Arriving at a Suitable Research Question in Educational Research

Running head: INTRODUCTION TO EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH
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Introduction to Educational Research
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INTRODUCTION TO EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH
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The processes for arriving at a suitable research question
The process of arriving at a suitable research question involves the identification of the
research topic, deciding which problem will be addressed in the research and finally formulation
of the relevant research question based on the topic selected. The process of arriving at a suitable
research question involves complex steps in the whole research process (Nobre, 2017). This is
because the researchers need to under all steps. In this case, arriving at an appropriate research
question becomes a complex process. According to Bryman (2017), the process of getting a
suitable research question cannot be taken lightly because all the further discussion and steps of
the research depend on this question selected. The same question selected determines the
problem of the research to be addressed and therefore, it should be selected properly. The
suitable question selected will call for correct and good responses for the educational research.
The researchers will choose an interesting topic that will help in generating a suitable
research question. The research question is considered as the outcomes of the research topic
because what is answered in the educational research depends on the topic selected. In
connection with this, professional educational researchers will focus on the topic they are
studying to develop a relevant and suitable research topic. They will choose a broader topic that
will give a wide range of generating a suitable research question. Besides, there is a need to do
some more research concerning the general topic selected for the research in order to determine
the qualities of the research question to be considered. This can be done by reading and
researching what has already been done in magazines, journals and other researches similar to
the topic. In this case, the question used by other researchers should be studied and analyzed to
check if it can be twisted to be used in the current research. The relevancy of the research
question in educational research used by other scholars in similar research should be evaluated

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and discussed for validity determination. Some of the things to consider in this are the
determination of what other scholars suggested regarding the research question used in their
research. How did the research question used contributed to the success of the other parts of the
research? What conclusions did the other educational researchers conclude after selecting the
research question?
Moreover, suitable research question selection can be achieved through consideration of
the audience in the educational research. Most of the researches are done for the academic
purpose and therefore it is important to keep the audience in mind when selecting the suitable
research question. One should consider if the research audience will be interested in the research
question selected or not. In addition, the researchers should evaluate some of the reactions they
are expecting from the audience after selecting a certain type of research question (Busse, 2012).
The audience will have different political and social ethics and therefore different reactions are
expected from the audience. It depends on the personal understanding of the audience regarding
the research question used. The question should be standardized by understanding the likes and
dislikes of the audience to be addressed in the research.
Besides, choosing a suitable research question for educational research involves asking
yourself some questions. Some of the questions that researchers should ask themselves are; why
are we choosing the question? How relevant is the question in relation to the research topic? Will
this question address all areas of concern of the research? These questions will help the research
identify if the research question selected is suitable in addressing all parts of the research. In
addition, the questions will help the researchers find out which area is better covered by the
research question. In addition, the research question can be adjusted based on research
objectives. By asking themselves some questions regarding the research question, the researchers