What does it mean to formulate a research question? How do you formulate a research question? Haitian earthquake Research Question examples: Discuss the connections between the Haitian earthquake and the issue of ongoing homelessness in Haiti. What impact did the Haitian earthquake have on the rate of homelessness? The Haitian earthquake of 2010 caused widespread homelessness. Why, despite relief efforts, were levels of homelessness still high between 2014 and 2016?

Formulating a research question means creating a focused, clear, complex, and arguable question around your research topic. It is the question that your research project sets out to answer. It is the step that drives every aspect of your research.

Here's how you formulate a research question:

1. Identify your research topic: This is the broad subject matter area that you are interested in researching.

2. Do some preliminary research: This will help you understand the topic better, and it can help you identify the main concepts, issues, and debates that are associated with your topic.

3. Narrow down your topic: Based on your preliminary research, you should be able to narrow down your topic to a more specific area of interest.

4. Formulate your question: Now that you have a more specific topic, you can formulate your research question. It should be clear, focused, complex (not a yes/no answer), and arguable.

For example, if your research topic is the Haitian earthquake, you might start with a broad question like "What were the effects of the Haitian earthquake?" After doing some preliminary research, you might decide to focus on the issue of homelessness caused by the earthquake. So, your research question might be "What impact did the Haitian earthquake have on the rate of homelessness?" or "Why, despite relief efforts, were levels of homelessness still high between 2014 and 2016 after the Haitian earthquake of 2010?" These questions are clear, focused, complex, and arguable, making them good research questions.