Your research question helps readers to know the specific subject matter you will be addressing within the broad topic of environmental history. For instance, suppose you are interested in market development and its environmental effects. If you asked, "What is the relationship between market development and environmental degradation?” your question would be too broad. This question does not clearly define the problems you are interested in, nor does it put boundaries on your research project. Instead, you could ask, “How did large-scale agriculture contribute to the Dust Bowl in the 1930s?” This is a more specific question. A well-articulated research question provides you and your readers with critical information about your project by defining the focus of your research, its scope, and your motivation.
A research question defines which data you need to collect and which methods you will use to access and analyze your documents. Again, take the Dust Bowl question in the previous paragraph as an example. By narrowing your question to the relationship between large-scale agriculture and the Dust Bowl, you also narrow the scope of data collection and analysis. You may start archival research focusing on agriculture and settlement history, or decide to conduct oral histories concerning farmers' memories of the Dust Bowl.
However, as you collect data, your question is likely to change and grow. Defining questions within your project is not a linear process. Rather, questions will define your directions of inquiry and, in turn, the results of your inquiries will refine your question. Developing research questions is an iterative process evolving with your project. We have made a figure below to illustrate the process. You will start with something you are interested in. You will then create questions about this thing, and figure out what your next steps will be to investigate those questions further. As a result, you will (hopefully) learn something new, which will lead to a whole new “item of interest.”
Before you can begin this process, however, you need to find a general research topic.
Finding a Research Topic
Picking a topic from projects you have done before could help you find ideas that you are already interested in. Collect your previous term papers or reports and list the topics you have researched for those projects. Choose one or two that seem promising and relevant to environmental history. However, you shouldn’t just recycle topics from previously written papers. Instead, you should develop a new topic from the old research.
. List your interests (as many as you can!), and then rank them to come up with one or two which are the most compelling to you. One of the best ways to generate a topic from a general interest is to look up encyclopedia articles. They usually contain an overview outlining facts on a subject with a concise list of suggested readings. If you go to the library to find encyclopedia articles, you will have a good chance of finding a topic from them.
can be a good place to find a promising research question. For example, Hurricane Katrina brought ideas about poverty and environment into the mainstream press, as well as ideas about land-use patterns and natural disasters. Any of these topics would make a good starting place for an environmental history project. You may read newspapers and magazines, use Wikipedia, or even use Google to find current events. Listen to how people debate these events. What are people saying? What are their claims, and how do they make these claims? Jot down different ideas and perspectives, ask yourself whether you agree or disagree, and try to formulate interesting questions about what you are reading.
You may find a good research topic just from your everyday life. For example, a McDonald’s drive-through facility represents America’s unique fast food restaurant landscape. Think about why this particular type of landscape (highway systems and road systems) formed. Doing so will help you to come up with a research topic investigating the relationships between highway development and American fast food culture. Remember not to take things for granted. Try to observe through fresh eyes to produce rich research insights.
For example, suppose that you are a bird watcher and volunteer at a bird conservation society. Recently, you have noticed that it has become harder and harder to spot a specific species in the wild. For this reason, you have decided to participate in an initiative to protect the bird. Your own experiences may help you to look into the relationship between land use change and habitat loss, or make you curious about the historical relation between bird watching and the American conservation movement.
Making Your Question Specific
Research is complex and almost always leads to more questions. In fact, research could be a lifelong process of asking new questions and searching for answers! However, for your paper or project you will need to narrow your question down to something manageable within your time frame.
Here is an example of how to generate specific questions from a more general research topic. Let’s suppose you have selected urban gardening as your research topic. How do you move from “urban gardening” to a specific question? One way to begin is to talk to professors. A professor might mention “war gardens” to you, gardens that sprung up during World Wars I and II in all sorts of areas, including urban areas.
While browsing the shelves for material related to gardening during World War I, you find a book on war gardens in World War I called by Charles Lathrop Pack. Inside the book, you find this picture of Boston Common, taken in 1918:
by Charles Lathrop Pack, 1919.
You’re intrigued by the notion of Boston Common as a garden. You’ve been to Boston Common recently, but there were no vegetable gardens in sight. When and why was it turned into a garden? How long did the garden last? To help you figure out the answers to these questions, you look up some old photos of Boston Common in the Library of Congress. You find this photo of Tremont Street next to the Common, taken between 1910 and 1920. You note that the buildings in this photo exactly match the buildings in the top right corner of the previous photo!
You realize that these pictures were taken at approximately the same time, from only several hundred yards apart. Yet the photographs give two very different glimpses of Boston Common: one as city garden tended by civic-minded Girls Scouts, the other as bustling metropolitan street with cars, pedestrians, and a subway stop.
With a little more digging, you find a picture of this same street (Tremont Street) in 2008, taken by Google Maps:
What a difference! The street has been widened, there are far more cars than pedestrians, a new skyscraper has sprung up in the background, and the old subway station appears to be gone. These photos illustrate a few obvious ways in which Boston Common changed over time. But what about the changes that we can’t see in these photographs? Aha! You are getting closer to a research question.
Now take some time to think about what questions these photographs raise for you. How has the landscape of Boston Common changed throughout the years? Why did these changes happen? What can these three photos tell us about people’s relationship to their environment?
Finding a specific research question can be as simple as following a trail of documents until you get closer and closer. It can be helpful to document your steps while you are looking for a research question so that you can see a path to follow. For the Boston Common example above, your path might look like this:
The Iterative Flow of Questions, Documents, and Research Process
The lesson to take from this is that . You will go through many of the same steps again and again. You will have to read documents, pursue interesting ideas, read some more, create more questions, find documents, and so on. Continue doing this until you reach a question that is small enough that you think you could answer it in the time available to you. For example, “How has Boston Common changed?” is not specific enough to answer in one semester. However, a question like, “How did the uses of the grounds in Boston Common change during World War I?” might be more manageable for a semester.
If you are having difficulty revising and narrowing your research question, we strongly recommend reading by Wayne Booth et al. Chapters 3 and 4 in particular focus on defining a researchable question and will give you good advice about thinking through your topic. When you think that you have an appropriate research question, see if you can fill in the blanks in the following sentence. If you are unsure how to fill it in, there are many examples in Booth’s book, or you can consult a professor or peer for help.
How to Explore Your Questions
This section will suggest some steps you might take while researching your questions. These may fall into the “next steps” category from the diagram above. They can be used at many places in the research process, and you will often do these steps more than once.
? Why Historical research is constantly asking why certain events happened when and where they did. You should always be asking yourself, “What is the historical context that led to this event or situation? Why did it happen at this time and place?”
Historical research consists primarily of constructing arguments based on . You will want to spend significant time exploring which documents are available that are related to your topic. These documents may include photographs, newspaper or magazine articles, recordings, public records, and so on. As always, consult a librarian if you are unsure where to start.
. Reading academic literature is critical for you to identify the questions that have not yet been sufficiently studied, to locate your topic within a particular context, and to ask further questions. If you are uncertain how to find the books and articles you may need, you should ask a librarian for help. If you wish to read about how to use a library, we recommend Thomas Mann’s .
Don't just passively take the knowledge different authors convey to you. Try to really think about the ideas you read and have a conversation or debate with them. Figuring out what is not yet known about your topic is powerful. This gap in knowledge is a good area from which to generate research questions. Pay special attention to whether certain assumptions underpinning a conclusion should be re-examined, or whether scholars have significant disagreement about a subject.
. If you have no clue how to generate a researchable question from academic literature, discuss your ideas with your professors. They can give you suggested readings and potential research directions, as well as fill you in on current debates within the field. Also, don’t forget your fellow students! Some students have started study groups to help formulate ideas for research questions. Students can review each other’s research questions to give comments and criticisms.
. It is likely that your research topic has already been studied using certain theoretical approaches. (Theories are a way of organizing knowledge and explaining certain phenomena or events in the world.) Therefore, don’t be surprised if you come across a body of literature with similar arguments and theoretical approaches. You are always free to situate your research topic in relation to other theories to help you produce research questions. See our web pages on and relative to surrounding scholarly literatures.
. Many scholarly books and journal articles pose further research questions at the end of the books or review papers. Pay attention to these questions; they represent the thoughts of an experienced researcher about what still needs to be studied. Take them as guidelines for exploring your own research questions. Of course, you may wish to just absorb them as your research question if they fit your research interests well.
. From the preliminary reading that you do, pay attention to things that may be related. For example, suppose you are interested in how disease affects landscapes. As you do preliminary research, you find that in your landscape the rising rate of AIDS is concurrent with the declining area of crop planting. This initial finding will help you to frame a research question concerning the relationship between AIDS, crop planting, labor, and landscape transformation in the research site.
General Research Advice
. You should consider carefully the meaning of every term you wish to use and For example, a term like “globalization” could have a number of different meanings, depending on the topic and specialization of the author. A more specific term might be (for example) “increasing global interdependence of the financial industry.” Be specific, and try to write in language that your mother, father, siblings, or grandmother could understand.
As you develop your research ideas, consider carefully what assumptions you may be making. You should be able to verify your claims with appropriate primary or secondary sources. If you can’t verify a claim, consider whether it might be a bias or assumption. For example, suppose your research question is:
…The first assumption to note here is that the 1970’s environmental laws were “stringent.” Were they? Can you justify this “stringency” and explain why it is interesting? What was unique about the 1970’s that would make this question interesting? The second assumption to note is that your research question will explain how environmental legislation gets created and passed. What if your research topic represents an odd situation and therefore says nothing about how environmental legislation is passed? Be careful of overstating the importance of your topic and making assumptions about what your narrative can tell us. A more precise question (one more conscious of its assumptions) might look like this:
…Ask for their help in figuring out your assumptions. Talking with your professors cannot be emphasized enough. Most professors are delighted when a student is interested in their subject, and will be happy to talk with you about your ideas. They will also help you pick out your assumptions and biases, and help you articulate your research question in such a way as to acknowledge your biases without relying on them.
You may have the best research idea ever, but if you need to be in northern Alaska to do it, you are going to need to find a plane ticket and some time. Good research can be done at home in far away places. If you are lucky enough to have grant money or other money to help you travel, by all means, use it! But if you are not able to travel, consider what documents are available at your home institution, town, or state. Although the Internet has made interlibrary loan much easier, if you have to borrow from outside libraries it will slow down your research.
You never know what sort of surprises and interesting ideas you will encounter along the way. Keep a record of all interesting sources, documents, ideas, and questions. If something seems likely to be even marginally helpful or interesting, write it down. It is not likely that you will encounter it again.
Try This… If your instrument is made of wood, where has the wood come from? Which wood is used, and why? How might the demand for instruments affect a landscape? Dos and Don’ts
Interesting Links and Works Consulted
Booth, Wayne C., Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008.
Mann, Thomas. . New York: Oxford University Press US, 2005.
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User Research
Sep 1, 2022
To get the right insights, you need to ask the right questions. Here’s the best user research questions to start gathering feedback right away.
Lorelei Bowman
Content Editor at Maze
Knowing the right user research questions to ask is vital to the success of your UX research. Research is an invaluable source of input for product development, but before you can get started, you need to make sure the questions lined up will get the insights you need, without influencing the data.
Think of this article as your guide to all-things user research questions: what to ask, how to ask it, and how to create your own questions. Let’s get started.
The kind of questions you ask will depend on your research goals—are you looking to gather user feedback, or find out if a particular feature is (or would be) useful? Are you trying to discover what problems bother your user, or whether they’d prefer one solution over another?
Before planning your questions and diving head-first into research, look at your overarching research plan and objectives. Consider this on a project-by-project basis, as your end questions will be drastically different depending on where you are in the product development process . For instance, if you’re in early product discovery , you may want to discover user intent and pain points. Or, if you’re working on a high-fidelity prototype, you might want to see how users interact with the prototype, and how easy it is to use. Asking questions at different stages of your process is a big part of continuous product discovery and ensuring your product remains the best it can be.
💡 If you’re looking to understand the types of question format used in surveys or user questionnaires, take a look at our guide on how to write survey questions .
User research questions can be categorized in many ways—by objective, research scenario, or point in the product journey, to name a few. Since different questions may apply in multiple situations, we’re going to consider questions organized by their research focus.
Now we know what kinds of questions there are, let’s delve into the value of pre-made questions, and some examples of each question type.
To elevate your research, you can opt to use pre-existing questions from a question bank. As with all research tools , there are many benefits to this, including saving time and effort, and having many questions to choose from. Using a question bank also ensures questions are always carefully considered, easily understandable for users, and unbiased.
An open-source question repository for product teams, our question bank is aimed at helping you ask the best user research questions to gather insight that will help build truly user-centered products.
A good question bank will be multifunctional, with questions you can use when running moderated to unmoderated testing, conducting generative or evaluative research, or gathering quantitative or qualitative data. So you can have one place to go for all your user research question needs.
If you’re a Maze user, you can also use the question bank as a handy companion to fuel your team’s research with Maze—check out the templates column and question block suggestions for maximum efficiency when building mazes.
Ultimately, a pre-made question bank can help save you a lot of time, and allow you to focus on conducting the research and processing analysis.
If you’d like to create your own questions, let’s get into the different user research question types, what questions they include, and how to ask them.
Click on the image to head straight to the question bank 👆
To support product and design decisions behind any solution, you need to be familiar with the problem you (and your users) are trying to solve. Whether you’re starting product discovery and want to understand user pain points, or you’re testing new features and want to gauge which will be most popular— you can’t begin working on a solution until you’ve honed in on what the problem is.
What’s bothering your users? How can you make their lives easier? What’s their key challenge, and what are they trying to achieve that’s being blocked by that problem?
Only once you’ve narrowed down a key problem statement can you translate solutions into the user experience, and identify opportunities for product development .
Questions focusing on the problem you’re trying to solve are key in product discovery stages and concept validation . The reason for using a particular product or feature may vary between users—consider Instagram’s Explore tab: it could be used to find friends, connect with like-minded people, or find inspiration.
Understanding the problem you’re trying to solve goes hand in hand with the people who are facing this problem—who they are and how they think, how they adopt and use products, their wants, needs and dislikes.
Put simply, there’s no point building a product if it solves the problem your user is having—but not in the way they wanted it to.
To really understand how your users think, and the way they approach a product, you need to understand their mental models. Broadly speaking, a mental model determines how someone forms their thinking process—it might impact the way they approach a problem, the kind of solution they’d like, and how they expect certain features to work.
UX research methods like card sorting are a good way to understand people’s mental models, but you can also gather this insight through thoughtful user interviews or research questions.
User-focused questions also cover understanding attitudes towards product adoption, use habits and circumstances, pricing models, and demographics.
Once you understand the problem your product will solve, and the people who’ll be using it, it’s time to circle back to the product itself. Questions about the product may be about its usability, what features you’re including, how users feel about content or design, and whether it does what they need it to.
Just like all research, it’s a good idea to ask product-related questions multiple time during the research phase, as both questions and answer will vary depending on what development stage you’re at—from prioritizing which feature to focus on developing first, to assessing how navigable a certain product section is, or reviewing the appeal of specific design aspects.
To gain a well-rounded understanding of how users find using your product or feature, usability testing is imperative. And, if you’re trying to nail down product navigation and identify any bumps in the user journey, tree testing is the research method of choice.
Whatever your focus, questions relating to the product are useful in both evaluative and generative research , and critical for creating a user-centered, solution-focused product.
🤔 To dive into the questions you should be asking during usability testing, check out how to ask effective usability testing questions .
Regardless of what questions you ask, it’s worth bearing in mind that this information should be considered a guide, not a rule—as sometimes what people think they’ll do is not what they always do in practice . This is why it’s so important to continue research and testing in all stages of product development, so you can always be working off the most reliable and up-to-date insight.
Research questions set the standard of the data you’ll gather with them, so it’s crucial to properly craft each question to maximize insight and ensure accurate results.
Using a pre-made question bank is one way to keep questions effective, but if you’re writing your own questions, bear in mind that everything from the language you use to the structure or format of questions can influence the user’s answer.
The best questions for user interviews and research are clear , precise , and unbiased . Let’s go over some ultimate tips for crafting questions that fulfill this.
One of the most important points when it comes to any research is being a neutral party, which means removing cognitive bias from your work. Research isn’t helpful if it’s biased, so ensure your questions are as impartial as possible—after all, just because you like Concept A over Concept B, doesn’t mean everyone will.
The key to staying neutral is avoiding leading questions where you subconsciously favor one thing over another, or plant an opinion or idea in the user’s mind, such as “How would you use concept A?”—this assumes they preferred concept A, which they may not have. Instead, try asking which concept they would use, followed by how they would use it.
The majority of us think best when our minds are clear and able to focus on one thing, so avoid bombarding research participants with multiple questions phrased together.
Rather than asking a question like “What did you think about the design, copy and layout of the page?”, ask individually about the design, copy, and layout. Otherwise, you risk users merging their thoughts into one answer, when in fact they may feel very differently about each element.
Of course some questions lend themselves to being combined (e.g., “Which concept did you prefer and why?”), but it’s best to keep things separate when possible, and ask “Why?” in follow up questions, to allow users space to think and form individual answers for each question.
Similar to ensuring questions are unbiased, it’s also a good idea to ask open-ended questions—that is, to avoid questions which result in simply a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer.
The benefit of open-ended questions is that they give participants an opportunity to expand on their answer, work through their experience, and share details with you that may otherwise be missed. Consider that, while asking “Did you like the product?” may answer whether a user liked it, you’ll be left wondering what it is they like about it. Instead, try framing questions in a way that provides space for additional information, e.g. “What did you think about the product?”.
Pro tip ✨ If you do ask closed-ended questions, always keep follow up questions aside to dig deeper gather and extra insight from your participants.
The language we use is incredibly powerful. Used well, words can move us, sway our opinions, educate us, and more.
By helping your research participants to find their own voice, you can unlock powerful statements and user insights which will truly impact your product. Formatting questions with the user at the center—using ‘you’ and asking emotive questions—builds empathy with the user and encourages them to find and share their own opinions through honest answers.
Our final question-crafting tip is to use research questions to test and validate your own assumptions and opinions. Ask questions you think you know the answer to—if you believe all users will prefer one new feature over the other, see if you’re right. If you think a certain design element works better on a different page, ask research participants to determine where they prefer it.
As with any research, while you may be user-adjacent, you are not your users. You are the expert in your product; they are the expert in using your product. Trust their opinions, and use their knowledge and experience to confirm your suspicions, or disprove them. Either way, you gain valuable insights.
Whether you’re investigating user preferences or conducting usability testing, research is only as effective as the questions you ask—and how you ask them.
Focus on questions that fit your research objectives, phrase your questions in the best way possible, and work to build empathy with your user; you’ll be able to gather valuable insights in no time.
What makes a good user research question?
A good research question is open-ended , unbiased , clear , and precise . It helps research participants share their thoughts, feedback, and opinions with researchers, without influencing or limiting their responses.
What type of user research questions are there?
User research questions can broadly be broken down into three categories:
How do you create a user research question?
There are several ways to create a user research question: you can either write your own question, or select premade questions from an existing research question bank.
If you choose to write your own research questions, it’s important to keep them clear and precise above all else—focus on asking questions that encourage users to open up, share additional information, and speak honestly.
How to avoid leading questions in UX research (+ examples)
UX research best practices: Building and researching products with ethics in mind
The Best PhD and Masters Consulting Company
Developing the right research questions is a critical first step in the research process. A research question is a question that a study or research project aims to answer. This question often addresses an issue or a problem, which, through analysis and interpretation of data, is answered in the study’s conclusion.
Steps to developing a good research question, 1. start with a broad topic: , 2. narrow down your topic and determine potential research questions: , 3. another way of identifying and constructing research questions:.
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Greater Good Science Center • Magazine • In Action • In Education
Here at Greater Good , we cover research into social and emotional well-being, and we try to help people apply findings to their personal and professional lives. We are well aware that our business is a tricky one.
Summarizing scientific studies and applying them to people’s lives isn’t just difficult for the obvious reasons, like understanding and then explaining scientific jargon or methods to non-specialists. It’s also the case that context gets lost when we translate findings into stories, tips, and tools for a more meaningful life, especially when we push it all through the nuance-squashing machine of the Internet. Many people never read past the headlines, which intrinsically aim to overgeneralize and provoke interest. Because our articles can never be as comprehensive as the original studies, they almost always omit some crucial caveats, such as limitations acknowledged by the researchers. To get those, you need access to the studies themselves.
And it’s very common for findings to seem to contradict each other. For example, we recently covered an experiment that suggests stress reduces empathy—after having previously discussed other research suggesting that stress-prone people can be more empathic. Some readers asked: Which one is correct? (You’ll find my answer here .)
But probably the most important missing piece is the future. That may sound like a funny thing to say, but, in fact, a new study is not worth the PDF it’s printed on until its findings are replicated and validated by other studies—studies that haven’t yet happened. An experiment is merely interesting until time and testing turns its finding into a fact.
Scientists know this, and they are trained to react very skeptically to every new paper. They also expect to be greeted with skepticism when they present findings. Trust is good, but science isn’t about trust. It’s about verification.
However, journalists like me, and members of the general public, are often prone to treat every new study as though it represents the last word on the question addressed. This particular issue was highlighted last week by—wait for it—a new study that tried to reproduce 100 prior psychological studies to see if their findings held up. The result of the three-year initiative is chilling: The team, led by University of Virginia psychologist Brian Nosek, got the same results in only 36 percent of the experiments they replicated. This has led to some predictably provocative, overgeneralizing headlines implying that we shouldn’t take psychology seriously.
I don’t agree.
Despite all the mistakes and overblown claims and criticism and contradictions and arguments—or perhaps because of them—our knowledge of human brains and minds has expanded dramatically during the past century. Psychology and neuroscience have documented phenomena like cognitive dissonance, identified many of the brain structures that support our emotions, and proved the placebo effect and other dimensions of the mind-body connection, among other findings that have been tested over and over again.
These discoveries have helped us understand and treat the true causes of many illnesses. I’ve heard it argued that rising rates of diagnoses of mental illness constitute evidence that psychology is failing, but in fact, the opposite is true: We’re seeing more and better diagnoses of problems that would have compelled previous generations to dismiss people as “stupid” or “crazy” or “hyper” or “blue.” The important thing to bear in mind is that it took a very, very long time for science to come to these insights and treatments, following much trial and error.
Science isn’t a faith, but rather a method that takes time to unfold. That’s why it’s equally wrong to uncritically embrace everything you read, including what you are reading on this page.
Given the complexities and ambiguities of the scientific endeavor, is it possible for a non-scientist to strike a balance between wholesale dismissal and uncritical belief? Are there red flags to look for when you read about a study on a site like Greater Good or in a popular self-help book? If you do read one of the actual studies, how should you, as a non-scientist, gauge its credibility?
I drew on my own experience as a science journalist, and surveyed my colleagues here at the UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center. We came up 10 questions you might ask when you read about the latest scientific findings. These are also questions we ask ourselves, before we cover a study.
Peer review—submitting papers to other experts for independent review before acceptance—remains one of the best ways we have for ascertaining the basic seriousness of the study, and many scientists describe peer review as a truly humbling crucible. If a study didn’t go through this process, for whatever reason, it should be taken with a much bigger grain of salt.
Animal experiments tell scientists a lot, but their applicability to our daily human lives will be limited. Similarly, if researchers only studied men, the conclusions might not be relevant to women, and vice versa.
This was actually a huge problem with Nosek’s effort to replicate other people’s experiments. In trying to replicate one German study, for example, they had to use different maps (ones that would be familiar to University of Virginia students) and change a scale measuring aggression to reflect American norms. This kind of variance could explain the different results. It may also suggest the limits of generalizing the results from one study to other populations not included within that study.
As a matter of approach, readers must remember that many psychological studies rely on WEIRD (Western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic) samples, mainly college students, which creates an in-built bias in the discipline’s conclusions. Does that mean you should dismiss Western psychology? Of course not. It’s just the equivalent of a “Caution” or “Yield” sign on the road to understanding.
In general, the more participants in a study, the more valid its results. That said, a large sample is sometimes impossible or even undesirable for certain kinds of studies. This is especially true in expensive neuroscience experiments involving functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, scans.
And many mindfulness studies have scanned the brains of people with many thousands of hours of meditation experience—a relatively small group. Even in those cases, however, a study that looks at 30 experienced meditators is probably more solid than a similar one that scanned the brains of only 15.
Diversity or gender balance aren’t necessarily virtues in a research study; it’s actually a good thing when a study population is as homogenous as possible, because it allows the researchers to limit the number of differences that might affect the result. A good researcher tries to compare apples to apples, and control for as many differences as possible in her analysis.
One of the first things to look for in methodology is whether the sample is randomized and involved a control group; this is especially important if a study is to suggest that a certain variable might actually cause a specific outcome, rather than just be correlated with it (see next point).
For example, were some in the sample randomly assigned a specific meditation practice while others weren’t? If the sample is large enough, randomized trials can produce solid conclusions. But, sometimes, a study will not have a control group because it’s ethically impossible. (Would people still divert a trolley to kill one person in order to save five lives, if their decision killed a real person, instead of just being a thought experiment? We’ll never know for sure!)
The conclusions may still provide some insight, but they need to be kept in perspective.
I often hear “Correlation is not causation” shouted as a kind of battle cry, to try to discredit a study. But correlation—the degree to which two or more measurements seem to change at the same time—is important, and is one step in eventually finding causation—that is, establishing a change in one variable directly triggers a change in another.
The important thing is to correctly identify the relationship.
Language that suggests a fact is “proven” by one study or which promotes one solution for all people is most likely overstating the case. Sweeping generalizations of any kind often indicate a lack of humility that should be a red flag to readers. A study may very well “suggest” a certain conclusion but it rarely, if ever, “proves” it.
This is why we use a lot of cautious, hedging language in Greater Good , like “might” or “implies.”
A recent study found that you could drink lots of sugary beverages without fear of getting fat, as long as you exercised. The funder? Coca Cola, which eagerly promoted the results. This doesn’t mean the results are wrong. But it does suggest you should seek a second opinion .
Readers could understandably be skeptical of mindfulness meditation studies promoted by practicing Buddhists or experiments on the value of prayer conducted by Christians. Again, it doesn’t automatically mean that the conclusions are wrong. It does, however, raise the bar for peer review and replication. For example, it took hundreds of experiments before we could begin saying with confidence that mindfulness can indeed reduce stress.
Is the study focused on only one side of the story or one interpretation of the data? Has it failed to consider or refute alternative explanations? Do they demonstrate awareness of which questions are answered and which aren’t by their methods?
I summarize my personal stance as a non-scientist toward scientific findings as this: Curious, but skeptical. I take it all seriously and I take it all with a grain of salt. I judge it against my experience, knowing that my experience creates bias. I try to cultivate humility, doubt, and patience. I don’t always succeed; when I fail, I try to admit fault and forgive myself. My own understanding is imperfect, and I remind myself that one study is only one step in understanding. Above all, I try to bear in mind that science is a process, and that conclusions always raise more questions for us to answer.
Uc berkeley.
Jeremy Adam Smith edits the GGSC's online magazine, Greater Good . He is also the author or coeditor of five books, including The Daddy Shift , Are We Born Racist? , and (most recently) The Gratitude Project: How the Science of Thankfulness Can Rewire Our Brains for Resilience, Optimism, and the Greater Good . Before joining the GGSC, Jeremy was a John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University.
While you can practice your conference presentation a hundred times, audience questions are more difficult to prepare for. Nonetheless, several typical audience questions are frequently asked at academic conferences. Be aware of these questions and know how to react!
What is your main argument.
Carving out your presentation’s core argument is not an easy task, so it is good to prepare this in advance.
You can also criticise previous studies in your answer. However, do this respectfully. Don’t say “ previous studies are useless because they don’t look at…”. Instead, say “ one aspect that previous studies have not considered is …” or “ one element that has been under-researched so far is … “.
To prepare a good answer, think about several dimensions. Does your research confirm or contradict a specific aspect of a theoretical relationship? Does your research highlight the importance of a specific aspect that should be considered in theories related to your topic? Does your research uniquely combine different theories?
What is the scientific relevance of your research, what is the societal relevance of your research.
How to react: Academic research increasingly focuses on societal impact: the impact that research can have beyond the confines of universities and beyond abstract, theoretical knowledge.
How do you define … .
Furthermore, be prepared to embed your understanding or definitions of keywords and concepts within the existing literature. Did you follow a definition of a certain scholar? Or does your understanding of a term differ from the way it is commonly understood in scientific work on the topic?
What is your conceptual framework.
How to react: Your conceptual framework is embedded in your theoretical framework, but concretely describes the variables (and their relationships) that you address in your study. In a way, a conceptual framework provides a roadmap for your research.
How did you collect your data.
The question on data collection can be answered skillfully if you can provide information on your data sources and data gathering. You can also share some of the challenges you experienced when collecting data, and how you overcame them.
Common audience questions about research avenues not taken, have you considered the work of … .
How to react: When doing research, you simply cannot incorporate everything and everyone. At some point, you need to make a decision. However, many presenters at academic conferences are asked whether they considered incorporating the work of specific scholars working on similar topics.
When you react to this question, you can be completely honest. Maybe you did not use a specific method because of time or budgetary constraints. Maybe you are not familiar with the named method. Or maybe you simply don’t believe that the suggested method would have generated any valuable findings.
Common audience questions about research limitations, what are the limitations of your research.
How to react: Every research has limitations. And being able to be explicit about your research limitations is a sign of strength, not weakness!
For quantitative research, you can more easily refer to numeric criteria that indicate whether you can generalise findings or not. For qualitative research, generalisation may not have been the objective, to begin with. Nonetheless, we can learn from the insights. Be prepared to explain your stance on generalising your findings.
How will you continue your research.
For instance, which elements would you like to explore that were not covered in your research yet? Which relationship do you plan to investigate further? What is your next research step, building upon your current findings?
How to react: Individual researchers cannot cover everything about an interesting topic on their own. Therefore, a common audience question focuses on research suggestions for other scholars.
How to react: This is a fun question! It asks you to share your wisdom. Yes, yours! Having conducted your research means you have valuable lessons to share with others embarking on a similar journey.
It can be difficult to come up with good advice on the spot, so make sure to have a few answers up your sleeve. You can, for instance, advise people to start the data collection earlier, to work closely with external partners, or to be open about changes in the research process.
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Brainstorm ideas.
Selecting a topic can be tricky. Your professor will usually assign a general theme that reflects the course material and your paper will need to focus on some aspect of that theme. Look through lecture notes and assigned readings to find a topic. Start by thinking of a topic you are interested in or curious about. Researching a topic that sparks your interest can be a great motivator.
Once you've selected a general topic, create a concept map. Concept maps help you identify subtopics and topic-related ideas.
Write down your central topic (if you don't have one yet, use the course theme). Around the central topic, write down as many subtopics as you can think of. Continue writing related ideas and subtopics. As you write, think about how the subtopics might interconnect with each other or how they relate. Think of questions you might have about those connections.
Visuwords - an interactive thesaurus and dictionary. Provides related terms, synonyms, broader and narrower terms.
Bubbl - an online concept mapping tool. (3 maps are free)
Browse information sources.
Once you've identified a topic you'd like to explore further, take the time to get to know more about that topic. This step is called background research . Background research helps you:
Here are some sources of background information to consider as you explore your research topic:
For more help, check out the Quick How To page on g enerating a research question .
Identify open vs. close-ended questions.
Close-ended questions can be answered by a simple "yes" or "no," whereas open-ended questions go beyond a simple answer and require mindful, detailed responses. Your research question should be open-ended. Open-ended questions require more critical thinking and sources of information to answer compared to close-ended questions. Research questions often start with "how" or "why". Here is an example of a close-ended question modified into an open-ended question: Close-ended : Do many children in the U.S. have allergies? Open-ended : How does country of birth affect a child's chances of developing asthma?
Once you have a basic understanding of your topic and the issues surrounding it, narrow your research question by asking the following questions:
It's okay for your research question to change over time as you find more information about your topic, or take out ideas that don't work.
For more help, check out the libraries' Quick How To page on Generating a Research Question .
Use keywords, not sentences.
The keywords you use are an important part of your search strategy. Keywords , or search words , are words or short phrases that represent the main ideas or concepts in your topic. Identify main concepts by writing down your research question and selecting nouns important to the meaning of your research question. For example, the research question "How is climate change affecting agriculture in Nevada?" has three main concepts:
It's important to have additional keywords on hand, in case a search fails or doesn't produce desired results. For each main concept, write a list of related terms, synonyms, broader or narrower ideas. Brainstorm related terms, ask a classmate/professor/librarian for help, use a thesaurus, or continuing reading about your topic.
For more help, check out the Quick How To page on Choosing Keywords .
As you search for information you will come across many different types of sources such as websites, journal articles and books, but how do you know if the information is suitable or appropriate for your research assignment? What does it mean for a source to be credible? And why is it important to use credible sources?
To learn more, check out the Quick How To page on Evaluating Sources .
Before asking your first question on Q&A, please read the Guidelines here
You can ask a question in Q&A in a few simple steps:
When you ask a question, it will be seen by your followers and researchers who we think can answer it based on their skills and expertise.
To see all of the questions you’ve asked, go to the Q&A overview page and select Questions you asked on the right-hand side. You can also see a list of all the questions you’ve asked by going to your profile’s Research tab and then filtering for Questions on the left-hand side of your Research .
The key to getting the answers you’re looking for is to keep your questions informative and concise. Always keep in mind that Q&A is where you engage with other scientists on a professional level. Here are a few tips to get the best answers:
Demographic survey questions best practices.
August 22, 2024, Department, by Dianne Palladino, Ph.D.
For an enhanced digital experience, read this story in the ezine .
Successful efforts to assess and support equity depend on understanding data with respect to the different characteristics and cultures of communities served. Survey designers also must understand how to construct demographic questions to maximize inclusion of community members in response options. Whether gathering community feedback for decision making, assessing the equitable and just distribution of funding for parks and recreation, or filtering the characteristics of your desired sample of respondents for your survey, careful, clear and consistent demographic questions that foster the ability for everyone to answer them are essential.
In June 2024 at an NRPA Sandbox, titled “Surveying for Park and Recreation Success,” members asked about best practices for incorporating survey demographic questions. This column highlights some common guidance.
Selecting the demographic data to collect in a survey must be considered carefully. Common possible respondent characteristics may include race/ethnicity, primary language, gender identity, sexual orientation, pronouns, age, disability status, location, education, employment status, marital status, annual household income, family makeup, political alignment, religion and others. The first step to selecting demographic questions for your survey requires a clear understanding of why you are administering the survey.
What is the topic of your survey? What demographic data do you need to ensure your respondents are representative of your target community? What demographic data are necessary for filtering or logic within the survey or for grouping data during analysis? After answering these questions, select the minimal set needed. Selecting too few demographic questions may hinder your ability to make certain decisions from the data; selecting too many may cause survey-taker fatigue or uneasiness from perceptions that the survey is asking too many personal questions. Achieving the optimal balance is not easy, but it is an essential early step.
Pay careful attention to the way your demographic questions are formatted to ensure inclusivity and the ability of survey takers to opt out of the questions. Few things are more frustrating to a survey taker than not finding a response that applies to them, thus stopping their ability or desire to continue the survey or, worse, forcing them to select an inaccurate answer. Two actions can virtually ensure this will not happen to your respondents: (1) providing an opt-out option, and (2) providing a write-in option.
The opt-out option is simple. At NRPA, we use the phrase, “I prefer not to answer,” as an option for sensitive questions. Even if the question is mandatory, respondents may select this option to continue with the next question. Respondents should not be required to share personal information they do not prefer to share, and you may lose data from that individual who might otherwise be willing to share.
Although you should attempt to include all possible demographic response options, survey designers are rarely fully aware of trending changes to demographic nomenclature and cultural trends. Because of this, the best practice is to include a write-in option. One preferred way to label this option is using “Not Listed” with a write-in box. Any data collected in this box may provide deeper insights into how people in your community identify themselves. As important, providing both this option and an opt-out alternative should allow all respondents to answer the question and continue with the survey.
Every dataset requires some cleaning before analysis, but much better is to design demographic survey questions to preemptively reduce or eliminate unusable data. Consider your question formats carefully. Most demographic questions are best designed as multiple-choice or check-box questions.
Using these formats allows you to define how to break the options into ranges (e.g., age, income) or as stand-alone selection options (e.g., pronouns, zip code, race/ethnicity). Use multiple-choice questions when only one answer is applicable for the category (e.g., number of people in household, marital status). Use check boxes when multiple answers may be true for the category (e.g., race/ethnicity, primary job responsibilities).
Unless you need to use demographic information to determine survey eligibility or to use logic within your survey, demographic questions typically are best suited for the end of your survey. Respondents sometimes stop partially through surveys. If they drop out, it is preferable for them to have responded to the questions that are most important. Similarly, this practice is less likely to discourage those who prefer not to answer sensitive questions. If they drop off before the demographic questions, you will have collected the data that is most related to your topic.
Ensure question formats are consistent. Once you have determined a format for each of your potential demographic questions, create a document listing them as standards. Try to use standard format questions for all surveys. If others in your organization collect demographic information, it may be useful to collaborate on a department-wide (or even wider) standard format for all demographic questions, especially if you anticipate needing to compare or aggregate data across departments or longitudinally from multiple sources.
For some demographic categories, requesting community input about response choices and which demographics to collect may help determine if the questions are relevant to those who may participate in the survey. The more community members can relate to the questions you are asking, the more likely you will achieve your desired survey participation.
At NRPA, we attempt to align our demographic question formats to U.S. Census data whenever possible. In March 2024, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published the 2024 Statistical Policy Directive No. 15 , which set a new federal standard on how they collect, present and maintain race/ethnicity data in all federal datasets. Race and ethnicity previously were maintained as two separate categories, but because of the need to improve data accuracy and usefulness, they are now combined into one question. The directive offers three different formats (i.e., long, short with examples, short only) to use for collecting race/ethnicity data, depending on needs. All park and recreation professionals can benefit from being aware of these trends and determining whether to adjust any established demographic survey question or response option standards.
Collecting demographic data through surveys takes thought and consideration to ensure proper data are available to understand and report accurate equity- and inclusion-related findings. Each agency should examine their circumstances and create demographic questions and tools tailored to their project and community needs.
What other questions do you have about collecting demographic information or about surveys in general? Share on NRPA Connect or email us at [email protected] .
Dianne Palladino, Ph.D. , is the Interim Director of Research and Evaluation at NRPA.
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Published on Aug. 18, 2024
By: Dana George
A big part of becoming financially literate is knowing what's true and what's not. During times of financial stress, there are those who will tell you that gold, silver, and other metals are the "perfect" investment. That may or may not be true, based on a number of factors.
Before diving into the purchase of gold, silver, or metals, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) strongly recommends that you ask questions. It's all about being aware that fraudsters are out there and are more than happy to separate you from your hard-earned money.
The truth is this: precious metal prices fluctuate just like any other investment, regardless of what a salesperson tells you. And you may find yourself paying an overinflated price for gold, silver, and other metals. You may also be hit with ridiculous fees and commissions, designed to rob your nest egg and feather someone else's nest.
Before doing anything else, make sure you understand the answers to the following questions.
No. The CFTC says you should never respond to a cold call, unsolicited email, junk mail, or even late-night commercial, no matter how attractive it appears. They're all common tactics used by scammers looking for their next victims.
It pays to know more about the people advising you on personal finance matters. For example, you should be aware that retail metal dealers are not federally regulated. If you find a well-established dealer in your area, contact your state's attorney general office or securities regulator to learn if the dealer has a history of complaints.
No, almost never. That person trying to convince you to rollover your retirement savings into precious metals isn't qualified to offer trading, investment, or tax advice. Most have been trained to talk you out of your savings. No matter how "nice" they appear, never take investment advice from a metals salesperson.
Often, if it doesn't look like the salesperson is getting far enough with you, they'll hand you off to someone they call their "lead" or "boss." Ask that person directly if they're registered with the CFTC, SEC, FINRA, or your state regulator. No matter how they answer, do not make a decision until you've verified their registration and studied their history of complaints.
Dealers like to use the term "gold IRA" for self-directed IRAs when they're trying to talk you into using your retirement savings to buy gold or silver bullion. While it's true that money can be rolled over from a 401(k) or other retirement account to a self-directed IRA without penalty, once you do it, you're on your own. You no longer have fiduciaries or advisors who are there to protect you against bad investments.
Besides, if you allow a rollover, you're likely to be hit with high fees, commissions, and administrative costs that take a huge bite out of your retirement. The CFTC reports that some gold or silver IRA fraud victims have lost as much as one-third to one-half of their savings by these markups, fees, and commissions.
If you want precious metals as part of your existing IRA, there are commodity exchange-traded products (ETPs) or pools that offer exposure to metal prices. These products come with their own fees and costs, but they're fully regulated. As with any investment professional, make sure the ETP investment professional or commodity pool advisor is registered before moving forward.
Unfortunately, scammers are going to scam. If you suspect that someone is trying to defraud you, or you know of a fraudulent deal, submit a whistleblower tip at CFTC.gov/complaint . If you're a senior and have questions or concerns about your investment accounts, you can also call the FINRA Securities Helpline for Seniors at 844-57-HELPS (844-574-3577).
You've worked far too hard for your money to allow someone else access to it, no matter how attractive their sales presentation may be.
Dana is a full-time personal finance writer, with more than two decades of experience. Her focus is on helping readers feel less alone as they navigate their personal finances and offering actionable insights.
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Replay the free webcast to explore six trends shaping the future of pastoral leadership. Discover how pastors are doing, along with brand new findings from Barna's brand new research report, The State of Pastors, Volume 2. Watch the replay for free today.
This report takes an in-depth look at how pastors are navigating post-pandemic life and ministry, focusing on self-leadership, church leadership and cultural leadership.
Join pastors Glenn Packiam, Rich Villodas and Sharon Hodde Miller as they invite leaders to think out loud together about the challenges and opportunities of leading a church in a rapidly changing world. In each episode, they will have a conversation about church leadership and the challenges pastors are facing. Then, they’ll share a conversation with a pastor, church leader, thinker or theologian about the health of the pastor, the state of the church and what it looks like to love well and lead faithfully.
Partner with Barna on customized research projects. Gain knowledge to understand the unique needs of your ministry.
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Aug 22, 2024
Every person’s life is comprised of relationships, emotions and experiences that helped to shape them into who they are today.
These same factors can influence faith beliefs as well—and as the data from our latest report reveals, they intimately relate to people’s openness to spirituality. To understand the latter, we must understand the former.
To help pastors and laypeople better understand how spiritual backstories impact an individual’s openness to Christianity, this article features data from Engaging the Spiritually Open , our new report created in partnership with Come Near.
How the Church Can Cultivate Curiosity & Common Ground to Draw People Closer to Jesus
In Terms of Faith Stories, Open Practicing Christians & Open Non-Christians Share Some Similarities Before diving into the key themes that shape individuals’ spiritual backstories, it’s important to first lay the groundwork for what “Open” means. In Engaging the Spiritually Open , as well as in our Spiritually Open reporting from last year, “Open”, or “Spiritually Open,” refers to individuals who meet at least three of the following traits: They think there is a spiritual or supernatural dimension to life; think positively about spirituality; describe their spirituality as curious, open and / or exploring; and believe in God or a higher power . Open Non-Christians specifically represent adults of no faith or other faiths, and may have intersected with the Church before. They are curiously seeking more from spirituality.
When looking at Open practicing Christians (who have the potential to become strong faith conversationalists when engaging with others of differing faiths) and Open non-Christians, a somewhat surprising theme surfaces in the storylines of Open non-Christians’ pasts: shame.
Reflecting on their upbringing, about one in four in this group says “I did things I am not proud of today”—and recognizing this is critical to understanding their personal backstory.
Meanwhile, Open practicing Christians are not ruminating on their shortcomings as much. Their faith stories were shaped by abundant lessons about generosity and kindness, they say. Individuals in their upbringing also taught them how to connect with God, read scripture and treat others in a Christlike way. Indeed, for the Open practicing Christians who say that “someone taught me how to connect with God,” this experience emerges as the most important thing to understand about their personal faith story, even more so than lessons in generosity and kindness or other religious activities.
It’s possible that Open non-Christians’ desire for spiritual exploration and personal growth stems not from having been taught well but from wanting to make things right. Additionally, other data reveals that traumatic events were more commonly a part of their upbringings, meaning they may have been raised in environments and routines that they are still sorting through or making peace with.
On the other hand, overall, adults who recall being taught to be generous and kind often identify these lessons as important moments in their faith story, regardless of their present religion or spiritual openness. These profound exchanges may be keys to understanding their ideas on faith and spirituality.
Churches can be places of healing and wholeness. By understanding people’s pain and trauma, Christians can also be conduits to the redemptive power of Jesus as they carefully listen to people’s life stories with empathy, extending the kind of care and grace that Jesus showed to every person—regardless of their backstory.
Engaging the Spiritually Open is designed to help leaders and laypeople engage well in spiritual conversations, ask thoughtful questions to understand personal backstories, better understand deconstruction and how to navigate people’s doubts and discover new ways to support the spiritually curious on their journey toward faith.
For pastors who are wanting to equip their congregations to better reach out to the spiritually open in their community, we’ve created a helpful Field Guide for Pastors that can be found in the conclusion of the report. Inside, you’ll find helpful insights and applications to apply within your context.
Purchase the report to gain access to the findings and the field guide, or subscribe to Barna Access Plus to read the full report and download the field guide.
The first phase of this research is based on a survey of 2,005 U.S. adults and teenagers (ages 13+) conducted online December 13–22, 2022, via a consumer research panel. The margin of error for the sample is +/- 2 percent at the 95 percent confidence level. Quotas were set for representation by region, race / ethnicity, education, age and gender based on the U.S. Census Bureau. Minimal statistical weighting has been applied to maximize representation.
Additionally, a survey among 511 U.S. Protestant senior pastors was conducted online from December 13, 2021–January 3, 2023. Participants are all members of Barna Group’s proprietary Pastor Panel. Minimal statistical weighting has been applied to ensure representation based on denomination, region and church size.
The second phase of this research is based on a survey of 2,003 U.S. adults (ages 18+) conducted online November 3–8, 2023, via a consumer research panel. The margin of error for the sample is +/- 2 percent at the 95 percent confidence level. Quotas were set for representation by region, race / ethnicity, education, income, age and gender based on the U.S. Census Bureau. The study also included oversamples of young adults (ages 18–35) and non-white respondents. Minimal statistical weighting has been applied to maximize representation.
Additional data that informed the direction of this project comes from a survey of 2,000 U.S. adults (ages 18+) conducted online October 21–31, 2022, via a consumer research panel. The margin of error for the sample is +/- 2.1 percent at the 95 percent confidence level. Quotas were set for representation by region, race / ethnicity, education, income, age and gender based on the U.S. Census Bureau. Minimal statistical weighting has been applied to maximize representation.
“Do you think there is a spiritual or supernatural dimension to life?”—Respondent selects “Yes, I am certain”
“The following is a list of words and phrases a person may use to describe their spirituality. If any, which would you use to describe yourself?”—Respondent selects curious , open or exploring from a list of 30 items
“Would you say that you, personally, have a positive or negative opinion of each of the following?”—Respondent selects “positive” for Spirituality
“Do you, personally, believe in God or a higher power?”—Respondent selects “yes”
When Barna refers simply to an “Open” group, we mean they are at least moderately or highly spiritually open and will report on that combined group. When Barna refers to a “Closed” group, we mean they have low spiritual openness.
Researchers intentionally selected statements that did not heavily bias toward “Christian” beliefs in order to more accurately understand “spiritual” openness rather than just “Christian” openness, though there is significant overlap between the two.
Barna’s faith groups were paired with this custom spectrum of spiritual openness for analysis. Reporting includes both Open and Closed groups among all Christians, practicing Christians, nonpracticing Christians and non-Christians.
Photo by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash .
© Barna Group, 2024
Since 1984, Barna Group has conducted more than two million interviews over the course of thousands of studies and has become a go-to source for insights about faith, culture, leadership, vocation and generations. Barna is a private, non-partisan, for-profit organization.
Rising Spiritual Openness in America
What Does it Mean to Be Spiritually Open?
Openness to Jesus Isn’t the Problem—the Church Is
Doubt & Faith: Top Reasons People Question Christianity
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Published August 20, 2024
Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could learn how chemicals affect the developing brain in a quick and cost-effective way? Or if we could gather water quality data from a boat without having to stop and collect samples at multiple locations? What about if we could predict the spread of a fungal pathogen by sampling smoke from wildfires?
EPA scientists have answered questions like these and more with Pathfinder Innovation Projects (PIPs) . Through an internal competition, PIP winners receive seed funding and additional research time to pursue their high-risk, high-reward research ideas.
The PIPs program helps EPA incubate innovative research through projects that explore new approaches to high priority topics, respond to emerging environmental issues, and build the expertise of researchers in their chosen fields of study.
The PIPs program was launched in 2011 and has funded a total of 153 research projects since its inception. EPA has incorporated several successful PIPs into its national research programs , and methods first developed through PIPs have even been used to support regulatory decisions. PIPs provide EPA scientists an important testbed to try out innovative and exciting ideas that could become transformative environmental solutions. Read about some successful PIPs below.
EPA scientists have long been interested in the potential effects of chemicals on developing brains in embryos, infants, and children. However, traditional methods for testing these effects are expensive, time-consuming, and rely on animal models. Because of that, many chemicals have not been studied using these methods, resulting in gaps in what we know about chemicals found in the environment.
In 2013, Dr. Timothy Shafer’s team at EPA received PIP funding to develop a new, lower cost approach to quickly detect when chemicals may cause developmental neurological changes. The team grew a network of brain cells in a laboratory and measured the network’s electrical activity using an array of tiny electrodes. This lab-grown network simulates the electrical activity of a human brain; chemicals that cause changes in this “brain on a chip” are flagged as potential candidates that could impact developing brains in humans.
With the help of a jump start from PIPs, the “brain on a chip” has become an integral part of EPA’s Chemical Safety for Sustainability research program .
“PIPs allowed us to really get this technology up and running,” Dr. Shafer said. “It allowed us to generate enough data to support further development and use of this approach.”
Today, EPA is using the method to test new and existing chemicals (including high priority contaminants such as PFAS), and the data are informing EPA’s regulatory decisions. For example, according to Dr. Shafer, “brain on a chip” informed a decision about a new pesticide and saved about a year and a half of EPA staff time and over $1 million compared to traditional methods.
EPA’s research vessels are critical tools for studying environmental concerns like water quality, contaminants, and harmful algal blooms in the Great Lakes. However, predicting the exact location of these concerns can be challenging, making it essential for the ships to be positioned in the right place to study them. To tackle this issue, EPA scientists wanted to continuously collect data on emerging environmental concerns, rather than relying on the research vessel’s scheduled sampling stops.
In 2023, EPA scientist Ryan Lepak received PIP funding to develop a new system on EPA’s Lake Explorer II, enabling it to monitor water quality while in motion. The system continuously pipes water from the lake into an array of sensors that monitor key metrics such as temperature, pH, blue green algae, chlorophyll, and, with the help of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration collaborators, dissolved carbon dioxide. It also collects larger particles using filters so that researchers can determine exactly what contaminants, like mercury and PFAS, are present in a particular area. These devices enable scientists to collect a wide range of information about the lake without stopping the ship or interrupting its planned research activities.
Additionally, the system incorporates custom software that allows EPA scientists to follow up on noteworthy findings. When the sensors detect conditions that merit further attention — such as sudden changes in water temperature or signs of a harmful algal bloom — the system automatically collects a sample of water and stores it for future analysis.
This exciting new technology is being deployed on the Lake Explorer II this summer and is already generating interest from other researchers in the Great Lakes area. According to Dr. Lepak, other research vessels, both within and outside the EPA, have expressed interest in deploying similar technologies on their ships.
Valley fever is an infection caused by inhaling the Coccidioides fungus, which lives in soils in the western United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , Valley fever is becoming increasingly common but is often misdiagnosed. The disease can be mistaken for other types of pneumonia, and, while most patients get better on their own, patients who do need treatment may remain sick for weeks before receiving the right diagnosis and care. Because of the high rate of misdiagnosis, researchers are looking for better ways to determine where and when Valley fever risk is high, so they can warn doctors to be on the lookout for symptoms.
Building on research that suggests a connection between Valley fever and wildfire, EPA scientist Jim Markwiese hypothesized that people might be inhaling Coccidioides spores from wildfire smoke. However, he needed a way to test this hypothesis, as detecting these airborne spores poses significant challenges.
In 2023, Dr. Markwiese and his collaborators received PIP funding to deploy drones to collect air samples of Coccidioides spores. As a proof-of-concept test, the team flew drones equipped with biological sampling devices over known, non-wildfire Valley fever hotspots in the San Joaquin Valley, California. This novel method was able to successfully capture airborne Coccidioides spores for the first time, demonstrating that drone sampling was an effective approach to collecting this elusive, inhalable pathogen.
Now that they know their sampling method works, Dr. Markwiese and his collaborators hope to test the method directly on wildfire smoke in the future. If this project can provide information about when and where Coccidioides spores are present in a particular area, public health officials will be able to alert doctors of Valley fever as a possible diagnosis. This early intervention could lead to earlier treatment and better outcomes for patients.
“These are literally lifesaving measures that we could put into place,” Dr. Markwiese said. “We may not cure Valley fever with this technology, but we can help people get to a cure faster.”
From the developing brain to Valley fever, these are just a few examples of how EPA researchers are pursuing their innovative ideas for solving our most pressing environmental problems. In addition to these projects, 15 new 2024 PIPs were selected in June to begin research on topics such as environmental justice, emerging contaminants, and more.
If you want to learn more about this next generation of innovative EPA research, visit the PIPs website .
This article was written by Seamus Caslin, Oak Ridge Associated Universities Research participant with EPA.
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Are you passionate about justice, community health, and how the rule of law is applied in society? Our nationally ranked criminal justice program explores big, important social issues you see and read about every day—and helps you turn your passion for a more equitable world into a career advocating for better legal procedures, services, and programs.
Balancing theories of crime and punishment with practical case work and experiential learning opportunities, you’ll find pathways to careers in legal services and agencies, law enforcement, justice-centered nonprofits, and graduate studies.
Our criminal justice program pairs well with political science, allowing you to create pathways to law, policymaking, and advocacy work. Small discussion-based classes, ranging from ethics and crime prevention to restorative justice, will challenge you to think critically and collaboratively.
Our graduates go on to work in settings like nonprofits that focus on justice and social issues, law enforcement agencies, juvenile rehabilitation programs, and in city, state, or federal government agencies.
Some careers you might consider include:
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Get involved in one of our thriving clubs, find volunteer opportunities, internships, and research projects to build up your support network.
Created by and for students in the major, the Criminal Justice Student Association offers workshops, recruiting events, and mixers where you’ll connect with peers and professionals in the field of criminal justice.
Work with faculty as research assistants on projects and journal articles—and present findings at the department’s biannual Research Symposium.
A passion for justice and activism has always been part of criminal justice professor Amy Magnus’ identity. Now, she’s sharing it with the next generation of changemakers.
Chico State is producing great neighbors in the North State. One shining example: The North Valley Community Foundation’s CARE Team, created to connect struggling kids to caring adults and vital resources. The team, 16 deep, is led by alumna Michele Thorpe and includes 12 other Chico State grads.
Political science ba, public administration ba, sociology ba, here's where it all starts. apply today., honoring the mechoopda people.
We acknowledge and are mindful that Chico State stands on lands that were originally occupied by the first people of this area, the Mechoopda, and we recognize their distinctive spiritual relationship with this land, the flora, the fauna, and the waters that run through campus. We are humbled that our campus resides upon sacred lands that since time immemorial have sustained the Mechoopda people and continue to do so today.
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The first question asks for a ready-made solution, and is not focused or researchable. The second question is a clearer comparative question, but note that it may not be practically feasible. For a smaller research project or thesis, it could be narrowed down further to focus on the effectiveness of drunk driving laws in just one or two countries.
A good research question is essential to guide your research paper, dissertation, or thesis. All research questions should be: Focused on a single problem or issue. Researchable using primary and/or secondary sources. Feasible to answer within the timeframe and practical constraints. Specific enough to answer thoroughly.
A well-crafted research question (or set of questions) sets the stage for a robust study and meaningful insights. But, if you're new to research, it's not always clear what exactly constitutes a good research question. In this post, we'll provide you with clear examples of quality research questions across various disciplines, so that you can approach your research project with confidence!
Definition: Research questions are the specific questions that guide a research study or inquiry. These questions help to define the scope of the research and provide a clear focus for the study. Research questions are usually developed at the beginning of a research project and are designed to address a particular research problem or objective.
Choose a broad topic, such as "learner support" or "social media influence" for your study. Select topics of interest to make research more enjoyable and stay motivated. Preliminary research. The goal is to refine and focus your research question. The following strategies can help: Skim various scholarly articles.
Read the complete guide to writing a research question, including the characteristics of a good research question, examples, and steps to create strong research questions. ... Ask questions Asking questions will give you a deeper understanding of the topic. Evaluate your question through the What, Why, When, How, and other open-ended questions ...
3. Narrow down your topic and determine potential research questions. Once you have gathered enough knowledge on the topic you want to pursue, you can start focusing on a more specific area of study and narrowing down a research question. One option is to focus on gaps in existing knowledge or recent literature.
Types of research questions. Now that we've defined what a research question is, let's look at the different types of research questions that you might come across. Broadly speaking, there are (at least) four different types of research questions - descriptive, comparative, relational, and explanatory. Descriptive questions ask what is happening. In other words, they seek to describe a ...
The best way to remember the difference between a research plan and a research proposal is that they have fundamentally different audiences. A research plan helps you, the researcher, organize your thoughts. On the other hand, a dissertation proposal or research proposal aims to convince others (e.g., a supervisor, a funding body, or a dissertation committee) that your research topic is ...
A good research question is essential to guide your research paper, dissertation, or thesis. All research questions should be: Focused on a single problem or issue. Researchable using primary and/or secondary sources. Feasible to answer within the timeframe and practical constraints. Specific enough to answer thoroughly.
Asking these "so what" questions will help us brainstorm examples of research questions we can ask in our field of study. 5. Turn Your Problem into a Question. Now that you have your main issue or problem, it's time to write your research question. Do this by reviewing your topic's big problem and formulating a question that your research will ...
A good research topic isn't about the answers you find: it's about the questions you ask. Asking the right research question can help you narrow your topic to a manageable scope for your project, find keywords to look for sources, and eventually find a more nuanced angle on your topic.
25 examples of expertly crafted qualitative research questions. It's easy enough to cover the theory of writing a qualitative research question, but sometimes it's best if you can see the process in practice. In this section, we'll list 25 examples of B2B and B2C-related qualitative questions. Let's begin with five questions.
Ask direct questions about how the research tackles contemporary issues, its societal benefits, and its potential for practical application. Discussing envisioned impacts on policy or technology can also highlight the research's real-world significance. Final Thoughts.
Every research project starts with a question. Check out examples of both qualitative and quantitative research questions that are perfect for your next assignment.
Cognitive psychology is the branch that focuses on the interactions of thinking, emotion, creativity, and problem-solving. It also explores the reasons humans think the way they do. This topic involves exploring how people think by measuring intelligence, thoughts, and cognition. Here are some research question ideas: 6.
Here are some important questions to ask when reading a scientific study: 1. What are the researchers' hypotheses? A hypothesis is a research question that a study seeks to answer. Sometimes researchers state their hypotheses explicitly, but more often their research questions are implicit. Hypotheses are testable assertions usually involving ...
Ask questions about things you don't understand, things you wish to debate, or new ideas and theories. Do plan ahead: make sure you are reading, thinking, and writing long before your assignment (whether paper or prospectus) is due. Do remember that generating a research question is an iterative process. Do talk to a librarian.
Questions for user research can typically be categorized three ways: Questions about the problem e.g., what are users' pain points, what task are they trying to complete, what solution do they want. Questions about the people e.g., who they are, how they use products, what they want to accomplish, how likely are they to use the product.
Steps to Developing a Good Research Question. 1. Start with a broad topic: A broad topic provides writers with plenty of avenues to explore in their search for a viable research question. Techniques to help you develop a topic into subtopics and potential research questions include brainstorming and concept mapping.
It's just the equivalent of a "Caution" or "Yield" sign on the road to understanding. 3. How big was the sample? In general, the more participants in a study, the more valid its results. That said, a large sample is sometimes impossible or even undesirable for certain kinds of studies.
Think of your sample choice, what and how you ask questions during interviews, the type of numerical data you collect, or the way you set up your research design. You can react to this question by explaining different measures that you employed to reduce biases in your research.
Research questions often start with "how" or "why". Here is an example of a close-ended question modified into an open-ended question: ... For each main concept, write a list of related terms, synonyms, broader or narrower ideas. Brainstorm related terms, ask a classmate/professor/librarian for help, use a thesaurus, or continuing reading about ...
Go to the Q&A overview page. Click Ask a technical question or Start discussion. Enter your question or title in the box provided at the top of the page. Enter an explanation in the second field and provide as much contextual detail as possible to help other researchers answer your question. Attach resources that support your question, such as ...
Every dataset requires some cleaning before analysis, but much better is to design demographic survey questions to preemptively reduce or eliminate unusable data. Consider your question formats carefully. Most demographic questions are best designed as multiple-choice or check-box questions.
If you're a senior and have questions or concerns about your investment accounts, you can also call the FINRA Securities Helpline for Seniors at 844-57-HELPS (844-574-3577).
Engaging the Spiritually Open is designed to help leaders and laypeople engage well in spiritual conversations, ask thoughtful questions to understand personal backstories, ... The first phase of this research is based on a survey of 2,005 U.S. adults and teenagers (ages 13+) conducted online December 13-22, 2022, via a consumer research ...
EPA scientists are using the Pathfinder Innovation Projects to pursue innovative research questions. Learn about a few of these projects, including developing a "brain on a chip", efforts to improve water quality monitoring, and detecting fungus spores.
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Work with faculty as research assistants on projects and journal articles—and present findings at the department's biannual Research Symposium. ... Contact our office to ask questions or set up a conversation with one of our advisors. Phone: 530-898-5301 Email: [email protected].