Choosing the IA research question

Choosing a topic

Students should be encouraged to choose their topic from an area of interest to them. If they are on a sports team, they may like to examine the health and well-being benefits of their particular team sport. Maybe they love animals and would be interested in investigating the benefits of pet ownership for children or older people. They may have an individual learning difficulty and want to explore a specific educational technique to help those with this learning challenge. Because this proposed research will not be carried out, sensitive topics not allowed for practicals may be investigated, such as mental health, body image, neurodiversity or cultural differences.

Population of interest

The population of interest can generally be found by asking several questions and deciding which characteristics are important. For example, suppose a student wants to study exam stress in students. In that case, their population of interest will probably be 16-18-year-old students, as this group sits many exams in preparation for their final IB Diploma.

Once students have chosen a topic relevant to a stated real-life issue for their population, they need to read broadly about the subject and find two pieces of research that are most relevant to their interests. This will help them select their question.

Designing the research question

This involves students combining the topic they are investigating with their population of interest to frame their question or state their aim. Students will likely have several different ideas. But the three-way combination of the topic, the population of interest and thoughts generated by their relevant reading will help students to frame a focused research question.

See the InThinking IA details for more support.

An example

Topic: Social anxiety – the student suffers from this and is sometimes   unable to attend school. They are interested in knowing more about overcoming this.

Population: Other students of their age or younger who suffer from social anxiety. This may be narrowed down while reading. (Remember that the research will not be carried out, but the design of the IA should be able to pass an ethics review board of their peers.)

Reading: 

1. The student engages in background research using blogs, YouTube  
   materials and websites on school avoidance and social anxiety.
2. They decide on their focus and the ages of interest.
3. They select three or four appropriate peer-reviewed academic articles and read them to narrow their focus further.
4. Finally, the student decides on two key pieces of relevant academic research to include in their introduction. Their question will relate directly to these.