International Studies

How to ask a good research question

When thinking about developing a research question related to your topic: find an angle! Ask the 5 W's (Who, What, Where, When, Why) about your topic to frame a good question and help you define your terms (populations, locations, time periods, etc.) and the relationship between them - remember to BE SPECIFIC! Then, think about the evidence you will need to support investigating your research question. What methods will you use to gather your data/evidence? When searching for scholarly sources related to your question, think about which academic disciplines may be interested in your topic, and search in their databases/journals. 

This blogpost has some excellent suggestions on how to refine a research question and make it into a good one!:

Bad Research Questions - P. Thomson Blog (2018)

https://patthomson.net/2018/03/19/writing-bad-research-questions/