Research questions & sub-products

The working methods offered in this element can be used by researchers as they see fit for the objectives below:

1. Translating research objectives into research questions
2. Translating research objectives into sub-products

1. From objectives to research questions

To achieve the four types of objectives that can be set for practice-based research, gathering information is often necessary. Formulating research questions helps in getting an overview of the information that needs to be collected. The knowledge objective is often easy to transform into a research question. If the knowledge objective of a study is to gain insight into the experience of care received on ward X, this can be translated into the research question: ‘How is the care received on ward X experienced?’.

Achieving the other types of research objectives, however, also often requires new information. If the design objective of a research project is to develop an app that allows clients to keep a diary, then relevant questions are, for example: ‘What are the functional requirements for the app?’ or ‘Which parameters should the app development be subject to?’

If the change objective of a study is to adapt or achieve improvement within a particular context, then possible relevant questions are, for example: ‘Why has this change not been realised so far?’ or ‘What do employees think of the
change?’.

If a professionalisation objective has been formulated for a study, then relevant questions are: ‘What prior knowledge do the learners have?’ or ‘What are the preconditions for learning?’.

By going through all the formulated objectives within a research design, a set of main- and sub-questions can be created.

Formulating research questions 

Research questions are an important guiding element in a research project. A well-formulated research question is a prerequisite for good research. Five quality criteria for this are given below (Oost & Markenhof, 2002).

A well-formulated research question is:

• Relevant for the practice issue
• Anchored, matching the knowledge gap
• Precise; the concepts used in the question and the assumed relationship between them are precisely defined
• Consistent; is about consistency between all elements
• Functional; clearly states the function of the study

A good research question immediately makes clear which research function the question refers to (for an explanation of these functions, refer to the knowledge clip above). Andriessen (2011) provides an overview with example questions for each of Oost & Markenhof’s (2002) six research functions:

2. From objectives to sub-products

In engineering or design research, working with sub-products is common. We then look at what the research project should concretely deliver (design objective), both at the end of the research project and along the way to it.

Formulating and organising sub-products is helpful in structuring the research project and developing an approach. Sub-products make explicit which concrete intermediate products are needed to achieve the objectives of the research project. If you want to design a concrete solution (e.g. an app) during the research project, the sub-products in the research project may include a document containing the programme of requirements, one or more prototypes, a report of a test with the app, and the final version of the app.

Making sub-products explicit is appropriate in research projects in which the design objective, professionalisation objective and/or change objective are important, as it can be used to indicate the manner in which the objectives will be realised. Because the realisation of a specific sub-product often requires new knowledge in turn, making sub-products explicit often also leads to new sub-questions for the research project.

The sub-questions and sub-products formulated serve as the basis for developing the research approach.