New research does not necessarily have to involve new concepts, as a lot of research is built upon previous studies. A lot of research papers conclude with “further research is needed” which is an opening for more study.

Naturally there are many other qualities that a good research question has, which our classmates have posted or will post. Lastly, I think an important thing to remember is one does not have to be limited to one research question. If you are looking to examine multiple theories and ideas, it’s a good idea to have two or three research questions rather than trying to put it all in one question.

From looking at everyone’s Padlet responses in Activity 1 I think I can safely say that academic writing on everyone’s mind, for better or worse. I can say that I’m in the same boat since I was never brimming with confidence in my writing either. Admitting this is a bit embarrassing, since I actually work in research! I find I am more confident working on the quantitative side of research, but that is a topic for another time.

Moving on to resources, I see my classmates have recommended some great online resources. I see Purdue OWL coming up quite a bit and it is a favourite of mine as well. I’ll be the odd one out and recommend some print texts.

The first resource is our textbook from LRNT 521: Publication manual for the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). While it’s not the most exciting to read, beyond being an excellent APA resource, there are also sections on writing and style which are clear and helpful.

The second resource is a book I’ve used in the past called Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences (8th ed.) by Bruce L. Berg and Howard Lune (somehow I feel this text will come in handy later as well…). This is a great book for those who want to learn more about qualitative research, but also there is a chapter on writing research with a very fitting title “Sorting the Noodles from the Soup”. It covers everything from how not to plagerize to how to set up a research report.

Unfortunately the second book I recommended isn’t as easily accessible as a web resource, but it should be useful if you can get your hands on it.