Social Research Question Essay

Introduction: This paper seeks to discuss the role played by a research question in a social research. The discussion unpacks a journal article by Alan Bryman published in 2007. The world over, formal and informal questions are asked from across fields of study that includes; politics, public policy, public budgeting, human resource management and administration. The ever raised research questions are motivated by some experiences, problems surrounding humanity and the environment (Wilson and Maclean, p 572). One-way or another, these questions lead to some solutions and some never get the solutions due to the route taken to resolve the question or problem. Some are answered because a systematic route has been followed by trained researchers

Bryman (2016:7) defined a research question as a question that provides an explicit of what the researcher wants to find about. Jeong (n.d.:1) holds the same view that a research question is a statement of specific enquiry that researcher seeks to address. There exists a great diversity in the kind of research questions being asked across various spectrums, be it political, economic and philosophical. In the case of Botswana, questions that have been asked are; what are the factors that have led to the failure of students in secondary schools in

The argument by Porush emphasize that research questions are integral to a research and research processes such as the design and choice of methods to be employed. Krueckeberg (2011:1) lectured on the difference between a bad and a good question that they are debatable, narrow, significant and researchable. That a question is debatable, simple means that it has been debated before and that is the whole reason of acknowledging scholarly articles. Krueckeberg further elaborated that a research question should be narrow, referring to the fact that, one will need to be able to give a credible answer to the question in a more concise format. The significance of a question is all about that there is something at stake or a benefit in the answer derived from answering the question successfully. The question should be researchable through both the primary and secondary sources. Whether it is a small independent study or not, mini research for an undergraduate class or formal thesis or dissertation stands or falls by the quality of a research question Maree (2011: 2). To Neuman (2003:163) deliberate on bad and good research questions and give explicit examples of bad questions being such; should abortion be legal? Do police affect delinquency and how does poverty affect children? The argument advanced by Neuman is that such questions are not empirically testable or that they are nonscientific questions.