Good Research Question

An Effective Checklist to Identify a Good Research Question from Mediocre Ones

Are you working on your thesis or dissertation research question and want to evaluate how you’ve done so far? Is your Research question good enough to be studied? Before we tell you how to make sure that your question is in league with the best, let’s first see what is a good questionnaire?

In simple words, a good research question is a question worth asking. It is a question that requires an answer that is not a simple ‘yes’ or a ‘no’. To answer this question, relevant data needs to be properly gathered, an investigation needs to be done and findings need to be analyzed.

To formulate a good research question, don’t think of your study topic as a theme that you have to work on, think of it as a question instead. The good thought and the data make your research worthy. That a reader could read thoroughly with of interest and ease.

For example, instead of researching on a broad theme like ‘the employee performance motivator in organizations’, compose your research around this simple question. What is the relationship between the performance of the employees in an organization and the rewards that they are provided?

That will give a more focused approach to your study and govern the overall structure of the hypothesis and methodology of the report.

Checklist for a Good Questionnaire:

Answer the following questions to see if your study questions lie in the category of ‘good’:

1. Is the theme of your research question already something that the professional community interested in?
2. Will your research question show way to further studies in your field?
3. Does your research question pose a direct question that ends with a question mark? (it is better if it starts with a ‘what’ or ‘how’ to make the question open-ended)
4. Is the research question relevant to the topic of study?
5. Will the research question keep you interested throughout the period of the study?
6. Make sure is the research question formulated in a language that is simple, concise and clearly comprehensible?
7. Is the research question of your study relevant to the readers?
8. Is the question answerable?
9. Does the research question consist of at least two variables that need to be investigated?
10. Does it ultimately generate an argumentative study?
11. Is the research question narrow enough to be researched thoroughly?
12. Is the scope of your research question appropriate according to the research timeline? (For example, would you be able to gather information of 20 years in six months?)
13. Make sure you will give proper reference to all the statistical data that your research questions are based on?

So, before you start composing the hypothesis and methodology of your study, answer this checklist to make sure that your research question is actually worth the study and the effort that goes along with it.