RESEARCH QUESTIONS

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Research questions should be empirical, falsifiable, focused, and important. All of these criteria must me met before one has a question that can be answered by scientific research.

EMPIRICAL QUESTIONS

It must be possible to answer the question using empirical facts. These are things you can see, hear, touch or smell. The question must be about what is and not about what should be. The evidence that is used to provide the answer to the question must be factual evidence. It cannot be speculation, supposition, personal belief, “common sense,” or “something that everyone knows is true.”

Empirical evidence consistent with a particular answer to a research question provides support for that answer. If the evidence is consistent with more than one possible answer, then the evidence does not give a clear answer. It may offer grounds for rejecting some of the possible answers. It may narrow the possible answers or, in some cases, support a single answer.

FALSIFIABLE QUESTIONS

The answers given to the research question must be falsifiable. It must be possible to offer evidence answer to a question is false when that answer is not true. If a research question always leads to the same answer, regardless of the evidence produced, the answer is not falsifiable and the question is not valid.

This means a researcher must be willing to reject answers to a question even if they strongly believe that particular answer is correct. If the findings are inconsistent with a particular answer, then that answer must be rejected—no matter how much one wants that answer to be true.

The only exception to rejecting answers inconsistent with one’s data is if the researcher is willing to acknowledge having made a major mistake in their research. If one can point to a major mistake that would have produced a false response and accept responsibility for that mistake, then a given answer is not completely rejected. However, the credibility of the researcher reduced. They have to acknowledge having made a major mistake. This undermines the credibility of their future research. People will wonder if their future results are also the result of some mistake made by the researcher. The price for not rejecting answers inconsistent with the data is very high and is only done in extreme circumstances. Normally, if the data disagree, the answer must be rejected.

FOCUSED QUESTIONS

The question must be specific and clear, so the reader can tell what the question is asking about and what kind of information will be needed to answer the question. Very broad questions are not valid as scientific research questions because they are too broad to be answered using empirical research data. The more narrow the question, the easier it is to obtain information that will answer the question.

Questions can be too focused. Extremely narrow questions may be easy to answer, but they may also be unimportant. You can easily determine the height of a tree in a forest, but that question may not be worth knowing. The narrow question must also be important to answer, as noted below.

IMPORTANT QUESTIONS

A justification for answering the research question must be given. The reader must have a reason for wanting the question to be answered. If people cannot perceive why it’s important to answer the question, they won’t bother reading the study. It will be ignored.

The importance can be justified in many ways. You can argue that the problem is extensive (applies to many people). You can argue it is severe (has terrible consequences for those affected by it). It might touch on an important value. It may test a new theory. It may be emphasized as important by a public figure that people trust. You may even find a published story or a research publication in which someone says it’s important to answer the question. The grounds for regarding the answer to a question as important may vary; but some justification must be given.