Research Question
The specific, answerable question a study is designed to investigate, guiding every choice about methods, data, and analysis.
A research question states exactly what a study seeks to find out. A good one is focused, answerable with available methods and data, and grounded in a gap in the existing literature. It differs from a topic, which only names an area of interest, and from a hypothesis, which proposes a testable answer. Research questions may be descriptive, comparative, or causal, and each type points toward different research designs.
In a thesis, the research question is the anchor for every chapter. Examiners judge whether the literature review motivates it, whether the methodology can answer it, and whether the conclusion actually addresses it. Writing it early and refining it as reading progresses keeps the project scoped and prevents drift. It also gives you a clear test for what belongs in the document: if a section does not help answer the question, it probably does not belong.
Writing the thesis this term belongs to?
CiteDash takes a thesis from research question to a compiled document, with AI that cites only real papers and verifies every claim against its source.