What are examples of research questions? This article lists 8 illustrative examples of research questions.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Well-written research questions determine how the entire research process will proceed.
To effectively write the statement of your thesis’s problem, you will need to remember certain principles that will guide you in framing those critical questions.
This article features some examples of research questions.
There are already many literature pieces written on how to write the research questions required to investigate a phenomenon. But how are the research questions framed in actual situations? How do you write the research questions?
The intention of the research activity should guide all research activities. Once this is clearly defined, the research has three primary outcomes.
The next sections discuss these three principles of framing research questions in more detail.
Intention of Writing Research Questions
You will need to remember specific rules and principles on how to go about writing the research questions. Before you write the research questions, discern what you intend to arrive at in your research.
What are your aims, and what are your expected research outcomes? Do you intend to describe something, determine differences, or explain the causes of a phenomenon?
Research has at least three essential research outcomes. These are described below, along with examples of research questions for each outcome.
Three Primary Research Outcomes
In quantitative research, there are at least three basic research outcomes that will arise in writing the research questions. These are
- come up with a description,
- determine differences between variables, and
- find out correlations between variables.
Research Outcome Number 1. Come up with a description.
The outcome of your research question may be as a description. The description contextualizes the situation, explains something about the subjects or respondents of the study. It also provides the reader with an overview of your research.
For instance, the school administrator might want to study a group of teachers in a school to help improve the school’s performance in the licensure examinations. The school has been lagging in their ranking and there is a need to identify training needs to make the teachers more effective.
Specifically, the administrator would like to find out the composition of teachers in that school, find out how much time they spend in preparing their lessons, and what teaching styles they use in managing the teaching-learning process.
Below are examples of research questions for Research Outcome Number 1 on research about this hypothetical study.
3 Examples of Research Questions That Entail Description
- What is the demographic profile of the teachers in terms of age, gender, educational attainment, civil status, and number of training attended?
- How much time do teachers devote to preparing their lessons?
- What teaching styles are used by teachers in managing their students?
The expected outcomes of the example research questions above will be a description of the teachers’ demographic profile, a range of time devoted to preparing their lessons, and a description of the teachers’ teaching styles.
These research outcomes show tables and graphs with accompanying highlights of the findings. Highlights are those interesting trends or dramatic results that need attention, such as very few training provided to teachers.
Armed with information derived from such research, the administrator can then undertake measures to enhance the teachers’ performance. A hit-and-miss approach is avoided. Thus, the intervention becomes more effective than issuing memos to correct the situation without systematic study.
Research Outcome Number 2. Determine differences between variables.
To write research questions that integrate the variables of the study, you should be able to define what is a variable. If this term is already quite familiar to you, and you are confident in your understanding, you may read the rest of this post.
Check this out: What are examples of variables in research?
For example, you might want to find out the differences between groups in a selected variable in your study. Say you would like to know if there is a significant difference in long quiz scores (the variable you are interested in) between students who study at night and students who study early in the morning.
You may frame your research questions thus:
2 Examples of Research Questions to Determine Difference
Non-directional
- Is there a significant difference in long quiz score between students who study early in the morning and students who study at night?
Directional
- Are the quiz scores of students who study early in the morning higher than those who study at night?
The first example research question intends to determine if a difference exists in long quiz scores between students who study at night and those who study early in the morning, hence are non-directional. The aim is just to find out if there is a significant difference. A two-tailed t-test will show if a difference exists.
The second research question aims to determine if students who study in the morning have better quiz scores than what the literature review suggests. Thus, the latter is directional.
Research Outcome Number 3. Find out correlations or relationships between variables.
The outcome of research questions in this category will be to explain correlations or causality. Below are examples of research questions that aim to determine correlations or relationships between variables using a combination of the variables mentioned in research outcome numbers 1 and 2.
3 Examples of Research Questions That Imply Correlation Analysis
- Is there a significant relationship between teaching style and the long quiz score of students?
- Is there a significant association between the student’s long quiz score and the teacher’s age, gender, and training attended?
- Is there a relationship between the long quiz score and the number of hours devoted by students in studying their lessons?
Note that in all the preceding examples of research questions, the conceptual framework integrates the study variables. Therefore, research questions must always incorporate the variables in them so that the researcher can describe, find differences, or correlate them with each other.
Be more familiar with the conceptual framework: Conceptual Framework: A Step-by-Step Guide on How to Make One
If you find this helpful, take the time to share this with your peers to discover new and exciting things along with their fields of interest.
© 2012 October 22 P. A. Regoniel; Updated 01/11/24
good one, this has been so helpful ,i would like to know what research topic can be for ‘effectiveness of erythropoietin in dialysis patients with ckd’
Thanks for all that u are doing….but I was asked the following questions…but I don’t have any topic at heart…..pls if u can help me with a research question….I believe I can do the rest….or better still tell me how to go about it…I need a research question under education. Thanks.
*Questions*
1) Generate a researchable research topic.
2) indicate the independent and dependable variables.
3) State 2 research questions and 2 research hypothesis to the study.
4) Indicate the population of the study.
5) Indicate the sample of the the study.
Dear Delicate, here is a guide on how to find a good topic: https://simplyeducate.me/wordpress_Y//2015/06/20/good-research-topic/
I selected the Sustainable Development Goal 1 about Poverty.
The research project is about how students conceptualize sustainable livelihoods on Poverty. Help me to write a good research topic from that Goal 1 and what are some of the research questions and interview questions suitable for it please.
Dear Fafagu, poverty is quite a big issue to deal with. Narrow it down into something that you can measure. Related to livelihood, you may perhaps explore the difference between the livelihood opportunities in urban and rural places. Which of these places offers greater opportunities to reduce poverty?
Good job 🙂 I want to know that what will be research questions on the topic, “the impact of Modular learning to the students on Covid 19 pandemic?
Can u give me a research title about the marketing strategy. Thank u 🙂
Amazing presentation. Thank you following from Kenya
Thank you Kamene.
Can you please help me in rephrasing a research question for mid-level management research
What is the reason for very less middle level women managers when compared to the low-level women managers?
Dear Gayathri, what you would like to do is to compare the mid and the low-level women managers. You may then ask, “Is there a difference between mid- and low-level women managers in terms of … (whatever variable you want to examine the difference). There should be a measure for comparison.
Thanks for the work done.
At least I have tried to understand the variable though still some how lacking.
I need a help on how can I formulate a topic in Education field talk of Assessment of learner’s determining there knowledge.
Or Examination in determining the best learner.
Thanks once again.
Am Raban from Uganda
I am Valentine by name. Might not be able to locate this site. I need a research proposal on the topic… ” A study on the effects of the hazards of methyl methacrylate (monomer) on dental technologists in the university college hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria”…
I know i will have to pay cos of the effort.. email me on vnwaozor@gmail.com. Thanks.
Hi. I want to formulate a research question on opioid abuse and disorder of high school adolescents in a particular region. How do I go about it qualitatively?
Sir/Madam,
I need assistance in formulating a research question on the use of a sash for the school of applied arts and technology
I need some questions on a research paper I’m writing on Minority Women in University Administration.
Hi this page is wonderful. I need to write a research practice assignment and I’m struggling to make a research question. It needs to be business related in South Africa
Can you please give me a title research about lack of sleep in relation educational performance of students? can I also have some references regarding this and RRL?
Hi, please help me come up with a research topic and questions. I strongly feel that the secondary school curriculum in my country is overloaded, since teachers are sometimes forced to work on weekends and even school holidays to cover the syllabus. student centered methods are ignored in the interest of covering the syllabus on time. please help.
Hi, my research title is about the Effect of Social Media to Academic Performance of Learners. What are good research questions for it?thank you..
You just said it Elaine. You may ask: “Is there a relationship between the use of Facebook and academic performance?”
Hello there?
i am doing a research on CLOUD COMPUTING IN OPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNING INSTITUTION AND THE ACHIEVEMENT OF NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA . Just wondering what research questions will be good.
Thanks
Hi. I am thinking of writing my research paper on teaching English. my research question is English Immersion vs. Bilingual Approach. I am thinking to choose Empirical Research Method (Qualitative Research). Need a source for ideas and the already existing research paper on my chosen topic. Could anyone support me with the info. Thanx
Dear Abbas, my suggestion is: Is there a difference between the use of social media and the conventional pedagogical approach?
Hi.
Its an excellent job you are doing. I want to know that what will be research questions on the topic “Role of social media in teaching learning process”. Response will be highly appreciated.