{"id":167,"date":"2024-06-27T20:26:05","date_gmt":"2024-06-28T00:26:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru293\/?p=167"},"modified":"2024-09-01T15:29:56","modified_gmt":"2024-09-01T19:29:56","slug":"what-makes-a-good-research-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru293\/what-makes-a-good-research-question\/","title":{"rendered":"What makes a good research question?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Image from National Archives (ID 956091)

In reviewing the requirements for LRNT522 Unit 1 Activity 3, I chose an alternate definition of good<\/em> to answer the question, \u201cWhat makes a good<\/em> research question?\u201d. Instead of equating good<\/em> with effective<\/em> or valid<\/em>, I have chosen to answer the question by framing good<\/em> through a moral lens, defined as humane<\/em> or ethical<\/em>, based on other readings and information I have encountered in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what makes a good <\/em>research question?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To consider what makes a good<\/em> research question, it\u2019s important to recognize where bad<\/em> research questions have led to intended or unintended harm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An oft-cited example of unethical research was the Tuskegee study in 1932 in Macon Alabama, where 600 African American men were recruited to participate in a research study undertaken by the US Public Health Service. (McVean, 2019). The goal of the study was to observe the progression of untreated syphilis in a black community by infecting men who were unaware and lying to them about receiving treatment (McVean, 2019). It was a truly horrific experiment based on racist philosophies and a diabolical research question that ended with the death of 128 patients, 40 wives infected, and 19 children acquiring congenital syphilis over the 37 years of the experiment (McVean, 2019).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canada has its own history of bad<\/em> research questions leading to horrific outcomes. Hyett, Marjerrison and Gabel\u2019s 2018 synopsis in the Canadian Medical Association Journal <\/em>(CMAJ) describes the dreadful malnutrition experiments performed on Indigenous children in residential schools and in their communities between 1942 and 1952. In addition to an increased risk of death from malnutrition and disease conditions in residential schools, there were lasting effects on those children, including possible epigenetic changes that can be passed on to future generations (Mosby & Galloway, 2017). Also noted in Hyett, Marjerrison, and Gabel\u2019s article is the bacille Calmette\u2013Gu\u00e9rin (BCG) vaccination experiment, where the Department of Indian Affairs saw Indigenous peoples as suitable test subjects for immunization with a vaccine of questionable efficacy and safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In all these examples, the subjects of bad <\/em>research questions were manipulated, lied to, and even died because researchers pursued experimentation without consideration for the well-being of the participants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thankfully, research ethics guidance has developed in recent decades, particularly in Canada,  including the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS 2) that introduced Chapter 9: Research Involving First Nations, Inuit and M\u00e9tis peoples of Canada in 2018. In addition, research education programs have been developed by First Nations on the principles of ownership, control, access, and possession (OCAP) to assert First Nations people’s right to self-determination in research (First Nations Information Governance Centre, n.d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, a good<\/em> research question considers experimental subjects’ well-being and right to self-determination as core principles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans \u2013 TCPS 2 (2022)<\/em>. https:\/\/ethics.gc.ca\/eng\/policy-politique_tcps2-eptc2_2022.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First Nations Information Governance Centre (n.d.). The First Nations principles of OCAP. <\/em>FNIGC. https:\/\/fnigc.ca\/ocap-training\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hyett, S. Marjerrison, S, & Gabel, C. (2018, May) Improving health research among Indigenous Peoples in Canada. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 190<\/em>(20), E616-E621. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1503\/cmaj.171538<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

McVean, A. (2019, January 25). 40 years of human experimentation in America: The Tuskegee study<\/em>. McGill University Office for Science and Society. https:\/\/www.mcgill.ca\/oss\/article\/history\/40-years-human-experimentation-america-tuskegee-study<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mosby, I. & Galloway, T. (2017, January 9). \u2018The abiding condition was hunger\u2019: assessing the long-term biological and health effects of malnutrition and hunger in Canada\u2019s residential schools. British Journal of Canadian Studies 30<\/em>(2). https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3828\/bjcs.2017.9<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Image from National Archives (ID 956091) In reviewing the requirements for LRNT522 Unit 1 Activity 3, I chose an alternate definition of good to answer the question, \u201cWhat makes a good research question?\u201d. Instead of equating good with effective or valid, I have chosen to answer the question by framing…<\/p>\n

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