Week 10 - Finding Good Research Questions
Overview
This week we will work on narrowing topics to good research questions. We will also continue to use the resources available through CQ Researcher.
Research questions help you conduct research by giving you a focus for what to look for. There is so much information available to us, and it often becomes overwhelming about what to select. A research question will help guide you through the information swamp.
Stasis Theory
Stasis theory is a tool for thinking about and developing arguments. Developed by early rhetoricians, stasis theory can be used both to analyze arguments and to develop and research them. It is a heuristic, a tool for systematic question-asking to help you generate ideas, to push you beyond what immediately comes to mind.
Stasis theory proposes that argument questions can be grouped into a limited set of categories. We are going to talk about five question categories or stasis types:
- Fact
- Conjecture--"Why" questions, including questions of cause and effect and motivation
- Definition
- Quality or Value
- Policy or Procedure
Here is an example of some brainstorming on a topic using the stasis categories. Let's say my broad topic is social media and teenagers. Here are some questions I might pose for each stasis:
Fact: what are the facts about teenage use and Facebook? What other social media are being used? Which platforms are being used? Are there any changes in use? Which ones are used more often? How much use do teenagers make of social media?
Conjecture: Why do people use social media? What caused the rise in social media? How does social media use change how people behave toward each other? Definition: how do we define social media? How do we define "empathy"? What is a social interaction? Quality or Value: What's good about social media? What's bad? What constitutes good social interactions? Bad social interactions? Procedures or Policy: Should parents create limits on their teen's social media use? Should government regulate social media sites? What strategies are there for parents to limit teen social media use? |
Reading & Resources
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3. Watch this video from North Carolina State University on the research of picking a topic. [click on link] While you are on the NCSU library site, check out the other video tutorials on research.
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Activities
- Online only: Participate in a check-in Tuesday discussion in Bb.
- Online only: Participate in a planning blog in Blackboard. Start by Friday, April 5; Complete by Sunday, April 7.
- On-campus section: develop questions using the CQ Researcher, brainstorming, and stasis theory. Know your primary research question by Wednesday, April 3.