Just wondering - for those of you whose projects were not defined by the sup from the outset, how long did it take you (in terms of how far were you into the first year of the phd) to formulate your research question(s) and what pointers did you get (if any) from your supervisor?

mine was defined from the outset, but my sup didn't want to use what had been in the proposal. But i never really got a research question. I ended up doing an exploratory study to explore the key issue, and there was a huge gap in the literature. Then I did my 2nd and 3rd studies from questions raised in this and also things I was interested in. I'm stringing it all together with a story line at the mo. But I never had a clear question to address if that makes sense.

I had my research questions defined before I started, in the form I filled in for the university to apply. I was self-funded initially (later won AHRC funding), and defined my own project.

However ... and this is a big but! My research questions changed over time, as my research project evolved, and I was looking at different things, and discovering different things which could be further explored.

In fact my final overall question wasn't defined until a few months before I submitted!

It's rather an organic process :-)

I came into my study with nothing defined, apart from a vague area of interest that was generated from my honours, and it took me about 2 months of reading (mostly procrastinating) to find something that I have a pretty good idea can work and that I had enough of an interest in. However, the actual question is all apart of an iterative process, and for my area I won't be 100% till I have selected my final case study but that I think is just for the name sake of the question not the substance. Btw I'm in humanities

I had an idea of the very general area it would be in when it began, but the actual *final* research question didn't appear until much later on. And even then it kept changing.

My first 2 experiments dealt with an interesting and useful effect, issues in the past literature etc. Once that was dealt with during the first year the next 5 experiments were all about the broader theoretical question. Pretty much every semester the question ended up being redefined as I understood more about the area and the new results. Sometimes with fresh results the question you originally set out to ask ceases to be relevant!

My supervisor initially gave me some reading on some of the broader areas to give me a better footing, and then later took me through some of the more complex ideas that I realised would need to be part of the question.

To be honest I'm almost finished with my writing up and the complete research question(s) has only just become completely defined!

Hi Milly_Cat

I came in with a very clear question, the question hasn't changed but where i ended up looking and how it developed was nothing as i may have expected. But thats interpretivism for you ;-)

It may depend on your area, some things may need a very clear RQ but i suspect you'll have at least a few months of reading around a subject to find out.

Sup, if you're lucky enough to get a good one, will advise you though. Chuff

Thanks guys. It's good to know what other people's experiences have been. I've had to identify my research questions very early into the research but I've been assured that they are just guidelines and there's room to manoeuvre. Still it's interesting to know how other people's projects have developed.
Thanks for taking the time to reply.

Hi Milly Cat
Like several others on here my area was fairly generalised initially and was more directed by myself and the help of the supervisory team for my research approval submission.  Once the research experiments got underway the research direction became more focused and was directed by the findings. Now that the experimental phase is complete for my PhD the write-up is now defining the research question!  I think that although you may have an initial idea of your research question be prepared that this may change as the research evolves. There is scope to modify your thesis title which is what I have had to do.  I have answered my doctoral hypothesis but the findings have led to further experimental work that could be done to further clarify the answers, so in effect this would be post doctoral work. So in my experience you don't actually fully answer the question even at the end of the thesis, but then that is the nature of research-answer some questions at the same time as asking lots more .
:-)

Hi,

You may find our new blog helpful. The last post actually reflects on the process of choosing your topic - and defining your research question:

http://100thousandwords.wordpress.com/