HON 100 - This is Your Life: Making Sense of the Recent Past / Christiansen, Erik

A research question is a clear, focused, concise, complex and arguable question around which you center your research.

A research question:

• Asks a question,
• Is "researchable"- information is available that will help provide an answer,
• Is clear, straightforward & comprehensible,
• Identifies an important confusion or ambiguity in a problem,
• Points to an incompleteness or inaccuracy in an accepted explanation,
• Highlights some sort of inconsistency in an accepted position or view,
• Has a narrow focus area- not too broad of a topic,
• Is controversial- tension and uncertainty about the answer,
• Calls assumptions into question,
• Answer is not immediately obvious,
• Could be more than one answer or solution,
• Realigns accepted notions - forces different view of issue.

General Topic ---> Specialized Topic ---> Literal Questions about the Topic ---> Possible Research Questions about the Topic --->  Choose the Question that Interests You Most

(general topic) working mothers --->  (specialized topic) maternity leave ---> (Literal Questions about the Topic) What is maternity leave?; Do all companies provide maternity leave?; How long is the average maternity leave?

(Possible Research Questions about the Topic) How does maternity leave in the US compare to maternity leave in Europe?; Do companies allow men to take paternity leave? If so, do they get the same amount of time as women do for maternity leave, what is the policy?; What is the policy regarding whether or not a woman's position will be available when she returns from maternity leave? --->

(Research Question) How does the maternity leave policy in the US compare to maternity leave in Europe?