Research Methods for the Social Sciences: 1b. Develop Your Research Question

Now that you have narrowed your topic, you need to shape it into a research question!  

Good research questions are:

1.  Debatable: Your question should not have a commonly agreed-upon answer, be easily answered with a quick Google search, or be answerable with a simple "yes" or "no."

2.  Researchable: There needs to be adequate evidence available both in support of and opposed to your argument. 

3.  Focused: If entire books have been written on your topic or if you are overwhelmed by the amount of information available, your question might be too broad. However, if you are having trouble finding information on your topic, your question might be too narrow.