Asking a good research question is key to a good scientific study. Questions that are either too open or too narrow won’t give you interesting results.

Asking a good research question is key to a good scientific study. Questions that are either too open or too narrow won’t give you interesting results. Remember, the goal of your research isn’t to describe the scientific perspective (although you’ll need to know that yourself) but rather to find out what your peers think about a particular geologic topic.

Divide the 6 research questions listed below into three groups: excellent, okay, and needs improvement. There is more than one way to do this. These questions are what is being researched, not what is being asked on a questionnaire to students.

What do peers think about the history of Earth?

Do peers think that people and dinosaurs lived at the same time as each other?

What are the five events that my peers think are most important in Earth’s history?

How do peers describe tiktaalik? (ancestor to amphibians)

When do peers think that animals first evolved?

What do peers think about the Ice Age in North America?

Excellent Okay Needs improvement

Summarize the characteristics that caused you to rank questions as not “excellent”, and brainstorm in the space below ways to improve the questions that you ranked lowest.