The Un-Googleable Question
An ideal research question is one that cannot be easily answered by a single source or result; in other words, it is un-Googleable!
Every source that you use in answering your research question is one piece of what will become your answer to your research question.
Developing a Research Question
These prompts may help you when you are developing your research question:
- What do you already know about the topic?
- What questions do you have about this topic?
- Why would people want to know about this topic?
- What would different types of people say about this topic?
- What vocabulary would you need to use to discuss this?
- Are there any new terms or vocabulary you need to understand?
- What are the main ideas you could talk about?
- What information and sources are available about this?
- Do other people think that too?
- What is the connection between ...?
- What if ... (change something); is it still ...?
- What is interesting and/or unexpected?
- What do you notice about this data/information?
- Who might be interested in this?
- What else do you want to know?
- What is a better question you could ask?
Used with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
Adapted from:
Teaching for Effective Learning Bringing it to Life (BiTL) Tool, http://www.acleadersresource.sa.edu.au/index.php?page=bringing_it_to_life