Research Question

[clarke54321]

Hey Everyone,

For those of you who have completed Extended Investigation this year or in the past, could you provide an example of the question you used to plan your research around?

I'm taking the subject next year and was wondering on how broad/narrow the question needs to be.

Thanks! 

[antony01001000]

Hello clarke54321,
I completed EI this year so, hopefully, I can answer your question.

Your question must be very specific to the subject area you are researching.

My subject area was particle physics; with my actual question being "Which discriminating variable has the greatest significance in the analyses of 𝐵0 → 𝜋0𝜋0?"

Your question must be specific enough that you are able to complete it in under a year, as well as that it is unique since you are not able to complete a question that has already been researched.

Have you all thought of a subject area you would like to research?

[clarke54321]

Hello clarke54321,
I completed EI this year so, hopefully, I can answer your question.

Your question must be very specific to the subject area you are researching.

My subject area was particle physics; with my actual question being "Which discriminating variable has the greatest significance in the analyses of 𝐵0 → 𝜋0𝜋0?"

Your question must be specific enough that you are able to complete it in under a year, as well as that it is unique since you are not able to complete a question that has already been researched.

Have you all thought of a subject area you would like to research?

Hey Antony,

Wow.... That's a very specific question! But I'm sure you did well researching it and presenting it.

Thanks for the indication. It's really hard as my school is only introducing this VCE subject in 2017, therefore I have had no examples of valid research questions.

At this stage I'm not too sure what area I'm going to pick, but I've a few ideas.

When did you have your research question complete? Was it difficult to refine? 

[antony01001000]

Thanks, I hope I did well myself.

At my school they gave us each a mentor that specialised in the subject we were interested in; thus it was a little easier for us to develop the question (however they were not allowed to give us a question or directly say what the question should be about).

You will go through quite a few questions. I thought I had my final question complete at the end of term 1 (which was the due date for the questions, as they must be sent to VCAA before you may start researching); this was "Which of the PyBrain or TMultiLayerPerceptron artificial neural network algorithms performs better in distinguishing signal events from background events?"

However, I was only able to code one of the algorithms by the time the report was due (which was mainly due to procrastination). So I attempted to develop a worthwhile question from the results I had access to; which was the one I stated first. The second question was made only a week before the final report was due.

I highly recommend following the timeline that will be given to you by your teacher,which states that your data collection should be completed by the end of term 2, This will give you the entirety of term 3 to write your report.

I highly recommend choosing a subject that could involve you completing an experiment, this is the general consensus of my school after completing EI. This is due to data collection being much easier and being able to be completed within a set time frame.

[michael leahcim]

I did an extended investigation last year, though I didn't do too bad I don't think! My research question was on comparative literature studies on the nuclear art and Japanese literature post-war era. My written + oral piece got an A+ but my sacs got scaled down a lot so hence why I didn't get a great score! My advice for you would be to develop a question you're very interested in -- just start reading now and then it should fall into place. I'm pretty sure I didn't even have a question until the last (two weeks)  . I can't remember what my research question was on but it was basically 'How did Japanese literature evolve and influence art, post-second world war?' maybe a little more compact than that, I can't really remember for the life of me! Unfortunately my computer with the essay broke down on me, so I can't get it up.

If you're doing anything on the vicinity of literature/classics I might be able to proof-read for you if you like! To answer your question, your research question and report doesn't have to be whacky to be great! Just make sure you're succinct and have someone to read over your report! Technical language is desirable if you're doing science for the added sophistication. But I'd strongly advise against writing it for the sake of it, when familiar phrases could lend for better understanding. The reports really just come down to how well you can clearly present an argument/research (call it whichever you like). This means proof-reading and as well as the format in which the paper's laid out. There are marks allocated just for that!

As for science-maths kind of questions, I'm not too familiar with it, but I'd hazard a guess that it'd be advisable if you avoid complicated questions that may be too hard to understand (ie. some physics questions out there haha). Stick to questions that are interesting and easily translatable on paper.

[clarke54321]

I did an extended investigation last year, though I didn't do too bad I don't think! My research question was on comparative literature studies on the nuclear art and Japanese literature post-war era. My written + oral piece got an A+ but my sacs got scaled down a lot so hence why I didn't get a great score! My advice for you would be to develop a question you're very interested in -- just start reading now and then it should fall into place. I'm pretty sure I didn't even have a question until the last (two weeks)  . I can't remember what my research question was on but it was basically 'How did Japanese literature evolve and influence art, post-second world war?' maybe a little more compact than that, I can't really remember for the life of me! Unfortunately my computer with the essay broke down on me, so I can't get it up.

If you're doing anything on the vicinity of literature/classics I might be able to proof-read for you if you like! To answer your question, your research question and report doesn't have to be whacky to be great! Just make sure you're succinct and have someone to read over your report! Technical language is desirable if you're doing science for the added sophistication. But I'd strongly advise against writing it for the sake of it, when familiar phrases could lend for better understanding. The reports really just come down to how well you can clearly present an argument/research (call it whichever you like). This means proof-reading and as well as the format in which the paper's laid out. There are marks allocated just for that!

As for science-maths kind of questions, I'm not too familiar with it, but I'd hazard a guess that it'd be advisable if you avoid complicated questions that may be too hard to understand (ie. some physics questions out there haha). Stick to questions that are interesting and easily translatable on paper.

Hi Michael,

Thanks for the response.

Your research question sounds really interesting. It must have been great to extensively research that area throughout the whole year and become an expert. Yeah, I'm starting to have a look around now for an area that I would be interested in. I think the hardest part for me will be thoroughly refining a research question.

When you present the speech before the examiners, are they specialised in your specific area? Also, how did you find answering the questions they put to you?

[michael leahcim]

Hi Michael,

Thanks for the response.

Your research question sounds really interesting. It must have been great to extensively research that area throughout the whole year and become an expert. Yeah, I'm starting to have a look around now for an area that I would be interested in. I think the hardest part for me will be thoroughly refining a research question.

When you present the speech before the examiners, are they specialised in your specific area? Also, how did you find answering the questions they put to you?

Nope if you read the criteria -- your research is meant to be conveyed to a non-specialist audience. But the panel of people aren't like totally uneducated. They've probably completed high school and a couple of other degrees. So you can still write up something that is worth a whole year's work. So that's to say -- don't research something too simplistic, but research something that is open enough so your research actually means something. You also need to show an understanding that research is ongoing, meaning that perhaps you could say your research may contribute to a wider area of research. It's nice if you've also got a purpose to your research paper and an awareness of how it might be read:

ie. You may be researching about a strand of bacteria and the optimal conditions for maximising its potential for breeding. Your purpose may be to contribute to the wider research area of the bacteria, and how this might help scientists finding a cure for some disease the bacteria causes or even cures!

When I was doing the oral, it was pretty chill. They were really nice and seemed abnormally interested in what my research had to say. For my research question they asked a lot on specific questions of something about how history may inform literature, general questions on the war and some correlations it might have in other parts of European history (I managed to bullshit my way through this one) as well as something I said about a historian's point of view and the questions it might raise. It's not daunting so long as you are prepared. For me, it's probably the written part that's difficult. Still kinda bummed out with my score -- my cohort wasn't particularly great

What area of interest are you thinking of?