Why Good Research Starts With Better Questions

Every research assignment begins before the first questionnaire is drafted. It begins with a question, and how precisely that question is framed shapes everything that follows: what data is worth collecting, what methods are appropriate, and what a client can actually do with the findings.

A vague question (“how is the programme performing?”) tends to produce a vague answer. A specific one (“did the programme change enrolment among girls aged 12 to 15 in the target wards, compared to non-target wards?”) gives a research team something to design around.

Practical research training spends more time on this stage than people expect, because it is where most avoidable mistakes are made.