Regular vs. Research Questions
Ohio State University Libraries Teaching & Learning and Robyn Hartman
Most of us look for information to answer questions every day, and we often act on the answers to those questions. Are research questions any different from most of the questions for which we seek information? Yes.
See how they’re different by looking over the examples of both kinds below and answering questions about them in the next activity.
Examples: Regular vs. Research Questions
| Examples of Regular Questions | Examples of Research Questions |
| What time is my movie showing at the theater on Friday? | Why did college students in New York City attend sleeper films in greater numbers during the first month after their release between 2010 and 2020? |
| What can I do about my insomnia? | What factors contributed to insomnia among college students at Kansas State University during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2022)? |
| How many children in the U.S. have allergies? | Why did allergy rates increase among elementary school children in Los Angeles County between 2000 and 2020? |
| What year was metformin approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration? | How did metformin improve diabetes treatment for adults with Type 2 diabetes in rural Kansas during the first 20 years after its FDA approval? |
| Could citizens register to vote at branches of the Hays Public Library in 2016? | How did public libraries in Kansas support first-time voters during the 2016 presidential election? |
| What is the Whorfian Hypothesis? | How did language influence communication among bilingual adults in Miami, Florida, during linguistic research conducted between 1970 and 2000? |
| Where is the Apple, Inc. home office? | What marketing strategies contributed to Apple’s popularity among young adults in Silicon Valley, California, during the first decade of the iPhone (2007–2017)? |
| What is MERS? | Why were healthcare workers in Saudi Arabia at higher risk of MERS exposure during major outbreaks between 2012 and 2018? |
| Does MLA style recommend the use of generic male pronouns intended to refer to both males and females? | How did college students at Fort Hays State University interpret generic male pronouns between 2000 and 2025, and why did interpretations differ by gender? |
Activity: Regular or Research Question?
Consider these examples of regular questions and research questions so you can answer the questions below about the differences between them.
| Examples of Regular Questions | Examples of Research Questions |
|---|---|
| Which colors have been designated by House Beautiful as trends for this year? | Is it possible to teach good taste? |
| What is the congruity principle used by designers of multimedia instruction? | How are some young children influenced to commit more violent acts after watching violent television shows and playing violent games? |
| What causes sepsis? | How is a person’s health threatened by working the night shift? |
| What are my university’s rules against plagiarism? | How does college students’ understanding of plagiarism vary, depending on which countries they come from? |
| What are the most-read peer-reviewed journals in aerospace engineering? | How could journal reading be increased among aerospace engineering majors? |
| Is there still time to register to vote in Ohio in November this year? | How do U.S. citizens who are registered to vote decide which candidate to support in presidential elections? |
Activity: Label the Questions
The question to be answered by a research project. Such questions cannot be answered by a simple Google search and require synthesizing information from several sources to find the correct or most reasonable answer. Most answers also result in more questions that need research.
A straightforward question that can usually be answered with a quick search or factual response.
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