Tips for Developing a Research Question
From the problem you have identified in Course Project: Identifying a Problem Assignment, develop a quality research question.
It is essential to develop a specific research question that holds your interest so that you can focus your research and your paper.
For example, researching a broad topic such as “Education Leadership” is difficult, since there may be hundreds of sources on all aspects of educational leadership. On the other hand, a focused question such as “What impact does a principal’s leadership style have on teacher burnout?” is easier to research and can be covered in more depth.
Put your research question in the following form:
“What impact do/does _____________ have on ____________?”
Tips for Developing an Outline
Later in this course, you will use your research question to write a Course Project: Final Paper (i.e. Your Course Project). Develop an outline similar to the one below. You will use this outline to help plan for the course project.
For example, say your research question is “What impact does a principal’s leadership style have on teacher burnout?”
Ask yourself, what type of information do I need to answer the research question?
Break the research question into individual parts before starting your research. For example:
- Find articles, research studies, and theories on leadership styles
- Find articles, research studies, and theories on teacher burnout
- Find articles, research studies, and theories on the principal/teacher burnout relationship
