ABSTRACT
It is common for higher education institutions to require a clearly defined research question at the point of application to study for a research degree. In most cases this question is crafted by the applicant, based on previous studies at first degree or masters levels, other academic work they have done, professional and personal interests and experience, or some combination of these. How these influences are weighted may vary according to the form of doctorate (with, for instance, professional concerns coming more to the fore in identifying potential research questions for a professional doctorate such as the EdD or DEng). In some cases, for instance for a scholarship related to a larger funded research project, the research question might already be defined. There are obvious benefits to having a clearly defined question at the outset of a piece
of research, particularly where time and resources for the conduct and completion of the research are limited, as they are for the vast majority of postgraduate researchers. It is vital, however, to acknowledge that, in the course of conducting the research, this question is likely to change. This change might involve anything, from the refinement and clarification of the question as the researcher becomes more familiar with the literature in the field of enquiry, to the outright rejection of initial focus of the research in favour of a completely different question. The degree of latitude available in precision of definition of the initial question and in the degree to which the research can depart from this question will vary between disciplines and with the particular circumstances of the researcher (for instance, the condition of the funding of the research or supervision of the project). The key issue here is that although postgraduate researchers are commonly required by institutions, for understandable reasons, to appear to commit themselves at the very outset of the research to a tightly defined question, in practice it is likely that in the course of the research the question will change. Researchers and their supervisors have to be prepared for interests to shift, and indeed it can be argued that dynamism and flux in ‘the research question’ are fundamental features of the research process. This does not mean that the definition of an initial research questions serves no useful purpose. It does, for instance, set a direction for the research and place useful limits on the reading to be done in the initial stages of the project. It also enables supervision arrangements to be made that are appropriate to the specialised nature of a doctorate.
