Your research questions are the backbone of your whole study. They decide your method, your data, your analysis, and even your chapter headings. Weak questions create a weak thesis, no matter how hard you work later.

The good news: there is a simple structure that works across disciplines. One aim, three or four research questions, and one objective per question.

Aim, questions, and objectives: what's the difference?

  • Aim: the overall purpose of the study, in one sentence.
  • Research questions: what you want to find out. They end with a question mark.
  • Objectives: the actions you will take to answer each question. They start with a verb like assess, compare, identify, or examine.

Step 1: Start from your gap

Every good research question answers a gap. If your gap is "no qualitative evidence on why rural women avoid mobile banking," your aim almost writes itself: To explore how rural women in Sylhet make decisions about using mobile financial services.

Step 2: Break the aim into 3 to 4 questions

Ask yourself what you need to know to achieve the aim. A useful pattern is what, why, how, and so what:

  1. What are rural women's current practices for saving and sending money?
  2. Why do some women adopt mobile financial services while others do not?
  3. How do family members influence these decisions?
  4. What changes would make these services more accessible?

Step 3: Turn each question into a SMART objective

SMART means specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. For question 2, a SMART objective could be: To identify the key factors influencing adoption through 25 in-depth interviews conducted between January and March 2027.

Step 4: Run the quality check

A strong research question is:

  • Focused: it can be answered in one study.
  • Researchable: data exists or can be collected.
  • Not yes/no: "Does X affect Y?" becomes "How and to what extent does X affect Y?"
  • Aligned: every question links back to the aim and the gap.

Common mistakes

  • Writing too many questions. More than five usually means your scope is too wide.
  • Mixing objectives and questions so they repeat each other.
  • Asking questions your chosen method cannot answer, such as a "why" question answered only with a closed survey.

Get expert feedback before you start collecting data

Changing questions after fieldwork is costly. In the Research Blueprint Workshop, Dr. Atiqur Rahman Sunny reviews your aim, questions, and objectives in a small group, so you begin data collection with confidence.