RESEARCH TOPIC

AND
RESEARCH
QUESTIONS

Jawad Golzar 2020

The Research Process:
Part I: Research Questions

Research
Idea (My
experiences)
Refined
Research Selecting a
Idea/ Method of
Question Inquiry
Developing
Literature Data
Collection
Review: Others’ Selecting a Methods
experiences and Research
Approach or
studies Logical
Structure
The Research Process: Part I: Study
Design

By the end
semester, w
be here
Research

of the
Idea (My

e will
experiences)
Refined
Research Selecting a
Idea/ Method of
re Question Inquiry
e a Developing
W ere! Data
h Literature Collection
Review: Others’ Selecting a
Methods/
writing
experiences and Research proposal
Approach or
studies Logical
Structure
Developing Research
Topics
Research Ideas & Burning Questions

■ Drawn from experience, firsthand observation, teaching difficulty, something that you
read, you have one or more potential research topics.
Activity #1: Turn your potential research topics
into a set of potential research questions—these
questions should be something that one study can
answer.

Write your most salient question.

Discussion:
What makes a good research topic?

What are some reasons a topic might not

be researched?
To conduct a study,
we need to ascertain:
■ #1: Should this topic be researched?
– This question is answered by exploring the topic through
the previous literature (see more, next week), ethics, and
personal interest
■ #2: Can this topic be researched?
– This question is answered by exploring access to
participants, methods and procedures, and if you have
the time/resources to complete the study.
The “should” question:

Does this topic contribute to the field’s

knowledge?

(What does this mean?)

Does this topic contribute to the field’s knowledge?

■ Does your topic replicate past research in a new setting?

■ Does your topic extend or expand past understandings?
■ Does your topic highlight underrepresented voices?
■ Does your topic help address issues of social justice?
■ Does your topic offer something to those outside your immediate
classroom or institution?
 Ethics

■ Is this topic ethical to study?

■ Will harm or potential harm come to participants?
■ How can this topic be studied in a way that protects participants’
confidentiality?
■ Is this topic safe for you to study? (Mentally, culturally, physically,
etc.).
■ Are there other ethical issues to consider?
Example 1
■ Sara is an English language instructor working as a private corporate consultant in the USA. Her
job is to help Civil Engineers whose first language is not English with their written English skills.
She is interested in measuring the effectiveness of her lessons to see if they are having an impact
on the overall quality of writing of her students.
Example 2
■ Lida has recently been hired to teach English language skills at a small, private high school in a
rural area that has a recent influx of refugees. She is interested in learning more about their
experiences with a “disruptive” education and how that has impacted their ability to learn English
in the new setting.
Example 3
■ Maria is a private English language tutor who works full time to prepare people for the TOEFL
exam. She has noticed that certain learners are able to grow tremendously with her lessons, while
others seem to hit a plateau and do not advance quickly. She wonders why this is the case, and
hopes to design a study to learn more.
Activity #1, Part I: Research Questions

■ In pairs, explore the three scenarios.

– What research questions might the
teachers be asking to help guide their
study?
Research Questions

 A well-crafted research question takes considerable time and revision to

accomplish.
 Often, you will find yourself returning to your question again and again
as you read the previous literature and refine your own thinking on the
topic.
Good research questions are specific.
■ Your specific research question should be answerable by the
study you design.
■ If 25 other studies also can answer your research question, it
is highly likely that your question is too broad.
■ Broad question(s):
– How do people engage in revision strategies in a
second language?
– What different revision strategies do students use?

■ Specific question(s):
■ What revision strategies does a mixed language background
group of multilingual writers employ at the beginning vs.
the end of their MLW first-year writing course?
Good research questions offer a path
forward.
– Initial question: What revision strategies does a mixed language background
group of multilingual writers employ at the beginning vs. the end of their MLW
first-year writing course?

– Data collection:
■ Exploration of revision strategies (“what they are” needs to be defined)
■ Revisions themselves will need to be tracked somehow (drafts vs. final
papers)
– Participants:
■ Multilingual writers in first-year composition

– Timeline:
■ One semester, beginning to end
You can ask multiple questions and/or
sub questions.
– What revision strategies does a mixed language background group of multilingual
writers employ at the beginning vs. the end of their MLW first-year writing course?
– Do students with more self-efficacy engage in more revision?
– Do students with higher TOEFL scores engage in more revision?
– Do stronger writers engage in more revision than weaker writers?
Activity #2, Part II: Research Questions

■ Return to your your research questions and revise them

to be more specific.
■ Write one research question on the board (that we will
explore as a class).
Research Questions Drive Research

■ The nature of your question will determine what kind

of research approach you use: qualitative,
quantitative, and mixed methods.
■ Look at the questions on the board: What questions
appear to need qualitative data? Quantitative data?
Mixed methods data?