{"id":22,"date":"2016-08-05T14:10:54","date_gmt":"2016-08-05T14:10:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/chapter\/purpose-of-research-questions\/"},"modified":"2018-08-02T07:19:21","modified_gmt":"2018-08-02T07:19:21","slug":"purpose-of-research-questions","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/chapter\/purpose-of-research-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"The Purpose of Research Questions"},"content":{"raw":"[caption id=\"attachment_21\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\"]<img src=\"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/navegarvela\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/86\/2016\/08\/1-rq.png\" alt=\"A conversation bubble with a large question mark inside\" width=\"500\" height=\"400\" class=\"size-full wp-image-21\"> Research questions are very important.[\/caption]Both professional researchers and successful student researchers develop research questions. That\u2019s because research questions are more than handy tools; they are essential to the research process.\n\nBy defining exactly what the researcher is trying to find out, these questions influence most of the rest of the steps taken to conduct the research. That\u2019s true even if the research is not for academic purposes but for other areas of our lives.\n\nFor instance, if you\u2019re seeking information about a health problem in order to learn whether you have anything to worry about, research questions will make it possible for you to more effectively decide whether to seek medical help\u2013and how quickly.\n\nOr, if you\u2019re researching a potential employer, having developed and used research questions will mean you\u2019re able to more confidently decide whether to apply for an internship or job there.\n\nThe confidence you\u2019ll have when making such decisions will come from knowing that the information they\u2019re based on was gathered by conscious thought rather than serendipity and whim.\n\n","rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_21\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-21\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/navegarvela\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/86\/2016\/08\/1-rq.png\" alt=\"A conversation bubble with a large question mark inside\" width=\"500\" height=\"400\" class=\"size-full wp-image-21\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/86\/2016\/08\/1-rq.png 500w, https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/86\/2016\/08\/1-rq-300x240.png 300w, https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/86\/2016\/08\/1-rq-65x52.png 65w, https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/86\/2016\/08\/1-rq-225x180.png 225w, https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/86\/2016\/08\/1-rq-350x280.png 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-21\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Research questions are very important.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Both professional researchers and successful student researchers develop research questions. That\u2019s because research questions are more than handy tools; they are essential to the research process.<\/p>\n<p>By defining exactly what the researcher is trying to find out, these questions influence most of the rest of the steps taken to conduct the research. That\u2019s true even if the research is not for academic purposes but for other areas of our lives.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, if you\u2019re seeking information about a health problem in order to learn whether you have anything to worry about, research questions will make it possible for you to more effectively decide whether to seek medical help\u2013and how quickly.<\/p>\n<p>Or, if you\u2019re researching a potential employer, having developed and used research questions will mean you\u2019re able to more confidently decide whether to apply for an internship or job there.<\/p>\n<p>The confidence you\u2019ll have when making such decisions will come from knowing that the information they\u2019re based on was gathered by conscious thought rather than serendipity and whim.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"menu_order":1,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-22","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":20,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/22","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/22\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23,"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/22\/revisions\/23"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/20"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/22\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=22"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=22"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=22"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}