Crafting a Research Question
Crafting a research question is an essential skill for engineers who want to understand how things work. Perhaps the most basic research question, as Emeritus Professor Bob Douglaswould say, is “Why is it so?”. In this topic, we’re going to explore how to create a research question. Taking a research approach to your engineering will set you apart from technical engineers. A research approach requires you to look beyond the immediate problem, and understand it more completely.
Example applications
As ANU Engineering students, research will be a major component of your university degree. In ENGN2226, you’ll examine a problem in-depth in your research portfolio. Also, the best Online Classrooms will frame their investigation as a research problem.
Steps
Kirschner argues that good research questions:
- draw on background knowledge
- address a puzzle
- use ‘reporter’ questions (who, why, where, when, what)
- do not have a one-sentence answer or a single, factual answer
- do not contain a lot of proper nouns
- are within the scope of the project
- do not predict the future (these might be good questions for further work)
Key concepts
- an overview of what research is, and what a research question should do
- an example of how to craft a research question, including the difference between the theme, topic, focus and question.
- advice to the student engineer on how to craft a research question. Using the portfolio as a
context might be useful.
Core resources
- Kirschner, S, Crafting good research questions, Allegheny College
- Thompson Writing Program, What makes a good research question, Duke University
More information
ANU’s Academic Skills & Learning Centre offer some great services around developing\