Research Question

A research question is an operationalization of the purpose(s) to which a survey project aims. The research question(s) should state the research problem in a way that allow(s) for appropriate research methods to be applied to gathering and analyzing information to help answer the question(s) (i.e. solve the problem[s]). Ultimately it is the research questions that guide the entire design of a survey, including the population that is to be sampled, how it is sampled, what sample size will be used, what mode is used to gather data, what measures will be included in the survey instrument, and what analyses will be conducted.

Typically the research question is posed in terms of What, Why, or How. For example, What are the major reasons that citizens disapprove of the President? Why do African Americans, on average, have lower levels of social-economic status than do whites? How are people affected by their criminal victimization experiences in the short and longer term?

Research questions are much more likely to be identified formally (explicitly) in academic research and much less likely in commercial research. Once the research question is clearly articulated, and after a review of past research on the topic has been conducted, research hypotheses should logically follow. In many instances, however, survey researchers, such as pollsters, need not identify any hypotheses, and their research questions are not formalized and merely left implicit.