Planning and organisationThe research problem

The first step is to decide what to research. This could be something that interests you personally, or you might want to research a more general problem that needs solving.

Funnel approach

The funnel approach is a good way of coming up with a research idea.

1. Start with a general topic of interest. Then read about and discuss this area with others, such as your teacher or classmates.
2. Next, reflect on the topic. This means taking a step back to think about your initial idea. This reflection may involve answering the following questions - What is already known about the topic? What isn’t already known about the topic? What is of particular interest to the researcher? This will help you come up with a first draft version of your research question.
3. After more reading, discussion or reflection you may decide to refine the question further by tweaking or changing the initial idea.
4. Research questions are usually refined regularly throughout the research process until the final research question is agreed on.

The refining process

Here’s an example of the refining process, showing how the initial idea is tweaked and changed before producing the final research question.

First draft - What are the effects of global warming on animals?

Comments - An interesting question but it lacks a manageable focus, eg what does the word ‘effects’ really mean? Effects could refer to the population, habitats or behaviours of animals, so currently the focus of the question is too broad. Discuss which particular effect to focus on.

Second draft - How does global warming affect the population rates of animals?

Comments - The scope of the question has been decided but the type of animals that should be studied still hasn’t been specified.

Third draft - How does global warming affect the population of polar bears?

Comments - The question is now more focused on the type of animal, but polar bears live in Canada, Russia, USA, Greenland and Norway, which is still very broad. Consider concentrating on the polar bear population of just one country.

Final draft - How does global warming affect the population of polar bears in Canada?

Comments - By choosing a particular country, this question is now focused and easy to understand. This means that deciding how to carry out the research will be much more straightforward.

Once the research question has been identified, the researcher will then develop aims and objectives. The aims and objectives will enable the researcher to answer the research question.