When choosing a research topic, start with what's interesting to you. What do you want to know more about? What would you like to help others learn about? What problem would you like to help solve?

You may also need to consider what's relevant. What topics are timely? What does your audience need to know about?

One of the most common difficulties students encounter is a topic that is too broad. The 5 "W" question words (who, what, where, when, and why) can help you focus your thoughts. Click on the headings below to learn more.

The video below shows the iterative process a student might take to identify and narrow a research topic. 

Picking Your Topic IS Research! by A. Burke, K. Duckett, D. Dorafshar, M. Matthews, J. Evans Groth, A. Orphanides, S. Craig, J. Garrett, and A. Lai is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States license. 

What is a Research Question?

The research question is the question you are trying to answer through your research. Research questions are:

• Open. They can't be answered with an obvious "yes" or "no." They may have more than one answer. They're debatable and unresolved.
  • Open: What responsibilities do tech companies have for interrupting the spread of "fake news" on their platforms?
  • Not Open: Does fake news spread on social media platforms?
• Specific. Research questions focus on a single topic, and use well-defined search terms.
  • Specific: To what extent is misinformation eroding voter confidence in U.S. elections?
  • Not Specific Enough: Is fake news bad for democracy?
• Answerable. Research questions must be feasibly answerable within the limits of the the assignment and available resources. It must be possible to ethically access or acquire the information needed to answer the question.
  • Answerable: What factors contribute to U.S. adults sharing fake news on social media?
  • Not Answerable: How many fake news stories are currently circulating on social media?

The Stasis Method for Developing Research Questions

The Stases are an ancient framework for ways to think about a problem. They can be used to inspire research questions. There are 6 stases:

• Existence: Does a problem exist? 
• Definition: How do we characterize the problem?
• Cause: What caused the problem?
• Value: How positive / negative, moral / immoral, effective / ineffective is it?
• Action: What can be done about the problem?
• Jurisdiction: Who is responsible for taking action?

For example, if the research topic is "fake news" in the U.S., research questions we might ask include:

• Existence: Is "fake news" a crisis in the U.S.?
• Definition: How do U.S. adults define "fake news"? 
• Cause: What factors contribute to the spread of "fake news"?
• Value: In what ways is "fake news" negatively impacting U.S. elections?
• Action: What strategies can help reduce the spread of "fake news"?
• Jurisdiction: What responsibilities do tech companies have for interrupting the spread of "fake news" on their platforms?

Adapted from Research Toolkit by Wendy Hayden and Stephanie Margolin under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.