After a short break, I am now into the next course of the Royal Roads MALAT program, in which we take a deep dive into critical reading and writing. This is unfamiliar territory to me; it is awkward and messy but I am learning a lot.
The foundation of critical reading and writing is a good research question. This sets the tone and direction for everything that follows, so solidly establishing this starting point is important. So, what makes a good research question? I think it is the same things that make a good conversation:
- Clarity and focus
- Room for debate
I will briefly expand on these.
Clarity and Focus
“What are we talking about?”
Author Tyler Hellard (2016) wrote a fun article about asking this simple question to refocus a conversation that is experiencing drift. The idea also applies well to critical reading and writing. A clear and focused research question should help maintain alignment to the goal of your work and keep you on track. Dahlberg & McCaig (2010) state that a good research question explains what your research will reveal. If we remember that, and keep our work anchored to it, our reader will never need to wonder, “What are they talking about?”
Room for Debate
A good reseach question is thought provoking. It should not be too easy to answer, nor should it be too difficult to answer. Landing in the middle, adjacent to different possibilities is a good target. A good research question should be not only clear and focused, but open-ended enough to allow for exploration and discussion from multiple perspectives (Booth et al., 2008). This positions our critical reading and writing for healthy debate: exploring and considering multiple perspectives while helping to maintain impartiality.
Conclusion
Thinking about what makes a good research question also makes me think about how this applies to other areas of my life: conversations, debates, arguments, even songwriting. I am reminded of how easy it is to veer off onto a tangent in a conversation—only to eventually ask, “What was I saying?” Maintaining clarify and focus while keeping an open mind is an active process that helps us in a variety contexts.
My perspective may change as I continue through the program. Even now, I wonder about examining how exploration or curiosity fit into the title question. Come to think of it, I seem to be exploring and considering multiple perspectives even as I wrap this up, so maybe this is exactly how things typicallly unfold.
References
Booth, W. C., Colomb, G. G., & Williams, J. M. (2008). The Craft of Research (3rd ed.). University of Chicago Press.
Dahlberg, L., & McCaig, C. (2010). Practical Research and Evaluation: A Start-to-Finish Guide for Practitioners. SAGE Publications.
Hellard, T. (2016, November 9). What the fuck are you talking about? Louder Than Ten: Coax. https://louderthanten.com/coax/what-the-fuck-are-you-talking-about
Excellent article, Stephen. Thanks for sharing that article by Hellard. It’s funny because I am often the “idiot” in the meeting, asking direct questions about what we are discussing and if we all understand what’s expected. I’ve just seen too many projects go sideways because there wasn’t a clear understanding of the path and purpose.
If you haven’t read it, Helen Beetham’s recent post about AI and its impact on student writing as “passing” has some interesting parallels with Hellard’s perspective. From her perspective, AI-generated “writing” will likely worsen the jargon-filled nonsense because LLMs are mathematically predictive models of language lacking actual understanding of concepts and nuance. The concern is that it’s only going to drive students to write like predictive AI models and not their genuine selves. It’s a great read: https://helenbeetham.substack.com/p/writing-as-passing
Thanks, Chris. Thank you for sharing that article, too. It is a great read—timely and relevant. In my teaching role, I have been seeing less value in assessing text-based coding assignments. I would like to explore something that integrates a conversational element of assessment.
Stephen, very concise , accurate and easy to read. Thank you. I believe I understand , What Your F#€&ing Talking About! 😉🤣 Cheers 🍻
Phew! 🍻⚾️