Research question generation

1. RESEARCH QUESTION
GENERATION
Focus – What is the topic?
Describe your topic here

2. Thing we Know and Want to Know
Brainstormunderthetwocolumnsasmuchasyoucanaboutthetopicalreadyandideasaboutwhatyoucouldorwanttofindoutaboutit. You
canusethistooltohelpwithyourquestiongeneration.
DON’TJUDGEANYTHINGAT THISSTAGE!!
Think we know
• 40% of the world's population lives
on $1 US a day
• Nottingham is UK's poorest city
• 10 million children died from
poverty before the age of 5 in the
year of 2003
• HK experiences a huge wealth
gap
• Over a billion of world's children
live in poverty
• The world has resources available
to feed twice of the world's
population
• The cost of living across the world
is continuing to increase
Want to know
• What could end poverty?
• What are the main causes of
poverty?
• Why are some countries more
developed than others?
• Why are the poor treated differently
from the rich?
• What are the leading
causes/resources for poverty today?
Are there any solutions?
• What can individuals/government do
to lessen the effects of poverty?
• If the wealthy gave to the poor,
could we eradicate poverty?
(religious ideas)

3. 10 of the
Best!
• 1. What could end poverty?
• 2. What are the leading causes/resources for
poverty today?
• 3. Why are some countries more developed
than others?
• 4. Why are the poor treated differently from the
rich?
• 5. Are there any solutions for poverty?
• 6. What can individuals/government do to
lessen the effects of poverty?
• 7. If the wealthy gave to the poor, could we
eradicate poverty? (religious ideas)
• 8. Why is there such a huge wealth gap
between the poor and wealthy in some places
around the world?
• 9. Was poverty before different from poverty
now?
• 10. If poverty is such a big issue nowadays,
why are so many still unwilling to change this
issue?
1. Copy the best 10
statements/
questions from
the last exercise.
2. Change any
statements to
questions at this
point.
3. Identify any
closed question
by highlighting
them.

4. Closed to Open
Forgenuineeffectiveenquiryitisbettertohaveaseriesofopenquestions. Thesearequestionsthatcannotbeanswered
simplybutinstead,needresearchandanalysistobeaddressed. Ifanyofthequestionsinyourlistareclosed,thennowis
thetimetotryandmakethemopen.
Closed
e.g. “How can climate change be stopped?”
This is a relatively closed question because
the answer is simply to stop putting CO2 into
the atmosphere.
Open
An improved version of this question might
be…”To what extent can the effects of climate
change be off set?”. This question requires
investigation and analysis of the conflicting
information that will be out there.
Closed
• Was poverty before different from poverty now?
• Are there any solutions for poverty?
Open
• If poverty is such a big issue nowadays, why are so many
still unwilling to change this issue?
• What can individuals/government do to lessen the effects
of poverty?
• If the wealthy gave to the poor, could we eradicate
poverty? (religious ideas)
• Why is there such a huge wealth gap between the poor
and wealthy in some places around the world?
• What could end poverty?
• What are the leading causes/resources for poverty today?
• Why are some countries more developed than others?
• Why are the poor treated differently from the rich?

5. Review
and
Improve
Your improved questions here:
• If the wealthy gave to the poor,
could we eradicate poverty?
(religious ideas)
• Why is there such a huge wealth
gap between the poor and wealthy
in some places around the world?
• To what extent are the poor treated
differently from the rich?
• What are the leading
causes/resources for poverty
today?
Question stems are a good
way of helping to improve your
questions. The stems below
are useful in constructing good
research questions. Use these
to modify your questions and
see if you can improve them.
To what extent…?
How far…?
Whose
responsibility is
it…?
Should…?
Do the benefits of…
outweigh the
disadvantages?
What is more
important…?

6. 1. If the wealthy gave to the
poor, could we eradicate
poverty? (religious ideas)
2. What are the leading
causes/resources for
poverty today?
WordsNumbers
Actions
Nature
1. If the wealthy gave to the
poor, could we eradicate
poverty? (religious ideas)
2. What are the leading
causes/resources for
poverty today?
1. What are the leading
causes/resources for poverty today?
1. If the wealthy gave to the poor, could
we eradicate poverty? (religious ideas)
2. Why is there such a huge wealth gap
between the poor and wealthy in some
places around the world?
3. To what extent are the poor treated
differently from the rich?
4. What are the leading
causes/resources for poverty today?
Your questions here
1. Why is there such a huge
wealth gap between the poor
and wealthy in some places
around the world?
1. Why is there such a huge wealth
gap between the poor and wealthy in
some places around the world?
2. To what extent are the poor treated
differently from the rich?

7. Evaluate Your Final Question
Thistoolmighthelpyoutakeafinalcriticallookatyourquestion. Howdoesitscoreonthescales? A“good”questionwill
scorehighlyinallareas.