Guides: Forming Research Questions: 3. Narrow topic into a question

Topic vs. Question

Once a topic is identified, it must be narrowed into a question. We do this because a topic includes many issues and perspectives. This can make the search difficult. A question is easier to search with because it

looks one issue and/or perspective of a topic; is specific;
will likely have an answer;
helps narrow the search process; and
helps to identify relevant sources.

Examples

Broad Topic	Research Question
nurses and communication	How can communication be improved between hospital nurses during handover?
students and exam anxiety	What strategies are can help reduce exam anxiety for university students in their first year?

Questions Frameworks

Identifying the main concepts of your research topic will help you develop a research question which is focused, clear and answerable. There are different question frameworks that can help in this process depending on what kind of research topic you have.

Question Framework	Used for	Topics of Investigation
5Ws	Any research question	any topic; any subject area
PICOT	Nursing questions Quantitative	investigate cause and effect relationships by comparing individuals or populations and a intervention or exposure factor are measurable in nature and often involve some kind of statistical analysis or standardized measurement
PS	Nursing questions Qualitative	ask about an individual's or population's experience of situations or circumstances investigate meaning and/or experiences of a phenomena