Research questions generate knowledge and John Matthews used the analogy of the night sky and the constellations to illustrate.
Knowledge is the organisation of information – information exists independently whereas knowledge exists because of intellect and imagination.
A research question
- collects new information
- connects information in a new way
- tests existing information
- compares one field of knowledge against another
A research question is
- answerable even if only theoretically
- a question that leads to other questions
- a question that might require you to answer other questions before you answer it
- a question informed by existing knowledge
- a question that is worth asking
it is not a question that
- is a yes or no answer
- a question that will result in a subjective answer
- not a question that’s already been answered
- not a question that will only generate information and not knowledge
Case study – Connected Communities, Fiddler on the Roof at the Windsor Jewish Community Centre 1973 – Roberta Mock (2012)
Roberta read her paper that she delivered at a conference earlier this year, the class had to decide what research she’d done in order to make the paper. Interestingly a class in their 20’s had to come to terms with the fact that in 1973 there were no digital clips or even video clips to research from.
- firstly youtube for clips of Fiddler – social media gathering
- oral history gathering with the Jewish community of Windsor
- Personal recollections
- critiques of the production
- a book about the history of Jews in Windsor which gave her population stats
- plus an historical background into the culture at the time and what was happening in the wider world that would have an influence including Canadian political policies (1971)