Developing Research Questions –Thinking Frame

The Question ROSE

Relevant
Open ended
Specific
Explainable

Relevant- ‘It is closely connected or appropriate to the matter at hand’: How does it connect to the
statement of inquiry or Inquiry questions?

Open ended: (not too narrow) Bad Example “What was the French Revolution?”
“What” often leads to a closed ended response.
Good Example. “To what extent does the French Revolution affect us today?” This takes the
question of what the French Revolution is, why and how the French revolution matters, and
phrases it in a way that can produce many answers. Hint, it is often popular to phrase research
using the “To what extent” wording. This guarantees it is open ended and higher level thinking.

Specific. (Not too broad) Bad example “Is knowing history worth it?” too broad, there are no
specifics. This also depends on your word count.
Good example, again. “To what extent does the French Revolution affect us today” It is open
ended as we saw, at the same time it is specific to the French Revolution and how it affects us
today.

Explainable. You need to be able to explain why the question you developed is important and
relevant. Justify the question. To what extent…

Command Term “Formulate” Express precisely and systematically the relevant concept(s) or
argument(s).
The Question Rose Give your explanation in the space below
Relevant Why does it matter?

Open ended Does it have one fact that answers it, or does it
require an Explanation?

Specific What is it about specifically?

Explainable Why is this a good question to ask? What might

you learn?