Writing research questions
Much is made in this book of the importance of defining clear research questions at the beginning of the research process. The importance of this cannot be overemphasised. One of the key criteria of your research success will be whether you have a set of clear conclu- sions drawn from the data you have collected. The extent to which you can do that will be determined largely by the clarity with which you have posed your initial research questions (Box 2.7).
Defining research questions, rather like generating research ideas (Section 2.3), is not a straightforward matter. It is important that the question is sufficiently involved to gen- erate the sort of project that is consistent with the standards expected of you (Box 2.2). A question that prompts a descriptive answer, for example ‘What is the proportion of grad- uates entering the civil service who attended the old, established UK universities?’, is far easier to answer than: ‘Why are graduates from old, established UK universities more likely to enter the civil service than graduates from other universities?’ More will be said about the importance of theory in defining the research question later in this section. However, beware of research questions that are too easy.
It is perhaps more likely that you fall into the trap of asking research questions that are too difficult. The question cited above, ‘Why are graduates from old, established UK universities more likely to enter the civil service than graduates from other universities?’ is a case in point. It would probably be very difficult to gain sufficient access to the inner portals of the civil service to get a good grasp of the subtle ‘unofficial’ processes that go on at staff selection which may favour one type of candidate over another. Over-reaching yourself in the definition of research questions is a danger.
Clough and Nutbrown (2002) use what they call the ‘Goldilocks test’ to decide if research questions are either ‘too big’, ‘too small’, ‘too hot’ or ‘just right’. Those that are too big probably need significant research funding because they demand too many resources. Questions that are too small are likely to be of insufficient substance, while those that are too ‘hot’ may be so because of sensitivities that may be aroused as a result of doing the research. This may be because of the timing of the research or the many other reasons that may upset key people who have a role to play, either directly or indi- rectly, in the research context. Research questions that are ‘just right’, note Clough and Nutbrown (2002:34), are those that are ‘just right for investigation at this time, by this researcher in this setting’.