{"id":37,"date":"2015-01-28T15:10:32","date_gmt":"2015-01-28T23:10:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/history.wsu.edu\/rci\/?page_id=37"},"modified":"2025-10-02T10:51:45","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T17:51:45","slug":"research-questions","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/history.wsu.edu\/rci\/writing-and-citation-guides\/research-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"Research Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"wsu-article-header \">\r\n\t<h1 class=\"wsu-article-header__title\">\r\n\t\tWriting a Research Question\t<\/h1>\r\n\t\t<\/header>\r\n\n\n<div class=\"wsu-row wsu-row--single\" >\r\n    \n<div class=\"wsu-column\"  style=\"\">\r\n\t\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What is a research question?&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A research question is a&nbsp;<strong>clear, focused, concise, and arguable<\/strong>&nbsp;question on which you center your research and writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Six tips on how to prepare research questions:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ol>\n<li>Make sure it is a question that&nbsp;<strong>you are genuinely interested in<\/strong>. You will be working on this question all semester; your work will be far more enjoyable and meaningful if you are interested in learning the answer.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Make sure that the question centers on a&nbsp;<strong>debatable<\/strong>&nbsp;point. It should not be simply factual. If the question can be answered with a simple search engine search, is it not a research question. Too Factual: \u201cWho invented the light bulb?\u201d Debatable: \u201cHow has the disparity in household energy use between the United States and sub-Saharan Africa over the past hundred years affected health in these two regions?\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Make sure that your question is&nbsp;<strong>focused<\/strong>&nbsp;enough that you will be able to be confident in your conclusions by the end of the semester. Too broad: \u201cWhat caused the global prominence of the U.S. in the twentieth century?\u201d More narrow: \u201cWere military or economic factors of greater importance to U.S. global dominance starting after World War II?\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Make sure that your question is&nbsp;<strong>significant<\/strong>, not just to yourself, but to others. Unimportant: \u201cWhy is Mohammed such a common Arabic name?\u201d Significant: \u201cHow has the relationship between pan-Arabism and pan-Islamism changed since 1800?\u201d If you are not sure whether your question has historical significance, keep reading, or ask your instructor.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Make sure your question is&nbsp;<strong>researchable<\/strong>. That is, are you likely to be able to find evidence that can actually answer this question? Too vague: \u201cWhy is gender discrimination such a common phenomenon in the world?\u201d Researchable: \u201cHow did women\u2019s experiences of discrimination during the late nineteenth century affect when women learned the right to vote in the U.S. (1920), South Africa (1930), and Japan (1945)?\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Imagine a possible answer<\/strong>. Later this semester, your thesis statement will be your well-informed and thought-out answer to a research question. Don\u2019t worry if your research slowly encourages you to revise your research question. But do make sure that your question is capable of being answered using a clear statement on a debatable issue. If you cannot imagine answers to your question that fit the bill, you might need to review your research question.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n<\/div>\r\n\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wsu-container\" >\r\n    \n<div class=\"wsu-decorator wsu-decorator--style-block-gray-wsu wsu-spacing-before--large\" style=\"bottom:0;left:0;height:100px;width:100%\"><\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"parent":35,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"wsuwp_university_location":[2],"wsuwp_university_org":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/history.wsu.edu\/rci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/37"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/history.wsu.edu\/rci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/history.wsu.edu\/rci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/history.wsu.edu\/rci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/history.wsu.edu\/rci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/history.wsu.edu\/rci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/37\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1675,"href":"https:\/\/history.wsu.edu\/rci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/37\/revisions\/1675"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/history.wsu.edu\/rci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/35"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/history.wsu.edu\/rci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/history.wsu.edu\/rci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/history.wsu.edu\/rci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/history.wsu.edu\/rci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_location?post=37"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_org","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/history.wsu.edu\/rci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_org?post=37"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}