Choosing a Topic & Developing a Research Question
Choosing a Topic
When selecting a topic for your research, ask yourself the following questions:
- Will it sustain my interest?
- Am I choosing a topic because it seems easy or my friends are doing it?
- Does it fit the parameters of my assignment?
- How much time do I have and how long does the assignment need to be?
- Is credible information on this topic readily available?
Watch this Credo Learning Tools video on How to Select a Topic which is an essential foundational step of the research process. The other videos listed on the Credo Research Quick Tips page from the How to Select a Topic video could also be helpful. Take your time viewing those resources.
Narrowing Down or Broadening your Topic
When you need to broaden or narrow down your topic, ask yourself:
Narrowing or Broadening your Topic
5 Ws |
Question to Ask |
Explanation |
Who? |
Who am I researching? |
Consider age, gender, profession, ethnicity, humans vs. animals vs. corporations, etc. |
What? |
What am I researching? |
Consider potential causes and effects, trends, statistics, problems, etc. |
When? |
What time period am I interested in? |
Consider when the topic became significant, century vs. specific dates, historical vs. current data, etc. |
Where? |
Where is my research topic taking place? |
Consider country, state, city, urban vs. rural, environments like prisons vs. college towns, etc. |
Why? |
Why does my research matter? |
Consider what makes it important to you, to your colleagues and peers, to your community, to the world, etc. |
Developing a Research Question
When you need to develop a research question, you want to ask yourself: what do you want to know about a topic? Additionally, you'll want to determine use the 5 Ws shown in the table above.
Try these steps to formulate a research question:
Check out these links and the video below for more information:
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