• Home
• About
  • Acknowledgements
  • About the Author
  • Purpose
  • For Instructors
  • What is Qualitative Research
  • Ethics
  • Ethnicity and Race
• Interviewing
  • Characteristics of Good Interviews
    • Narrative Rich Data
    • Descriptive Data
    • First Hand Accounts
    • Emotions as Data
  • The Complexity of Rich Data
    • The Complexity of Memory
    • Simplifications as a Source of Contradiction
    • The Use of Negative Cases and Unexpected Findings
  • Phrasing Questions and Other Techniques
    • Avoid Yes/No Questions
    • Avoid ”Multiple-choice“ and Double-barreled Questions
    • Don’t Switch Topics Too Frequently
    • Avoid the ‘Why‘ Question
    • Avoid Asking for Little Known Facts
    • Avoid Imposing Concepts
    • Avoid Leading Questions
    • Listen Attentively
    • Ask About Sensitive Issues Skillfully
    • Adjust Questions to the Respondent’s Situation
    • Ask for Clarification
    • Ask Open-ended Questions
    • Ask the Respondent to Tell a Story
    • Ask Questions to Elicit the Personal Voice
  • Field Notes
  • Conventions for Transcribing Interviews
• Reflexivity
  • Process of Reflection
  • Conceptual Baggage
    • Married Women’s Occupation
    • Ethnic Assimilation
    • The Heterosexual Nuclear Family
  • The Research Relationship
• Analysis
  • Introduction
  • Finding a Focus
  • Possible Research Topics
  • Open Coding
  • Focused Coding
  • Developing an Analytical Lens
  • Memoing
  • Formulating the Research Question
  • Using the Literature
  • Drafting the Research Paper
  • Revising the Draft
• Data
  • Selection of Respondents
  • The Interview Archive

Formulating the Research Question

The research question should:

• be phrased in question format
• be broad enough to cover a couple of sub-themes
• correspond with one's findings
• lead to analysis that contributes to theoretical debates and/or unanswered questions in the existing literature.

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«Memoing Using the Literature»

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