Choosing The Question Right For You
The choice of a suitable research question typically evolves over a period of time and may take unexpected twists and turns. Learning, growing, changing, and revising are all very normal characteristics of research. However, research which has meaning often goes beyond the steps or the process. In essence when we research, we seek the truth about the topic under investigation.
Parker Palmer explained it one way,
To know in truth is to become betrothed, to engage the known with one's whole self, an engagement one enters with attentiveness, care and good will. To know in truth is to allow one's self to be known as well, to be vulnerable to the challenges and changes any true relationship brings. To know in truth is to enter into the life of that which we know and to allow it to enter into ours. (p. 31)
With that in mind, the researcher should look for a question that she "needs" to know. Think of this scenario:
Yukiko, a student preparing to become a teacher, has been mildly interested in the interplay of peer writing groups because she's been asked to participate in feedback groups in her English 201 class. She's done a bit of reading about them but really can't fathom why they are important, as she believes teacher feedback is much more effective than that of another peer writer. Should Yukiko research peer groups? Could she enter into a betrothed state as Palmer suggests with such a topic?
Divorce from her topic would soon follow, as she feels lukewarm about such a topic. Yukiko should research the importance of teacher feedback on student's writing since this is where her interests lie. Of course, peer group editing would be an avenue she would have to explore as she investigates, yet it is not the primary focus, so learning more about that topic will give her a foundation for her beliefs. Then again, she, if she keeps and open mind, may find thorough researching her own topic that a combination of the two is best for her own students.
The point: Research what you feel strongly about but keep an open-mind as you go.
Listed below are the strategies to help you discover your passion.
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Identify a specific topic. Research does not begin until one becomes aware of a need, issue, or goal to be addressed. | |||||||||||||
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Brainstorm several ideas | |||||||||||||
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Choose an area most significant for you: places to look
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Allow sufficient time to gather, analyze and synthesize the information you need to discover the specific question your will research.
Three of the most common ways students find the right question for themselves are through
- problem orientation -- focus on an existing problem in the classroom
- process orientation -- focus on a technique, i.e., peer group editing
- expediency orientation -- focus on what's available and easy
The most successful of these, of course, is the first because our passion often lies within the area where a certain amount of urgency exists.
Evaluate alternatives: After having found two or three possible areas for research, evaluate them in relation to these criteria. Is the question
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somewhat narrowly focused? | |
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relevant to your goals? | |
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interesting to you? | |
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appropriate to your field or background? | |
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feasible in terms of time, space, and support? |
Exploratory reading: Select the most promising problem and conduct a "mini-review" of related literature. In other words, go to the library or jump on the Internet and find what's out there in terms of articles, interviews, and background.This will help to provide an introduction to the problem and provide a basis for defining it in more precise terms. This review should provide enough background for translating a broad, problem area into a tentative question.
Finally, if you spend enough time discovering your topic, or in Palmer's words, becoming betrothed to it, you will enjoying reading, writing, and presenting what you find. After, research will change who are in terms of world knowledge and self-concept. Thus, take time to find a topic that suits you before walking down the aisle.