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Business: Creating Research Questions

How do you know when you have a good research question?

Whatever your career-related subject area, all research questions for the reflective project follow certain rules to allow the greatest opportunity for success. The dilemma is clear, the question is not overly complicated, and it is balanced and unbiased. Lastly, whilst 'Should' questions are by no means compulsory, they do allow the opportunity for an interrogative RP and avoid going down a descriptive pathway.

Business

Spotting the potential in questions

Business is such a popular career-related subject for CP students globally that we must examine it more closely when it comes to the Reflective Project. Also, even if students are studying and working in a different CRS, there is very often a clear business dynamic. You will see the questions here cover Fashion and Hospitality specifically as well as refer generally to 'employers' and 'companies' so the potential to specialise and connect to specific career-related studies is there.

Even if a student starts out with a solid, well-constructed question, it's good to consider the pitfalls that could occur along the way. After all, this is a process. Many experienced RP coordinators will tell you, many projects start out very similarly with enthusiasm at the start but it's a long road and we want questions that can allow for multiple perspectives with enough sources to keep the interest but not overwhelm.

A reminder of good questions

There is no universal set of criteria for a good research question. Different disciplines have different priorities and requirements. A good research question for a history paper will differ from a good research question for a biology paper. In general, however, a good research question should be:

  • Clear and focused. In other words, the question should clearly state what the writer needs to do.
  • Not too broad and not too narrow. The question should have an appropriate scope. If the question is too broad it will not be possible to answer it thoroughly within the word limit. If it is too narrow you will not have enough to write about and you will struggle to develop a strong argument (see the activity below for examples).
  • Not too easy to answer. For example, the question should require more than a simple yes or no answer.
  • Not too difficult to answer. You must be able to answer the question thoroughly within the given timeframe and word limit.
  • Researchable. You must have access to a suitable amount of quality research materials, such as academic books and refereed journal articles.
  • Analytical rather than descriptive. In other words, your research question should allow you to produce an analysis of an issue or problem rather than a simple description of it (more on this below).

From Monash University (Melbourne, Australia) library' s resource pages.

Should the Hospitality industry implement environmentally friendly sustainability measures?

Broad versus specific questions
This is an interesting one to start with. An ethical dilemma does not seem immediately clear—you may well be thinking that it is straightforward with a resounding 'Of course!'. However, there may well be more than meets the eye here. Does taking on so-called 'environmentally friendly sustainability measures' raise costs to the detriment of hiring staff and fair wages? That is just an initial open-ended wondering at this stage. As a supervisor I would be hoping that there will be clarity in the first two paragraphs about the extent of the dilemma. The Hospitality industry is undoubtedly one of - if not - the biggest employment sector in the world; will this reflective project be taking on the whole hospitality industry in around 3000 words? As an outside observer, there is no getting away from the fact that I would like this question to make the dilemma a little clearer from the outset.

Should Companies be Offshoring Their Manufacturing?

Finding the best examples
When we consider how many different directions this question could go in terms of industry, this question has fascinating opportunities. It will be really interesting to see which sector it explores as it explores the conflict between local and global employment and profits. This question really draws Criterion B and the use of local or global examples into focus and the extent to which the relevance and aptness of the examples, lead to higher marks. The student here will want to be careful in measuring the impact of the ethical dilemma on the cultural perspectives here. Again, there would be no harm in being specific in the question here, giving the dilemma real context but as long as the student takes time to establish the parameters of the dilemma at the start and build on that throughout the RP, they will be fine.

Should hotels offer low-paying jobs to migrant workers?

The opportunity for a range of contrasting and conflicting examples
This could be a really interesting reflective project with potentially a dilemma at the heart of the hospitality/business industry. However, what I would be really interested in seeing here is a balance of argument which might not make itself immediately obvious. This could very well be a project that benefits from contrasting contexts to illustrate the complexity of this situation. Care must be taken not to skew the question so the dilemma is not apparent; ie. an expose into how hotels do not pay their workers all a fair wage.

Should employers be allowed to not* hire someone based on their visible tattoos?

Step outside the dilemma to show balance
This is a very current and relevant real-world dilemma as body art has become increasingly mainstream as the 21st century progresses. Putting the split infinitive* aside (always an English teacher), this question has really interesting opportunities. One thing to watch out for, though: sometimes, when there is a dilemma close to a student's heart, they can find it difficult to step out from the side or perspective they lean towards and look impartially from the outside in. When this happens, the reflective project can become somewhat imbalanced and defensive.
Many experienced coordinators and moderators can probably recall almost being lectured about rap music/computer games/social media/fashion industry (delete as applicable!) in reflective projects. It is so understandable when this happens and shows real passion on the student's part. And they absolutely can show such passion, as long as they are clear in how they are weighing up the strengths and weaknesses of different perspectives in a balanced way, even if they do not ultimately agree with a particular view. There are lots of thinking routines that can assist to help students see the big picture about their dilemma such as 'What's the Story?' from Harvard Project Zero.

Should the fashion industry become more eco-friendly (sustainable)?

Scale of the dilemma
This question is fairly similar to the first question we have discussed on this page. Interestingly though, we can already sense the difference in 'sustainability' when discussing the Fashion industry as opposed to Hospitality. Undoubtedly the context of the fashion industry will create a very different reflective project. I would give similar advice in that it is quite broad and that the success of this will depend on the examples given. This question also brings to mind the importance of recognising clear stakeholders in the ethical dilemma rather than there being a 'for or against'. For example in this particular example, we might consider the manufacturers, the consumer and the designers in their local and global context. It would be a great example of having clear, interesting case studies as paramount.
We might ask whether a slight shift in the question from 'Should the fashion industry become more eco-friendly'? to 'Should the fashion industry do more to become more exxcox-frixxendly?' might make for a more nuanced response.
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