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Developing a Research Question; Part 2: Finding Inspiration Elsewhere



 Before we begin, a reminder that a research question is a specific, testable question that clearly identifies the variables of interest. It identifies the scope and goal of your research project. Last time, we looked at how to develop a research question from scratch. This time, I will outline some other places you can find inspiration for a research question.


Your favourite journal article.
Do you have a favourite journal article? Oh. It’s just me then? Okay, well…if you have ever read a journal article that you really liked, that’s a good place to start! Specifically, focus your reading on their discussion section for ideas. Most papers identify shortcomings of their research (e.g., “We couldn’t address this possible confounding variable, so we can’t provide a strong conclusion.”), gaps in the literature which still exist (e.g., “Although we showed that …it is still not clear whether….”), and/or directions for future research (“Building on this research, future studies should examine…”).
If you’re curious, here are two of my favourite articles (though I do have a few! Haha): http://cdp.sagepub.com/content/11/1/11 & https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1477878517731450

Replication (and extension).
Reproducing an existing, published research with a different methodology or a different population. To use a different methodology, maybe you want to use a different way to measure what they are examining. Or maybe you have a different approach to the study entirely (“What if I do it this way instead?”). Or perhaps you want to adapt their methodology to an online environment. If you like the methodology, then perhaps you want to replicate the study using another population. For example, you might wish to use a Canadian student sample instead of an American student sample. Or, examine the phenomenon in college students instead of university students. Or in a writing course instead of a science laboratory. Whether your replication alters the methodology or the sample, you are extending the research from which you have been inspired. Although your research question will be quite similar to the original, it will also be unique as you are examining it from a different angle.

Collaboration.
Collaboration (or mentorship) can also yield a fruitful research question. Often, when you discuss another person’s research, you think of questions yourself. This type of collaboration already exists in universities, where some Undergraduate or Master’s students add a small piece to their advisor’s larger research project to investigate a related research question. You might add a secondary research question by adding a few questions to a survey, or coding the responses in a different way. You might look at mental health, stress, personality, memory, etc. in order to add your research question to their research project.

I hope this post (and the one which preceded it) has given you some ideas to get inspired to develop your own research question and engage in research at Durham College! As always, if you have any suggestions for things you’d like to see from me, please reach out to me via email (lynne.kennette(at)durhamcollege.ca) or on MS Teams, or pop in during my weekly “office hours” on whereby(dot)com(slash)drlynne (every Friday from 12:30-1:30). 

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