Research Success for High School Students

DEVELOP YOUR RESEARCH QUESTION

A research question is a clear, short, open-ended question that will guide your research project, paper, or literature review. In most high school composition classes, students answer questions posed to them by someone else. When doing independent research, however, you decide on what questions to ask and answer. Because you will be the one asking and answering, your research question should be developed with thoughtful deliberation. Carefully considering your research question will result in more productive, less frustrating research.

Most effective research questions are complicated: they are not “yes-or-no” questions. Instead, a successful research question is capable of supporting multiple discussions, possibilities, and perspectives. A successful research question should also:

• Hold significance for you
• Warrant attention from others
• Recognize contexts (historical, social, scientific, personal, etc.)
• Have identifiable consequences and effects
• Lead to possible outcomes or solutions

Keep in mind that your research question may change as you engage in research and find sources, which is a normal part of the research process.

To help you write a good research question, you can gather information by watching videos, reading articles, and exploring more information around your chosen topic. Take notes on what you find most interesting and engaging about your topic. Ask yourself the 5 W's: who, what, where, when, and why. Use the answers to these questions to formulate an open-ended research question.

Who? What? When? Where? Why?

Once you have a basic understanding of your topic and the issues surrounding it, you can narrow your research question by asking the following questions:

• Who? - Are you interested in a specific group of people? Can you narrow your focus to a group or demographic, such as age, gender, ethnicity, location, or socioeconomic status?
• What? - What are the current issues around this topic? Is there anything in the news about it?
• When? - Is your topic current or historical? Did it happen during a specific time period? Are there any important events surrounding your topic? 
• Where? - Can your topic focus on a specific location? Where, geographically, might this topic be significant?
• Why? - Why is this topic important? Why should others be interested?

It's okay to modify your research question over time as you find more information about your topic, or take out ideas that don't work. If you need a guided exercise to help you write and develop a research question, check out this webpage from ASU's New College Writing Program.

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