IV. Developing Your Essential and Research
Questions
There are three key phrases that we will use repeatedly in the Capstone process: “essential questions,” “primary research question” and “secondary research questions.” It’s vital that you know the difference between the three. You will ultimately generate several versions of all of these.
An essential question is the overarching question that addresses a problem, need, or challenge you have identified through your preliminary research.
An essential question:
Source:
http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/109004/chapters/What-Makes-a-Question-Essential%C2%A2.aspx
Here are several examples of good essential questions, taken from the 2014-2015 Senior Capstone projects:
How do educational equity, accessibility, opportunity, and freedom to choose one’s own path enable a female student to be successful?
How are veterans and their families of recent US wars affected by government-allocated benefits, or lack there of, that are meant to support their transition back into regular life?
During the late 20th century to the present day, how has the experience of black students in public schools changed?
How may a performing art be used to demonstrate the importance of empathy within a population of people affected by a significant event?
How do today’s technological innovations in communication affect the ability of young people ages 14-24 to think and act independently of their parents?
What are the effects of salt marsh destruction and how can steps be taken to prevent destruction as well as to restore already damaged ecosystems?
Now consider this definition of a research question:
A research question(s) addresses what are you going to investigate in order to address/answer pieces of your essential question, to add to existing research, and in order to find solutions to the essential question.
There will be a primary research question--a big, multidirectional, meaty question that generates an array of subsidiary—aka secondary—research questions that are smaller. Secondary research questions require research in order to answer the primary research question. Not only do you have to frame your primary research question within the larger essential question framework but your secondary research questions have to support your primary research question.
Your primary research question will address what you are actually going to do in your project. It’s a narrowing of your essential question. You need your essential question to frame what it is you are bothering to take on in this project. The essential question is the big question that your project contributes to answering. But your primary research question ultimately drives your day-to-day work on your project.
Let’s take a look at some examples from the 2014-2015 Senior Capstone class. We’ll give you the essential question and then the primary research question for a number of projects so that you can see how the primary research question worked within the parameters of the essential question.
Essential question:
How do educational equity, accessibility, opportunity, and freedom to choose one’s own path enable a female student to be successful?
Primary research question:
How do female students from impoverished backgrounds benefit from attending all-female secondary schools in Sri Lanka, Rwanda, and the United States?
Essential question:
How are veterans and their families of recent US wars affected by government-allocated benefits, or lack there of, that are meant to support their transition back into regular life?
Primary research question:
How have Massachusetts veterans of recent US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan been affected by the government-allocated benefits, leading to their current situations?
Essential question:
During the late 20th century to the present day, how has the experience of black students in public schools changed?
Primary research question:
During the late 20th century to the present, how has the experience of black students at the nation’s oldest public school—Boston Latin School—changed?
Essential question:
How may a performing art be used to demonstrate the importance of empathy within a population of people affected by a significant event?
Primary research question:
How can an allegorical play be used to depict the experiences of and effects on a population of people impacted by a significant fictional event (based upon significant historical events) and what can an audience come to understand about the importance of empathy after viewing the play?
Essential question:
How do today’s technological innovations in communication affect the ability of young people ages 14-24 to think and act independently of their parents?
Primary research question:
How does communication via cell phone affect the ability of young people ages 14-24 to think and act independently of their parents?
Essential question:
What are the effects of salt marsh destruction and how can steps be taken to prevent destruction as well as to restore already damaged ecosystems?
Primary research question:
How does salt marsh destruction impact the environment, economy, and society and what can be done to restore the ecosystem, prevent future destruction, and educate the public on the importance of the issue?
Are all research questions equally valid?
Some questions will get you further than others. Try evaluating your proposed questions based on the following criteria:
Is it interesting? Ask yourself:
Is it arguable? Ask yourself:
Is it answerable: Ask yourself:
You may find the libguide set up by the BLS Library and Media Center to be helpful in this regard. For the relevant section, go to: http://libguides.bls.org/content.php?pid=609401&sid=5034027
Thanks to the Senior Project handbook produced by Nina Leacock at the Bosque School, Albuquerque, NM for material used in this section.
Questions
There are three key phrases that we will use repeatedly in the Capstone process: “essential questions,” “primary research question” and “secondary research questions.” It’s vital that you know the difference between the three. You will ultimately generate several versions of all of these.
An essential question is the overarching question that addresses a problem, need, or challenge you have identified through your preliminary research.
An essential question:
- is open-ended; that is, it typically will not have a single, final, and correct answer.
- is thought-provoking and intellectually engaging, often sparking discussion and debate.
- calls for higher-order thinking, such as analysis, inference, evaluation, prediction. It cannot be effectively answered by recall alone.
- points toward important, transferable ideas within (and sometimes across) disciplines.
- raises additional questions and sparks further inquiry.
- requires support and justification, not just an answer.
- recurs over time; that is, the question can and should be revisited again and again.
Source:
http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/109004/chapters/What-Makes-a-Question-Essential%C2%A2.aspx
Here are several examples of good essential questions, taken from the 2014-2015 Senior Capstone projects:
How do educational equity, accessibility, opportunity, and freedom to choose one’s own path enable a female student to be successful?
How are veterans and their families of recent US wars affected by government-allocated benefits, or lack there of, that are meant to support their transition back into regular life?
During the late 20th century to the present day, how has the experience of black students in public schools changed?
How may a performing art be used to demonstrate the importance of empathy within a population of people affected by a significant event?
How do today’s technological innovations in communication affect the ability of young people ages 14-24 to think and act independently of their parents?
What are the effects of salt marsh destruction and how can steps be taken to prevent destruction as well as to restore already damaged ecosystems?
Now consider this definition of a research question:
A research question(s) addresses what are you going to investigate in order to address/answer pieces of your essential question, to add to existing research, and in order to find solutions to the essential question.
There will be a primary research question--a big, multidirectional, meaty question that generates an array of subsidiary—aka secondary—research questions that are smaller. Secondary research questions require research in order to answer the primary research question. Not only do you have to frame your primary research question within the larger essential question framework but your secondary research questions have to support your primary research question.
Your primary research question will address what you are actually going to do in your project. It’s a narrowing of your essential question. You need your essential question to frame what it is you are bothering to take on in this project. The essential question is the big question that your project contributes to answering. But your primary research question ultimately drives your day-to-day work on your project.
Let’s take a look at some examples from the 2014-2015 Senior Capstone class. We’ll give you the essential question and then the primary research question for a number of projects so that you can see how the primary research question worked within the parameters of the essential question.
Essential question:
How do educational equity, accessibility, opportunity, and freedom to choose one’s own path enable a female student to be successful?
Primary research question:
How do female students from impoverished backgrounds benefit from attending all-female secondary schools in Sri Lanka, Rwanda, and the United States?
Essential question:
How are veterans and their families of recent US wars affected by government-allocated benefits, or lack there of, that are meant to support their transition back into regular life?
Primary research question:
How have Massachusetts veterans of recent US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan been affected by the government-allocated benefits, leading to their current situations?
Essential question:
During the late 20th century to the present day, how has the experience of black students in public schools changed?
Primary research question:
During the late 20th century to the present, how has the experience of black students at the nation’s oldest public school—Boston Latin School—changed?
Essential question:
How may a performing art be used to demonstrate the importance of empathy within a population of people affected by a significant event?
Primary research question:
How can an allegorical play be used to depict the experiences of and effects on a population of people impacted by a significant fictional event (based upon significant historical events) and what can an audience come to understand about the importance of empathy after viewing the play?
Essential question:
How do today’s technological innovations in communication affect the ability of young people ages 14-24 to think and act independently of their parents?
Primary research question:
How does communication via cell phone affect the ability of young people ages 14-24 to think and act independently of their parents?
Essential question:
What are the effects of salt marsh destruction and how can steps be taken to prevent destruction as well as to restore already damaged ecosystems?
Primary research question:
How does salt marsh destruction impact the environment, economy, and society and what can be done to restore the ecosystem, prevent future destruction, and educate the public on the importance of the issue?
Are all research questions equally valid?
Some questions will get you further than others. Try evaluating your proposed questions based on the following criteria:
Is it interesting? Ask yourself:
- Why do I care about this topic? The more direct your connection to your question is, the better it will work for you.
- Having read a little bit about my question, am I hungry to learn more? If not, this question won’t work well for your project. If yes, you might be on to something.
Is it arguable? Ask yourself:
- Is the question answerable by a simple “yes” or “no”? If it is, then the question requires more complexity.
- Is there a single, factual answer to my question? If your question can be answered simply by looking up a fact in an encyclopedia or other reference work (think Wikipedia), it won’t work as the basis for your Capstone project. You don’t have to take on a major world controversy, but reasonable people should be able to disagree with you.
Is it answerable: Ask yourself:
- Can I realistically hope to answer this research question over the course of my Capstone work? If not, do I need to narrow the question further? Do I need to make it more specific?
- Will resources be available? Research questions that try to predict the future, or to comment on what was going on in someone’s mind, or that are vaguely stated can be impossible to answer.
- Is my research question(s) focused enough to discuss meaningfully in 18 minutes? Think about the TED talk you are going to do at the end of this process. Can you present your research thoughtfully with that time constraint? Let’s say your initial question is “How can we achieve peace between Israel and Palestine?” Many people have written many books on this topic; it’s unlikely that you can add anything meaningful to the discussion without further narrowing your question. On the other hand, a question such as “Why is the question of Palestinian statehood important to the peace process?” could actually work for you.
- Can I learn enough in a year to answer this research question? If your question requires you to understand everything about quantum physics, it might be unreasonable to expect yourself to fully understand it well enough to write about it. This would be a good time to talk to your mentor and possibly others in the field and ask them to help you carve out a doable research question(s).
You may find the libguide set up by the BLS Library and Media Center to be helpful in this regard. For the relevant section, go to: http://libguides.bls.org/content.php?pid=609401&sid=5034027
Thanks to the Senior Project handbook produced by Nina Leacock at the Bosque School, Albuquerque, NM for material used in this section.