Thinking About How to Ask Good Research Questions
This exercise asks students to reflect on how they formulate questions central to their research as well as what counts as adequate evidence. This exercise is best given at the beginning of the research process. The aim is to prompt students to connect disciplinary modes of thinking with research projects.
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Background
The goal of this exercise is to help you learn how to learn about your own learning and how to make adjustments to learn more effectively. This process, called 'metacognition,' has been shown to improve student success in all sorts of ways, including boosts in reading comprehension, exam performance, and problem-solving. This exercise gives you an opportunity to learn about your own learning and apply those lessons to your research project.
Purpose of the exercise
This exercise asks you to reflect on how you formulate questions central to your research as well as what counts as adequate evidence. The aim is to prompt you to connect disciplinary modes of thinking with research projects.
Instructions
Think about your research project. Answer the following questions. Your answers do not need to be overly long, but you should try to provide enough detail so that you explain your responses.
- What is the central question raised by your research project?
- What evidence do you hope to collect in order to answer that question?
- How do you plan to collect it?
- What might an expert in the field think about your plan (your question, method, data collection)?
- How might the results of your research contribute to the ongoing conversation in the field?