Research questions
Every doctoral thesis needs to have research questions or at least one main research question. A key overarching research question sums up the purpose of the study. Without such a question the research will lack a focus. The main research question is usually broken down into several sub questions that explore various aspects of the research problem. There are different types of research questions:
What? – This is usually more descriptive in nature. For example, What types of management styles do managers use? What questions find out what is being done, what is being used, or what is the most important. Answering the ‘what’ question is an integral part of doing research since we usually have to find out information about the research domain before we can explore more complex issues. Generally ‘what’ questions do not tackle complexity and so they need to be supplemented by other questions that investigate the research problem in more depth.
Where? When? Who?
Where, when and who questions are similar to ‘what’ type questions as they aim to find out facts. These questions may only obtain descriptive data but are still an important part of research (Whetton, 1989).
Why?
Why questions attempt to uncover the underlying reasons for events and problems. They are suitable for the focus of doctoral studies since the answers are explanatory and can make a contribution to research in a given area. For example, answering the question: “Why do projects fail?” will require a great deal of investigation and analysis. It may need other questions answering such as “What type of projects fail?” “When do they fail?” and “Where do they fail?” However, the most interesting and complex question is “why do they fail?”
How?
How questions can make a significant contribution to research because they can be phrased in an active mode such as: “How can we prevent projects from failing?” This attempts to provide a contribution through recommendations either in the form of a model or framework for project success.
Every doctoral thesis needs to have research questions or at least one main research question. A key overarching research question sums up the purpose of the study. Without such a question the research will lack a focus. The main research question is usually broken down into several sub questions that explore various aspects of the research problem. There are different types of research questions:
What? – This is usually more descriptive in nature. For example, What types of management styles do managers use? What questions find out what is being done, what is being used, or what is the most important. Answering the ‘what’ question is an integral part of doing research since we usually have to find out information about the research domain before we can explore more complex issues. Generally ‘what’ questions do not tackle complexity and so they need to be supplemented by other questions that investigate the research problem in more depth.
Where? When? Who?
Where, when and who questions are similar to ‘what’ type questions as they aim to find out facts. These questions may only obtain descriptive data but are still an important part of research (Whetton, 1989).
Why?
Why questions attempt to uncover the underlying reasons for events and problems. They are suitable for the focus of doctoral studies since the answers are explanatory and can make a contribution to research in a given area. For example, answering the question: “Why do projects fail?” will require a great deal of investigation and analysis. It may need other questions answering such as “What type of projects fail?” “When do they fail?” and “Where do they fail?” However, the most interesting and complex question is “why do they fail?”
How?
How questions can make a significant contribution to research because they can be phrased in an active mode such as: “How can we prevent projects from failing?” This attempts to provide a contribution through recommendations either in the form of a model or framework for project success.
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