Introducing research questions

So, broadly speaking, a research question is what you are trying to answer through your research study. And this revolves around a specific topic usually. Having a good research question is one of the most critical parts of a research study because it’s what your entire research project will focus around. About two years ago, I was conducting a research project for my MSc dissertation. At the time, I was working in a mental health setting and I was particularly interested in the psychological wellbeing of clinical mental health staff, particularly those who worked in secure mental health environments. So I conducted in an initial literature review and found that rates of burnout were quite high in clinical mental health staff.

And, I was intrigued to know why. So, I started to look into some theories around burnout. I was particularly interested in the Job Demands-Resources Theory, as it considers both demands and resources in the role of the person’s burnout. I was also interested in how burnout can affect the psychological wellbeing of clinical mental health staff, and particularly their life satisfaction, which is how we appraise our lives as a whole. I was therefore able to base my research question around this theory. And after seeing that, there was a gap in the research around this area.

I refined my research question to be ‘what effect do job demands and job resources have on burnout and life satisfaction in clinical mental health staff working in a secure mental health settings?

So, having a good research question helps you to frame your entire research study. So, by devising my research question, I was able to consider the measures that I would to use, for example. Because I knew I was basing it on the Job Demands-Resources Theory, I was guided to look into the literature for specific job demands and resources that clinical mental health may experience. From this, I was able to consider what tools would be the most appropriate to measure these variables. Because I also knew from my research question that I would be looking at burnout and life satisfaction, I was able to consider what would be the best measures for those too.

Because my research question stated that I would be focusing on clinical mental health staff, I was able to focus on them as my sample. This also helped me to refine my inclusion and exclusion criteria when it came to sampling my participants. Devising a research question also helped me to consider what my hypotheses would be. In other words, statements of what I thought the results would be in the study. This also helped me to consider what the most appropriate form of analysis would be too.