4 Developing a Topic-Based Research Question
Let’s walk through an example of developing a research question, starting with a broad topic. Your teacher has probably already assigned you a broad topic. Part of the process of developing a research question is identifying which specific aspect of that topic you’re most interested in analyzing.
Example: Assignment
Conduct research in order to develop an analytical argument about an incident involving language or literacy that has been reported in the news.
Of all the incidents involving language and literacy, which one am I interested in researching in depth? I should try to be as specific as I can.
Example: Narrower topic
“Code-switching”: the practice of switching between languages or varieties of language in response to different contexts
There are many possible ways of approaching this topic, many possible questions I can ask about code-switching.
Examples: Questions about a topic
- How do people learn to code-switch?
- Why is code-switching rewarded in some situations, but punished in others?
- Who benefits from code-switching?
- What are the effects of code-switching on the people who do it?
I might be tempted to try to answer every aspect of my research question that I can think of. But attempting this often ends without finding a satisfying answer to any of them. Research is usually most rewarding when we’re able to examine a single question in depth. So after brainstorming multiple questions, I pick one to focus on.
Example: Pick one question to focus on
What are the effects of code-switching on the people who do it?
The question I picked is still vague, which is a problem because vagueness makes a question difficult to research. I should work to make the question more specific by asking who, what, where, and when.
- Who are the group of code-switchers that I want to focus on?
- What specific effects do I want to investigate? Social? Psychological? Artistic? Educational?
- When and where is this code-switching happening?
Example: Focus the question
How does code-switching affect the educational experience of students in New York City public high schools today?
At this point I have enough to work with to begin generating search terms. We’ll look at how strong research questions can be used to generate effective search terms in the next section. For now, let’s get brainstorming!
Exercise:
