More Research Questions and Research Hoarding

I would have to say that Luker is right when she states that developing a research question is one of the most difficult tasks in the research process. I cannot recall a case in the past where I did any research paper where I came up with a research question that I stuck with until the end of the assignment. As a matter of fact I am not even sure if what I had was a proper research question as Luker or Knight defines it. From Knight’s Chapter 1, he says it is best if the research question is developed near the beginning so that it saves the researcher from trouble later on. But sometimes this is difficult since we may not know enough about the topic to make a claim. Luker saying that the research question comes near the end of the process is closer to what I have experienced. Even though Luker and Knight seems to differ in terms of when a research question should start revealing itself, they seem to be on the same page when talking about how a literature review can help with strengthening possible research questions and figuring out how you can present your findings in a way so that others in the field would care. 

One thing that I found interesting in Knight this week is his short discussion on “research hoarding” and how it is like “grabbing gold”. He talks about how having too much data or information can create a false sense of confidence in researchers. He reminds us that even though data collection is important, we need to allot time to think about the data we have collected. More does not necessarily mean better. I think this is a good reminder that we need to constantly evaluate the information and data that we have collected to see if they reveal or support our claims. If you do not think about what your findings mean then it pointless to have that much material.