Key takeaways
- A research question is a focused, answerable question that defines what your study will find out; the research problem is the wider issue that makes it worth asking.
- Strong research questions are clear, focused, researchable with your method, complex enough to need investigation and relevant to the field.
- Quantitative questions name variables and a relationship; qualitative questions explore experiences, meanings or processes.
- One main question with two or three sub-questions is a workable structure for most dissertations.
- State your research questions at the end of the introduction and use the same wording throughout the thesis.
What is a research question?
A research question is the precise question your study is designed to answer. It names what you are investigating, in whom or where, and, for most studies, the relationship or process of interest. A good research question can be answered with evidence you can collect, and the answer would add something to what is already known.
Your research question shapes everything that follows: which literature you review, which method you choose, what data you collect, how you analyse it and what your conclusion must say. That is why time spent getting it right early is rarely wasted.
Research problem vs research question
The two are related but not the same. The research problem is the gap, issue or tension that makes the study necessary. The research question is the specific thing you will ask in order to address part of that problem.
| Research problem | Research question | |
|---|---|---|
| Form | A statement, usually a paragraph | A question, usually one sentence |
| Scope | Broad issue in the field or in practice | Narrow and answerable within one study |
| Example | Many first-generation university students leave before their second year, and existing retention programmes rarely address their specific barriers. | How do first-generation students at a regional university describe the factors that influenced their decision to stay or leave during their first year? |
In the introduction of a thesis, the problem statement normally comes first and the research questions follow from it. If you cannot explain how your question addresses the problem, one of the two needs adjusting.
What makes a good research question
Test any draft question against these five criteria:
- Clear. A reader outside your field can understand what you are asking. Define vague terms such as “success”, “impact” or “wellbeing”.
- Focused. It specifies population, context and the concept or relationship of interest.
- Researchable. You can answer it with data you can get, using methods you can use, in the time you have.
- Complex enough. It cannot be answered with a quick search or a yes/no from existing statistics. It needs analysis.
- Relevant. The answer matters to researchers, practitioners or policy, and you can show where it fits in the literature.
Two further checks help. First, is the question neutral, or does it assume its own answer (“Why is social media harmful to teenagers?”)? Second, is it ethical to answer, given the participants and data involved?
A quick way to apply all of this is to imagine the final sentence of your conclusion. If you can picture the form the answer will take (“Food insecurity was associated with a GPA about 0.2 points lower…” or “Participants described three strategies…”), the question is probably researchable. If you cannot imagine what an answer would look like, the question still needs work.
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How to develop a research question from a topic
Work through these steps, writing something down at each one.
- Pick a broad topic. Example: food insecurity among university students.
- Read to find what is known and unknown. Suppose your reading shows that food insecurity among students is well documented in the US, but there is little evidence on whether it is linked to academic performance in other countries, and few studies use measured grades rather than self-reported ones.
- Identify the gap. The link between food insecurity and recorded academic outcomes outside the US is under-studied.
- Narrow the focus. Choose a population (undergraduates at two public universities), an outcome (end-of-year grade point average from university records, with consent) and a context (one academic year).
- Draft the question. “Is food insecurity associated with lower end-of-year grade point average among undergraduates at two public universities, after accounting for paid work hours and year of study?”
- Test and revise. Check it against the five criteria above and discuss it with your supervisor. Can you get the grade data? Is a validated food-insecurity scale available in the right language?
If you are still choosing a topic, start with our guide on how to choose a dissertation topic.
Examples of research questions
The pairs below show how a weak question can be strengthened. All examples were written for this guide.
| Weak | Why it is weak | Stronger |
|---|---|---|
| Does exercise help depression? | Too broad; already widely studied; no population or design | Does an eight-week supervised walking programme reduce depressive symptoms, compared with usual care, among adults aged 65 and over attending primary care clinics? |
| What do teachers think about AI? | Vague concept; no context; answer could be anything | How do secondary school English teachers decide whether and how to allow students to use generative AI tools for drafting essays? |
| Why are online reviews important? | Assumes its answer; not researchable as phrased | To what extent does the average star rating of online reviews predict weekly bookings for independent hotels, controlling for price and location? |
| How has remote work changed things? | “Things” undefined; no focus | How have mid-career software engineers who switched to fully remote work since 2020 experienced changes in informal learning from colleagues? |
Examples by type of study
- Descriptive (quantitative): What proportion of registered nurses in public hospitals in the region report symptoms consistent with moderate or severe burnout?
- Comparative: Do first-year students taught statistics through weekly online quizzes achieve higher final exam scores than those taught with end-of-term assessment only?
- Relational or predictive: Is perceived organisational support associated with intention to leave among early-career social workers, and is this association moderated by caseload size?
- Exploratory (qualitative): How do refugee parents navigate communication with their children's primary schools?
- Process (qualitative): How do small charities decide which outcomes to report to funders?
- Mixed methods: To what extent does participation in a peer-mentoring scheme predict first-year retention, and how do participants explain the scheme's influence on their decision to continue?
Quantitative and qualitative research questions
The kind of question you ask determines the kind of method you need.
Quantitative research questions usually name measurable variables and ask about amounts, differences or relationships. They often begin with “What is the…”, “Is there a difference…”, “Is X associated with Y…” or “To what extent does X predict Y…”. They are typically paired with hypotheses, for example:
- RQ: Do students who use a spaced-practice app score differently on the final exam from those who do not?
- Null hypothesis (H0): There is no difference in mean final exam scores between app users and non-users.
- Alternative hypothesis (H1): Mean final exam scores differ between app users and non-users.
A question like this would typically be tested with an independent-samples t-test or, if you need to adjust for prior attainment, a regression model. Our guide to hypothesis testing explains how hypotheses and tests fit together.
Qualitative research questions explore meanings, experiences and processes. They usually begin with “How…” or “What…” and avoid language of cause and effect. They are not paired with hypotheses, and they may be refined as data collection proceeds, which is a normal part of qualitative design.
Wording matters: a question that asks “What is the effect of…” implies a causal design (usually an experiment). If your study is a cross-sectional survey, “Is X associated with Y” is the honest phrasing.
How many research questions, and where they go
Most master's and undergraduate dissertations work well with one main research question and two or three sub-questions. Doctoral theses may have more, often one cluster per study or chapter. Five or more questions in a master's project usually means the scope is too wide.
Here is an example set for the food-insecurity study above:
- Main question: Is food insecurity associated with lower academic performance among undergraduates at two public universities?
- Sub-question 1: What is the prevalence of food insecurity in this population?
- Sub-question 2: Is food insecurity associated with end-of-year grade point average after accounting for paid work hours and year of study?
- Sub-question 3: Does the association differ between students living with family and those living independently?
State your questions explicitly at the end of the introduction, after the problem and the gap. Repeat them, word for word, at the start of the methodology, use them as headings in the results and answer each one in turn in the discussion. Consistency here is one of the simplest ways to make a thesis feel well structured. Our guide to dissertation structure shows where each piece sits.
If you would like feedback on your questions before your proposal goes to your supervisor, our research proposal help will review them alongside your aims and method.