{"id":42,"date":"2016-06-14T16:06:19","date_gmt":"2016-06-14T16:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/chapter\/influence-of-research-question\/"},"modified":"2018-08-02T07:19:28","modified_gmt":"2018-08-02T07:19:28","slug":"influence-of-research-question","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/chapter\/influence-of-research-question\/","title":{"rendered":"Influence of a Research Question"},"content":{"raw":"Whether you\u2019re developing research questions for your personal life, your work for an employer, or for academic purposes, the process always forces you to figure out exactly:\n\n<ul><li>What you\u2019re interested in finding out.<\/li><li>What it\u2019s feasible for you to find out (given your time, money, and access to information sources).<\/li><li>How you can find it out, including what research methods will be necessary and what information sources will be relevant.<\/li><li>What kind of claims you\u2019ll be able to make or conclusions you\u2019ll be able to draw about what you found out.<\/li><\/ul>For academic purposes, you may have to develop research questions to carry out both large and small assignments. A smaller assignment may be to do research for a class discussion or to, say, write a blog post for a class; larger assignments may have you conduct research and then report it in a lab report, poster, term paper, or article.\n\nFor large projects, the research question (or questions) you develop will define or at least heavily influence:\n\n<ul><li>Your <strong>topic<\/strong>, in that research questions effectively narrow the topic you\u2019ve first chosen or been assigned by your instructor.<\/li><li>What, if any, <strong>hypotheses<\/strong> you test.<\/li><li>Which <strong>information sources<\/strong> are relevant to your project.<\/li><li>Which <strong>research methods<\/strong> are appropriate.<\/li><li>What claims you can make or <strong>conclusions<\/strong> you can come to as a result of your research, including what <strong>thesis statement<\/strong> you should write for a term paper or what <strong>results section<\/strong> you should write about the data you collected in your own science or social science study.<\/li><\/ul>[caption id=\"attachment_41\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"1392\"]<img src=\"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/navegarvela\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/86\/2016\/06\/rq-influence.png\" alt=\"A concept map showing a research question as the central element, off of which branch the other aspects of a research process.\" width=\"1392\" height=\"906\" class=\"size-full wp-image-41\"> Your research question drives your hypothesis, research methods, <br class=\"mobi\">sources, and your claims or conclusions.[\/caption]<hr><h3>Influence on Thesis<\/h3>Within an essay, poster, or term paper, the thesis is the researcher\u2019s answer to the research question(s). So as you develop research questions, you are effectively specifying what any thesis in your project will be about. While perhaps many research questions could have come from your original topic, your question states exactly which one(s) <em>your<\/em> thesis will be answering.\n\nFor example, a topic that starts out as \u201cdesert symbiosis\u201d could eventually lead to a research question that is \u201chow does the diversity of bacteria in the gut of the Sonoran Desert termite contribute to the termite's survival?\u201d In turn, the researcher\u2019s thesis will answer that particular research question instead of the numerous other questions that could have come from the desert symbiosis topic.\n\nDeveloping research questions is all part of a process that leads to greater and greater specificity for your project.\n\n<div class=\"example\"><h4><strong>Tip:<\/strong> Don\u2019t Make These Mistakes<\/h4>Sometimes students inexperienced at working with research questions confuse them with the search statements they will type into the search box of a search engine or database when looking for sources for their project. Or, they confuse research questions with the thesis statement they will write when they report their research. The next activity will help you sort things out.\n\n<\/div><div class=\"activity\"><h4><strong>Activity:<\/strong> From Topic to Thesis Statement<\/h4><a href=\"http:\/\/guides.osu.edu\/ld.php?content_id=34300326\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Open activity in a web browser.<\/a>\n\n<\/div><hr><h3>Influence on Hypothesis<\/h3>If you\u2019re doing a study that predicts how variables are related, you'll have to write at least one hypothesis. The research questions you write will contain the variables that will later appear in your hypothesis(es).\n\n<div class=\"activity\"><h4><strong>Activity:<\/strong> Guess the Question<\/h4>Despite how strong their influence is on the rest of the researcher\u2019s tasks, research questions don't always appear in a report of the research. Nonetheless, you can usually figure out what the researcher's research questions were by reading the title and some of the report. Take a look at this article <a href=\"http:\/\/proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu\/login?url=http:\/\/search.ebscohost.com\/login.aspx?direct=true&amp;db=iih&amp;AN=27377244&amp;site=ehost-live\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cGetting to the Center of a Tootsie Roll Pop\u00ae\u201d<\/a> [OSU login required] and determine what the students' research question was.\n\n<\/div><hr><h3>Influence on Resources<\/h3>You can't tell whether an information source is relevant to your research until you know exactly what you're trying to find out. Since it's the research questions that define that, it's they that divide all information sources into two groups: those that are relevant to your research and those that are not\u2014all based on whether each source can help you find out what you want to find out and\/or report the answer.\n\n<hr><h3>Influence on Research Methods<\/h3>Your research question(s) will help you figure out what research methods you should use because the questions reflect what your research is intended to do. For instance, if your research question relates to describing a group, survey methods may work well. But they can\u2019t answer cause-and-effect questions.\n\n<hr><h3>Influence on Claims or Conclusions<\/h3>The research questions you write will reflect whether your research is intended to describe a group or situation, to explain or predict outcomes, or to demonstrate a cause-and-effect relationship(s) among variables. It's those intentions and how well you carry out the study, including whether you used methods appropriate to the intentions, that will determine what claims or conclusions you can make as a result of your research.\n\n<div class=\"activity\"><h4><strong>Activity:<\/strong> Quick Check<\/h4><a href=\"http:\/\/guides.osu.edu\/ld.php?content_id=41924919\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Open activity in a web browser.<\/a>\n\n<\/div><hr><div class=\"example\"><h3><strong>Answer to Activity:<\/strong>&nbsp;Guess the Question<\/h3>The answer to the \u201cGuess the Question\u201d Activity above is:\n\nWhat was the students' research question? How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop?\n\n<\/div>","rendered":"<p>Whether you\u2019re developing research questions for your personal life, your work for an employer, or for academic purposes, the process always forces you to figure out exactly:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What you\u2019re interested in finding out.<\/li>\n<li>What it\u2019s feasible for you to find out (given your time, money, and access to information sources).<\/li>\n<li>How you can find it out, including what research methods will be necessary and what information sources will be relevant.<\/li>\n<li>What kind of claims you\u2019ll be able to make or conclusions you\u2019ll be able to draw about what you found out.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For academic purposes, you may have to develop research questions to carry out both large and small assignments. A smaller assignment may be to do research for a class discussion or to, say, write a blog post for a class; larger assignments may have you conduct research and then report it in a lab report, poster, term paper, or article.<\/p>\n<p>For large projects, the research question (or questions) you develop will define or at least heavily influence:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Your <strong>topic<\/strong>, in that research questions effectively narrow the topic you\u2019ve first chosen or been assigned by your instructor.<\/li>\n<li>What, if any, <strong>hypotheses<\/strong> you test.<\/li>\n<li>Which <strong>information sources<\/strong> are relevant to your project.<\/li>\n<li>Which <strong>research methods<\/strong> are appropriate.<\/li>\n<li>What claims you can make or <strong>conclusions<\/strong> you can come to as a result of your research, including what <strong>thesis statement<\/strong> you should write for a term paper or what <strong>results section<\/strong> you should write about the data you collected in your own science or social science study.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_41\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-41\" style=\"width: 1392px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/navegarvela\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/86\/2016\/06\/rq-influence.png\" alt=\"A concept map showing a research question as the central element, off of which branch the other aspects of a research process.\" width=\"1392\" height=\"906\" class=\"size-full wp-image-41\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/86\/2016\/06\/rq-influence.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/86\/2016\/06\/rq-influence-300x195.png 300w, https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/86\/2016\/06\/rq-influence-768x500.png 768w, https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/86\/2016\/06\/rq-influence-65x42.png 65w, https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/86\/2016\/06\/rq-influence-225x146.png 225w, https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/86\/2016\/06\/rq-influence-350x228.png 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1392px) 100vw, 1392px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-41\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Your research question drives your hypothesis, research methods, <br class=\"mobi\" \/>sources, and your claims or conclusions.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Influence on Thesis<\/h3>\n<p>Within an essay, poster, or term paper, the thesis is the researcher\u2019s answer to the research question(s). So as you develop research questions, you are effectively specifying what any thesis in your project will be about. While perhaps many research questions could have come from your original topic, your question states exactly which one(s) <em>your<\/em> thesis will be answering.<\/p>\n<p>For example, a topic that starts out as \u201cdesert symbiosis\u201d could eventually lead to a research question that is \u201chow does the diversity of bacteria in the gut of the Sonoran Desert termite contribute to the termite&#8217;s survival?\u201d In turn, the researcher\u2019s thesis will answer that particular research question instead of the numerous other questions that could have come from the desert symbiosis topic.<\/p>\n<p>Developing research questions is all part of a process that leads to greater and greater specificity for your project.<\/p>\n<div class=\"example\">\n<h4><strong>Tip:<\/strong> Don\u2019t Make These Mistakes<\/h4>\n<p>Sometimes students inexperienced at working with research questions confuse them with the search statements they will type into the search box of a search engine or database when looking for sources for their project. Or, they confuse research questions with the thesis statement they will write when they report their research. The next activity will help you sort things out.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"activity\">\n<h4><strong>Activity:<\/strong> From Topic to Thesis Statement<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/guides.osu.edu\/ld.php?content_id=34300326\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Open activity in a web browser.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Influence on Hypothesis<\/h3>\n<p>If you\u2019re doing a study that predicts how variables are related, you&#8217;ll have to write at least one hypothesis. The research questions you write will contain the variables that will later appear in your hypothesis(es).<\/p>\n<div class=\"activity\">\n<h4><strong>Activity:<\/strong> Guess the Question<\/h4>\n<p>Despite how strong their influence is on the rest of the researcher\u2019s tasks, research questions don&#8217;t always appear in a report of the research. Nonetheless, you can usually figure out what the researcher&#8217;s research questions were by reading the title and some of the report. Take a look at this article <a href=\"http:\/\/proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu\/login?url=http:\/\/search.ebscohost.com\/login.aspx?direct=true&amp;db=iih&amp;AN=27377244&amp;site=ehost-live\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cGetting to the Center of a Tootsie Roll Pop\u00ae\u201d<\/a> [OSU login required] and determine what the students&#8217; research question was.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Influence on Resources<\/h3>\n<p>You can&#8217;t tell whether an information source is relevant to your research until you know exactly what you&#8217;re trying to find out. Since it&#8217;s the research questions that define that, it&#8217;s they that divide all information sources into two groups: those that are relevant to your research and those that are not\u2014all based on whether each source can help you find out what you want to find out and\/or report the answer.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Influence on Research Methods<\/h3>\n<p>Your research question(s) will help you figure out what research methods you should use because the questions reflect what your research is intended to do. For instance, if your research question relates to describing a group, survey methods may work well. But they can\u2019t answer cause-and-effect questions.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Influence on Claims or Conclusions<\/h3>\n<p>The research questions you write will reflect whether your research is intended to describe a group or situation, to explain or predict outcomes, or to demonstrate a cause-and-effect relationship(s) among variables. It&#8217;s those intentions and how well you carry out the study, including whether you used methods appropriate to the intentions, that will determine what claims or conclusions you can make as a result of your research.<\/p>\n<div class=\"activity\">\n<h4><strong>Activity:<\/strong> Quick Check<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/guides.osu.edu\/ld.php?content_id=41924919\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Open activity in a web browser.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<div class=\"example\">\n<h3><strong>Answer to Activity:<\/strong>&nbsp;Guess the Question<\/h3>\n<p>The answer to the \u201cGuess the Question\u201d Activity above is:<\/p>\n<p>What was the students&#8217; research question? How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop?<\/p>\n<\/div>\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-42","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":20,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/42","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\/42\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43,"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/42\/revisions\/43"}],"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\/42\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=42"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=42"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publiconsulting.com\/wordpress\/choosingsources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=42"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}