Estimated In-Class Time 10 min
Estimated Pre-Class Time 15 min
Downloads Handout 1A-1
Answer Key 1A-1
In-Class Procedure
Pre-Class Procedure

Following an instructor introduction, students complete a handout that asks them to identify the characteristics of research and regular questions, based on their comparison of examples of each kind of question. A discussion follows.

Other activities in this series: Activity 1B, Little Red and Research Questions

Learning Outcomes

Students will be able to:

  • Distinguish between regular and research questions.

Relevant Threshold Concepts

  • Research as inquiry.
  • Scholarship as conversation.

Suggestions for Use

  • This activity should be helpful in classes where students will be developing research questions.
  • Students can complete Handout 1A-1 electronically or in print.

Pre-Class Preparation

  • Review the handout and the answer key for this activity.
  • Review In-Class Procedure below.
  • Decide whether you want students to complete Handout 1A-1 in print or electronically.
  • If you decided on an electronic handout, put Handout 1A-1 in your learning management system.
  • If you decided on print copies for Handout 1A-1, print 1 copy per student and 1 for yourself and 1 copy for yourself of Answer Key 1A-1.
  • Download and perhaps print In-Class Procedure and Answer Key 1A-1 so you can take them with you to class.

In-Class Procedure

  1. If you’re having students use printed copies of Handout 1A-1, pass them out or set them where students can pick them up as they come in.
  2. If you’re having students use an electronic Handout 1A-1, tell them how to find and open it.
  3. Introduce the session by telling students that you’re going to be talking about research questions today. Explain that a research question is the question they want their research project to answer–what they intend the project to find out. (If this is a class of first- or second-year students, you might add that having to have a research question to answer is perhaps the biggest difference between high school research projects, where they might have been able to just write “about” something, and college-level research projects, where they actually have to find out something and thereby contribute to the scholarly conversation that is going on.) Tell them that this activity will help them understand how research questions are different from regular questions.
  4. Ask students to complete Handout 1A-1, and tell them they will have about 5 minutes to complete it.
  5. After 5 minutes, project a copy of the table portion of Handout 1A-1.
  6. Go over the answers by asking students to shout out the answers to each question on the Figuring Out the Differences table. As they do, put an X in the appropriate column on your projected copy. You might also want to ask students why it’s true that research questions more often than regular questions start with the word “how” or “why.” A simple answer is that those words complicate the question. They cause the answer to the question to require looking at multiple sources and doing more thinking because answering a “how” or “why” question is naturally less tidy and more complicated than, for instance, a question that begins with “what.”
  7. Close the discussion by telling students that there is one more characteristic of a research question that is very important, which is finding out the answer to the question should be interesting to the researcher. That’s because it is much easier to do research when you care about the results.

Relevant Choosing & Using Sources Chapters:

Chapter 1, Sources and Information Needs.