Research Question Builder
Describe your project, choose the type of question you want to ask, then write your question in your own words. Every piece of feedback explains why it is given. The builder never writes your final question for you.
Your project
Only the population is essential for most questions. Add whatever you know; you can change it at any time.
The broad field, such as “Public health” or “Education”.
What your project is about, such as “sleep and academic performance”.
Who or what you will study, such as “first-year university students”.
Where the study takes place, such as “Nepal” or “three London hospitals”.
When, or over what period, such as “2025” or “during the first year of study”.
What the project sets out to do, such as “To examine how screen time affects sleep quality”.
Choose a question type
The type of question shapes your whole design. Read the suggestions, then choose the type that matches what you want to find out.
Suggested for your project
Add your aim, variables or methodology to see suggestions. You can still choose any type.
Choose a type to see what it means and to get a draft structure.
Write your question
A starting structure
Choose a question type above to see a draft built from your details.
Write the question in your own words. Feedback updates as you type.
Feedback
Write your question above to see feedback on it.
Next: Objectives
The general objective and the specific objectives that answer the question.
What should I do next?
You have a question. Now state objectives and hypotheses, then search for what is known.
Research Objectives Generator
Turns your research question into a general objective and specific objectives, with transparent alignment and quality checks.
Hypothesis Builder
Turns your research question, objectives and variables into null and alternative hypothesis drafts, with every check explained.
Literature Explorer
Search scholarly literature by topic, see which keywords and topics recur, and copy citations to start a reading list.
How to write a research question
How to turn a topic into a focused, answerable research question: the elements a question names, the main types of question, the FINER criteria, a worked example of refining a broad question, and the common mistakes.
How the builder works
- Your project details are kept together as one project draft. Later research tools will be able to build on the same draft.
- Suggestions for question types come from your aim, your variables and your methodology. Each says why it is suggested, and you always choose.
- The draft question is assembled only from the words you entered, following the usual structure of the type you chose. Anything missing is shown in square brackets rather than invented.
- Feedback reads the wording of your question. It recognises common patterns, so it can miss things or misread them: treat it as prompts for your own thinking.
What this tool can't determine
- It can't determine the quality of your research. That depends on your design, your data and how well you carry the study out.
- It can't determine whether your question is original. Only a review of the published literature can show that.
- It can't determine whether your research would be publishable. That is decided by editors and peer reviewers.
- It can't give supervisor or ethics approval. Your supervisor and your institution decide whether your question and design are acceptable.
About the FINER criteria
- FINER stands for Feasible, Interesting, Novel, Ethical and Relevant. It is a checklist for judging a research question, described by Hulley and colleagues in Designing Clinical Research (2013).
- The builder judges each criterion in words, never with a score. Interest and novelty can't be judged from wording, so they are always left for you to judge.
Privacy
Everything you enter stays in your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere or saved, and it is cleared when you leave the page. If you start a project in your research workspace, your work is also saved in this browser, and only this browser, until you delete the project.