Throughout this chapter, you have seen a number of examples of research questions, and you’ve read about features that distinguish good sociological research questions from not-so-good questions. Putting all this advice together, let’s take a look at a few more examples of possible sociological research questions and consider the relative strengths and weaknesses of each. "Table 4.2" does just that. While reading the table, keep in mind that I have only noted what I view to be the most relevant strengths and weaknesses of each question. Certainly each question may have additional strengths and weaknesses not noted in the table. Also, it may interest you to know that the questions in "Table 4.2" all come from undergraduate sociology student projects that I have either advised in the course of teaching sociological research methods or have become familiar with from sitting on undergraduate thesis committees. The work by thesis students is cited.
|
Sample question |
Question's strengths |
Question's weaknesses |
Proposed alternative |
|
Do children's books teach us about gender norms in our society? |
Written as a question |
Written as a yes/no |
What (or how) do children's books teach us about gender norms in our society? |
|
Focused |
|||
|
Why are some men such jerks? |
Written as a question |
Lacks theoretical grounding |
Who supports sexist attitudes and why? |
|
Focused |
Biased |
||
|
Does sexual maturity change depending on where you're from? |
Written as a question |
Unclear phrasing |
How does knowledge about sex vary across different geographical regions? |
|
Written as a yes/no |
|||
|
What is sex? |
Written as a question |
Too broadly focused |
How do students' definitions of sex change as they age? |
|
Not clear whether question is sociological |
|||
|
Does not consider relationships among concepts |
|||
|
Do social settings and peers and where you live influence a college student's exercise and eating habits? |
Written as a question |
Lacks clarity |
How does social setting influence a person's engagement in healthy behaviors? |
|
Considers relationships among multiple concepts |
Unfocused |
||
|
Written as a yes/no |
|||
|
What causes people to ignore someone in need of assistance? |
Written as a question |
||
|
Socially relevant |
|||
|
How do older workers cope with unemployment? (Steenburgh, 2010) 1 |
Written as a question |
||
|
Focused |
|||
|
More than one plausible answer |
|||
|
Why do so few college-aged men volunteer? (Bernstein, 2010) 2 |
Written as a question |
||
|
Socially relevant |
|||
|
More than one plausible answer |
|||
|
How have representations of race and gender in horror films changed over time? (Potvin, 2007) 3 |
Written as a question |
||
|
Considers relationships among multiple concepts |
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Most strong sociological research questions have five key features: written in the form of a question, clearly focused, beyond yes/no, more than one plausible answer, and consider relationships among concepts.
- A poorly focused research question can lead to the demise of an otherwise well-executed study.
EXERCISES
- Name a topic that interests you. Now keeping the features of a good research question in mind, come up with three possible research questions you could ask about that topic.
- Discuss your topic with a friend or with a peer in your class. Ask that person what sorts of questions come to mind when he or she thinks about the topic. Also ask that person for advice on how you might better focus one or all the possible research questions you came up with on your own.
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