sample of research questions in education

Research Question Examples 🧑🏻‍🏫

25+ Practical Examples & Ideas To Help You Get Started 

By: Derek Jansen (MBA) | October 2023

A well-crafted research question (or set of questions) sets the stage for a robust study and meaningful insights.  But, if you’re new to research, it’s not always clear what exactly constitutes a good research question. In this post, we’ll provide you with clear examples of quality research questions across various disciplines, so that you can approach your research project with confidence!

Research Question Examples

• Psychology research questions
• Business research questions
• Education research questions
• Healthcare research questions
• Computer science research questions

Examples: Psychology

Let’s start by looking at some examples of research questions that you might encounter within the discipline of psychology.

How does sleep quality affect academic performance in university students?

This question is specific to a population (university students) and looks at a direct relationship between sleep and academic performance, both of which are quantifiable and measurable variables.

What factors contribute to the onset of anxiety disorders in adolescents?

The question narrows down the age group and focuses on identifying multiple contributing factors. There are various ways in which it could be approached from a methodological standpoint, including both qualitatively and quantitatively.

Do mindfulness techniques improve emotional well-being?

This is a focused research question aiming to evaluate the effectiveness of a specific intervention.

How does early childhood trauma impact adult relationships?

This research question targets a clear cause-and-effect relationship over a long timescale, making it focused but comprehensive.

Is there a correlation between screen time and depression in teenagers?

This research question focuses on an in-demand current issue and a specific demographic, allowing for a focused investigation. The key variables are clearly stated within the question and can be measured and analysed (i.e., high feasibility).

Examples: Business/Management

Next, let’s look at some examples of well-articulated research questions within the business and management realm.

How do leadership styles impact employee retention?

This is an example of a strong research question because it directly looks at the effect of one variable (leadership styles) on another (employee retention), allowing from a strongly aligned methodological approach.

What role does corporate social responsibility play in consumer choice?

Current and precise, this research question can reveal how social concerns are influencing buying behaviour by way of a qualitative exploration.

Does remote work increase or decrease productivity in tech companies?

Focused on a particular industry and a hot topic, this research question could yield timely, actionable insights that would have high practical value in the real world.

How do economic downturns affect small businesses in the homebuilding industry?

Vital for policy-making, this highly specific research question aims to uncover the challenges faced by small businesses within a certain industry.

Which employee benefits have the greatest impact on job satisfaction?

By being straightforward and specific, answering this research question could provide tangible insights to employers.

Examples: Education

Next, let’s look at some potential research questions within the education, training and development domain.

How does class size affect students’ academic performance in primary schools?

This example research question targets two clearly defined variables, which can be measured and analysed relatively easily.

Do online courses result in better retention of material than traditional courses?

Timely, specific and focused, answering this research question can help inform educational policy and personal choices about learning formats.

What impact do US public school lunches have on student health?

Targeting a specific, well-defined context, the research could lead to direct changes in public health policies.

To what degree does parental involvement improve academic outcomes in secondary education in the Midwest?

This research question focuses on a specific context (secondary education in the Midwest) and has clearly defined constructs.

What are the negative effects of standardised tests on student learning within Oklahoma primary schools?

This research question has a clear focus (negative outcomes) and is narrowed into a very specific context.

Need a helping hand?

Examples: Healthcare

Shifting to a different field, let’s look at some examples of research questions within the healthcare space.

What are the most effective treatments for chronic back pain amongst UK senior males?

Specific and solution-oriented, this research question focuses on clear variables and a well-defined context (senior males within the UK).

How do different healthcare policies affect patient satisfaction in public hospitals in South Africa?

This question is has clearly defined variables and is narrowly focused in terms of context.

Which factors contribute to obesity rates in urban areas within California?

This question is focused yet broad, aiming to reveal several contributing factors for targeted interventions.

Does telemedicine provide the same perceived quality of care as in-person visits for diabetes patients?

Ideal for a qualitative study, this research question explores a single construct (perceived quality of care) within a well-defined sample (diabetes patients).

Which lifestyle factors have the greatest affect on the risk of heart disease?

This research question aims to uncover modifiable factors, offering preventive health recommendations.

Examples: Computer Science

Last but certainly not least, let’s look at a few examples of research questions within the computer science world.

What are the perceived risks of cloud-based storage systems?

Highly relevant in our digital age, this research question would align well with a qualitative interview approach to better understand what users feel the key risks of cloud storage are.

Which factors affect the energy efficiency of data centres in Ohio?

With a clear focus, this research question lays a firm foundation for a quantitative study.

How do TikTok algorithms impact user behaviour amongst new graduates?

While this research question is more open-ended, it could form the basis for a qualitative investigation.

What are the perceived risk and benefits of open-source software software within the web design industry?

Practical and straightforward, the results could guide both developers and end-users in their choices.

Remember, these are just examples…

In this post, we’ve tried to provide a wide range of research question examples to help you get a feel for what research questions look like in practice. That said, it’s important to remember that these are just examples and don’t necessarily equate to good research topics . If you’re still trying to find a topic, check out our topic megalist for inspiration.

Psst... there’s more!

This post was based on one of our popular Research Bootcamps . If you're working on a research project, you'll definitely want to check this out ...

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Posing a Researchable Question

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Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves. —Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

Whenever I talk to teachers about doing teacher research, I start by exhorting them to question everything and, following Rainer Maria Rilke’s advice, to love the questions. It is appropriate advice because teaching, by its very nature, is an inquiry process—a serious encounter with life’s most meaningful and often baffling questions. Questions like “Why does one activity engage the children so thoroughly one day, yet totally bomb the next day?” and “How can I make a connection with those children who seem distant and unwilling to interact with others?” are typical of the kinds of questions teachers ask every day as they confront the complex world of the classroom.

If we take seriously the complexity of teaching, then we understand the need for teachers to have an active role in the process of finding the answers to their meaningful questions. When teachers ask questions about the what, how, and why of what they do and think about alternatives to their practices, they incorporate the element of inquiry into their teaching. When teachers systematically and intentionally pursue their questions, using methods that are meaningful to them to collect, analyze, and interpret data, they demonstrate the value of teacher research as a vehicle for promoting self-reflection and decision making. Most important, as they begin to investigate questions that are to their own situations, they move from conveyers of knowledge about teaching and learning to creators of their own knowledge. 

The focus of this article is how to pose a teacher research question. More precisely, the aim is to examine the components of a researchable question and offer suggestions for how to go about the question in a way that makes it researchable. Researchable questions emerge from areas teachers consider problematic (i.e., puzzling, intriguing, astonishing) or from issues they simply want to know more about.

Not all teaching questions are researchable

Teachers are questioners, but not all questions are inquiry oriented. In many cases, especially in traditional classrooms, teachers ask children questions to elicit a specific response (“What is your favorite color?,” “What color do we make when we mix red and blue paint?”) or to get children to think about what they are learning (“What is happening in this story?,” “Why do you think that?”). These questions serve primarily as a means to help children recall information, to check on children’s thinking, and to assess children’s understanding of certain material. Teaching questions

• May be open or closed, but are usually closed
• Are typically phrased as yes or no questions
• Seek answers to specific problems
• Tend to have clear boundaries
• Often carry the outlines of their solutions       
• Involve thought, but may lack emotion or passion

While these questions have their place in teaching, they do not serve as an invitation to investigate further. As Clifford and Marinucci (2008) emphasize, an important characteristic of inquiry is that it evokes stimulating questions that lead to further questions.

What are the questions worth asking?

Teachers ask other kinds of questions, and like the children they teach, teachers are curious. They have the desire to know and the need to understand. In genuine inquiry, however, teachers ask and pursue questions in order to make critical decisions about their practice, to assess the viability of their methods and techniques, and to rethink assumptions that may no longer fit their classroom experiences. I like to think about teacher inquiry as the continuous engagement with questions worth asking—the wonderings worth pursuing that lead to a greater understanding of how to teach and how children learn.

Inquiry typically begins with reflection on what teachers think, what they believe and value, and ultimately who they are. That is, inquiry may stem from teachers’ assumptions, identities, and images of teaching and learning. The impetus to pursue a question often arises out of personal curiosity, a nagging issue, a keen interest, or a perspective that begs examination in order to understand something more fully or to see it in different ways. When teachers pose questions worth asking, they do so from an attitude—a stance—of inquiry, and they see their classrooms as laboratories for wonder and discovery.

Questions worth asking are questions that teachers care about—questions that come from real-world obstacles and dilemmas. They are problems of meaning that develop gradually after careful observation and deliberation about why certain things are happening in the classroom. These questions are not aimed at quick fix solutions; rather, they involve the desire to understand teaching and learning in profound ways. Questions worth asking have the power to change us and to cause us to see ourselves and the children we teach in new ways. They engage the mind and the passion of the teacher; encourage wonder about the space between what is known and what is knowable; and allow for possibilities that are neither imagined nor anticipated (Hubbard & Power 2003).

However, while all teachers may have wonderings worth pursuing, not all questions are researchable. What makes a question researchable?

What is a researchable question?

One of the central characteristics of inquiry is that it evokes an invitation to investigate further. How does one begin to frame a question in a way that will yield the best research? I believe that it is important to start by talking with a trusted colleague or fellow teacher who understands the uncertainties and dilemmas of teaching. I will revisit this idea shortly. First, let us look at the kinds of questions one can ask to start on the path to developing a researchable question:

• What interests me?
• What puzzles or intrigues me?
• What do I wonder about my teaching?
• What do I want to know or better understand about children as learners or about myself as a teacher, a learner, or a person?
• What would I like to change or improve?
• Why is this important?
• What are my assumptions or hypotheses?
• What have my initial observations revealed to me?

In general, researchable questions must be open ended, suggesting multiple directions and possibilities (Freeman 1998; Hubbard & Power 2003). This means avoiding yes-or-no questions and questions that have clear boundaries or solutions. In contrast, questions that begin with how or what allow a researcher to describe the process and changes as they emerge. They are questions that are most likely to be addressed through observation and documentation that will yield rich descriptions and more detailed and meaningful information. As much as possible, researchable questions are phrased in ways that direct the questioner toward inquiry and away from specific courses of action (Freeman 1998). Researchable questions

• Are always open ended
• Are investigative
• Seek possibilities and multiple responses
• Enable surprises and epiphanies
• Assume that knowledge and understanding are constructed
• Draw out experiences, perspectives, and beliefs             
• Involve emotion as well as thought

The more personally meaningful and urgent the questions are, the more likely the teacher has the desire and motivation to address them. As stated previously, the teacher must care about the questions—inquiry demands an orientation toward what matters. Furthermore, questions that can evolve with time and with continued observation and reflection produce the most useful information and results. The teacher can act upon the information and results to make changes and improvements.

Here are some examples of researchable questions:

• How can I become more self-aware regarding my feelings and how they affect my interactions and relationships with children?
• What can I do to prepare myself emotionally when I am not feeling my best?
• How do children react when I use praise? What do children learn from this?
• How does the lack of recess time affect learning in the classroom?
• What kinds of learning activities promote positive interactions among peers?

In sum, researchable questions have the power to change us, and they lend themselves to documentation of those changes. They lead to surprises and epiphanies and help teachers develop greater self-awareness and understanding and more meaningful ways to teach. Thus, the benefits of teacher research begin with finding and enjoying the possibilities in the questions themselves.

Getting started

Getting started can be surprisingly challenging. As a teacher educator, I have found that teachers experience the most difficulty developing researchable questions. Stringer (2004) points out that one of the reasons teachers have such difficulty is that classrooms are highly complicated places involving complex interactions and an interplay of actions and perceptions that are not easily examined without ample time to carefully observe and reflect on classroom situations and problems. Therefore, to clarify the nature and purpose of their research, teachers need time to focus on what happens in the classroom and to reflect on what they do and why they do it. One of the major strengths of teacher research is that it allows teachers to reflect on issues and problems and to formulate tentative questions that may be refined and reframed throughout the research process.

I encourage teachers to keep a journal, record their observations, reflect on their wonderings, and take the time needed to frame meaningful research questions. In addition, I advise teachers to revisit, refocus, and reframe their questions as new evidence and insights emerge. Although many teachers balk at the idea of keeping a reflective journal, it is still one of the best ways to keep track of meaningful questions.

I recommend writing down the questions that arise from teachers’ interactions and encounters (e.g., “What am I observing, assuming, wondering about, or puzzling over?”) rather than writing down everything that happens during the day. Recording these questions makes the next step of reflective practice a lot easier; that is, listing all the questions wondered about over the course of a week, then reflecting on why they were important.

At this point, it does not matter how researchable the questions may be; what is important is to get them down on paper in one’s own words. Teachers who use their journals to record their meaningful questions find it easier to keep journals as part of their everyday reflective practice and to settle on a question they feel comfortable pursuing (MacLean & Mohr 1999).

The next step is to recast the questions to make them more researchable. I have found that using a “free write” activity developed by Marian Mohr (see MacLean & Mohr 1999) helps teacher researchers to write their questions in several different ways and then revisit them. In addition, I believe it is critical to share questions with others. Having a critical friend or an inquiry group that includes colleagues, collaborators, and students is essential to the inquiry process because they help the teacher researchers to rethink and reexamine questions through collective dialogue and reflection, thus enabling them to recast the questions and their subsequent research plans.

In teacher research, the focus is largely on events and experiences and how teachers interpret them rather than on factual information or the development of causal connections explaining why something occurs (Stringer 2004). A teacher researcher starts not necessarily with a hypothesis to test, but with a question that is rooted in subjective experience and motivated by a desire to better understand events and behaviors and to act on this understanding to yield practical results that are immediately applicable to a specific problem (Noffke 1997). Therefore, it is helpful to focus initially on perceptions when reframing original questions to make them researchable.  

I typically encourage teachers to explore how they and the children think and feel about what they are doing in the classroom. This perspective orients teachers’ questions toward the ways they experience and perceive particular problems or situations and their interpretations of them. For example, when a public school made scheduling changes that limited children’s recess time in order to have more time to focus on instruction, a second-grade teacher was interested in pursuing this question: “What happens to learning when children are deprived of outdoor recess?”

To make this question more researchable, I suggested that the teacher think about this from her point of view: “How does the lack of recess time contribute to learning in the classroom?” I also recommended that she focus on the children’s perspective and reframe the question: “How do children feel about recess?”—specifically, “What benefits do they perceive recess offers them?” Because her questions did not allow her to observe and compare students who have recess with those who do not, she could not make any conclusive statements; she could, however, get at perceptions and understandings that could lead to some important decisions (and in fact did, as the school returned to its original recess schedule).  

Throughout any teacher research project, the initial research question is modified continually to create a closer fit with the classroom environment. Consider this interaction I had with a teacher who was struggling with reframing her question to be more researchable:

After weeks of observing her classroom and reflecting in her journal, Meredith has been wondering why her third-grade students seem so uninspired and uninterested in reading. Her initial question was, “In what ways can I best help students become inspired about learning? In particular, they seem to lack any desire to read in class.”

My response to Meredith was the following: “Meredith, you make some assumptions here about student desire and motivation. Are these accurate? How might your question be reframed to find out? It seems as though you may have a few questions here: ‘How can I help motivate students to learn?,’ ‘Why do students feel uninspired?,’ and ‘Why do students have a lack of motivation to succeed or do well?’

“Alternatively, you might ask, ‘What kinds of activities motivate students to learn?’ In researching this question, you would be able to explore student perceptions and observe what does seem to motivate them. For example, if hands-on, exploratory activities are fun and challenging but math worksheets aren’t, why is that? How are the activities different and how are they perceived?” 

Meredith began her inquiry with casual observation and moved toward more systematic, intentional observation, using her reflective teaching journal to record her reactions to questions like “What am I noticing that makes me think these children are unmotivated?” and “Why does this trouble me?” Meredith noted that the more she observed and reflected, the more she became adept at documenting what she heard and saw. Eventually she settled on the question “How do students’ feelings about particular activities affect their motivation to learn?”  This question did not yield specific, generalizable strategies that would work for every teacher in every classroom; however, it enabled Meredith to develop greater self-awareness and self-understanding and more meaningful ways to teach the children in her classroom.

It takes practice, self-monitoring, and awareness to become proficient in asking researchable questions. The support and encouragement of an inquiry group and the willingness to give thoughtful consideration to one’s questions are essential. As data collection proceeds, it may be necessary to ask yourself, “Is there something else more interesting emerging from my data?” Therefore, I recommend that teacher researchers, along with their inquiry groups, conduct a regular review of their research questions by asking questions like the following:

• What do the data tell me about my question?
• Am I asking the right question?
• What other questions may be emerging from my data?
• Is my question still meaningful, intriguing, worthy of investigation?
• Is my question more complicated than I had previously thought?
• Can my question evolve with time and with continued observation and reflection?

Framing questions to be researchable makes doing research possible in the midst of teaching and helps teachers stay attuned to the flow of the classroom and the needs of the children. Opportunities and time to revisit or look again are essential to refocusing and reframing questions, rethinking assumptions, and becoming attentive to what is happening in the classroom as new evidence and insights emerge.

Summary        

All teachers are questioners. They ask questions of children for various reasons, yet not all questions lead to genuine inquiry by children or by teachers. Questions that lead to inquiry evoke a sense of wonder or puzzlement. Teachers oriented toward understanding and enhancing their practice through inquiry ask meaningful questions—worthy questions that enable them to pursue what interests them about their teaching and to address the problems and concerns that they confront daily in the classroom. Thinking from this perspective, teacher research is not an “add on” but a way to build theory through reflection, inquiry, and action, based on the specific circumstances of the classrooms. It is a way to make informed decisions based on data collected from meaningful inquiry.

Here, I have addressed ways to help teachers move from teaching questions to researchable questions. Posing a researchable question is often viewed as the most challenging aspect of doing teacher research; however, when teaching is viewed as an ongoing process of inquiry involving observation and reflection, then questioning becomes increasingly a tool for exploring assumptions, informing decisions, and changing (improving) what teachers do. In other words, teaching becomes a matter of living and loving the questions.

Clifford, P., & S.J. Marinucci. 2008. “Voices Inside Schools: Testing the Waters: Three Elements of Classroom Inquiry.” Harvard Educational Review 78 (4): 675­–88.

Freeman, D. 1998. Doing Teacher Research: From Inquiry to Understanding. Teachersource series. New York: Heinle & Heinle.

Hubbard, R.S., & B.M. Power. 2003. The Art of Classroom Inquiry: A Handbook for Teacher-Researchers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

MacLean, M.S., & M.M. Mohr. 1999. Teacher Researchers at Work. Berkeley, CA: National Writing Project.

Noffke, S.E. 1997. “Professional, Personal, and Political Dimensions of Action Research.” Chap. 6 in Review of Educational Research, vol. 22, 305–43. Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association.

Stringer, E. 2007. Action Research in Education . 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. 

Andrew Stremmel is professor in Teaching, Learning and Leadership at South Dakota State University. His scholarship focuses on teacher action research and Reggio Emilia-inspired, inquiry-based approaches. He is an executive editor of Voices of Practitioners. [email protected]

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• Developing a Research Question

When you need to develop a research question, you want to ask yourself: what do you want to know about a topic? Additionally, you'll want to determine:

• WHO you are researching,
• WHAT you are researching,
• WHEN your research topic takes place,
• WHERE your research topic takes place, and
• WHY you are researching this topic.

Try these steps to formulate a research question:

Check out these links and the video below for more information:

• How to Write a Research Question
• Writing a Good Research Question

Have Questions? Browse all our FAQs  or ask a librarian by chat or email at  [email protected] !

• << Previous: What is a Research Question?
• Next: Example Research Questions >>

What are Examples of Research Questions?

What are examples of research questions? This article lists 8 illustrative examples of research questions.

Table of Contents

Introduction.

Well-written research questions determine how the entire research process will proceed. 

To effectively write the statement of your thesis’s problem, you will need to remember certain principles that will guide you in framing those critical questions.

This article features some examples of research questions.

There are already many literature pieces written on how to write the research questions required to investigate a phenomenon. But how are the research questions framed in actual situations? How do you write the research questions?

The intention of the research activity should guide all research activities. Once this is clearly defined, the research has three primary outcomes.

The next sections discuss these three principles of framing research questions in more detail.

Intention of Writing Research Questions

You will need to remember specific rules and principles on how to go about writing the research questions. Before you write the research questions, discern what you intend to arrive at in your research.

What are your aims, and what are your expected research outcomes? Do you intend to describe something, determine differences, or explain the causes of a phenomenon?

Research has at least three essential research outcomes. These are described below, along with examples of research questions for each outcome.

Three Primary Research Outcomes

In quantitative research , there are at least three basic research outcomes that will arise in writing the research questions. These are

• come up with a description,
• determine differences between variables, and
• find out correlations between variables.

Research Outcome Number 1. Come up with a description.

The outcome of your research question may be as a description. The description contextualizes the situation, explains something about the subjects or respondents of the study. It also provides the reader with an overview of your research.

For instance, the school administrator might want to study a group of teachers in a school to help improve the school’s performance in the licensure examinations. The school has been lagging in their ranking and there is a need to identify training needs to make the teachers more effective.

Specifically, the administrator would like to find out the composition of teachers in that school, find out how much time they spend in preparing their lessons, and what teaching styles they use in managing the teaching-learning process.

Below are examples of research questions for Research Outcome Number 1 on research about this hypothetical study.

3 Examples of Research Questions That Entail Description

• What is the demographic profile of the teachers in terms of age, gender, educational attainment, civil status, and number of training attended?
• How much time do teachers devote to preparing their lessons?
• What teaching styles are used by teachers in managing their students?

The expected outcomes of the example research questions above will be a description of the teachers’ demographic profile, a range of time devoted to preparing their lessons, and a description of the  teachers’ teaching styles .

These research outcomes show tables and graphs with accompanying highlights of the findings. Highlights are those interesting trends or dramatic results that need attention, such as very few training provided to teachers. 

Armed with information derived from such research, the administrator can then undertake measures to enhance the teachers’ performance. A hit-and-miss approach is avoided. Thus, the intervention becomes more effective than issuing memos to correct the situation without systematic study.

Research Outcome Number 2. Determine differences between variables.

To write research questions that integrate the variables of the study, you should be able to define what is a variable. If this term is already quite familiar to you, and you are confident in your understanding, you may read the rest of this post.

Check this out : What are examples of variables in research ?

For example, you might want to find out the differences between groups in a selected variable in your study. Say you would like to know if there is a significant difference in long quiz scores (the variable you are interested in) between students who study at night and students who study early in the morning.

You may frame your research questions thus:

2 Examples of Research Questions to Determine Difference

Non-directional.

• Is there a significant difference in long quiz score between students who study early in the morning and students who study at night?

Directional

• Are the quiz scores of students who study early in the morning higher than those who study at night?

The first example research question intends to determine if a difference exists in long quiz scores between students who study at night and those who study early in the morning, hence are non-directional. The aim is just to find out if there is a significant difference. A two-tailed t-test will show if a difference exists.

The second research question aims to determine if students who study in the morning have better quiz scores than what the literature review suggests. Thus, the latter is directional.

Research Outcome Number 3 . Find out correlations or relationships between variables.

The outcome of research questions in this category will be to explain correlations or causality. Below are examples of research questions that aim to determine correlations or relationships between variables using a combination of the variables mentioned in research outcome numbers 1 and 2.

3 Examples of Research Questions That Imply Correlation Analysis

• Is there a significant relationship between teaching style and the long quiz score of students?
• Is there a significant association between the student’s long quiz score and the teacher’s age, gender, and training attended?
• Is there a relationship between the long quiz score and the number of hours devoted by students in studying their lessons?

Note that in all the preceding examples of research questions, the conceptual framework integrates the study variables. Therefore, research questions must always incorporate the variables in them so that the researcher can describe, find differences, or correlate them with each other.

Be more familiar with the conceptual framework : Conceptual Framework: A Step-by-Step Guide on How to Make One

If you find this helpful, take the time to share this with your peers to discover new and exciting things along with their fields of interest.

© 2012 October 22 P. A. Regoniel; Updated 01/11/24

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Dr. Regoniel, a faculty member of the graduate school, served as consultant to various environmental research and development projects covering issues and concerns on climate change, coral reef resources and management, economic valuation of environmental and natural resources, mining, and waste management and pollution. He has extensive experience on applied statistics, systems modelling and analysis, an avid practitioner of LaTeX, and a multidisciplinary web developer. He leverages pioneering AI-powered content creation tools to produce unique and comprehensive articles in this website.

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Qualitative Research Questions: Gain Powerful Insights + 25 Examples

We review the basics of qualitative research questions, including their key components, how to craft them effectively, & 25 example questions.

Einstein was many things—a physicist, a philosopher, and, undoubtedly, a mastermind. He also had an incredible way with words. His quote, "Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count; everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted," is particularly poignant when it comes to research. 

Some inquiries call for a quantitative approach, for counting and measuring data in order to arrive at general conclusions. Other investigations, like qualitative research, rely on deep exploration and understanding of individual cases in order to develop a greater understanding of the whole. That’s what we’re going to focus on today.

Qualitative research questions focus on the "how" and "why" of things, rather than the "what". They ask about people's experiences and perceptions , and can be used to explore a wide range of topics.

The following article will discuss the basics of qualitative research questions, including their key components, and how to craft them effectively. You'll also find 25 examples of effective qualitative research questions you can use as inspiration for your own studies.

Let’s get started!

What are qualitative research questions, and when are they used?

When researchers set out to conduct a study on a certain topic, their research is chiefly directed by an overarching question . This question provides focus for the study and helps determine what kind of data will be collected.

By starting with a question, we gain parameters and objectives for our line of research. What are we studying? For what purpose? How will we know when we’ve achieved our goals?

Of course, some of these questions can be described as quantitative in nature. When a research question is quantitative, it usually seeks to measure or calculate something in a systematic way.

For example:

• How many people in our town use the library?
• What is the average income of families in our city?
• How much does the average person weigh?

Other research questions, however—and the ones we will be focusing on in this article—are qualitative in nature. Qualitative research questions are open-ended and seek to explore a given topic in-depth.

According to the Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry , “Qualitative research aims to address questions concerned with developing an understanding of the meaning and experience dimensions of humans’ lives and social worlds.”

This type of research can be used to gain a better understanding of people’s thoughts, feelings and experiences by “addressing questions beyond ‘what works’, towards ‘what works for whom when, how and why, and focusing on intervention improvement rather than accreditation,” states one paper in Neurological Research and Practice .

Qualitative questions often produce rich data that can help researchers develop hypotheses for further quantitative study.

• What are people’s thoughts on the new library?
• How does it feel to be a first-generation student at our school?
• How do people feel about the changes taking place in our town?

As stated by a paper in Human Reproduction , “...‘qualitative’ methods are used to answer questions about experience, meaning, and perspective, most often from the standpoint of the participant. These data are usually not amenable to counting or measuring.”

Both quantitative and qualitative questions have their uses; in fact, they often complement each other. A well-designed research study will include a mix of both types of questions in order to gain a fuller understanding of the topic at hand.

If you would like to recruit unlimited participants for qualitative research for free and only pay for the interview you conduct, try using Respondent  today. 

Crafting qualitative research questions for powerful insights

Now that we have a basic understanding of what qualitative research questions are and when they are used, let’s take a look at how you can begin crafting your own.

According to a study in the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, there is a certain process researchers should follow when crafting their questions, which we’ll explore in more depth.

1. Beginning the process 

Start with a point of interest or curiosity, and pose a draft question or ‘self-question’. What do you want to know about the topic at hand? What is your specific curiosity? You may find it helpful to begin by writing several questions.

For example, if you’re interested in understanding how your customer base feels about a recent change to your product, you might ask: 

• What made you decide to try the new product?
• How do you feel about the change?
• What do you think of the new design/functionality?
• What benefits do you see in the change?

2. Create one overarching, guiding question 

At this point, narrow down the draft questions into one specific question. “Sometimes, these broader research questions are not stated as questions, but rather as goals for the study.”

As an example of this, you might narrow down these three questions: 

into the following question: 

• What are our customers’ thoughts on the recent change to our product?

3. Theoretical framing 

As you read the relevant literature and apply theory to your research, the question should be altered to achieve better outcomes. Experts agree that pursuing a qualitative line of inquiry should open up the possibility for questioning your original theories and altering the conceptual framework with which the research began.

If we continue with the current example, it’s possible you may uncover new data that informs your research and changes your question. For instance, you may discover that customers’ feelings about the change are not just a reaction to the change itself, but also to how it was implemented. In this case, your question would need to reflect this new information: 

• How did customers react to the process of the change, as well as the change itself?

4. Ethical considerations 

A study in the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education stresses that ethics are “a central issue when a researcher proposes to study the lives of others, especially marginalized populations.” Consider how your question or inquiry will affect the people it relates to—their lives and their safety. Shape your question to avoid physical, emotional, or mental upset for the focus group.

In analyzing your question from this perspective, if you feel that it may cause harm, you should consider changing the question or ending your research project. Perhaps you’ve discovered that your question encourages harmful or invasive questioning, in which case you should reformulate it.

5. Writing the question 

The actual process of writing the question comes only after considering the above points. The purpose of crafting your research questions is to delve into what your study is specifically about” Remember that qualitative research questions are not trying to find the cause of an effect, but rather to explore the effect itself.

Your questions should be clear, concise, and understandable to those outside of your field. In addition, they should generate rich data. The questions you choose will also depend on the type of research you are conducting: 

• If you’re doing a phenomenological study, your questions might be open-ended, in order to allow participants to share their experiences in their own words.
• If you’re doing a grounded-theory study, your questions might be focused on generating a list of categories or themes.
• If you’re doing ethnography, your questions might be about understanding the culture you’re studying.

Whenyou have well-written questions, it is much easier to develop your research design and collect data that accurately reflects your inquiry.

In writing your questions, it may help you to refer to this simple flowchart process for constructing questions:

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25 examples of expertly crafted qualitative research questions

It's easy enough to cover the theory of writing a qualitative research question, but sometimes it's best if you can see the process in practice. In this section, we'll list 25 examples of B2B and B2C-related qualitative questions.

Let's begin with five questions. We'll show you the question, explain why it's considered qualitative, and then give you an example of how it can be used in research.

1. What is the customer's perception of our company's brand?

Qualitative research questions are often open-ended and invite respondents to share their thoughts and feelings on a subject. This question is qualitative because it seeks customer feedback on the company's brand. 

This question can be used in research to understand how customers feel about the company's branding, what they like and don't like about it, and whether they would recommend it to others.

2. Why do customers buy our product?

This question is also qualitative because it seeks to understand the customer's motivations for purchasing a product. It can be used in research to identify the reasons  customers buy a certain product, what needs or desires the product fulfills for them, and how they feel about the purchase after using the product.

3. How do our customers interact with our products?

Again, this question is qualitative because it seeks to understand customer behavior. In this case, it can be used in research to see how customers use the product, how they interact with it, and what emotions or thoughts the product evokes in them.

4. What are our customers' biggest frustrations with our products?

By seeking to understand customer frustrations, this question is qualitative and can provide valuable insights. It can be used in research to help identify areas in which the company needs to make improvements with its products.

5. How do our customers feel about our customer service?

Rather than asking why customers like or dislike something, this question asks how they feel. This qualitative question can provide insights into customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction with a company. 

This type of question can be used in research to understand what customers think of the company's customer service and whether they feel it meets their needs.

20 more examples to refer to when writing your question

Now that you’re aware of what makes certain questions qualitative, let's move into 20 more examples of qualitative research questions:

• How do your customers react when updates are made to your app interface?
• How do customers feel when they complete their purchase through your ecommerce site?
• What are your customers' main frustrations with your service?
• How do people feel about the quality of your products compared to those of your competitors?
• What motivates customers to refer their friends and family members to your product or service?
• What are the main benefits your customers receive from using your product or service?
• How do people feel when they finish a purchase on your website?
• What are the main motivations behind customer loyalty to your brand?
• How does your app make people feel emotionally?
• For younger generations using your app, how does it make them feel about themselves?
• What reputation do people associate with your brand?
• How inclusive do people find your app?
• In what ways are your customers' experiences unique to them?
• What are the main areas of improvement your customers would like to see in your product or service?
• How do people feel about their interactions with your tech team?
• What are the top five reasons people use your online marketplace?
• How does using your app make people feel in terms of connectedness?
• What emotions do people experience when they're using your product or service?
• Aside from the features of your product, what else about it attracts customers?
• How does your company culture make people feel?

As you can see, these kinds of questions are completely open-ended. In a way, they allow the research and discoveries made along the way to direct the research. The questions are merely a starting point from which to explore.

This video offers tips on how to write good qualitative research questions, produced by Qualitative Research Expert, Kimberly Baker.

Wrap-up: crafting your own qualitative research questions.

Over the course of this article, we've explored what qualitative research questions are, why they matter, and how they should be written. Hopefully you now have a clear understanding of how to craft your own.

Remember, qualitative research questions should always be designed to explore a certain experience or phenomena in-depth, in order to generate powerful insights. As you write your questions, be sure to keep the following in mind:

• Are you being inclusive of all relevant perspectives?
• Are your questions specific enough to generate clear answers?
• Will your questions allow for an in-depth exploration of the topic at hand?
• Do the questions reflect your research goals and objectives?

If you can answer "yes" to all of the questions above, and you've followed the tips for writing qualitative research questions we shared in this article, then you're well on your way to crafting powerful queries that will yield valuable insights.

Download Free E-Book

Asking the right questions in the right way is the key to research success. That’s true for not just the discussion guide but for every step of a research project. Following are 100+ questions that will take you from defining your research objective through  screening and participant discussions.

Fill out the form below to access free e-book! 

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Posing Researchable Questions in Mathematics and Science Education: Purposefully Questioning the Questions for Investigation

• Published: 07 April 2020
• Volume 18 , pages 1–7, ( 2020 )

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• Jinfa Cai 1 &
• Rachel Mamlok-Naaman 2  

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A Correction to this article was published on 15 May 2020

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Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.

Perhaps the most obvious example is the set of 23 influential mathematical problems posed by David Hilbert that inspired a great deal of progress in the discipline of mathematics (Hilbert, 1901 -1902). Einstein and Infeld ( 1938 ) claimed that “to raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science” (p. 95). Both Cantor and Klamkin recommended that, in mathematics, the art of posing a question be held as high or higher in value than solving it. Similarly, in the history of science, formulating precise, answerable questions not only advances new discoveries but also gives scientists intellectual excitement (Kennedy, 2005 ; Mosteller, 1980 ).

In research related to mathematics and science education, there is no shortage of evidence for the impact of posing important and researchable questions: Posing new, researchable questions marks real advances in mathematics and science education (Cai et al., 2019a ). Although research in mathematics and science education begins with researchable questions, only recently have researchers begun to purposefully and systematically discuss the nature of researchable questions. To conduct research, we must have researchable questions, but what defines a researchable question? What are the sources of researchable questions? How can we purposefully discuss researchable questions?

This special issue marks effort for the field’s discussion of researchable questions. As the field of mathematics and science education matures, it is necessary to reflect on the field at such a metalevel (Inglis & Foster, 2018 ). Although the authors in this special issue discuss researchable questions from different angles, they all refer to researchable questions as those that can be investigated empirically. For any empirical study, one can discuss its design, its conduct, and how it can be written up for publication. Therefore, researchable questions in mathematics and science education can be discussed with respect to study design, the conduct of research, and the dissemination of that research.

Even though there are many lines of inquiry that we can explore with respect to researchable questions, each exploring the topic from a different angle, we have decided to focus on the following three aspects to introduce this special issue: (1) criteria for selecting researchable questions, (2) sources of researchable questions, and (3) alignment of researchable questions with the conceptual framework as well as appropriate research methods.

Criteria for Selecting Researchable Questions

It is clear that not all researchable questions are worth the effort to investigate. According to Cai et al. ( 2020 ), of all researchable questions in mathematics and science education, priority is given to those that are significant. Research questions are significant if they can advance the fields’ knowledge and understanding about the teaching and learning of science and mathematics. Through an analysis of peer reviews for a research journal, Cai et al. ( 2020 ) provide a window into the field’s frontiers related to significant researchable questions. In an earlier article, Cai et al. ( 2019a ) argued that

The significance of a research question cannot be determined just by reading it. Rather, its significance stands in relation to the knowledge of the field. The justification for the research question itself—why it is a significant question to investigate—must therefore be made clear through an explicit argument that ties the research question to what is and is not already known. (p. 118)

In their analysis, Cai et al. ( 2020 ) provide evidence that many reviews that highlighted issues with the research questions in rejected manuscripts specifically called for authors to make an argument to motivate the research questions, whereas none of the manuscripts that were ultimately accepted (pending revisions) received this kind of comment. Cai et al. ( 2020 ) provide a framework not only for analyzing peer reviews about research questions but also for how to communicate researchable questions in journal manuscript preparations.

Whereas Cai and his colleagues, as editors of a journal, discuss significant research questions from the perspective of peer review and publication, King, Ochsendorf, Solomon, and Sloane ( 2020 ), as program directors at the Directorate for Education and Human Resources at the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), discuss fundable research questions for research in mathematics and science education. King et al. ( 2020 ) situate their discussion of fundable research questions in the context of writing successful educational research grant proposals. For them, fundable research questions must be transformative and significant with specific and clear constructs. In addition, they present examples of STEM education research questions from different types of research (Institute of Education Sciences [IES] & NSF, 2013 ) and how the questions themselves direct specific design choices, methodologies, measures, study samples, and analytical models as well as how they can reflect the disciplinary orientations of the researchers.

Hjalmarson and Baker ( 2020 ) take a quite different approach to discussing researchable questions for teacher professional development. They argue for the need to include mathematics specialists (e.g. mathematics coaches or mathematics teacher leaders) for studying teacher learning and development. To Hjalmarson and Baker ( 2020 ), researchable questions related to teacher professional learning should be selected by including mathematics specialists because of their role in connecting research and practice.

Sanchez ( 2020 ) discuss, in particular, the importance of replication studies in mathematics and the kinds of researchable questions that would be productive to explore within this category. With the increased acknowledgement of the importance of replication studies (Cai et al., 2018 ), Sanchez Aguilar has provided a useful typology of fundamental questions that can guide a replication study in mathematics (and science) education.

Schoenfeld ( 2020 ) is very direct in suggesting that researchable questions must advance the field and that these research questions must be meaningful and generative: “What is meant by meaningful is that the answer to the questions posed should matter to either practice or theory in some important way. What is meant by generative is that working on the problem, whether it is ‘solved’ or not, is likely to provide valuable insights” (pp. XX). Schoenfeld calls for researchers to establish research programs—that is, one not only selects meaningful research questions to investigate but also continues in that area of research to produce ongoing insights and further meaningful questions.

Stylianides and Stylianides ( 2020 ) argue that, collectively, researchers can and need to pose new researchable questions. The new researchable questions are worth investigating if they reflect the field’s growing understanding of the web of potentially influential factors surrounding the investigation of a particular area. The argument that Stylianides and Stylianides ( 2020 ) use is very similar to Schoenfeld’s ( 2020 ) generative criteria, but Stylianides and Stylianides ( 2020 ) explicitly emphasize the collective nature of the field’s growing understanding of a particular phenomenon.

Sources of Researchable Questions

Research questions in science and mathematics education arise from multiple sources, including problems of practice, extensions of theory, and lacunae in existing areas of research. Therefore, through a research question’s connections to prior research, it should be clear how answering the question extends the field’s knowledge (Cai et al., 2019a ). Across the papers in this special issue lies a common theme that researchable questions arise from understanding the area under study. Cai et al. ( 2020 ) take the position that the significance of researchable questions must be justified in the context of prior research. In particular, reviewers of manuscripts submitted for publication will evaluate if the study is adequately motivated. In fact, posing significant researchable questions is an iterative process beginning with some broader, general sense of an idea which is potentially fruitful and leading, eventually, to a well-specified, stated research question (Cai et al., 2019a ). Similarly, King et al. ( 2020 ) argue that fundable research questions should be grounded in prior research and make explicit connections to what is known or not known in the given area of study.

Sanchez ( 2020 ) suggest that it is time for the field of mathematics and science education research to seriously consider replication studies. Researchable questions related to replication studies might arise from the examination of the following two questions: (1) Do the results of the original study hold true beyond the context in which it was developed? (2) Are there alternative ways to study and explain an identified phenomenon or finding? Similarly, Hjalmarson and Baker ( 2020 ) specifically suggest two needs related to mathematics specialists in studies of professional development that drive researchable questions: (1) defining practices and hidden players involved in systematic school change and (2) identifying the unit of analysis and scaling up professional development.

Schoenfeld ( 2020 ) uses various examples to illustrate the origin of researchable questions. One of his (perhaps most familiar) examples is his decade-long research on mathematical problem solving. He elaborates on how answering one specific research question leads to another and another. In the context of research on mathematical proof, Stylianides and Stylianides ( 2020 ) also illustrate how researchable questions arise from existing research in the area leading to new researchable questions in the dynamic process of educational research. The arguments and examples in both Schoenfeld ( 2020 ) and Stylianides and Stylianides ( 2020 ) are quite powerful in the sense that this source of researchable questions facilitates the accumulation of knowledge for the given areas of study.

A related source of researchable questions is not discussed in this set of papers—unexpected findings. A potentially powerful source of research questions is the discovery of an unexpected finding when conducting research (Cai et al., 2019b ). Many important advances in scientific research have their origins in serendipitous, unexpected findings. Researchers are often faced with unexpected and perhaps surprising results, even when they have developed a carefully crafted theoretical framework, posed research questions tightly connected to this framework, presented hypotheses about expected outcomes, and selected methods that should help answer the research questions. Indeed, unexpected findings can be the most interesting and valuable products of the study and a source of further researchable questions (Cai et al., 2019b ).

Of course, researchable questions can also arise from established scholars in a given field—those who are most familiar with the scope of the research that has been done. For example, in 2005, in celebrating the 125th anniversary of the publication of Science ’s first issue, the journal invited researchers from around the world to propose the 125 most important research questions in the scientific enterprise (Kennedy, 2005 ). A list of unanswered questions like this is a great source for researchable questions in science, just as the 23 great questions in mathematics by Hilbert ( 1901 -1902) spurred the field for decades. In mathematics and science education, one can look to research handbooks and compendiums. These volumes often include lists of unanswered research questions in the hopes of prompting further research in various areas (e.g. Cai, 2017 ; Clements, Bishop, Keitel, Kilpatrick, & Leung, 2013 ; Talbot-Smith, 2013 ).

Alignment of Researchable Questions with the Conceptual Framework and Appropriate Research Methods

Cai et al. ( 2020 ) and King et al. ( 2020 ) explicitly discuss the alignment of researchable questions with the conceptual framework and appropriate research methods. In writing journal publications or grant proposals, it is extremely important to justify the significance of the researchable questions based on the chosen theoretical framework and then determine robust methods to answer the research questions. According to Cai et al. ( 2019a ), justification for the significance of the research questions depends on a theoretical framework: “The theoretical framework shapes the researcher’s conception of the phenomenon of interest, provides insight into it, and defines the kinds of questions that can be asked about it” (p. 119). It is true that the notion of a theoretical framework can remain somewhat mysterious and confusing for researchers. However, it is clear that the theoretical framework links research questions to existing knowledge, thus helping to establish their significance; provides guidance and justification for methodological choices; and provides support for the coherence that is needed between research questions, methods, results, and interpretations of findings (Cai & Hwang, 2019 ; Cai et al., 2019c ).

Analyzing reviews for a research journal in mathematics education, Cai et al. ( 2020 ) found that the reviewers wanted manuscripts to be explicit about how the research questions, the theoretical framework, the methods, and the findings were connected. Even for manuscripts that were accepted (pending revisions), making explicit connections across all parts of the manuscript was a challenging proposition. Thus, in preparing manuscripts for publication, it is essential to communicate the significance of a study by developing a coherent chain of justification connecting researchable questions, the theoretical framework, and the research methods chosen to address the research questions.

The Long Journey Has Just Begun with a First Step

As the field of mathematics and science education matures, there is a need to take a step back and reflect on what has been done so that the field can continue to grow. This special issue represents a first step by reflecting on the posing of significant researchable questions to advance research in mathematics and science education. Such reflection is useful and necessary not only for the design of studies but also for the writing of research reports for publication. Most importantly, working on significant researchable questions cannot only contribute to theory generation about the teaching and learning of mathematics and science but also contribute to improving the impact of research on practice in mathematics and science classrooms.

To conclude, we want to draw readers’ attention to a parallel between this reflection on research in our field and a line of research that investigates the development of school students’ problem-posing and questioning skills in mathematics and science (Blonder, Rapp, Mamlok-Naaman, & Hofstein, 2015 ; Cai, Hwang, Jiang, & Silber, 2015 ; Cuccio-Schirripa & Steiner, 2000 ; Hofstein, Navon, Kipnis, & Mamlok-Naaman, 2005 ; Silver, 1994 ; Singer, Ellerton, & Cai, 2015 ). Posing researchable questions is critical for advancing research in mathematics and science education. Similarly, providing students opportunities to pose problems is critical for the development of their thinking and learning. With the first step in this journey made, perhaps we can dream of something bigger further on down the road.

Change history

15 may 2020.

The original version of this article unfortunately contains correction.

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Cai, J., Mamlok-Naaman, R. Posing Researchable Questions in Mathematics and Science Education: Purposefully Questioning the Questions for Investigation. Int J of Sci and Math Educ 18 (Suppl 1), 1–7 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-020-10079-5

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110+ Exceptional Education Research Topics Ideas

Topics for education research usually comprise school research topics, research problems in education, qualitative research topics in education, and concept paper topics about education to mention a few.

If you’re looking for research titles about education,  you’re reading the right post! This article contains 110 of the best education research topics that will come in handy when you need to choose one for your research. From sample research topics in education, to research titles examples for high school students about education – we have it all.

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The best research titles about education must be done through the detailed process of exploring previous works and improving personal knowledge.

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The following examples of research titles about education for college students are ideal for a project that will take a long duration to complete. Here are some education topics for research that you can consider for your degree.

• Modern classroom difficulties of students and teachers
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• The link between debt accumulation and student loans
• Boarding schools and regular schools: The role these two school types play in cognitive development

Educational-related topics used for a thesis normally require a wide aspect of study and enough educational materials.  Here are some education research topics you can use for write my thesis .

• The difficulties of bilingual education in private universities
• Homework and its impact on learning processes in college education
• Dissertation topic selection: Key aspects and research obligations
• Social media research topics and their educational functions
• A detailed educational review of student learning via virtual reality techniques
• Ethnicities in universities and their participation in group activities
• The modern approach to self-studying for college students
• Developing time management skills in modern education
• Guidelines for teacher development in advanced educational institutions
• The need for religious education in boarding schools
• A measure of cognitive development using digital learning methods

A research title about school issues focuses on activities surrounding the school environment and its effects on students, teachers, parents, and education in general. Below are some sample research titles in education, relating to school issues.

• Learning English in bilingual schools
• A study of teachers’ role as parent figures on school grounds
• Addressing the increased use of illegal substances and their effects in schools
• The benefits of after-class activities for foreign students
• Assessing student and teacher relationships
• A study of the best methods to implement safety rules in school
• Major obstacles in meeting school schedules using boarding students as a case study
• The need for counseling in public and private schools: Which is greater?
• Academic volunteering in understaffed public schools
• Modern techniques for curbing school violence among college students
• The advantages and disadvantages of teacher unions in schools

As you create your proposed list of research topics in education, consider scientific journals for referencing purposes. Here are some Ph.D. research titles for education.

• The modern methods of academic research writing
• The role of colleges in advanced mental care
• The merits and demerits of Ph.D. studies in Europe and Africa
• Interpersonal relationships between students and professors in advanced institutions
• A review of community colleges: merits and demerits
• Assessing racism in academic ethnic minorities
• The psychological changes of students in higher education
• The questionable standards of student loan provisions
• The merits of personalized teaching techniques in colleges
• The wage gap between private and public university teachers
• Teacher responsibilities in private universities versus public universities

The research topics in elementary education in 2023 are very different from the elementary education research topics from five or ten years ago. This creates interesting grounds for different research titles for elementary education.

Here are some elementary education title research ideas.

• Assessing quick computer literacy among elementary school pupils.
• The role of video games in childhood brain development
• Male vs female role models in early education periods
• The advantages of digital textbooks in elementary schools
• The impact of modern curriculums on elementary education
• Lack of proper school grooming is a cause of violence.
• Should elementary school children be taught about LGBTQ?
• A review of the need for sexual education in elementary schools
• The effects of emotional dependence in early childhood learners.
• The need for constant technology supervision of elementary school students
• Advantages of computer-guided education in elementary schools

Here are some research title examples for students taking online classes.

• The academic difficulties experienced by online students.
• A study of decreased attention in online classes
• The upsides and downsides of online education
• The rising fees of online and traditional education in universities
• A detailed study on the necessity of college internships
• The need to provide college scholarships based on environmental achievements
• How online education terminates university fraternities and sororities.
• The role of academic supervisors in career selection
• Why interactive assignments improved learning capabilities during the pandemic
• Merits of education in online learning environments
• Why online lessons are the least effective for some college students

The modular learning approach focuses primarily on learning outcomes. Here are some examples of research titles about modular learning.

• Modular learning and the role of teachers in its execution
• Teaching techniques of religious institutions
• Potential risks of accelerated learning
• Modular learning on students’ future performances
• The general overview of modular learning amongst students
• The modern Advantages and disadvantages of inclusive classes
• Observing student developments in modular learning
• Music therapy for fostering modular learning techniques
• The creation of a personalized curriculum for students.
• Applications of modular learning both in home-schooling?
• The benefits of modular learning towards creating a more holistic educational system

These research title examples about education answer important questions and they can also be argumentative essay topics .

Here are some titles of research about education questions.

• What impacts do learning approaches provide for students?
• How can schools manage their increasing gender differences?
• What fosters the provision of learning needs?
• What are the best educational recruitment methods?
• How can cognitive development improve education?
• How can you assess the moral growth of institutions?
• What are the primary causes of educational differences in geographical locations?
• How can institutions address increasing mental health needs?
• Why is early intervention essential in students with mental health setbacks?
• What are the characteristics of mental health deterioration among students?
• What techniques are acceptable in regulating the violence of students in institutions

Some of the research title examples about education include:

• How do schools create more personalized learning methods?
• Evaluating mental health setbacks during education
• The impact of modern technology on special education
• The cognitive improvements via specialized learning in dyslexic children
• The psychological link between dyslexia and bullying in high school
• Impact of social isolation in special education classes
• The difficulties in providing specialized learning environments
• A study of orphan students with disabilities and their aptitudes for learning
• How special classes improve the self-esteem of disabled students.
• How to use modern teaching techniques in unique learning environments.
• A study of the application of digital games to autistic learning

Final words about education research topics

We have provided some reliable examples of a research topic about education you can use for write my thesis . You can use these research titles in education to cultivate your ideas, create inspiration, or for online research. Remember always to select a topic that you’re naturally passionate about and do diligent research, and reach out to our professional writing services if you need any help.

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Research Questions About Education 2018

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@TeacherToolkit

What questions are the Department for Education currently researching about education in our schools?

This document is part of a broader engagement between the department and the research community and sets out areas where the DfE is interested in more research and new evidence.

The purpose of this Areas of Research Interest ( ARI ) is to raise awareness amongst the external research community of the main DfE research priorities. I've re-posted some of the questions highlighted in this document . It is important to look at this document for the full set

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7 thoughts on “ Research Questions About Education 2018 ”

A great read, and I agree with the questions you’ve added to your list. I think my question would be: ‘Are there any immediate adjustments that can be made to teacher terms, conditions, workload or progression that would signal sufficient benefits to retain teachers on the edge of leaving?’ And (sub question: ‘How do these compare in cost/impact terms to the provision of substantial tax-free bursaries to attract new teachers, or plans to introduce sabbaticals?’

That’s a great question Jo. Sabbatical is one answer, but at system level, nothing will change without significant funding and a teacher pay rise.

How can teachers improve instruction for ESL learners in mainstream classes using personalised learning(differentiation)

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Once you select a topic, refine your research question by asking the "5 W's"

Why  – why is the topic important? (to the class, to the field, or to you - let your answer help shape the following questions)

Who  – population or group (e.g., teens, college students, refugees), what  – discipline or focus (e.g., psychology or classroom strategies), where  – geographic location (e.g., united states; universities; rural areas), when  – time or era (civil rights era; last 5 years; pre-covid).

Broad topic: Immigrants in public schools

Narrowed topic: Classroom strategies that affect education outcomes for immigrant students in rural US K-12 schools.

Adapted from: University of Michigan. (2023 Finding and Exploring your topic. Retrieved from  https://guides.lib.umich.edu/c.php?g=283095&p=1886086

• Goldilocker Tool: University of Michigan Libraries A simple survey tool that walks users through the process of shaping their topical research question using the "5 W's"

If you receive too few results, broaden your research question by revisiting the "5 W's"

Why  – why is the topic important? (moving beyond your personal interest, how could your topic affect the region/state/country/world)

Who  – population or group (instead of "teens" try "adolescents," instead of "refugees" try "immigrants"), what  – discipline or focus (in addition to "psychology" add other disciplines such as "social work" or "school counseling"), where  – geographic location (expand your geographic region to include additional communities), when  – time or era (lengthen the amount of time).

A good research question is clear, focused, and has an appropriate level of complexity. Developing a strong question is a process, so you will likely refine your question as you continue to research and to develop your ideas.  

Unclear : Why are social networking sites harmful?

Clear:  How are online users experiencing or addressing privacy issues on such social networking sites as Facebook and TikTok?

Unfocused:  What is the effect on the environment from global warming?

Focused:  How is glacial melting affecting penguins in Antarctica?

Simple vs Complex

Too simple:  How are doctors addressing diabetes in the U.S.?

Appropriately Complex:   What are common traits of those suffering from diabetes in America, and how can these commonalities be used to aid the medical community in prevention of the disease?

Adapted from: George Mason University Writing Center. (2018). How to write a research question. Retrieved from  https://writingcenter.gmu.edu/writing-resources/research-based-writing/how-to-write-a-research-question

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Writing Survey Questions

Perhaps the most important part of the survey process is the creation of questions that accurately measure the opinions, experiences and behaviors of the public. Accurate random sampling will be wasted if the information gathered is built on a shaky foundation of ambiguous or biased questions. Creating good measures involves both writing good questions and organizing them to form the questionnaire.

Questionnaire design is a multistage process that requires attention to many details at once. Designing the questionnaire is complicated because surveys can ask about topics in varying degrees of detail, questions can be asked in different ways, and questions asked earlier in a survey may influence how people respond to later questions. Researchers are also often interested in measuring change over time and therefore must be attentive to how opinions or behaviors have been measured in prior surveys.

Surveyors may conduct pilot tests or focus groups in the early stages of questionnaire development in order to better understand how people think about an issue or comprehend a question. Pretesting a survey is an essential step in the questionnaire design process to evaluate how people respond to the overall questionnaire and specific questions, especially when questions are being introduced for the first time.

For many years, surveyors approached questionnaire design as an art, but substantial research over the past forty years has demonstrated that there is a lot of science involved in crafting a good survey questionnaire. Here, we discuss the pitfalls and best practices of designing questionnaires.

Question development

There are several steps involved in developing a survey questionnaire. The first is identifying what topics will be covered in the survey. For Pew Research Center surveys, this involves thinking about what is happening in our nation and the world and what will be relevant to the public, policymakers and the media. We also track opinion on a variety of issues over time so we often ensure that we update these trends on a regular basis to better understand whether people’s opinions are changing.

At Pew Research Center, questionnaire development is a collaborative and iterative process where staff meet to discuss drafts of the questionnaire several times over the course of its development. We frequently test new survey questions ahead of time through qualitative research methods such as  focus groups , cognitive interviews, pretesting (often using an  online, opt-in sample ), or a combination of these approaches. Researchers use insights from this testing to refine questions before they are asked in a production survey, such as on the ATP.

Measuring change over time

Many surveyors want to track changes over time in people’s attitudes, opinions and behaviors. To measure change, questions are asked at two or more points in time. A cross-sectional design surveys different people in the same population at multiple points in time. A panel, such as the ATP, surveys the same people over time. However, it is common for the set of people in survey panels to change over time as new panelists are added and some prior panelists drop out. Many of the questions in Pew Research Center surveys have been asked in prior polls. Asking the same questions at different points in time allows us to report on changes in the overall views of the general public (or a subset of the public, such as registered voters, men or Black Americans), or what we call “trending the data”.

When measuring change over time, it is important to use the same question wording and to be sensitive to where the question is asked in the questionnaire to maintain a similar context as when the question was asked previously (see  question wording  and  question order  for further information). All of our survey reports include a topline questionnaire that provides the exact question wording and sequencing, along with results from the current survey and previous surveys in which we asked the question.

The Center’s transition from conducting U.S. surveys by live telephone interviewing to an online panel (around 2014 to 2020) complicated some opinion trends, but not others. Opinion trends that ask about sensitive topics (e.g., personal finances or attending religious services ) or that elicited volunteered answers (e.g., “neither” or “don’t know”) over the phone tended to show larger differences than other trends when shifting from phone polls to the online ATP. The Center adopted several strategies for coping with changes to data trends that may be related to this change in methodology. If there is evidence suggesting that a change in a trend stems from switching from phone to online measurement, Center reports flag that possibility for readers to try to head off confusion or erroneous conclusions.

Open- and closed-ended questions

One of the most significant decisions that can affect how people answer questions is whether the question is posed as an open-ended question, where respondents provide a response in their own words, or a closed-ended question, where they are asked to choose from a list of answer choices.

For example, in a poll conducted after the 2008 presidential election, people responded very differently to two versions of the question: “What one issue mattered most to you in deciding how you voted for president?” One was closed-ended and the other open-ended. In the closed-ended version, respondents were provided five options and could volunteer an option not on the list.

When explicitly offered the economy as a response, more than half of respondents (58%) chose this answer; only 35% of those who responded to the open-ended version volunteered the economy. Moreover, among those asked the closed-ended version, fewer than one-in-ten (8%) provided a response other than the five they were read. By contrast, fully 43% of those asked the open-ended version provided a response not listed in the closed-ended version of the question. All of the other issues were chosen at least slightly more often when explicitly offered in the closed-ended version than in the open-ended version. (Also see  “High Marks for the Campaign, a High Bar for Obama”  for more information.)

Researchers will sometimes conduct a pilot study using open-ended questions to discover which answers are most common. They will then develop closed-ended questions based off that pilot study that include the most common responses as answer choices. In this way, the questions may better reflect what the public is thinking, how they view a particular issue, or bring certain issues to light that the researchers may not have been aware of.

When asking closed-ended questions, the choice of options provided, how each option is described, the number of response options offered, and the order in which options are read can all influence how people respond. One example of the impact of how categories are defined can be found in a Pew Research Center poll conducted in January 2002. When half of the sample was asked whether it was “more important for President Bush to focus on domestic policy or foreign policy,” 52% chose domestic policy while only 34% said foreign policy. When the category “foreign policy” was narrowed to a specific aspect – “the war on terrorism” – far more people chose it; only 33% chose domestic policy while 52% chose the war on terrorism.

In most circumstances, the number of answer choices should be kept to a relatively small number – just four or perhaps five at most – especially in telephone surveys. Psychological research indicates that people have a hard time keeping more than this number of choices in mind at one time. When the question is asking about an objective fact and/or demographics, such as the religious affiliation of the respondent, more categories can be used. In fact, they are encouraged to ensure inclusivity. For example, Pew Research Center’s standard religion questions include more than 12 different categories, beginning with the most common affiliations (Protestant and Catholic). Most respondents have no trouble with this question because they can expect to see their religious group within that list in a self-administered survey.

In addition to the number and choice of response options offered, the order of answer categories can influence how people respond to closed-ended questions. Research suggests that in telephone surveys respondents more frequently choose items heard later in a list (a “recency effect”), and in self-administered surveys, they tend to choose items at the top of the list (a “primacy” effect).

Because of concerns about the effects of category order on responses to closed-ended questions, many sets of response options in Pew Research Center’s surveys are programmed to be randomized to ensure that the options are not asked in the same order for each respondent. Rotating or randomizing means that questions or items in a list are not asked in the same order to each respondent. Answers to questions are sometimes affected by questions that precede them. By presenting questions in a different order to each respondent, we ensure that each question gets asked in the same context as every other question the same number of times (e.g., first, last or any position in between). This does not eliminate the potential impact of previous questions on the current question, but it does ensure that this bias is spread randomly across all of the questions or items in the list. For instance, in the example discussed above about what issue mattered most in people’s vote, the order of the five issues in the closed-ended version of the question was randomized so that no one issue appeared early or late in the list for all respondents. Randomization of response items does not eliminate order effects, but it does ensure that this type of bias is spread randomly.

Questions with ordinal response categories – those with an underlying order (e.g., excellent, good, only fair, poor OR very favorable, mostly favorable, mostly unfavorable, very unfavorable) – are generally not randomized because the order of the categories conveys important information to help respondents answer the question. Generally, these types of scales should be presented in order so respondents can easily place their responses along the continuum, but the order can be reversed for some respondents. For example, in one of Pew Research Center’s questions about abortion, half of the sample is asked whether abortion should be “legal in all cases, legal in most cases, illegal in most cases, illegal in all cases,” while the other half of the sample is asked the same question with the response categories read in reverse order, starting with “illegal in all cases.” Again, reversing the order does not eliminate the recency effect but distributes it randomly across the population.

Question wording

The choice of words and phrases in a question is critical in expressing the meaning and intent of the question to the respondent and ensuring that all respondents interpret the question the same way. Even small wording differences can substantially affect the answers people provide.

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An example of a wording difference that had a significant impact on responses comes from a January 2003 Pew Research Center survey. When people were asked whether they would “favor or oppose taking military action in Iraq to end Saddam Hussein’s rule,” 68% said they favored military action while 25% said they opposed military action. However, when asked whether they would “favor or oppose taking military action in Iraq to end Saddam Hussein’s rule  even if it meant that U.S. forces might suffer thousands of casualties, ” responses were dramatically different; only 43% said they favored military action, while 48% said they opposed it. The introduction of U.S. casualties altered the context of the question and influenced whether people favored or opposed military action in Iraq.

There has been a substantial amount of research to gauge the impact of different ways of asking questions and how to minimize differences in the way respondents interpret what is being asked. The issues related to question wording are more numerous than can be treated adequately in this short space, but below are a few of the important things to consider:

First, it is important to ask questions that are clear and specific and that each respondent will be able to answer. If a question is open-ended, it should be evident to respondents that they can answer in their own words and what type of response they should provide (an issue or problem, a month, number of days, etc.). Closed-ended questions should include all reasonable responses (i.e., the list of options is exhaustive) and the response categories should not overlap (i.e., response options should be mutually exclusive). Further, it is important to discern when it is best to use forced-choice close-ended questions (often denoted with a radio button in online surveys) versus “select-all-that-apply” lists (or check-all boxes). A 2019 Center study found that forced-choice questions tend to yield more accurate responses, especially for sensitive questions.  Based on that research, the Center generally avoids using select-all-that-apply questions.

It is also important to ask only one question at a time. Questions that ask respondents to evaluate more than one concept (known as double-barreled questions) – such as “How much confidence do you have in President Obama to handle domestic and foreign policy?” – are difficult for respondents to answer and often lead to responses that are difficult to interpret. In this example, it would be more effective to ask two separate questions, one about domestic policy and another about foreign policy.

In general, questions that use simple and concrete language are more easily understood by respondents. It is especially important to consider the education level of the survey population when thinking about how easy it will be for respondents to interpret and answer a question. Double negatives (e.g., do you favor or oppose  not  allowing gays and lesbians to legally marry) or unfamiliar abbreviations or jargon (e.g., ANWR instead of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) can result in respondent confusion and should be avoided.

Similarly, it is important to consider whether certain words may be viewed as biased or potentially offensive to some respondents, as well as the emotional reaction that some words may provoke. For example, in a 2005 Pew Research Center survey, 51% of respondents said they favored “making it legal for doctors to give terminally ill patients the means to end their lives,” but only 44% said they favored “making it legal for doctors to assist terminally ill patients in committing suicide.” Although both versions of the question are asking about the same thing, the reaction of respondents was different. In another example, respondents have reacted differently to questions using the word “welfare” as opposed to the more generic “assistance to the poor.” Several experiments have shown that there is much greater public support for expanding “assistance to the poor” than for expanding “welfare.”

We often write two versions of a question and ask half of the survey sample one version of the question and the other half the second version. Thus, we say we have two  forms  of the questionnaire. Respondents are assigned randomly to receive either form, so we can assume that the two groups of respondents are essentially identical. On questions where two versions are used, significant differences in the answers between the two forms tell us that the difference is a result of the way we worded the two versions.

One of the most common formats used in survey questions is the “agree-disagree” format. In this type of question, respondents are asked whether they agree or disagree with a particular statement. Research has shown that, compared with the better educated and better informed, less educated and less informed respondents have a greater tendency to agree with such statements. This is sometimes called an “acquiescence bias” (since some kinds of respondents are more likely to acquiesce to the assertion than are others). This behavior is even more pronounced when there’s an interviewer present, rather than when the survey is self-administered. A better practice is to offer respondents a choice between alternative statements. A Pew Research Center experiment with one of its routinely asked values questions illustrates the difference that question format can make. Not only does the forced choice format yield a very different result overall from the agree-disagree format, but the pattern of answers between respondents with more or less formal education also tends to be very different.

One other challenge in developing questionnaires is what is called “social desirability bias.” People have a natural tendency to want to be accepted and liked, and this may lead people to provide inaccurate answers to questions that deal with sensitive subjects. Research has shown that respondents understate alcohol and drug use, tax evasion and racial bias. They also may overstate church attendance, charitable contributions and the likelihood that they will vote in an election. Researchers attempt to account for this potential bias in crafting questions about these topics. For instance, when Pew Research Center surveys ask about past voting behavior, it is important to note that circumstances may have prevented the respondent from voting: “In the 2012 presidential election between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, did things come up that kept you from voting, or did you happen to vote?” The choice of response options can also make it easier for people to be honest. For example, a question about church attendance might include three of six response options that indicate infrequent attendance. Research has also shown that social desirability bias can be greater when an interviewer is present (e.g., telephone and face-to-face surveys) than when respondents complete the survey themselves (e.g., paper and web surveys).

Lastly, because slight modifications in question wording can affect responses, identical question wording should be used when the intention is to compare results to those from earlier surveys. Similarly, because question wording and responses can vary based on the mode used to survey respondents, researchers should carefully evaluate the likely effects on trend measurements if a different survey mode will be used to assess change in opinion over time.

Question order

Once the survey questions are developed, particular attention should be paid to how they are ordered in the questionnaire. Surveyors must be attentive to how questions early in a questionnaire may have unintended effects on how respondents answer subsequent questions. Researchers have demonstrated that the order in which questions are asked can influence how people respond; earlier questions can unintentionally provide context for the questions that follow (these effects are called “order effects”).

One kind of order effect can be seen in responses to open-ended questions. Pew Research Center surveys generally ask open-ended questions about national problems, opinions about leaders and similar topics near the beginning of the questionnaire. If closed-ended questions that relate to the topic are placed before the open-ended question, respondents are much more likely to mention concepts or considerations raised in those earlier questions when responding to the open-ended question.

For closed-ended opinion questions, there are two main types of order effects: contrast effects ( where the order results in greater differences in responses), and assimilation effects (where responses are more similar as a result of their order).

An example of a contrast effect can be seen in a Pew Research Center poll conducted in October 2003, a dozen years before same-sex marriage was legalized in the U.S. That poll found that people were more likely to favor allowing gays and lesbians to enter into legal agreements that give them the same rights as married couples when this question was asked after one about whether they favored or opposed allowing gays and lesbians to marry (45% favored legal agreements when asked after the marriage question, but 37% favored legal agreements without the immediate preceding context of a question about same-sex marriage). Responses to the question about same-sex marriage, meanwhile, were not significantly affected by its placement before or after the legal agreements question.

Another experiment embedded in a December 2008 Pew Research Center poll also resulted in a contrast effect. When people were asked “All in all, are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way things are going in this country today?” immediately after having been asked “Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling his job as president?”; 88% said they were dissatisfied, compared with only 78% without the context of the prior question.

Responses to presidential approval remained relatively unchanged whether national satisfaction was asked before or after it. A similar finding occurred in December 2004 when both satisfaction and presidential approval were much higher (57% were dissatisfied when Bush approval was asked first vs. 51% when general satisfaction was asked first).

Several studies also have shown that asking a more specific question before a more general question (e.g., asking about happiness with one’s marriage before asking about one’s overall happiness) can result in a contrast effect. Although some exceptions have been found, people tend to avoid redundancy by excluding the more specific question from the general rating.

Assimilation effects occur when responses to two questions are more consistent or closer together because of their placement in the questionnaire. We found an example of an assimilation effect in a Pew Research Center poll conducted in November 2008 when we asked whether Republican leaders should work with Obama or stand up to him on important issues and whether Democratic leaders should work with Republican leaders or stand up to them on important issues. People were more likely to say that Republican leaders should work with Obama when the question was preceded by the one asking what Democratic leaders should do in working with Republican leaders (81% vs. 66%). However, when people were first asked about Republican leaders working with Obama, fewer said that Democratic leaders should work with Republican leaders (71% vs. 82%).

The order questions are asked is of particular importance when tracking trends over time. As a result, care should be taken to ensure that the context is similar each time a question is asked. Modifying the context of the question could call into question any observed changes over time (see  measuring change over time  for more information).

A questionnaire, like a conversation, should be grouped by topic and unfold in a logical order. It is often helpful to begin the survey with simple questions that respondents will find interesting and engaging. Throughout the survey, an effort should be made to keep the survey interesting and not overburden respondents with several difficult questions right after one another. Demographic questions such as income, education or age should not be asked near the beginning of a survey unless they are needed to determine eligibility for the survey or for routing respondents through particular sections of the questionnaire. Even then, it is best to precede such items with more interesting and engaging questions. One virtue of survey panels like the ATP is that demographic questions usually only need to be asked once a year, not in each survey.

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Blood samples enhance B-cell lymphoma diagnostics and prognosis

B-cell lymphoma is the most common cancer of the lymphatic system. In roughly 30% of patients with aggressive B-cell lymphoma, the disease relapses. At the moment, risk profiling for the disease derives from clinical estimates, such as a risk classification based on the patient's age and general condition as well as disease stage. However, these methods are not sufficiently accurate: patients with the highest risk may go undetected, and biological differences between lymphomas remain unexplored. Moreover, poor tissue samples can compromise exact diagnoses.

In a recently completed joint Nordic study, researchers at the University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital investigated how blood samples from lymphoma patients could be utilised to improve the diagnosis and treatment of the disease. From blood samples of 109 patients with aggressive B-cell lymphoma, the researchers analysed the levels of 1,400 proteins, or protein profiles.

The samples were collected before, at the mid-point, and at the end of the treatments. Subsequently, the researchers compared the samples with clinical data on the patients, the characteristics of the tumour tissue, and circulating tumour DNA originating in lymphoma.

In the blood samples, the researchers identified an inflammatory protein profile associated with poor survival, inflamed tumour tissue, and tumour burden. In addition, the researchers found that different subtypes of B-cell lymphoma can be classified based on the protein profiles obtained from blood samples.

The fact that protein data enables the monitoring of patients' response to treatment in the first place was an important observation.

"We found that the protein profiles of blood samples can help direct care to the patients who will most benefit from it. This technique would significantly boost personalised care, as it takes into account both the characteristics of tumour tissue and the patient's response to the disease," says Professor Sirpa Leppä from the University of Helsinki and HUS Helsinki University Hospital.

Disease recurrence observable in blood samples

According to Doctoral Researcher Maare Arffman from the University of Helsinki, protein profiles could be used to increase the accuracy of diagnoses in cases where a tissue specimen alone is not enough.

In addition, protein profiles can help patients in further care and follow-up observation. For example, a blood test could be used to determine whether proteins typical of the disease have reached their normal level at the end of treatment. Further measures could be planned according to patient needs.

"In practice, this could mean that it would be possible to monitor any potential relapses with the help of blood samples instead of imaging," Arffman says.

Next step: clinical trials

The researchers point out that before the day-to-day utilisation of protein profiles, their feasibility must be investigated in clinical trials.

Professor Leppä's research group is already planning to carry out a clinical study where they will employ blood samples in profiling lymphoma patients and personalising care.

According to Leppä, the utilisation of liquid biopsies in cancer research is a rapidly developing field.

"The proteins and circulating tumour DNA in blood samples have enormous potential for improving cancer diagnostics, refining patient risk profiling, and guiding treatment decisions," she sums up.

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Story Source:

Materials provided by University of Helsinki . Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference :

• Maare Arffman, Leo Meriranta, Matias Autio, Harald Holte, Judit Jørgensen, Peter Brown, Sirkku Jyrkkiö, Mats Jerkeman, Kristina Drott, Øystein Fluge, Magnus Björkholm, Marja-Liisa Karjalainen-Lindsberg, Klaus Beiske, Mette Ølgod Pedersen, Suvi-Katri Leivonen, Sirpa Leppä. Inflammatory and subtype-dependent serum protein signatures predict survival beyond the ctDNA in aggressive B cell lymphomas . Med , 2024; DOI: 10.1016/j.medj.2024.03.007

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