Topic Development and Research Questions

Exercise—Topic Development and Research Questions

Post your responses to your blog.


Part I. Good Question/Bad Question

Read the following and decide whether or not you think each is a good research question. Briefly explain your answer. If you think a question is weak, explain how you would make it stronger.

Ø What happened in the Darfur region of Western Sudan this past year?
Bad. How was the situation in the Darfur region of Western Sudan within this past year
Ø Did news coverage of the poor conditions at the U.S. Military’s Walter Reed Medical Center result in improved care of the veterans housed there?
Good
Ø Did Germany invade Poland during the Second World War?
Bad question. Because the answer for it should be yes or no
How did Germany invade Poland?

Ø Does the media cause eating disorders in women?
Bad question. Because the answer for it should be yes or no
Describe the causes of the eating disorders in women. Clarify if the media is part of these causes.

Ø Is there evidence that vocational training programs in California prisons impact recidivism (re-offense) rates?
Bad question. Clarify if there is an evidence that vocational programs in California prisons impact recidivism (re-offence) rates.

Part II: Answer the following questions.

1. When you’re developing a research topic, you should be able to talk for one minute about that topic. Explain why, and how you’d prepare yourself.
If I would develop a research topic, I would definitely be able to talk about it for one minute since I would have a lot of information about it during the research period. I would narrow my focus to the main idea about the research and give the listeners a brief description about it and about the sections I would write and make the research about.


2. Describe some ways you can narrow the focus of a research topic.

This could be done in many ways depending on the subject of the research itself. I would first define the boundaries of the stakeholders that are affected by the topic. I, then, would choose specifically those stakeholders and give a gradual description of each one and how would one affect the chosen others.


Thanks,

Ibrahim.