Grounded research questions

R-11

You will want to make sure that your research question is grounded, not too speculative. Although speculative questions—such as those that address morality or beliefs—are worth asking in a research paper, they are unsuitable central questions. For most college courses, the central argument of a research paper should be grounded in facts and should not be based entirely on beliefs.

TOO SPECULATIVE GROUNDED
Is it wrong to share pornographic personal photos by cell phone? What role should the US government play in regulating mobile content?
Do medical scientists have the right to experiment on animals? How have technical breakthroughs made medical experiments on animals increasingly unnecessary?

Related topics:

Focused research questions

Challenging research questions

Entry points to research

Revising a thesis that is too broad