What are Research questions how to approach a study examples

Research questions are the first step to take before starting to study something that intrigues us. In science, it is necessary to know exactly what the objective of an investigation is and to know in which direction the research must be designed and with what kind of methodologies it can be relied on.

In Psychology and other similar disciplines such as Biology or Sociology, there are still many research questions that remain unanswered. Next, we will see some of them and how it is possible to propose new studies, thanks to which our level of knowledge on the subject in question increases.

Research questions: the starting point of any study

The role of research questions is to specify the unknown that you want to reveal (or partially uncover, in most cases). It is just as important to know how to identify the problem, as well as specify what is not part of it, to avoid confusing similar concepts.

For example, if we want to know what influence the fact of having lived in the same house with his biological father and mother during childhood has on the development of a person’s intelligence, we cannot ask the following research question:

How does living with family affect intelligence in adulthood during the first years of life?

In this case, the concept “family” is very ambiguous , and working with it can completely distort the results of the investigation. Furthermore, “the first years of life” is not an illuminating concept, it is much more convenient to specify by proposing, for example, a period of 11 years from birth to puberty, approximately.

The operationalization of the initial doubt

As scientific research always has a necessarily reductionist point (we are interested in knowing a very specific plot of reality, and not others), research questions give way to other sub-questions that better specify what we want to answer. Thus, we move from a general question to more specific ones that, together, help to answer the first question.

In the case at hand, these lower-than-initial research questions could be:

• How does coexistence with crystallized intelligence affect crystallized intelligence during the first 11 years of life?

• How does living with biological parents during the first 11 years of life affect fluid intelligence?
• How does living with biological parents during the first 11 years of life affect IC?

How to create questions for a research?

1. It is necessary to know the purpose of the research and the objectives to be achieved, having well planned its search problem will help a lot toschedule your quiz🇧🇷
2. Always keep in mind the plans you have for the collected data , otherwise you will not be able to make a clear judgment about whether the questions asked are the right ones. Remember that the questions should be aimed at gathering information to help you make decisions.
3. Use understandable language . Very specialized or technical language can confuse the general public. The right words can lead to action. The language used should be appropriate for your audience. Write questions for aresearch for studentsis not the same as writing questions to aresearch for doctors🇧🇷
4. Use purposeful questions so respondents don’t stop responding because they find the entire research irrelevant or too long.
5. Remember that the qualitative questions require a greater effort and degree of reflection on the part of the respondent and may take longer to respond to a research.
6. As with questions, answers are valuable , so be sure to include as many options as you feel necessary. If you are not sure, it is better to include the option “others” in your list, so that you give the respondent the opportunity not to be forced to choose from any of the options you present.
7. Don’t forget to consider that certain types of questions are not compatible with a mobile phone .
8. Use logic for questionsand keep the research in order, preventing respondents from having to answer questions that don’t match or don’t interest them. Logic makes it easy to shorten researchand keep respondents interested in the research.

3 important recommendations

1. Your questions should be explanatory and simple . Take care that they are not manipulative, long or without sufficient explanation. In either case, the dropout rate increases, and you want respondents to respond to the end.
2. In some cases, anonymity is important for the respondent. For sensitive topics, choose not to ask for names and more personal information. Remember that the most important thing is that respondents feel confident and respond openly.
3. Online surveys shouldn’t be tiring so they don’t leave your survey or respond quickly so they can finish soon. Therefore, it is important to always think about your target Audience and tailor the search to their profiles.

Examples of research questions to be developed

Given the logic and purpose of the research questions, let’s look at some examples of scientific mysteries that may give us surprises in the future.

Obviously, these are unknowns raised in a general and abstract way, so that each person who wants to investigate must specify them more to adapt to what interests them most.

1. Are memory mechanisms based on synapses or on the storage of molecules in neurons?

Although the first theory is the most accepted, some researchers believe that our memories are not joint activation patterns of neurons , but that they are individual elements that can be found in each nerve cell separately.

2. Is there a single intelligence or many?

It is a doubt that lasts for decades, or even centuries, if we consider the work of philosophers. There are several proposals according to which there is not a single biological element that determines who is more intelligent than another, but a set of these that work in a relatively independent way. An example is found in Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence proposal or in Sternberg’s theory.

3. What causes gender dysphoria?

Many transgender people suffer greatly when they realize that their gender identity does not match the observable characteristics of their body. It is not known whether the root of this problem is biological or cultural or to what extent the two components are combined.

4. Does decision making occur unconsciously?

While we normally link the decision-making process to rationality and careful thought of expected consequences, there is evidence that we make many important decisions unconsciously and then justify that decision through rationality.

5. Is male aggressiveness something cultural?

Across the planet, men are more likely to commit acts of physical violence . This seems to suggest that it is a gene-based differentiated fact, but it is also possible that a universal characteristic is cultural.

6. How do human pheromones influence our behavior?

What we perceive through smell generally has a strong impact on our mind, but in the case of pheromones, it is not very well known how they act on us.

7. What produces autism?

Autism spectrum disorders are in part a mystery, and little is known about their cause. Of course, it is excluded that they are produced by vaccines, as is sometimes advocated today.

8. How do great apes think?

The group of primates made up of chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans are the most intelligent non-human animals in existence today, and there is still much to know about their way of thinking.

9. Can you eliminate psychopathy?

There are people for whom psychopathy is not a problem, but in some cases it can be a psychological factor that predisposes them to harm other people. In these cases, how to eliminate this psychological attribute?

10. What causes love?

It has been said that falling in love with someone is something that depends on the contexts that are lived together, and not on the personality and stable characteristics of people. Which of the two explanations prevails?

20 factors to consider when creating research questions

Before creating the questions for your research, ask yourself the following questions:

1. What are the situations that lead customers to think about our product or service?
2. What was the last thing they saw or heard about our product that made them buy it?
3. What are the types of flaws in our products that led to a bad customer experience?
4. What apologies did you get from the sales team when you asked about the changes we implemented?
5. What alternatives do we offer them that led them to try our product?
6. What words do you use to talk about our product or service with your friends and family?
7. What inconveniences do you experience when using our products or services?
8. What are some of the features or alternatives that our competitors offer that we don’t?
9. What do consumers want from this?
10. What is the customer really concerned with when he buys what you are selling?
11. What features does it offer and do you think customers don’t see its value? What can you learn from it? (In addition to measuring the income level of your customers)
12. Who is currently buying and selling?
13. What are your lives like?
14. What kind of frustrations or problems do customers have that your product or service solves?
15. How do customers perceive that this problem can be solved?
16. Who listens when it comes to solving these problems?
17. Who influences customers when they buy what you’re selling?
18. Where do your customers spend their money? – Not just how much but what do they really value?
19. What is the most important benefit customers receive from your product
20. What image do customers have of your brand?