Research Questions
This type of question is answered with data, not opinions.
What is a testable question?
The variable you change on purpose.
What is the independent variable?
This describes whether a project can realistically be completed with time and resources.
What is feasibility?
The three pillars of sustainability.
What are environmental, social, and economic?
Giving vague feedback like “looks good” is bad because it lacks this.
What is specificity?
A research question should clearly identify this cause-and-effect structure.
What are independent and dependent variables?
The variable you measure as a result.
What is the dependent variable?
Name one factor that affects feasibility.
What is time, equipment, access, safety, or sample size?
PM2.5 measures this type of pollution.
What is fine particulate matter?
Too many variables in a project usually causes this problem.
What is confusion or weak conclusions?
True or False: “Does pollution affect plants?” is a strong research question.
What is false?
Name one example of quantitative data.
What is numerical data (temperature, PM2.5, pH, counts, etc.)?
Why pilot testing is useful.
What is to identify problems before full data collection?
Why sustainability research often focuses on long-term impacts.
What is because environmental and social effects accumulate over time?
Why small sample sizes can be risky.
What is they reduce reliability or accuracy?
This is the biggest problem with overly broad research questions.
What is they are difficult or impossible to test realistically?
Why controlling variables is important in experiments.
What is to ensure changes are caused by the independent variable?
What is the biggest risk of unclear methods?
What is unreliable or unusable data?
An example of environmental justice.
What is when certain communities experience more pollution or risk?
Changing your method halfway through data collection causes this issue.
What is inconsistent data?
Make this a better research question:
“How does climate change affect people?”
Example answer: What is “How does average summer temperature affect electricity usage in NYC apartments?”
Jen measures air quality at 3 locations for 2 weeks. This describes the project’s ____.
What is data collection method or sampling plan?
A backup plan in research is called a _____.
What is a contingency plan?
Name one sustainability topic suitable for student research.
What is air quality, water quality, energy use, waste, food systems, or climate?
The most common reason student research projects fail.
What is unrealistic design or poor planning?