Six questions that a sociologist should ask

Question 1

Do I already know the answer

Answer 1

Something new and interesting to the world

Question 2

Is the questions researchable

Answer 2

Unresearchable question imply a kind of causality, belief that one factor or phenomenon is leading to changes to another, that cannot be substantiated with the data accessible to us

Question 3

Is the question clear

Answer 3

clear questions from clear thinking

Question 4

Does the question have a connection to social scientific scholarship

Answer 4

Without knowledge of what others found, a asked question may be misguided and full of hidden assumption

Question 5

Does the question balance the general and specific

Answer 5

Overly abstract and too general making it impossible to draw boundaries around them or figure out what kind of evidence a researcher would need to answer them

Question 6

Do I care about the answer

Answer 6

If we do not care about research, chance is others will not. if we do not care about our work, we will not be willing to put necessary time and energy into it