Research questions

Research questions, aims and objectives

Research questions, aims and objectives are closely related, but serve different purposes. The points below explain each:

• Research Question (RQ). The research question is the central question your research seeks to answer. It should be specific, focused, and addressable within your project’s constraints. It is the guiding star that provides direction for your research. It’s good to start with this as it clearly identifies what you’re investigating and gives focus for the whole proposal
• Research Aim. The research aim is the overall purpose or goal of your research - what you hope to achieve or accomplish. It’s broader than your question and typically starts with verbs like “to investigate,” “to understand,” or “to develop.”
• Research Objectives. Research objectives are the specific, measurable steps you’ll take to achieve your aim and answer your research question. They are the concrete tasks or mini-goals that break down your research into concrete actions.

Even though the research aim tends to be broader than the research question, it is useful to put it after the research question. The question will often identify the gap in the research or establish what you are wanting to find out or understand, and the aim responds to the question by stating your intended approach to addressing the gap you have identified. Keep in mind that each researcher and each research project is different. There is no formula or single right way of doing it.

The table below shows how these three elements build on each other, continuing the international student stress example used throughout this module:

Notice how each element gets progressively more concrete: the question frames the puzzle, the aim states your overall response to it, and the objectives break that response down into the actual steps your research will take.

How to develop your research question, aims and objectives

1. Identify your research area and interests
2. Conduct preliminary reading and identify knowledge gaps
3. Identify the research problem you want to solve
4. Write down the aim or purpose of your research
5. Draft initial research question/s  - try writing several potential questions, and wording them in different ways
6. Identify objectives – the concrete steps you’ll take to achieve your aim / answer your questions - use action verbs
7. Check alignment - do your objectives clearly lead to answering your questions? Do your questions address your aim
8. Keep refining and seek feedback from supervisors and peers

A worked example

Here’s how these steps might play out in practice:

1. Broad topic: International student experience at university
2. Preliminary reading: Existing literature covers academic outcomes and language barriers, but says less about students’ emotional experience of transition
3. Research problem: We don’t know enough about how international students experience and cope with stress during their first semester
4. Draft aim: To investigate the stress experienced by international students
5. Draft research question (too broad): What causes stress in international students?
6. Revised research question: What are the experiences of stress among first-year international students during their transition to university?
7. Refined aim: To understand how first-year international students experience and manage stress during their first semester

8. Objectives:

   1. Identify the main sources of stress reported by first-year international students
   2. Explore the coping strategies students use to manage stress
   3. Examine what support students access, and how effective they find it

Notice that the research question went through a broad-to-narrow revision (step 5 to step 6) before the aim and objectives were finalised - this back-and-forth is completely normal, and you’ll likely go through several rounds of it yourself.

A note on ethics

The wording of your research question can have direct implications for research ethics approval - for example, if it involves vulnerable populations, sensitive topics, children, or identifiable personal data. It’s worth checking with your supervisor, or Curtin’s Human Research Ethics Office, early on whether your planned question is likely to need ethics approval and what that might involve, rather than discovering this after your milestone one.