Rules for writing a good research question and how and when to break them

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You could argue the question is everything. All the information you wish to extract in any type of interview based research is going to come down to the right questions you ask your participant. So how can you leverage those moments for maximum payoff?

Crafting a good question can be difficult and it is not uncommon for new researchers to get it wrong for a while until they get into a groove.

Here are a few things NOT to do.

Yes/No Questions or one word answers

You want to make sure you ask open ended questions that cannot be quickly answered with a one word answer. You are looking for stories and to get them you will have to go deeper. Invite more discussion with open ended questions and use follow-ups or laddering to learn more.

Leading Questions.

These questions involve you giving out clues that steer the participant in a certain direction by hinting at how they should answer. For example, instead of saying ‘so how do you use iCalendar for keeping track of your schedule?’ you could ask ‘what kinds of tools do you use to keep track of your schedule?’.

Personal Bias

This might be obvious but I know I have done it before and as soon as it comes out I know I shouldn't have. It sometimes creeps in when you might try to relate to your participant by sharing something personal, an opinion you might have so that you can hopefully relate on some level. It might sound something like ‘I know I hate the hassle of taking public transit, how do you feel about car sharing?’ You want to leave as much ‘you’ out of the conversation as possible.

Unconscious Bias

This kind of bias is when we fail to recognize someone else’s perception of a situation is different from our own because of our separate sets of past experiences, personal history, expectations, and social norms. Keep this is in mind and do your best to keep these influences from jeopardizing your questions.

“Rules are mostly made to be broken and are too often for the lazy to hide behind”.

― Douglass Macarthur

Here are a few situations in which it is appropriate to bend the rules:

• Use leading questions when you want to build trust with a participant or clarify something they said earlier that may not have been clear.
• Start off with some yes or no or one word answer questions to warm up your participant and get them comfortable.
• Use you personal bias to play devils advocate when appropriate.