research questions examples about family

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• A Research Guide
• Research Paper Topics

40 Family Issues Research Paper Topics

Read Also: The Best Research Paper Writing Service For Writing Research Papers

40 Marriage and Family Research Topics for any Taste

• Parental neglect. Is it enough for a kid to have food, clothes, and shelter to grow up healthy?
• Divorce and its consequences for all the family members. Minimizing the negative impact of divorce
• Toxic and narcissistic parents. Overcoming the trauma of a dysfunctional family
• To live up to the family expectation: what to do if they are too high for a human being?
• Family violence: where is the point of no return?
• Sexual abuse in the family. The strategy of escaping and organizations that can help
• Toxic and abusive relationship. The psychologies issues of breaking up with toxic partner
• Substance abuse in the family. It is always possible to save yourself, but is it possible to save the rest?
• War Veterans and their families. Do Vets the only ones there who need help?
• Accepting the LGBTQ+ member of the family
• Getting out of the closet: what is like to be an LGBTQ+person in a conservative family?
• Loss of a family member: stages of grief of children and adults. How to cope together?
• Religious conflicts in families: what to do and how to solve?
• Teenage delinquency: when it turns to be more than natural seeking independence?
• Fostering a child: what problems can the parents face?
• Generation gap. The difference in morals and culture. Is it normal?
• Living with senile family members: how to cope and avoid emotional burnout?
• Mentally challenged family members: how to integrate them into society?
• The importance of family support for people with disabilities
• Pregnancy and the first year of having a baby: do tiredness and depression make people bad parents?
• The types of relationship in the family: are they healthy and just unusual or something is harmful to family members?
• Life after disasters: how to put life together again? The importance of family support
• The issue of an older sibling. How to make every kid feel equally loved?
• Gender discrimination in families. Gender roles and expectations
• Multicultural families: how do their values get along?
• Children from previous marriages: how to help them accept the new family?
• Childhood traumas of parents: helping them not to transfer them to the next generation
• Every family can meet a crisis: how to live it through in a civilized way?
• Family counseling: why it is so important?
• Accidentally learned the secrets of the family: how to cope with unpleasant truth?
• Adultery: why it happens and what to do to prevent it?
• Career choice: how to save the relationships with the family and not inherit the family business?
• The transition to adult life: the balance between family support and letting the young adult try living their own life
• Unwanted activities: shall the family take warning or it is just trendy now?
• Returning of a family member from prison: caution versus unconditional love
• A family member in distress: what can you do to actually help when someone close to you gets in serious troubles?
• The absence of love. What to do if you should love someone but can’t?
• Ageism in families. Are older people always right?
• Terminal diseases and palliative care. How to give your family member a good life?
• Where can seek help the members of the dysfunctional families?

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Research Question Examples 🧑🏻‍🏫

25+ Practical Examples & Ideas To Help You Get Started 

By: Derek Jansen (MBA) | October 2023

A well-crafted research question (or set of questions) sets the stage for a robust study and meaningful insights.  But, if you’re new to research, it’s not always clear what exactly constitutes a good research question. In this post, we’ll provide you with clear examples of quality research questions across various disciplines, so that you can approach your research project with confidence!

Research Question Examples

• Psychology research questions
• Business research questions
• Education research questions
• Healthcare research questions
• Computer science research questions

Examples: Psychology

Let’s start by looking at some examples of research questions that you might encounter within the discipline of psychology.

How does sleep quality affect academic performance in university students?

This question is specific to a population (university students) and looks at a direct relationship between sleep and academic performance, both of which are quantifiable and measurable variables.

What factors contribute to the onset of anxiety disorders in adolescents?

The question narrows down the age group and focuses on identifying multiple contributing factors. There are various ways in which it could be approached from a methodological standpoint, including both qualitatively and quantitatively.

Do mindfulness techniques improve emotional well-being?

This is a focused research question aiming to evaluate the effectiveness of a specific intervention.

How does early childhood trauma impact adult relationships?

This research question targets a clear cause-and-effect relationship over a long timescale, making it focused but comprehensive.

Is there a correlation between screen time and depression in teenagers?

This research question focuses on an in-demand current issue and a specific demographic, allowing for a focused investigation. The key variables are clearly stated within the question and can be measured and analysed (i.e., high feasibility).

Examples: Business/Management

Next, let’s look at some examples of well-articulated research questions within the business and management realm.

How do leadership styles impact employee retention?

This is an example of a strong research question because it directly looks at the effect of one variable (leadership styles) on another (employee retention), allowing from a strongly aligned methodological approach.

What role does corporate social responsibility play in consumer choice?

Current and precise, this research question can reveal how social concerns are influencing buying behaviour by way of a qualitative exploration.

Does remote work increase or decrease productivity in tech companies?

Focused on a particular industry and a hot topic, this research question could yield timely, actionable insights that would have high practical value in the real world.

How do economic downturns affect small businesses in the homebuilding industry?

Vital for policy-making, this highly specific research question aims to uncover the challenges faced by small businesses within a certain industry.

Which employee benefits have the greatest impact on job satisfaction?

By being straightforward and specific, answering this research question could provide tangible insights to employers.

Examples: Education

Next, let’s look at some potential research questions within the education, training and development domain.

How does class size affect students’ academic performance in primary schools?

This example research question targets two clearly defined variables, which can be measured and analysed relatively easily.

Do online courses result in better retention of material than traditional courses?

Timely, specific and focused, answering this research question can help inform educational policy and personal choices about learning formats.

What impact do US public school lunches have on student health?

Targeting a specific, well-defined context, the research could lead to direct changes in public health policies.

To what degree does parental involvement improve academic outcomes in secondary education in the Midwest?

This research question focuses on a specific context (secondary education in the Midwest) and has clearly defined constructs.

What are the negative effects of standardised tests on student learning within Oklahoma primary schools?

This research question has a clear focus (negative outcomes) and is narrowed into a very specific context.

Need a helping hand?

Examples: Healthcare

Shifting to a different field, let’s look at some examples of research questions within the healthcare space.

What are the most effective treatments for chronic back pain amongst UK senior males?

Specific and solution-oriented, this research question focuses on clear variables and a well-defined context (senior males within the UK).

How do different healthcare policies affect patient satisfaction in public hospitals in South Africa?

This question is has clearly defined variables and is narrowly focused in terms of context.

Which factors contribute to obesity rates in urban areas within California?

This question is focused yet broad, aiming to reveal several contributing factors for targeted interventions.

Does telemedicine provide the same perceived quality of care as in-person visits for diabetes patients?

Ideal for a qualitative study, this research question explores a single construct (perceived quality of care) within a well-defined sample (diabetes patients).

Which lifestyle factors have the greatest affect on the risk of heart disease?

This research question aims to uncover modifiable factors, offering preventive health recommendations.

Examples: Computer Science

Last but certainly not least, let’s look at a few examples of research questions within the computer science world.

What are the perceived risks of cloud-based storage systems?

Highly relevant in our digital age, this research question would align well with a qualitative interview approach to better understand what users feel the key risks of cloud storage are.

Which factors affect the energy efficiency of data centres in Ohio?

With a clear focus, this research question lays a firm foundation for a quantitative study.

How do TikTok algorithms impact user behaviour amongst new graduates?

While this research question is more open-ended, it could form the basis for a qualitative investigation.

What are the perceived risk and benefits of open-source software software within the web design industry?

Practical and straightforward, the results could guide both developers and end-users in their choices.

Remember, these are just examples…

In this post, we’ve tried to provide a wide range of research question examples to help you get a feel for what research questions look like in practice. That said, it’s important to remember that these are just examples and don’t necessarily equate to good research topics . If you’re still trying to find a topic, check out our topic megalist for inspiration.

Psst... there’s more!

This post was based on one of our popular Research Bootcamps . If you're working on a research project, you'll definitely want to check this out ...

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Are you asking the right genealogy research question?

Tracing your family history and discovering interesting stories about your ancestors is an exciting way to maintain a rich connection to the past. But tracking down your relatives and finding the evidence you need is not always an easy task.

Searching the many records available on the internet has become so easy that it can be tempting to simply plug in a name and date, and then begin browsing through records. But this unfocused approach can cause you to feel overwhelmed, and is not the best approach to finding out accurate information about your family.

An unfocused search is less likely to find the information you need, and even worse, it can lead you down a wrong research path based on incorrect information.  

Genealogy is a skill and requires a solid foundation. Similar to the Scientific Method, if you follow the appropriate genealogy research steps and best practices, you’ll be much more successful and your findings will be more likely to be your true ancestors.

Thinking carefully about your research question is the perfect place for a beginner to start before searching. If you just recently interviewed your relatives at a family gathering , the next step is to formulate your first research question. 

Even intermediate and advanced genealogists can benefit from reflecting on the research questions they have been asking, to ensure no bad habits are being formed.

What is a research question and why is it important?

Research questions should be specific.

Put simply, a research question forms the basis of your search. Simply ask yourself what information you want to know - research questions can be general or specific, though the more specific they are, the better.

For instance, a general research question could be something like “What was the life of my great-grandmother like?” This is an excellent starting question, but think about how it may guide your search - does this question give us a clear idea of a specific piece of information to seek? Not exactly. 

We can focus our research even more by generating a more specific research question from the general one. For instance, “When and where was my great-grandmother born?” or “Where did my great-grandmother live in 1940?” A question like this will set you on the best path. 

A good research question is achievable and motivating

The primary reason to develop a well-thought-out research question is that it focuses your research. Genealogy can feel overwhelming - we can all relate to the burning desire to know everything about our ancestors. But clearly, nobody is going to find out everything in a single research session.

When you break up your quest into achievable bits and pieces, it helps you recognize the progress you're making. Specific research questions are highly answerable - before you know it, you'll be crossing the question off your list and forming the next one! It's a great feeling. 

Specific research questions like the examples above will focus your search into a much more manageable quest - for instance, if you know you’re seeking information on an ancestor’s birth, you can safely narrow down your search to only include records that would contain birth information. Or, using the other example, if you’re looking for a place of residence in 1940, you can confidently search the 1940 census first.

Research questions help us help you

A good research question can also help you communicate effectively with other researchers or experts who you would like guidance from.

If you’re preparing for a research consultation , or are looking for help at an expert’s conference booth, be ready with a specific research question! A good research question can help you get the most out of your professional consultation . 

Experts and professionals will be far more helpful if they're presented with a specific research question. It's very common for our experts to hear a researcher ask a question like "Can you help me find my family who lived in New York State in the 1800s?" With such a broad question, it's very difficult for an expert to recommend a place to look or an approach to solving your problem. 

When asked something more specific, like "I'm trying to find the birth record of my great-grandmother, who lived in Erie County in the 1800s" an expert is  far  more likely to provide useful information.

Even if you don't know the location or time period, asking "I'm looking for my great-grandmother's birth record" will be an excellent starting point if you're consulting with an expert. 

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The latest NY records news, expert genealogy tips, and fascinating stories, delivered twice a month to your inbox!

Tips for forming a research question

What do i already know.

If you’re not even sure what research question you want to ask, the first thing you need to think about is “what do I already know?” and “what’s missing?”

This is also an excellent habit for intermediate and advanced genealogists as well - organize a beginning of the year audit to get yourself on the right course for 2019!

Begin by organizing all the family records you have proof of - if you’re just beginning and don’t yet have any proof, that’s okay too.

Create a one-sheet document for each specific family member, and detail everything you know about them.

If you already have some records related to them, this is where you want to indicate that. Citations will help you remember where information came from, and help you locate it again later. If you don’t yet have any records, write down anything you can gather from other family members or pieces of information you may have heard in the past.

It’s okay if they’re not backed up by documentary evidence yet - this information will help you form research questions or guide your research question-focused searches.

What do I want to know, or need to prove?

Now, identify the blank spaces. What would you like to know? What information do you have that needs to be backed up with documentary evidence?

A genealogy best-practice is to complete as much research as possible on a single family unit or generation before moving onto the next one.

Records from one generation will often contain clues to help you find other family members later on (such as the name of a witnesses, parents, or godparents).

Here is where you form your specific research question - it’s always a good idea to begin by seeking vital records - birth, marriage, and death records - for each individual. Remember, even if you have a general question such as “What was the life of my great-grandmother like,” this can be broken down into finite, achievable questions.

Go beyond names and dates

Seeking out records that prove the names, dates, and places associated with the key events in your ancestor's lifetime is a good place to start because this information forms the skeleton of your understanding. 

But don't leave those bones bare!  

Genealogy research is based on facts and evidence but is also rich and colorful. Don't be afraid to ask research questions about what life was like or what their interests were. These can be fun and rewarding questions to answer. 

For example, an inventory in an ancestor's probate file may tell you that he or she loved to read and had an extensive library; a newspaper might mention a quarrel with a neighbor over runaway livestock; or religious records can offer a glimpse at our ancestors' personal beliefs and the communities they belonged to. 

Learning more about your relative’s job, community, hobby, beliefs, or interests will make your research more rewarding and your connection to your family history richer.

It's always a good idea to look to professional genealogy researchers and writers for examples of research questions. Take some time to peruse a scholarly genealogical journal, such as  The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record  - these journals accept only the highest-quality genealogy writing and are excellent examples of the kind of thoroughness all genealogists should aspire to emulate.

Read the latest issue of  The Record , or search the full archives of  The Record in our eLibrary and pay close attention to the kind of research questions the authors of each article ask.

You'll see how a good, focused research question can help form a research plan, which is the next step in your own process. Once you have formed a research question, it's time to make a research plan.

A good research plan involves thinking about more questions - such as when and where the event your research question investigates may have occurred, and also what kind of record sets to look in. 

Like a good research question, a good research plan will wind up saving you a lot of time and frustration and is crucial to successful research. Keep an eye out for a coming blog on this subject! 

If you have already formed a great research question, and are now wondering about formulating your research plan, you may want to schedule a consultation  with an NYG&B genealogist to receive personalized expertise on next steps for your own research. 

Looking to start researching your family? Interview your relatives and grow your family tree

11 ways to use the nyg&b website to improve your skills and find ancestors, when you can benefit from a professional genealogy consultation.

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NCBI Bookshelf. A service of the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health.

Institute of Medicine (US) and National Research Council (US) Committee on the Science of Research on Families; Olson S, editor. Toward an Integrated Science of Research on Families: Workshop Report. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2011.

Toward an Integrated Science of Research on Families: Workshop Report.

• Hardcopy Version at National Academies Press

5 Family Research Methods and Frameworks: Examples from the Study of Biomarkers, Child Health, and Econometric Methods

A major objective of the workshop was to examine methodologies used in family research to explore how different kinds of studies could be combined to yield a deeper and more accurate picture of family structures, processes, and relationships. In family research, biological and behavioral processes are often inseparable, but significant advances have recently emerged that offer new opportunities for distinguishing and measuring these processes with greater precision. The presentations summarized in this chapter demonstrate both the great potential of incorporating biological measures into family research and the considerable challenges in doing so.

Yet the integration of biological measures into family research can be difficult. The relationships between biological mechanisms and specific behaviors (such as parenting practices) are typically complex. In addition, integrating biological and behavioral research typically requires close collaboration among investigators with different backgrounds, training, and methodological perspectives.

It is important to note here that some domains of family research were beyond the scope of this single workshop. For example, the full range of biobehavioral approaches—including developmental epigenetics, gene-environment interaction, and developmental neuroscience—have all produced large new fields of research with relevance to the study of families in recent years. These are worth more attention, but it was not possible to integrate them into this workshop.

The presentations did review some focused sets of methodologies and concerns. This chapter looks at three research approaches: family research on the biological stress response system, the effects of family life on child health, and the contributions of econometric studies to causal inference in family research. The research methodologies used in each of these areas are distinct, yet they share certain concerns and approaches that may offer a way of linking disciplines into multidisciplinary efforts.

• ASSESSING THE BIOLOGICAL STRESS SYSTEM: CONSIDERATIONS FOR FAMILY RESEARCH

Environmental factors and life experiences affect human development, behavior, and health through their impact on physiological processes, such as activity of the biological stress response system. The activity of one component of this system—known as the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis—affects nearly every organ system in the body, with impacts on cognition, emotion, memory, behavior, and health. Darlene Kertes, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Florida, described some of the strategies and challenges in examining the HPA axis in family research. She highlighted the need for methodological development to facilitate integration of multiple levels of analysis, from genes to the social environment.

The activity of the HPA axis is critical to maintaining homeostatic processes and facilitating adaptation to physical and psychological stressors. Two streams of input relay information about both systemic stressors, such as pain and inflammation, and psychogenic stressors, including actual and perceived threats in the environment. Both inputs act on the hypothalamus to trigger the release of corticotropin-releasing hormone. This initiates a biological cascade resulting in the release of glucocorticoids (cortisol in humans) into general circulation. Via feedback loops, cortisol acts to terminate the stress response as well as to sensitize brain regions involved in fear to shape an individual's future behavioral and physiological responses to threat. Long-term effects of cortisol are achieved by its action as a transcription factor regulating gene expression in target tissues. Thus, the HPA axis is an adaptive system in which life experiences affect responses to future events, with potentially widespread consequences for behavior and health.

Whereas activity of the biological stress system is essential for life, chronic or repeated elevations may have deleterious effects. Disturbances in the HPA axis are linked with impaired growth in children, disturbed immune functioning, altered memory and attentional processes, and altered fear circuits in the brain. Altered activity of this system is also associated with a variety of disorders—psychiatric, gastrointestinal, and cardiovascular, among others ( De Kloet et al., 2005 ).

Because cortisol can be used in both experimental and naturalistic settings, it is studied in a wide variety of family research contexts, Kertes observed. For example, research has shown that cortisol reactivity to a psychosocial stressor differs in the presence of a personal friend or spouse ( Kirschbaum et al., 1995 ). Among girls exposed to maternal postnatal depression, basal cortisol levels at the transition to adolescence predicted future depressive symptoms ( Halligan et al., 2007 ). Children of an alcohol-abusing parent showed altered cortisol reactivity in ways that are consistent with disturbances that predate alcohol dependence ( Lovallo, 2006 ).

Kertes described two studies that document effects of early life experiences on HPA axis activity to illustrate strategies and challenges of studying the biological stress system in family research. The first study described long-term effects of early life adversity on basal cortisol levels in children. This study involved measuring cortisol levels among internationally adopted children, many of whom came from orphanages or other types of institutional care in which there was little opportunity to form relationships with stable caregivers ( Kertes et al., 2008 ). Severe relationship deprivation early in life is known to lead to a pattern of growth delay in which linear growth (i.e., height) is primarily affected. This study showed that deprived care severe enough to impact children's linear growth predicted subtle alterations in basal cortisol levels years after adoption into low-stress homes. Elevated cortisol levels were most evident in the early morning, at the peak of the diurnal rhythm, with no effect of deprivation-induced growth delay on cortisol levels observed at bedtime.

A second study described cortisol reactivity to a variety of novel social and nonsocial events among typically developing preschool-age children. This study tested a potential buffering effect of parenting quality on young children's HPA axis reactivity ( Kertes et al., 2009 ). There was evidence that children showed heightened cortisol reactivity to social or nonsocial challenges if they had a temperamental (behavioral) vulnerability to reacting to these types of events with fear and inhibition. For children very fearful of social interactions, having a sensitive, responsive parent—even though the parent was not present—buffered their biological responses to novel social events.

Whereas these studies document the impact of early experiences on children's HPA axis activity, they also illustrate some of the challenges of detecting effects in biomarker data. It is actually quite difficult to elicit a biological stress response among children in an experimental context, Kertes pointed out. Ethical constraints limit the intensity of stressors that can be used, and experiments are terminated if a participant exhibits distress. One immediate and pragmatic solution is to target research questions aimed at identifying subgroups of individuals for whom particular kinds of stressors are likely to elicit a biological stress response. The study of typically developing children described above illustrates this point. In that study Kertes et al. (2009) subjected 4-year-olds to a battery of mildly stressful events, including being separated from the parent, interacting with an experimenter that included some body contact, being asked to interact with strange, novel objects, and being approached in a conversation by a stranger. There was no evidence for an overall HPA axis activation among most children to this series of events. Rather, some children showed stressor-specific biological responses that directly related to their individual temperamental vulnerabilities. Children high in social fear showed biological stress responses to the social challenges but not nonsocial ones, and the opposite was true for children high in nonsocial fear. Thus, said Kertes, research questions can be tailored to detect stress responses within the ethical constraints of mimicking children's everyday experiences.

“Targeted research questions are a pragmatic but limited solution,” said Kertes. The inherent challenge of ethically eliciting a stress response in children has resulted in the development of a large number of protocols with limited or varied effectiveness. Protocols that activate the biological stress response system that are both effective and ethical for use with children or across the developmental spectrum are particularly lacking. Basic science research is needed for standard methods of eliciting and assessing stress responses in research with children and families, with attention to the factors that most consistently elicit a biological stress response (for a discussion, see Dickerson and Kemeny, 2004 ; Gunnar et al., 2009 ).

Detecting associations between life experiences and biological measures is further challenged by the varied factors that impact the activity of biological systems. Cortisol levels, for example, are affected by digestion, sleep, exercise, systemic stressors (such as inflammation or pain), caffeine, alcohol, tobacco, endogenously regulated basal activity, and perceived or actual psychosocial stress. Typically, researchers interested in psychosocial influences impose sampling constraints (e.g., on food or drink consumption or sampling days) to minimize the impact of these factors. However, there may be physical or psychosocial stressors specific to certain populations or age groups that may confound results. For example, in grade-school children (particularly boys), cortisol levels differ on days that children participate in structured extracurricular activities like sports, compared with days when they are just in and around the home ( Kertes and Gunnar, 2004 ). “This cautions us against erroneously attributing differences in children's cortisol to some other variable if we don't assess or control for it,” Kertes said. In the study described earlier on internationally adopted children ( Kertes et al., 2008 ), elevated evening cortisol levels previously reported among this population were not apparent when sampling was restricted to exclude days that children participated in sports.

Since limiting sampling for every possible known and unknown confound is impractical, another strategy is to refine statistical methods to disentangle variance that is stable in individuals or is due to some predictor of interest. For example, a structural equation modeling technique termed latent state trait modeling distinguishes variance in a phenotype that is due to stable, trait-like factors from the variance due to situational or state factors. As applied to basal cortisol data, approximately half of the variance in children's cortisol can be explained by trait factors at both the peak and the nadir of the diurnal cycle ( Kertes and van Dulmen, 2010 ). “This method might potentially allow us to improve our ability to detect subtle relations between environmental or behavioral factors and the stable trait-like component of cortisol in individuals while parceling out other factors that affect day-to-day fluctuations.”

Refining methods that facilitate the detection of family effects on HPA axis activity is likely to be of growing interest because of the impact of HPA axis activity on emotional and physical health. However, methodological innovation and statistical advances to facilitate analysis of environment-behavior-biological relations need to focus on the array of biological measures of interest to family research. At the physiological level, these include activity of the sympathetic adrenomedullary system, the immune system, and other steroids and peptide hormones as well as sleep disturbance/circadian rhythmicity and indices of brain functioning. All of these interact with the HPA axis in influencing behavioral and health outcomes. Advanced analytic techniques, refinement or standardization of protocols assessing momentary changes or basal activity, and growth of technologies capturing long-term activity with minimally invasive procedures are needed to foster this work. These methodological advances would facilitate the study of family effects on biological changes that influence risk for physical and mental disorders.

Another important conceptual and methodological issue in stress research is that stress biomarkers are often not correlated highly or even at all with behavioral measures of stressful life events or perceived stress. “Researchers are often very frustrated when they start to collect stress biomarkers and discover this fact,” Kertes said. From a methodological perspective, part of the reason for this uncoupling may be measurement concerns with the behavioral measures themselves ( Monroe, 2008 ). Interactions with sex steroid or other peptide hormones may also play a role.

From a conceptual perspective, however, the uncoupling of behavioral and biological measures of stress to some degree is to be expected. When combined, they provide a more complete view of exposure and response. “Biological measures do not replace the need for behavioral measures,” she said. “Both help us to disentangle stressors or even the same stressor acting on the biological stress pathway in different ways. For example, poverty might impact children's cortisol via its effect on family stress, but it might also disrupt endocrine systems via the effects of environmental toxins. We need both levels of assessment to identify the mechanism of action.”

As Gilbert Gottlieb argued, events at various levels—environmental, behavioral, physiological, and genetic—constantly interact with one another in a multidirectional way over the life course. As applied to stress research, a stressor in the environment might elicit a change at the behavioral level ( Gottlieb, 1992 ). If it does not sufficiently meet the challenge, it may also elicit a change at the fast-acting physiological level (including the HPA axis). If the immediate physiological response does not meet the challenge, it in turn elicits a change at the genetic level—that is, in gene expression. This suggests that coping resources at one level may prevent a stressor from impacting the individual at other levels. The results from the cortisol study with preschoolers illustrate this point. The 4-year-old children who were behaviorally fearful of social challenges did not show cortisol elevations in response to those challenges if they had a history of exposure to sensitive, high-quality parenting. “This speaks to the need for multiple levels of analysis,” said Kertes.

Methodological advances that promote multilevel research are also needed because family effects on emotional and physical health have multiple modes of transmission. These include direct genetic effects and gene-environment interplay, changes in gene expression initiated by the HPA axis or epigenetic mechanisms, and direct cultural or social modes of transmission. Capturing the joint and interactive effects occurring via multiple modes of transmission will require both collaboration across disciplines and cross-training of individual researchers, Kertes said.

One major methodological challenge to integrating across multiple levels of analysis, particularly when bridging biological and behavioral data, is balancing the need for deep phenotyping of behavior and the environment with the need for sufficiently large sample sizes to detect interactions among the environment, behavior, and biology. This is particularly true for research involving genetics, in which the effect of any given genetic variant is small for complex traits. Although comprehensive genotypic and phenotypic assessment is ideal, another strategy is to balance these various priorities across a program of research rather than an individual research study. For example, HPA axis disturbances are believed to play a role in stress-related mental health problems, including alcohol dependence and major depression. Family and life stress may in part promote these biological changes and emergence of disorder, but genetic risks are also likely to be involved. Gene-identification studies with large sample sizes but limited phenotyping can identify potential genes of interest, such as those involved in neurotransmission or the biological stress response ( Kertes et al., 2011 ). Top candidates then can be integrated in studies with family, developmental, and/or physiological data to ask meaningful questions about the interplay of genetic risks with psychosocial factors on behavioral or biological functioning.

Methodological development that supports integration across multiple levels of analysis has two key benefits. First, resolving the challenges inherent to integration across disciplines can fuel conceptual and methodological innovation in the disciplines from which they draw. Second, integration of biological data in family research has the potential to personalize preventive interventions, in which modifiable environmental conditions can buffer individuals' risks for poor outcomes in the face of biologically influenced vulnerabilities.

In sum, integration of physiological processes in family research is important because they serve as mechanisms by which family experiences impact an individual's response to future events as well as their emotional and physical well-being. Implementation, however, requires careful attention to methodology, and challenges remain. Nevertheless, because family effects are transmitted through physiological and genetic routes as well as through social and cultural routes, multiple levels of analysis are needed to adequately capture the effects of family life on individual behavioral and health outcomes.

• INSIDE FAMILY LIFE: MULTIPLE LAYERS OF INFLUENCE ON CHILDREN'S HEALTH AND WELL-BEING

Children's health is rarely if ever the result of a single factor, said Barbara Fiese, professor of human development and family studies and director of the Family Resiliency Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It is embedded in a familial, social, and cultural context that changes over time, including parents' beliefs and practices, neighborhoods, and access to health care, among others. Even something as straightforward as feeding a child becomes subject to the effects of income, media, and peers as a child grows up.

Many daily activities support the health of children, including routines created to support eating, sleeping, and physical activity. More broadly, family health is sustained through planning, open and direct communication, a sense of order and routines, and a belief that challenges in everyday life are manageable ( Fiese, 2006 ). Family health is compromised when planning is absent or thwarted, routines are disrupted, communication is strained, and everyday life challenges consume personal energy.

Multiple factors can be combined in a cumulative risk model to predict childhood health problems. These factors include such things as poverty, parents' perceptions of discrimination, neighborhood factors, and cultural stress. However, these factors do not reveal much about what happens in a family over time. Also, the focus on a single disease state does not reflect what often happens in real life.

Fiese described several studies involving family life and asthma. The studies were conducted in upstate New York and in Denver, Colorado. They involved approximately 400 Hispanic, black, and white families with a child between ages 5 and 12 with persistent asthma. About 58 percent of the families had two or more adults in the household, and 30 percent of the mothers had a high school education or less.

Asthma is the most common chronic illness of childhood. In any given classroom, 1 child in 10 is likely to have a diagnosis of persistent asthma. It is an expensive disease to treat, but it is treatable. Comorbidities include anxiety, sleep disturbances, and overweight conditions.

The household routines needed to manage asthma include taking medication twice a day, avoiding such environmental allergens as tobacco smoke and pet allergens, engaging in daily physical activity, and getting a good night's sleep. At the same time, families with asthmatic children have to juggle home and work life, they move and experience job loss, they have babies and get divorced, they have to care for their elders, they experience domestic violence, they have psychiatric illnesses and suicidal ideation, they are involved in gang killings, and sometimes their children die. “All of these experiences have happened to members of the families in our studies,” she said.

Fiese examined three questions during her presentation:

• Are routines associated with children's health and well-being?
• Are different aspects of routines associated with different health outcomes?
• How can the study of household routines inform the study of health comorbidities?

Lung functioning was ascertained through spirometry tests. The study also gathered parent and child reports of functional severity, such as how much the child was wheezing and coughing or waking up in the middle of the night. Daily diary reports included information on nighttime waking. The quality of life of the child and the parent were measured through such factors as how activities were disrupted by symptoms. Comorbidities, such as anxiety symptoms of the child, were ascertained through a structured diagnostic interview, and the study also looked at obesity.

Routines were measured through self-reports, semistructured interviews, questionnaires, and videotapes of family mealtimes. The families ranged considerably in terms of their level of organization and their commitment to routines.

The most basic routine was whether a child had taken his or her medicine. Less than half of the children Fiese studied took their medicine as prescribed. Taking medication can be measured through recall, reports to physicians, or a computerized chip on the bottom of an inhaler that measures not only whether a child took the medicine, but whether it was taken appropriately.

A simple eight-item questionnaire measured the likelihood that parents have routines around taking medication and the amount of burden that they feel in carrying out these medication routines. Results showed that if families have such routines, children are more likely to take their medication ( Fiese et al., 2005 ). The factor most related to quality of life for both the caregiver and the child was whether caregivers reported these routines as burdensome. This was true both for caregivers and children. Children who reported that they worry more about their symptoms and that their symptoms get in the way of having a relatively normal life were more likely to have parents who reported that carrying out routines was difficult.

To examine sleep patterns, the researchers conducted telephone diaries. They called the parents three times during the week and once on the weekend during selected times over the course of a year, gathering a collection of about 500 observations. They looked at four things in collecting the telephone diaries: (1) whether a parent had a negative mood that day, (2) whether a parent was hassled by kids not listening, (3) whether a parent was hassled because plans had to be changed, and (4) whether a disruption occurred in their bedtime routines. Each of these factors was significant in predicting the likelihood that the child would wake up at night ( Fiese et al., 2007 ). The elevated likelihood is not overwhelming, although it is statistically significant. But it is as large as the odds ratios for biological indicators for nighttime waking in response to environmental allergens (such as cockroaches, dust mites, cats).

The researchers also constructed an asthma impact interview to understand how this condition affects family life. In an open-ended interview format, they asked families to tell the story of when their child was diagnosed with asthma and how it affected the child and family life. “We don't want to hear the story they tell their pediatrician. We want to hear the story that they would tell a neighbor over a cup of coffee. Usually what we get at this point is what we call the head nodding response. Parents say, ‘We know which story you want to hear.’”

The researchers have identified three categories of ways in which families manage asthma in their daily life: reactive care, coordinated care, and family partnership. In the reactive category, anxiety leads the family to action. The family has not established clear and consistent strategies. In the coordinated care category, a single way to handle all situations has been identified. Typically one or two people are responsible for carrying out doctor's orders. In the family partnership category, plans are based on multiple sources of information and a shared philosophy, and multiple family members are involved in planning.

These different strategies predicted emergency room use one year after the interview was conducted ( Fiese and Wamboldt, 2003 ). Families in the reactive category were about four times more likely to use emergency room care for their children's symptoms than families in the coordinated care category and eight times more likely than those in the family partnership category. Families that have less burden in carrying out daily routines and have better medical adherence were less likely to use emergency room care, and they had better quality of life overall for both children and caregivers.

One common comorbid feature of asthma is separation anxiety. When people are anxious or panicked, they can have trouble breathing, and children with asthma are almost three times more likely to have separation anxiety symptoms than those without asthma. Fiese and her colleagues hypothesized that the way in which families interact with each other on a daily basis may mediate this relationship. They looked at interactions during meals, providing a basis for measuring such factors as communication and involvement of parents in children's lives. They found that families that were able to be responsive during mealtimes, show genuine concern about their child's daily activities, and manage affect in a positive way were less likely to have children with separation anxiety symptoms ( Fiese et al., 2010 ). In contrast, families who have a child with separation anxiety symptoms have more difficulty getting tasks done during mealtimes, have more problems managing affect, and are less involved with their children.

They found the same relationship when looking at obesity in children ( Jacobs and Fiese, 2007 ). Families that were more organized, regularly managed affect, assigned roles, and showed genuine concern about their children's activities were less likely to have overweight children. The researchers also made mealtime observations on a second-by-second basis—”which we are calling our DNA prototype of family mealtime”— looking at activity levels, behavior management, and communication, expressed by every family member during a meal. They found that time spent at the meal distinguished families that have a child of healthy weight versus overweight. Children who are overweight spent less time at meals. When these observations were put into a cumulative risk model that included census tract data, poverty, communication, time spent at the meal, and the scheduling and importance of mealtime, the model demonstrated associations between risk factors and a child's body mass index and nighttime waking.

Fiese and her colleagues are now translating this work into interventions to promote the relationship between medical adherence and family routines. Targets of the intervention include quality of life, lung functioning, weight status, behavior problems, and health care utilization. For example, public service announcements around the topic of “mealtime minutes” remind families of the importance of mealtime routines, interactions, and time.

This research poses several methodological challenges, Fiese observed. The resources to transcribe, code, and analyze observations and narratives can be in short supply. There can be important differences among families across cultures, socioeconomic status, and life stage. It also can be difficult to capture differences among ages, which is especially challenging with large families. Family size is not necessarily static, with multiple players in a family, including neighbors, cousins, uncles, aunts, grandparents, and babysitters. Disease status may not be clear, and more attention needs to be devoted to comorbidities.

• ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES ON UNDERSTANDING THE IMPACT OF FAMILIES ON CHILD WELL-BEING

One recent example of multidisciplinarity in family science is the increased attention across disciplines to causal inference in estimating family influences. Approaches from economics to estimate unbiased causal estimates in research have been influential in other disciplines. To estimate causal effects using observational data, economists use four main approaches, said Betsey Stevenson of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.

The “first and easiest” thing is to apply a cross-sectional regression analysis, she said. This approach examines the differences among people and tries to identify the causal effects of a single difference while controlling for other differences. This approach has a major limitation because there are often unobserved differences among individuals or groups that interfere with isolating the effects of a single variable.

The second approach is to do a time-series analysis. This technique documents a correlation between variables of interest over time. It works particularly well if there are sharp changes in variables over time, such as a change in policy. However, many things can change at the same time, which is a limitation of this approach.

A third approach is what is called a quasi-experiment. This approach uses changes in the environment that create roughly identical treatment and control groups for studying the effects of that change. Quasi-experiments can provide estimates of the causal impacts of a particular treatment, but they are better at telling how outcomes change rather than why they change, which can create ambiguity in extending or applying an analysis.

The fourth approach is to use structural modeling. These models use the same data as a regression analysis, but they use theory to constrain the data in an effort to derive understanding from them. The limitations of this approach are that causal impacts can be difficult to estimate and the results are only as good as the theoretical assumptions contained in the model.

Stevenson illustrated two of these approaches—regression analysis and quasi-experiments—in her analysis of the effects of girls' participation in high school sports on years of schooling completed ( Stevenson, 2010 ). (Her research on Title IX examines, in addition to education, labor force participation, wages, and occupational choice, but for the purposes of the example she limited her discussion to years of education completed.) Students who participate in sports complete more years of schooling. The relevant questions are whether the correlation between sports and schooling is because of the types of people who choose to play sports or whether this is something that occurs because of sports. Answering this question is necessary to consider whether increasing the opportunities for students to play sports would increase their educational attainments.

Stevenson started with data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), which has been tracking a cohort of more than 12,000 young people who were between the ages of 14 and 22 in 1979, when they were first interviewed. Her regression analysis included a wide range of independent variables, including personal characteristics, like race, age, IQ, and self-confidence; family characteristics, such as parents' education and family income; community characteristics; and school characteristics. Some of these independent factors are easier to measure than others, and the ones that cannot be measured can cause bias in the causal estimates if they are correlated with the variable of interest.

After controlling for the race and age of students along with state and urban status, the regression analysis shows that girls who participate in sports acquire about a year's more education than girls who do not. “That is huge,” Stevenson said. “If we thought that was a causal effect, you should all run out of this room and start sponsoring sports programs.” The effect is about the same for boys who participate in high school sports.

However, as more independent variables are added as controls, the size of the effect shrinks. Adding family characteristics and school characteristics cuts the estimated years of additional education by about a third. Adding student ability and achievement measures, such as student IQ, cuts the effect another third, so that it is now less than half a year. “It turns out smarter kids play sports. For those of you who thought of the dumb jock, that is not true. Smarter kids play sports, smarter kids get more education. Without controlling for IQ, I get big estimates. When I control for IQ they shrink, and now they are at about 0.4 of a year's schooling.”

Nevertheless, the effects of participating in high school sports never shrink to zero as more and more controls are added. “Every cross sectional regression that has been run, no matter what you control for, you see that kids who participate in sports do better than kids who don't.”

The question remains whether students who participate in sports are different in ways that cannot be determined from the available data. For example, perhaps those who participate in sports are the type of people who would have stayed in school longer because of an unmeasured factor, such as ambition or energy, that is not contained in the control variables. All possible source of bias cannot be eliminated. But another source of information on the effects of sports on education is available: the quasi-experiment afforded by the passage of Title IX in 1972.

Title IX of the Education Amendments to the 1964 Civil Rights Act declared that “no person in the United Sates shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving financial assistance.” It requires that girls be given the same opportunities to participate in sport at boys. “It doesn't mean equal participation rates, but it does mean that if a girl wants to play and there are boys who are able to play, then either you need to have equal participation rates or you need to be able to make sure that girl can play.”

Title IX led to a major increase in girls participating in sports. Prior to Title IX, less than 5 percent of girls played high school sports compared with 50 percent of boys. After Title IX, about 30 percent of girls played high school sports and about 50 percent of boys did.

While this changes yields some potentially useful time-series evidence, the useful quasi-experiment comes from exploiting differences across states over time. Differences across states emerge because the percentage of boys who participate in high school sports varies widely by state. In states where boys' participation is high, more girls need to be given opportunities to participate in sports to be in compliance with Title IX.

By analyzing the change in girls' sporting opportunities generated by the interaction of the passage of Title IX and the variation across states in boys' pre-Title IX sports participation rates, Stevenson was able to assess whether girls' outcomes related to education were changed in a way that is related to the growth in sporting opportunities generated by Title IX (and in particular, in a way predicted by the preexisting level of boys' participation). The quasi-experimental approach is to identify a treated and untreated cohort. The treated cohort were those attending high school after Title IX went into effect in 1978, and the untreated cohort were those finishing high school before Title IX passed in 1972.

Combining differences across generations with the differences across states creates what economists call a “differences-in-differences” estimator. It combines time-series and cross-sectional analysis in an experimental setting, thereby controlling for cross-sectional differences and time-series differences, in which the cross-sectional differences are stable over time. It is still possible that some states increased girls' sports participation more than others because of other factors, such as a school board superintendent who worked very hard at it. But this can be controlled through what are called intention-to-treat or instrumental variables that isolate the exogenous part of the policy change.

This technique shows that female educational attainment rises with the opportunity to play sports. States with a 10 percentage point greater increase in the statewide female athletic participation rate had an overall increase in educational attainment of 0.039 years, an increase in the probability of some postsecondary education of 1.3 percentage points, and an increase of 0.8 percentage points in the probability of obtaining at least a college degree. Since Title IX raised female participation by around 30 percent, these results would be multiplied by more than three to get the aggregate effects. Meanwhile, female educational attainment rose by about 0.7 years over the time period being analyzed. As a result, Stevenson concluded that increases in sports participation caused by Title IX explain about 20 percent of the increase in women's education over the time period being analyzed. Similar analyses can be applied to the participation of women in the labor market and entrance into previously male-dominated jobs.

Documenting this effect does not mean that every girl should be forced to participate in sports, Stevenson observed. Some may benefit more from playing sports, and some may benefit less. Title IX, by increasing opportunities, allowed girls to self-select whether or not to participate. It remains to be known whether all girls would benefit from participating in sports.

During the discussion period, the presenters were asked how they would use an increase in research funding to extend their work. Barbara Fiese responded that she would integrate more sophisticated biological markers into her investigations. Such markers could be used with all of the members of a family to look at variations in the family unit over time. “I think that would be incredibly fascinating.”

Another enhancement would be to integrate the investigation with interventions and the response to interventions. It is difficult to do lengthy qualitative observations in intervention science, yet more narrative approaches can capture the richness in family situations.

A final addition would be integrate and translate research results into public arenas. For example, “how can we use this information to inform public service announcements, where we reach a broader audience, and how can we use this information to cast a wider net to communities at large?”

Darlene Kertes said that some of the issues in family research are similar for behavioral and biological measures. As with behavioral measures, attention needs to be paid to developing protocols that can be assessed longitudinally. A second point was that it is important to consider both data collection and consenting methods that are flexible and adaptable. It is difficult to predict what technologies might be available 10 years from now to analyze biological specimens. One challenge is therefore collecting biological specimens that allow for potential future use. Another is establishing best practices for consenting participants in a way that is ethical (particularly for minors) but allows for analyses to be conducted using knowledge and technologies that will be developed in the future.

Hirokazu Yoshikawa asked whether the projects that incorporated biological measures brought together people trained in specific methods or engaged in cross-training to combine the behavioral and the biological approaches. McMahon responded that his work has involved complementary studies proposed to different funders that historically have favored one kind of research over another. To carry out the work, he assembled a group of faculty with different areas of expertise. Although people were trained for each study, the quantitative methods were kept separate from the qualitative methods.

Fiese said that her research has had one team work on the narrative coding, one team work on the observational coding, and one team work on structured interviews. “But I am leaning more toward trying to integrate some of the training within individuals so that they can be a little more flexible because I am seeing this as an added value in their future careers.”

• Cite this Page Institute of Medicine (US) and National Research Council (US) Committee on the Science of Research on Families; Olson S, editor. Toward an Integrated Science of Research on Families: Workshop Report. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2011. 5, Family Research Methods and Frameworks: Examples from the Study of Biomarkers, Child Health, and Econometric Methods.
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How to Write a Research Question: Types and Examples 

The first step in any research project is framing the research question. It can be considered the core of any systematic investigation as the research outcomes are tied to asking the right questions. Thus, this primary interrogation point sets the pace for your research as it helps collect relevant and insightful information that ultimately influences your work.   

Typically, the research question guides the stages of inquiry, analysis, and reporting. Depending on the use of quantifiable or quantitative data, research questions are broadly categorized into quantitative or qualitative research questions. Both types of research questions can be used independently or together, considering the overall focus and objectives of your research.  

What is a research question?

A research question is a clear, focused, concise, and arguable question on which your research and writing are centered. 1 It states various aspects of the study, including the population and variables to be studied and the problem the study addresses. These questions also set the boundaries of the study, ensuring cohesion. 

Designing the research question is a dynamic process where the researcher can change or refine the research question as they review related literature and develop a framework for the study. Depending on the scale of your research, the study can include single or multiple research questions. 

A good research question has the following features: 

• It is relevant to the chosen field of study. 
• The question posed is arguable and open for debate, requiring synthesizing and analysis of ideas. 
• It is focused and concisely framed. 
• A feasible solution is possible within the given practical constraint and timeframe. 

A poorly formulated research question poses several risks. 1   

• Researchers can adopt an erroneous design. 
• It can create confusion and hinder the thought process, including developing a clear protocol.  
• It can jeopardize publication efforts.  
• It causes difficulty in determining the relevance of the study findings.  
• It causes difficulty in whether the study fulfils the inclusion criteria for systematic review and meta-analysis. This creates challenges in determining whether additional studies or data collection is needed to answer the question.  
• Readers may fail to understand the objective of the study. This reduces the likelihood of the study being cited by others. 

Now that you know “What is a research question?”, let’s look at the different types of research questions. 

Types of research questions

Depending on the type of research to be done, research questions can be classified broadly into quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods studies. Knowing the type of research helps determine the best type of research question that reflects the direction and epistemological underpinnings of your research. 

The structure and wording of quantitative 2 and qualitative research 3 questions differ significantly. The quantitative study looks at causal relationships, whereas the qualitative study aims at exploring a phenomenon. 

• Quantitative research questions:  
• Seeks to investigate social, familial, or educational experiences or processes in a particular context and/or location.  
• Answers ‘how,’ ‘what,’ or ‘why’ questions. 
• Investigates connections, relations, or comparisons between independent and dependent variables. 

Quantitative research questions can be further categorized into descriptive, comparative, and relationship, as explained in the Table below. 

• Qualitative research questions  

Qualitative research questions are adaptable, non-directional, and more flexible. It concerns broad areas of research or more specific areas of study to discover, explain, or explore a phenomenon. These are further classified as follows: 

• Mixed-methods studies  

Mixed-methods studies use both quantitative and qualitative research questions to answer your research question. Mixed methods provide a complete picture than standalone quantitative or qualitative research, as it integrates the benefits of both methods. Mixed methods research is often used in multidisciplinary settings and complex situational or societal research, especially in the behavioral, health, and social science fields. 

What makes a good research question

A good research question should be clear and focused to guide your research. It should synthesize multiple sources to present your unique argument, and should ideally be something that you are interested in. But avoid questions that can be answered in a few factual statements. The following are the main attributes of a good research question. 

• Specific: The research question should not be a fishing expedition performed in the hopes that some new information will be found that will benefit the researcher. The central research question should work with your research problem to keep your work focused. If using multiple questions, they should all tie back to the central aim. 
• Measurable: The research question must be answerable using quantitative and/or qualitative data or from scholarly sources to develop your research question. If such data is impossible to access, it is better to rethink your question. 
• Attainable: Ensure you have enough time and resources to do all research required to answer your question. If it seems you will not be able to gain access to the data you need, consider narrowing down your question to be more specific. 
• You have the expertise 
• You have the equipment and resources 
• Realistic: Developing your research question should be based on initial reading about your topic. It should focus on addressing a problem or gap in the existing knowledge in your field or discipline. 
• Based on some sort of rational physics 
• Can be done in a reasonable time frame 
• Timely: The research question should contribute to an existing and current debate in your field or in society at large. It should produce knowledge that future researchers or practitioners can later build on. 
• Novel 
• Based on current technologies. 
• Important to answer current problems or concerns. 
• Lead to new directions. 
• Important: Your question should have some aspect of originality. Incremental research is as important as exploring disruptive technologies. For example, you can focus on a specific location or explore a new angle. 
• Meaningful whether the answer is “Yes” or “No.” Closed-ended, yes/no questions are too simple to work as good research questions. Such questions do not provide enough scope for robust investigation and discussion. A good research question requires original data, synthesis of multiple sources, and original interpretation and argumentation before providing an answer. 

Steps for developing a good research question

The importance of research questions cannot be understated. When drafting a research question, use the following frameworks to guide the components of your question to ease the process. 4  

• Determine the requirements: Before constructing a good research question, set your research requirements. What is the purpose? Is it descriptive, comparative, or explorative research? Determining the research aim will help you choose the most appropriate topic and word your question appropriately. 
• Select a broad research topic: Identify a broader subject area of interest that requires investigation. Techniques such as brainstorming or concept mapping can help identify relevant connections and themes within a broad research topic. For example, how to learn and help students learn. 
• Perform preliminary investigation: Preliminary research is needed to obtain up-to-date and relevant knowledge on your topic. It also helps identify issues currently being discussed from which information gaps can be identified. 
• Narrow your focus: Narrow the scope and focus of your research to a specific niche. This involves focusing on gaps in existing knowledge or recent literature or extending or complementing the findings of existing literature. Another approach involves constructing strong research questions that challenge your views or knowledge of the area of study (Example: Is learning consistent with the existing learning theory and research). 
• Identify the research problem: Once the research question has been framed, one should evaluate it. This is to realize the importance of the research questions and if there is a need for more revising (Example: How do your beliefs on learning theory and research impact your instructional practices). 

How to write a research question

Those struggling to understand how to write a research question, these simple steps can help you simplify the process of writing a research question. 

Sample Research Questions

The following are some bad and good research question examples 

• Example 1 
• Example 2 

References:  

• Thabane, L., Thomas, T., Ye, C., & Paul, J. (2009). Posing the research question: not so simple.  Canadian Journal of Anesthesia/Journal canadien d’anesthésie ,  56 (1), 71-79. 
• Rutberg, S., & Bouikidis, C. D. (2018). Focusing on the fundamentals: A simplistic differentiation between qualitative and quantitative research.  Nephrology Nursing Journal ,  45 (2), 209-213. 
• Kyngäs, H. (2020). Qualitative research and content analysis.  The application of content analysis in nursing science research , 3-11. 
• Mattick, K., Johnston, J., & de la Croix, A. (2018). How to… write a good research question.  The clinical teacher ,  15 (2), 104-108. 
• Fandino, W. (2019). Formulating a good research question: Pearls and pitfalls.  Indian Journal of Anaesthesia ,  63 (8), 611. 
• Richardson, W. S., Wilson, M. C., Nishikawa, J., & Hayward, R. S. (1995). The well-built clinical question: a key to evidence-based decisions.  ACP journal club ,  123 (3), A12-A13 

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Get accurate academic translations, rewriting support, grammar checks, vocabulary suggestions, and generative AI assistance that delivers human precision at machine speed. Try for free or upgrade to Paperpal Prime starting at US$19 a month to access premium features, including consistency, plagiarism, and 30+ submission readiness checks to help you succeed.  

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Transitive and Intransitive Verbs in the World of Research

Language and grammar rules for academic writing, you may also like, phd qualifying exam: tips for success , quillbot review: features, pricing, and free alternatives, what is an academic paper types and elements , 9 steps to publish a research paper, what are the different types of research papers, how to make translating academic papers less challenging, 6 tips for post-doc researchers to take their..., presenting research data effectively through tables and figures, ethics in science: importance, principles & guidelines , jenni ai review: top features, pricing, and alternatives.

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Primary research questions.

Broadly speaking, our research is aimed at understanding how couple and family relationships ameliorate or perpetuate depression, anxiety, and related indicators of health (e.g., alcohol use, sleep dysfunction, poor diet). Our work is largely focused on couple relationships, investigating how multiple relationship processes (e.g., humanization and respect, support, closeness and intimacy, sexual satisfaction, conflict management strategies) impact partners and their children. However, we also investigate larger family system processes (e.g., aspects of the parent-child relationship, coparenting dynamics) that contribute to health and well-being. We conduct research that has the translational goal of informing interventions that minimize family dysfunction, build healthy couple dynamics, and promote adult and child health throughout the lifespan. There are four primary lines of inquiry we are currently pursuing:

• Family resiliency in the context of stress, adversity, and trauma:  How do couples and families navigate various forms of stress and adversity (e.g., economic hardship, trauma, discrimination and marginalization stress, major life transitions), and what are sources of risk or resiliency within the family (e.g., partner support, responsive parenting) ? The team is currently conducting research on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on couples and families with young children, how couples navigate the stress associated with pregnancy and childbirth, and the impact of discrimination and harassment on sexual and gender minority couples living in rural Nebraska.
• Regulatory processes linking family processes to health outcomes:  How do family relationships contribute to key regulatory processes that, in turn, play a central role in health ? The research team is currently investigating how family relationships promote the development of executive functioning in preschoolers, how intimate partners can promote self-compassion and psychological flexibility, and how parents socialize their children around emotions and promote emotion regulation (e.g., through mindful parenting).
• Differential susceptibility and sensitivity to family environments.  How do adults and children differentially experience and respond to their environments?  The team is currently investigating how individuals exhibiting traits indicative of high  sensitivity  to the environment falter or flourish in the context of different family dynamics.
• Measurement of couple and family relationships.   We  pursue novel and innovative ways of measuring family relationships and systems using multiple methodologies (self-report, interview, behavioral observation) . For example, members of the research team have published a behavioral observation coding system for measuring  mutually responsive orientation  in couple relationships (i.e., the degree of synchronicity, cooperation, and positive emotional expression between partners) along with other measures assessing dimensions of intimate relationships ( The Support in Intimate Relationships Rating Scale-Revised ,  The Relationship Quality Interview ). We also have several scale development projects that are underway.

How to Develop a Quality Genealogy Research Question

How can you go to a specific place if you have not determined the destination you’re headed toward? In genealogy, your research should be headed somewhere if wish to conduct quality research. The destinations you head toward always begin with a research question.

The fundamental step in quality genealogical research is to develop a research question. What are you hoping to find out?

Now many of you want to prove your lineage to someone on the Mayflower or the First Settler in an area. Some of you want to just find new names. Others, like me, gather ancestors methodically like we open a can of Pringles -- once you pop, you can’t stop. In other words, we can never stop making new discoveries and new relative connections.

No matter our objective, and I’m including myself in this, we should develop a research question so we know what we’re hoping to discover, which will lead us to the records we need to resolve our investigations.

Watch this video on YouTube .

There are Three Basic Types of Genealogy Research Questions:

When and where did an event happen in an individual’s life, to whom was an individual related to by marriage or genetically, what biographical details can be found about an ancestor.

There are few questions in genealogy that don’t fit into these categories. Let’s dive into them just a little bit deeper.

When and in what location was Christian Christopher Hoppe, husband of Anna Margaretha Kalsberger, born?

When did Delbert Hanks, of Altus, Oklahoma, die and where was he buried?

Who was the first wife of Edward T. Rang of Akron, Summit County, Ohio, and when did they marry?

Who were the children of John Marr and Laney Shafley who lived in Wainfleet, Monck, Ontario, Canada?

Did William Townsend serve in the Civil War?

Did Matthew Lepley sell a property to the federal government to become part of the national forest?

Write a Narrow Genealogy Research Question

The above sample questions are a good start, but they are still too broad. We want to narrow them down by adding details about our questions. But first, do you wonder how I came up with these questions? I know I did when I was starting out as a beginning family historian.

Every question you have is based on previous knowledge or research. This is why experienced educators always tell you to begin by recording information about yourself and working backward from that point.

Regardless of whether you follow that advice or not, your questions will come to mind as you examine a family tree, look at documents, and attempt to piece together aspects of an ancestor’s life.

What was the trigger for your question?

Let’s walk through a few questions that I shared earlier and how they were generated:

This question was triggered by the marriage record of Christian Hoppe and Anna Karlsberger. I knew the couple married, but the marriage certificate for Anna and her groom triggered the thought, “how old was Christian and where was he born?” I didn’t want to add Christian to my family tree just as the groom of Anna but as a complete person.

Edward married Nancy Cole. On his marriage license, a note indicated that he was previously married, but did not include the name of the previous wife. Thus, I know have the question, who was that first wife?

↪️ Are you new to genealogy? Grab your copy of this FREE Beginner Guide:

Writing a Quality Research Question

Now that you understand where questions come from, let’s work on making our questions better so that we can recognize the answer when we find it.

Let’s add to the question:

When and in what location was Christian Christopher Hoppe, who married Anna Margaretha Kalsberger, born?

We want to add all the specifics we know about Christian or Anna.

Christian and Anna married on 12 April 1859 in Franklin County, Ohio

Had the following children:

Christian Christoph Hoppe b. 1859 in Ohio

Marguerite Hoppe b. 1861 in Ohio

Anna Hoppe b. 1869 in Ohio

We’ll revise our question to look something like this:

What is the birth date and place of Christian Christopher Hoppe, who married Anna Margaretha Kalsberger on 12 April 1859 in Franklin County, Ohio, and father of Christian, Marguerite, and Anna Hoppe?

With this question, we have narrowed down all of the potential Christian Hoppe’s to the one we most want to discover -- the Christian who lived in Franklin County, Ohio, and had this family structure.

As such, any document we may uncover will have to be compared to these facts to determine if the source is applicable to our ancestors.

• Beginning Genealogy

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80 fascinating psychology research questions for your next project

Last updated

15 February 2024

Reviewed by

Brittany Ferri, PhD, OTR/L

Psychology research is essential for furthering our understanding of human behavior and improving the diagnosis and treatment of psychological conditions.

When psychologists know more about how different social and cultural factors influence how humans act, think, and feel, they can recommend improvements to practices in areas such as education, sport, healthcare, and law enforcement.

Below, you will find 80 research question examples across 16 branches of psychology. First, though, let’s look at some tips to help you select a suitable research topic.

• How to choose a good psychology research topic

Psychology has many branches that break down further into topics. Choosing a topic for your psychology research paper can be daunting because there are so many to choose from. It’s an important choice, as the topic you select will open up a range of questions to explore.

The tips below can help you find a psychology research topic that suits your skills and interests.

Tip #1: Select a topic that interests you

Passion and interest should fuel every research project. A topic that fascinates you will most likely interest others as well. Think about the questions you and others might have and decide on the issues that matter most. Draw on your own interests, but also keep your research topical and relevant to others.

Don’t limit yourself to a topic that you already know about. Instead, choose one that will make you want to know more and dig deeper. This will keep you motivated and excited about your research.

Tip #2: Choose a topic with a manageable scope

If your topic is too broad, you can get overwhelmed by the amount of information available and have trouble maintaining focus. On the other hand, you may find it difficult to find enough information if you choose a topic that is too narrow.

To determine if the topic is too broad or too narrow, start researching as early as possible. If you find there’s an overwhelming amount of research material, you’ll probably need to narrow the topic down. For example, instead of researching the general population, it might be easier to focus on a specific age group. Ask yourself what area of the general topic interests you most and focus on that.

If your scope is too narrow, try to generalize or focus on a larger related topic. Expand your search criteria or select additional databases for information. Consider if the topic is too new to have much information published on it as well.

Tip #3: Select a topic that will produce useful and relevant insights

Doing some preliminary research will reveal any existing research on the topic. If there is existing research, will you be able to produce new insights? You might need to focus on a different area or see if the existing research has limitations that you can overcome.

Bear in mind that finding new information from which to draw fresh insights may be impossible if your topic has been over-researched.

You’ll also need to consider whether your topic is relevant to current trends and needs. For example, researching psychology topics related to social media use may be highly relevant today.

• 80 psychology research topics and questions

Psychology is a broad subject with many branches and potential areas of study. Here are some of them:

Developmental

Personality

Experimental

Organizational

Educational

Neuropsychology

Controversial topics

Below we offer some suggestions on research topics and questions that can get you started. Keep in mind that these are not all-inclusive but should be personalized to fit the theme of your paper.

Social psychology research topics and questions

Social psychology has roots as far back as the 18th century. In simple terms, it’s the study of how behavior is influenced by the presence and behavior of others. It is the science of finding out who we are, who we think we are, and how our perceptions affect ourselves and others. It looks at personalities, relationships, and group behavior.

Here are some potential research questions and paper titles for this topic:

How does social media use impact perceptions of body image in male adolescents?

2. Is childhood bullying a risk factor for social anxiety in adults?

Is homophobia in individuals caused by genetic or environmental factors?

What is the most important psychological predictor of a person’s willingness to donate to charity?

Does a person’s height impact how other people perceive them? If so, how?

Cognitive psychology research questions

Cognitive psychology is the branch that focuses on the interactions of thinking, emotion, creativity, and problem-solving. It also explores the reasons humans think the way they do.

This topic involves exploring how people think by measuring intelligence, thoughts, and cognition. 

Here are some research question ideas:

6. Is there a link between chronic stress and memory function?

7. Can certain kinds of music trigger memories in people with memory loss?

8. Do remote meetings impact the efficacy of team decision-making?

9. Do word games and puzzles slow cognitive decline in adults over the age of 80?

10. Does watching television impact a child’s reading ability?

Developmental psychology research questions

Developmental psychology is the study of how humans grow and change over their lifespan. It usually focuses on the social, emotional, and physical development of babies and children, though it can apply to people of all ages. Developmental psychology is important for understanding how we learn, mature, and adapt to changes.

Here are some questions that might inspire your research:

11. Does grief accelerate the aging process?

12. How do parent–child attachment patterns influence the development of emotion regulation in teenagers?

13. Does bilingualism affect cognitive decline in adults over the age of 70?

14. How does the transition to adulthood impact decision-making abilities

15. How does early exposure to music impact mental health and well-being in school-aged children?

Personality psychology research questions

Personality psychology studies personalities, how they develop, their structures, and the processes that define them. It looks at intelligence, disposition, moral beliefs, thoughts, and reactions.

The goal of this branch of psychology is to scientifically interpret the way personality patterns manifest into an individual’s behaviors. Here are some example research questions:

16. Nature vs. nurture: Which impacts personality development the most?

17. The role of genetics on personality: Does an adopted child take on their biological parents’ personality traits?

18. How do personality traits influence leadership styles and effectiveness in organizational settings?

19. Is there a relationship between an individual’s personality and mental health?

20. Can a chronic illness affect your personality?

Abnormal psychology research questions

As the name suggests, abnormal psychology is a branch that focuses on abnormal behavior and psychopathology (the scientific study of mental illness or disorders).

Abnormal behavior can be challenging to define. Who decides what is “normal”? As such, psychologists in this area focus on the level of distress that certain behaviors may cause, although this typically involves studying mental health conditions such as depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and phobias.

Here are some questions to consider:

21. How does technology impact the development of social anxiety disorder?

22. What are the factors behind the rising incidence of eating disorders in adolescents?

23. Are mindfulness-based interventions effective in the treatment of PTSD?

24. Is there a connection between depression and gambling addiction?

25. Can physical trauma cause psychopathy?

Clinical psychology research questions

Clinical psychology deals with assessing and treating mental illness or abnormal or psychiatric behaviors. It differs from abnormal psychology in that it focuses more on treatments and clinical aspects, while abnormal psychology is more behavioral focused.

This is a specialty area that provides care and treatment for complex mental health conditions. This can include treatment, not only for individuals but for couples, families, and other groups. Clinical psychology also supports communities, conducts research, and offers training to promote mental health. This category is very broad, so there are lots of topics to explore.

Below are some example research questions to consider:

26. Do criminals require more specific therapies or interventions?

27. How effective are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in treating mental health disorders?

28. Are there any disadvantages to humanistic therapy?

29. Can group therapy be more beneficial than one-on-one therapy sessions?

30. What are the factors to consider when selecting the right treatment plan for patients with anxiety?

Experimental psychology research questions

Experimental psychology deals with studies that can prove or disprove a hypothesis. Psychologists in this field use scientific methods to collect data on basic psychological processes such as memory, cognition, and learning. They use this data to test the whys and hows of behavior and how outside factors influence its creation.

Areas of interest in this branch relate to perception, memory, emotion, and sensation. The below are example questions that could inspire your own research:

31. Do male or female parents/carers have a more calming influence on children?

32. Will your preference for a genre of music increase the more you listen to it?

33. What are the psychological effects of posting on social media vs. not posting?

34. How is productivity affected by social connection?

35. Is cheating contagious?

Organizational psychology research questions

Organizational psychology studies human behavior in the workplace. It is most frequently used to evaluate an employee, group, or a company’s organizational dynamics. Researchers aim to isolate issues and identify solutions.

This area of study can be beneficial to both employees and employers since the goal is to improve the overall work environment and experience. Researchers apply psychological principles and findings to recommend improvements in performance, communication, job satisfaction, and safety. 

Some potential research questions include the following:

36. How do different leadership styles affect employee morale?

37. Do longer lunch breaks boost employee productivity?

38. Is gender an antecedent to workplace stress?

39. What is the most effective way to promote work–life balance among employees?

40. How do different organizational structures impact the effectiveness of communication, decision-making, and productivity?

Forensic psychology research questions

Some questions to consider exploring in this branch of psychology are:

41. How does incarceration affect mental health?

42. Is childhood trauma a driver for criminal behavior during adulthood?

43. Are people with mental health conditions more likely to be victims of crimes?

44. What are the drivers of false memories, and how do they impact the justice system?

45. Is the media responsible for copycat crimes?

Educational psychology research questions

Educational psychology studies children in an educational setting. It covers topics like teaching methods, aptitude assessment, self-motivation, technology, and parental involvement.

Research in this field of psychology is vital for understanding and optimizing learning processes. It informs educators about cognitive development, learning styles, and effective teaching strategies.

Here are some example research questions:

46. Are different teaching styles more beneficial for children at different times of the day?

47. Can listening to classical music regularly increase a student’s test scores?

48. Is there a connection between sugar consumption and knowledge retention in students?

49. Does sleep duration and quality impact academic performance?

50. Does daily meditation at school influence students’ academic performance and mental health?

Sports psychology research question examples

Sport psychology aims to optimize physical performance and well-being in athletes by using cognitive and behavioral practices and interventions. Some methods include counseling, training, and clinical interventions.

Research in this area is important because it can improve team and individual performance, resilience, motivation, confidence, and overall well-being

Here are some research question ideas for you to consider:

51. How can a famous coach affect a team’s performance?

52. How can athletes control negative emotions in violent or high-contact sports?

53. How does using social media impact an athlete’s performance and well-being?

54. Can psychological interventions help with injury rehabilitation?

55. How can mindfulness practices boost sports performance?

Cultural psychology research question examples

The premise of this branch of psychology is that mind and culture are inseparable. In other words, people are shaped by their cultures, and their cultures are shaped by them. This can be a complex interaction.

Cultural psychology is vital as it explores how cultural context shapes individuals’ thoughts, behaviors, and perceptions. It provides insights into diverse perspectives, promoting cross-cultural understanding and reducing biases.

Here are some ideas that you might consider researching:

56. Are there cultural differences in how people perceive and deal with pain?

57. Are different cultures at increased risk of developing mental health conditions?

58. Are there cultural differences in coping strategies for stress?

59. Do our different cultures shape our personalities?

60. How does multi-generational culture influence family values and structure?

Health psychology research question examples

Health psychology is a crucial field of study. Understanding how psychological factors influence health behaviors, adherence to medical treatments, and overall wellness enables health experts to develop effective interventions and preventive measures, ultimately improving health outcomes.

Health psychology also aids in managing stress, promoting healthy behaviors, and optimizing mental health, fostering a holistic approach to well-being.

Here are five ideas to inspire research in this field:

61. How can health psychology interventions improve lifestyle behaviors to prevent cardiovascular diseases?

62. What role do social norms play in vaping among adolescents?

63. What role do personality traits play in the development and management of chronic pain conditions?

64. How do cultural beliefs and attitudes influence health-seeking behaviors in diverse populations?

65. What are the psychological factors influencing the adherence to preventive health behaviors, such as vaccination and regular screenings?

Neuropsychology research paper question examples

Neuropsychology research explores how a person’s cognition and behavior are related to their brain and nervous system. Researchers aim to advance the diagnosis and treatment of behavioral and cognitive effects of neurological disorders.

Researchers may work with children facing learning or developmental challenges, or with adults with declining cognitive abilities. They may also focus on injuries or illnesses of the brain, such as traumatic brain injuries, to determine the effect on cognitive and behavioral functions.

Neuropsychology informs diagnosis and treatment strategies for conditions such as dementia, traumatic brain injuries, and psychiatric disorders. Understanding the neural basis of behavior enhances our ability to optimize cognitive functioning, rehabilitate people with brain injuries, and improve patient care.

Here are some example research questions to consider:

66. How do neurotransmitter imbalances in specific brain regions contribute to mood disorders such as depression?

67. How can a traumatic brain injury affect memory?

68. What neural processes underlie attention deficits in people with ADHD?

69. Do medications affect the brain differently after a traumatic brain injury?

70. What are the behavioral effects of prolonged brain swelling?

Psychology of religion research question examples

The psychology of religion is a field that studies the interplay between belief systems, spirituality, and mental well-being. It explores the application of the psychological methods and interpretive frameworks of religious traditions and how they relate to both religious and non-religious people.

Psychology of religion research contributes to a holistic understanding of human experiences. It fosters cultural competence and guides therapeutic approaches that respect diverse spiritual beliefs.

Here are some example research questions in this field:

71. What impact does a religious upbringing have on a child’s self-esteem?

72. How do religious beliefs shape decision-making and perceptions of morality?

73. What is the impact of religious indoctrination?

74. Is there correlation between religious and mindfulness practices?

75. How does religious affiliation impact attitudes towards mental health treatment and help-seeking behaviors?

Controversial topics in psychology research question examples

Some psychology topics don’t fit into any of the subcategories above, but they may still be worthwhile topics to consider. These topics are the ones that spark interest, conversation, debate, and disagreement. They are often inspired by current issues and assess the validity of older research.

Consider some of these research question examples:

76. How does the rise in on-screen violence impact behavior in adolescents.

77. Should access to social media platforms be restricted in children under the age of 12 to improve mental health?

78. Are prescription mental health medications over-prescribed in older adults? If so, what are the effects of this?

79. Cognitive biases in AI: what are the implications for decision-making?

80. What are the psychological and ethical implications of using virtual reality in exposure therapy for treating trauma-related conditions?

• Inspiration for your next psychology research project

You can choose from a diverse range of research questions that intersect and overlap across various specialties.

From cognitive psychology to clinical studies, each inquiry contributes to a deeper understanding of the human mind and behavior. Importantly, the relevance of these questions transcends individual disciplines, as many findings offer insights applicable across multiple areas of study.

As health trends evolve and societal needs shift, new topics emerge, fueling continual exploration and discovery. Diving into this ever-changing and expanding area of study enables you to navigate the complexities of the human experience and pave the way for innovative solutions to the challenges of tomorrow.

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Article contents

Family, culture, and communication.

• V. Santiago Arias V. Santiago Arias College of Media and Communication, Texas Tech University
•  and  Narissra Maria Punyanunt-Carter Narissra Maria Punyanunt-Carter College of Media and Communication, Texas Tech University
• https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.504
• Published online: 22 August 2017

Through the years, the concept of family has been studied by family therapists, psychology scholars, and sociologists with a diverse theoretical framework, such as family communication patterns (FCP) theory, dyadic power theory, conflict, and family systems theory. Among these theories, there are two main commonalities throughout its findings: the interparental relationship is the core interaction in the familial system because the quality of their communication or coparenting significantly affects the enactment of the caregiver role while managing conflicts, which are not the exception in the familial setting. Coparenting is understood in its broader sense to avoid an extensive discussion of all type of families in our society. Second, while including the main goal of parenting, which is the socialization of values, this process intrinsically suggests cultural assimilation as the main cultural approach rather than intergroup theory, because intercultural marriages need to decide which values are considered the best to be socialized. In order to do so, examples from the Thai culture and Hispanic and Latino cultures served to show cultural assimilation as an important mediator of coparenting communication patterns, which subsequently affect other subsystems that influence individuals’ identity and self-esteem development in the long run. Finally, future directions suggest that the need for incorporating a nonhegemonic one-way definition of cultural assimilation allows immigration status to be brought into the discussion of family communication issues in the context of one of the most diverse countries in the world.

• parental communication
• dyadic power
• family communication systems
• cultural assimilation

Introduction

Family is the fundamental structure of every society because, among other functions, this social institution provides individuals, from birth until adulthood, membership and sense of belonging, economic support, nurturance, education, and socialization (Canary & Canary, 2013 ). As a consequence, the strut of its social role consists of operating as a system in a manner that would benefit all members of a family while achieving what is considered best, where decisions tend to be coherent, at least according to the norms and roles assumed by family members within the system (Galvin, Bylund, & Brommel, 2004 ). Notwithstanding, the concept of family can be interpreted differently by individual perceptions to an array of cultural backgrounds, and cultures vary in their values, behaviors, and ideas.

The difficulty of conceptualizing this social institution suggests that family is a culture-bound phenomenon (Bales & Parsons, 2014 ). In essence, culture represents how people view themselves as part of a unique social collective and the ensuing communication interactions (Olaniran & Roach, 1994 ); subsequently, culture provides norms for behavior having a tremendous impact on those family members’ roles and power dynamics mirrored in its communication interactions (Johnson, Radesky, & Zuckerman, 2013 ). Thus, culture serves as one of the main macroframeworks for individuals to interpret and enact those prescriptions, such as inheritance; descent rules (e.g., bilateral, as in the United States, or patrilineal); marriage customs, such as ideal monogamy and divorce; and beliefs about sexuality, gender, and patterns of household formation, such as structure of authority and power (Weisner, 2014 ). For these reasons, “every family is both a unique microcosm and a product of a larger cultural context” (Johnson et al., 2013 , p. 632), and the analysis of family communication must include culture in order to elucidate effective communication strategies to solve familial conflicts.

In addition, to analyze familial communication patterns, it is important to address the most influential interaction with regard to power dynamics that determine the overall quality of family functioning. In this sense, within the range of family theories, parenting function is the core relationship in terms of power dynamics. Parenting refers to all efforts and decisions made by parents individually to guide their children’s behavior. This is a pivotal function, but the quality of communication among people who perform parenting is fundamental because their internal communication patterns will either support or undermine each caregiver’s parenting attempts, individually having a substantial influence on all members’ psychological and physical well-being (Schrodt & Shimkowski, 2013 ). Subsequently, parenting goes along with communication because to execute all parenting efforts, there must be a mutual agreement among at least two individuals to conjointly take care of the child’s fostering (Van Egeren & Hawkins, 2004 ). Consequently, coparenting serves as a crucial predictor of the overall family atmosphere and interactions, and it deserves special attention while analyzing family communication issues.

Through the years, family has been studied by family therapists, psychology scholars, and sociologists, but interaction behaviors define the interpersonal relationship, roles, and power within the family as a system (Rogers, 2006 ). Consequently, family scholarship relies on a wide range of theories developed within the communication field and in areas of the social sciences (Galvin, Braithwaite, & Bylund, 2015 ) because analysis of communication patterns in the familial context offers more ecological validity that individuals’ self-report measures. As many types of interactions may happen within a family, there are many relevant venues (i.e., theories) for scholarly analysis on this subject, which will be discussed later in this article in the “ Family: Theoretical Perspectives ” section. To avoid the risk of cultural relativeness while defining family, this article characterizes family as “a long-term group of two or more people related through biological, legal, or equivalent ties and who enact those ties through ongoing interactions providing instrumental and/or emotional support” (Canary & Canary, 2013 , p. 5).

Therefore, the purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the most relevant theories in family communication to identify frustrations and limitations with internal communication. Second, as a case in point, the United States welcomes more than 50 million noncitizens as temporary visitors and admits approximately 1 million immigrants to live as lawful residents yearly (Fullerton, 2014 ), this demographic pattern means that nearly one-third of the population (102 million) comes from different cultural backgrounds, and therefore, the present review will incorporate culture as an important mediator for coparenting, so that future research can be performed to find specific techniques and training practices that are more suitable for cross-cultural contexts.

Family: Theoretical Perspectives

Even though the concept of family can be interpreted individually and differently in different cultures, there are also some commonalities, along with communication processes, specific roles within families, and acceptable habits of interactions with specific family members disregarding cultural differences. This section will provide a brief overview of the conceptualization of family through the family communication patterns (FCP) theory, dyadic power theory, conflict, and family systems theory, with a special focus on the interparental relationship.

Family Communication Patterns Theory

One of the most relevant approaches to address the myriad of communication issues within families is the family communication patterns (FCP) theory. Originally developed by McLeod and Chaffee ( 1973 ), this theory aims to understand families’ tendencies to create stable and predictable communication patterns in terms of both relational cognition and interpersonal behavior (Braithwaite & Baxter, 2005 ). Specifically, this theory focuses on the unique and amalgamated associations derived from interparental communication and its impact on parenting quality to determine FCPs and the remaining interactions (Young & Schrodt, 2016 ).

To illustrate FCP’s focus on parental communication, Schrodt, Witt, and Shimkowski ( 2014 ) conducted a meta-analysis of 74 studies (N = 14,255) to examine the associations between the demand/withdraw family communication patterns of interaction, and the subsequent individual, relational, and communicative outcomes. The cumulative evidence suggests that wife demand/husband withdraw and husband demand/wife withdraw show similar moderate correlations with communicative and psychological well-being outcomes, and even higher when both patterns are taken together (at the relational level). This is important because one of the main tenets of FCP is that familial relationships are drawn on the pursuit of coorientation among members. Coorientation refers to the cognitive process of two or more individuals focusing on and assessing the same object in the same material and social context, which leads to a number of cognitions as the number of people involved, which results in different levels of agreement, accuracy, and congruence (for a review, see Fitzpatrick & Koerner, 2005 ); for example, in dyads that are aware of their shared focus, two different cognitions of the same issue will result.

Hereafter, the way in which these cognitions are socialized through power dynamics determined socially and culturally by roles constitutes specific interdependent communication patterns among family members. For example, Koerner and Fitzpatrick ( 2006 ) provide a taxonomy of family types on the basis of coorientation and its impact on communication pattern in terms of the degree of conformity in those conversational tendencies. To wit, consensual families mostly agree for the sake of the hierarchy within a given family and to explore new points of view; pluralistic families allow members to participate equally in conversations and there is no pressure to control or make children’s decisions; protective families maintain the hierarchy by making decisions for the sake of achieving common family goals; and laissez-faire families, which are low in conversation and conformity orientation, allow family members to not get deeply involved in the family.

The analysis of family communication patterns is quintessential for family communication scholarly work because it influences forming an individual’s self concept in the long run. As a case in point, Young and Schrodt ( 2016 ) surveyed 181 young adults from intact families, where conditional and interaction effects between communication patterns and conformity orientation were observed as the main predictors of future romantic partners. Moreover, this study concluded that FCPs and interparental confirmation are substantial indicators of self-to-partner confirmation, after controlling for reciprocity of confirmation within the romantic relationship. As a consequence, FCP influences children’s and young adults’ perceptions of romantic behavior (e.g., Fowler, Pearson, & Beck, 2010 ); the quality of communication behavior, such as the degree of acceptation of verbal aggression in romantic dyads (e.g., Aloia & Solomon, 2013 ); gender roles; and conflict styles (e.g., Taylor & Segrin, 2010 ), and parental modeling (e.g., Young & Schrodt, 2016 ).

This suggests three important observations. First, family is a very complex interpersonal context, in which communication processes, specific roles within families, and acceptable habits of interactions with specific family members interact as subsystems (see Galvin et al., 2004 ; Schrodt & Shimkowski, 2013 ). Second, among those subsystems, the core interaction is the individuals who hold parenting roles (i.e., intact and post divorced families); the couple (disregarding particular sexual orientations), and, parenting roles have a reciprocal relationship over time (Le, McDaniel, Leavitt, & Feinberg, 2016 ). Communication between parenting partners is crucial for the development of their entire family; for example, Schrodt and Shimkowski ( 2013 ) conducted a survey with 493 young adult children from intact (N = 364) and divorced families (N = 129) about perceptions of interparental conflict that involves triangulation (the impression of being in the “middle” and feeling forced to display loyalty to one of the parents). Results suggest that supportive coparental communication positively predicts relational satisfaction with mothers and fathers, as well as mental health; on the other hand, antagonist and hostile coparental communication predicted negative marital satisfaction.

Consequently, “partners’ communication with one another will have a positive effect on their overall view of their marriage, . . . and directly result[ing in] their views of marital satisfaction” (Knapp & Daly, 2002 , p. 643). Le et al. ( 2016 ) conducted a longitudinal study to evaluate the reciprocal relationship between marital interaction and coparenting from the perspective of both parents in terms of support or undermining across the transition to parenthood from a dyadic perspective; 164 cohabiting heterosexual couples expecting their first child were analyzed from pregnancy until 36 months after birth. Both parents’ interdependence was examined in terms of three variables: gender difference analysis, stability over time in marriage and coparenting, and reciprocal associations between relationship quality and coparenting support or undermining. The findings suggest a long-term reciprocal association between relationship quality and coparenting support or undermining in heterosexual families; the quality of marriage relationship during prenatal stage is highly influential in coparenting after birth for both men and women; but, coparenting is connected to romantic relationship quality only for women.

Moreover, the positive association between coparenting and the parents’ relationship relates to the spillover hypothesis, which posits that the positive or negative factors in the parental subsystem are significantly associated with higher or lower marital satisfaction in the spousal subsystem, respectively. Ergo, overall parenting performance is substantially affected by the quality of marital communication patterns.

Dyadic Power

In addition, after analyzing the impact of marital interaction quality in families on marital satisfaction and future parental modeling, it is worth noting that marital satisfaction and coparenting are importantly mediated by power dynamics within the couple (Halstead, De Santis, & Williams, 2016 ), and even mediates marital commitment (e.g., Lennon, Stewart, & Ledermann, 2013 ). If the quality of interpersonal relationship between those individuals who hold parenting roles determines coparenting quality as well, then the reason for this association lies on the fact that virtually all intimate relationships are substantially characterized by power dynamics; when partners perceive more rewards than costs in the relationship, they will be more satisfied and significantly more committed to the relationship (Lennon et al., 2013 ). As a result, the inclusion of power dynamics in the analysis of family issues becomes quintessential.

For the theory of dyadic power, power in its basic sense includes dominance, control, and influence over others, as well as a means to meet survival needs. When power is integrated into dyadic intimate relationships, it generates asymmetries in terms of interdependence between partners due to the quality of alternatives provided by individual characteristics such as socioeconomic status and cultural characteristics such as gender roles. This virtually gives more power to men than women. Power refers to “the feeling derived from the ability to dominate, or control, the behavior, affect, and cognitions of another person[;] in consequence, this concept within the interparental relationship is enacted when one partner who controls resources and limiting the behavioral options of the other partner” (Lennon et al., 2013 , p. 97). Ergo, this theory examines power in terms of interdependence between members of the relationship: the partner who is more dependent on the other has less power in the relationship, which, of course, directly impact parenting decisions.

As a case in point, Worley and Samp ( 2016 ) examined the balance of decision-making power in the relationship, complaint avoidance, and complaint-related appraisals in 175 heterosexual couples. Findings suggest that decision-making power has a curvilinear association, in which individuals engaged in the least complaint avoidance when they were relatively equal to their partners in terms of power. In other words, perceptions of one another’s power potentially encourage communication efficacy in the interparental couple.

The analysis of power in intimate relationships, and, to be specific, between parents is crucial because it not only relates to marital satisfaction and commitment, but it also it affects parents’ dyadic coping for children. In fact, Zemp, Bodenmann, Backes, Sutter-Stickel, and Revenson ( 2016 ) investigated parents’ dyadic coping as a predictor of children’s internalizing symptoms, externalizing symptoms, and prosocial behavior in three independent studies. When there is a positive relationship among all three factors, the results indicated that the strongest correlation was the first one. Again, the quality of the marital and parental relationships has the strongest influence on children’s coping skills and future well-being.

From the overview of the two previous theories on family, it is worth addressing two important aspects. First, parenting requires an intensive great deal of hands-on physical care, attention to safety (Mooney-Doyle, Deatrick, & Horowitz, 2014 ), and interpretation of cues, and this is why parenting, from conception to when children enter adulthood, is a tremendous social, cultural, and legally prescribed role directed toward caregiving and endlessly attending to individuals’ social, physical, psychological, emotional, and cognitive development (Johnson et al., 2013 ). And while parents are making decisions about what they consider is best for all family members, power dynamics play a crucial role in marital satisfaction, commitment, parental modeling, and overall interparental communication efficacy in the case of postdivorce families. Therefore, the likelihood of conflict is latent within familial interactions while making decisions; indeed, situations in which family members agree on norms as a consensus is rare (Ritchie & Fitzpatrick, 1990 ).

In addition to the interparental and marital power dynamics that delineates family communication patterns, the familial interaction is distinctive from other types of social relationships in the unequaled role of emotions and communication of affection while family members interact and make decisions for the sake of all members. For example, Ritchie and Fitzpatrick ( 1990 ) provided evidence that fathers tended to perceive that all other family members agree with his decisions or ideas. Even when mothers confronted and disagreed with the fathers about the fathers’ decisions or ideas, the men were more likely to believe that their children agreed with him. When the children were interviewed without their parents, however, the majority of children agreed with the mothers rather than the fathers (Ritchie & Fitzpatrick, 1990 ). Subsequently, conflict is highly present in families; however, in general, the presence of conflict is not problematic per se. Rather, it is the ability to manage and recover from it and that could be problematic (Floyd, 2014 ).

One of the reasons for the role of emotions in interpersonal conflicts is explained by the Emotion-in-Relationships Model (ERM). This model states that feelings of bliss, satisfaction, and relaxation often go unnoticed due to the nature of the emotions, whereas “hot” emotions, such as anger and contempt, come to the forefront when directed at a member of an interpersonal relationship (Fletcher & Clark, 2002 ). This type of psychophysical response usually happens perhaps due to the different biophysical reactive response of the body compared to its reaction to positive ones (Floyd, 2014 ). There are two dimensions that define conflict. Conflict leads to the elicitation of emotions, but sometimes the opposite occurs: emotions lead to conflict. The misunderstanding or misinterpretation of emotions among members of a family can be a source of conflict, as well as a number of other issues, including personality differences, past history, substance abuse, mental or physical health problems, monetary issues, children, intimate partner violence, domestic rape, or maybe just general frustration due to recent events (Sabourin, Infante, & Rudd, 1990 ). In order to have a common understanding of this concept for the familial context in particular, conflict refers to as “any incompatibility that can be expressed by people related through biological, legal, or equivalent ties” (Canary & Canary, 2013 , p. 6). Thus, the concept of conflict goes hand in hand with coparenting.

There is a myriad of everyday family activities in which parents need to decide the best way to do them: sometimes they are minor, such as eating, watching TV, or sleeping schedules; others are more complicated, such as schooling. Certainly, while socializing and making these decisions, parents may agree or not, and these everyday situations may lead to conflict. Whether or not parents live together, it has been shown that “the extent to which children experience their parents as partners or opponents in parenting is related to children’s adjustment and well-being” (Gable & Sharp, 2016 , p. 1), because the ontology of parenting is materialized through socialization of values about every aspect and duty among all family members, especially children, to perpetuate a given society.

As the findings provided in this article show, the study of family communication issues is pivotal because the way in which those issues are solved within families will be copied by children as their values. Values are abstract ideas that delineate behavior toward the evaluation of people and events and vary in terms of importance across individuals, but also among cultures. In other words, their future parenting (i.e., parenting modeling) of children will replicate those same strategies for conflict solving for good or bad, depending on whether parents were supportive between each other. Thus, socialization defines the size and scope of coparenting.

The familial socialization of values encompasses the distinction between parents’ personal execution of those social appraisals and the values that parents want their children to adopt, and both are different things; nonetheless, familial socialization does not take place in only one direction, from parents to children. Benish-Weisman, Levy, and Knafo ( 2013 ) investigated the differentiation process—or, in other words, the distinction between parents’ own personal values and their socialization values and the contribution of children’s values to their parents’ socialization values. In this study, in which 603 Israeli adolescents and their parents participated, the findings suggest that parents differentiate between their personal values and their socialization values, and adolescents’ values have a specific contribution to their parents’ socialization values. As a result, socialization is not a unidirectional process affected by parents alone, it is an outcome of the reciprocal interaction between parents and their adolescent children, and the given importance of a given value is mediated by parents and their culture individually (Johnson et al., 2013 ). However, taking power dynamics into account does not mean that adolescents share the same level of decision-making power in the family; thus, socialization take place in both directions, but mostly from parents to children. Finally, it is worth noticing that the socialization of values in coparenting falls under the cultural umbrella. The next section pays a special attention to the role of culture in family communication.

The Role of Culture in Parenting Socialization of Values

There are many individual perceived realities and behaviors in the familial setting that may lead to conflict among members, but all of them achieve a common interpretation through culture; indeed, “all family conflict processes by broad cultural factors” (Canary & Canary, 2013 , p. 46). Subsequently, the goal of this section is to provide an overview of the perceived realities and behaviors that exist in family relationships with different cultural backgrounds. How should one approach the array of cultural values influencing parental communication patterns?

An interesting way of immersing on the role of culture in family communication patterns and its further socialization of values is explored by Schwartz ( 1992 ). The author developed a value system composed of 10 values operationalized as motivational goals for modern society: (a) self-direction (independence of thought and action); (b) stimulation (excitement, challenge, and novelty); (c) hedonism (pleasure or sensuous gratification); (d) achievement (personal success according to social standards); (e) power (social status, dominance over people and resources); (f) conformity (restraint of actions that may harm others or violate social expectations); (g) tradition (respect and commitment to cultural or religious customs and ideas); (h) benevolence (preserving and enhancing the welfare of people to whom one is close); (i) universalism (understanding, tolerance, and concern for the welfare of all people and nature); and (j) security (safety and stability of society, relationships, and self).

Later, Schwartz and Rubel ( 2005 ) applied this value structure, finding it to be commonly shared among over 65 countries. Nevertheless, these values are enacted in different ways by societies and genders about the extent to which men attribute more relevance to values of power, stimulation, hedonism, achievement, and self-direction, and the opposite was found for benevolence and universalism and less consistently for security. Also, it was found that all sex differences were culturally moderated, suggesting that cultural background needs to be considered in the analysis of coparental communication when socializing those values.

Even though Schwartz’s work was more focused on individuals and societies, it is a powerful model for the analysis of the role of culture on family communication and parenting scholarships. Indeed, Schwartz et al. ( 2013 ) conducted a longitudinal study with a sample of 266 Hispanic adolescents (14 years old) and their parents that looked at measures of acculturation, family functioning, and adolescent conduct problems, substance use, and sexual behavior at five time points. Results suggest that higher levels of acculturation in adolescents were linked to poorer family functioning; however, overall assimilation negatively predicted adolescent cigarette smoking, sexual activity, and unprotected sex. The authors emphasize the role of culture, and acculturation patterns in particular, in understanding the mediating role of family functioning and culture.

Ergo, it is crucial to address the ways in which culture affects family functioning. On top of this idea, Johnson et al. ( 2013 ) observed that Western cultures such as in the United States and European countries are oriented toward autonomy, favoring individual achievement, self-reliance, and self-assertiveness. Thus, coparenting in more autonomous countries will socialize to children the idea that achievement in life is an outcome of independence, resulting in coparenting communication behaviors that favor verbal praise and feedback over physical contact. As opposed to autonomy-oriented cultures, other societies, such as Asian, African, and Latin American countries, emphasize interdependence over autonomy; thus, parenting in these cultures promotes collective achievement, sharing, and collaboration as the core values.

These cultural orientations can be observed in parents’ definitions of school readiness and educational success; for Western parents, examples include skills such as counting, recognizing letters, or independently completing tasks such as coloring pictures, whereas for more interdependent cultures, the development of obedience, respect for authority, and appropriate social skills are the skills that parents are expecting their children to develop to evaluate school readiness. As a matter of fact, Callaghan et al. ( 2011 ) conducted a series of eight studies to evaluate the impact of culture on the social-cognitive skills of one- to three-year-old children in three diverse cultural settings such as Canada, Peru, and India. The results showed that children’s acquisition of specific cognitive skills is moderated by specific learning experiences in a specific context: while Canadian children were understanding the performance of both pretense and pictorial symbols skillfully between 2.5 and 3.0 years of age, on average, Peruvian and Indian children mastered those skills more than a year later. Notwithstanding, this finding does not suggest any kind of cultural superiority; language barriers and limitations derived from translation itself may influence meanings, affecting the results (Sotomayor-Peterson, De Baca, Figueredo, & Smith-Castro, 2013 ). Therefore, in line with the findings of Schutz ( 1970 ), Geertz ( 1973 ), Grusec ( 2002 ), Sotomayor-Peterson et al. ( 2013 ), and Johnson et al. ( 2013 ), cultural values provide important leverage for understanding family functioning in terms of parental decision-making and conflict, which also has a substantial impact on children’s cognitive development.

Subsequently, cultural sensitivity to the analysis of the familial system in this country needs to be specially included because cultural differences are part of the array of familial conflicts that may arise, and children experience real consequences from the quality of these interactions. Therefore, parenting, which is already arduous in itself, and overall family functioning significantly become troublesome when parents with different cultural backgrounds aim to socialize values and perform parenting tasks. The following section provides an account of these cross-cultural families.

Intercultural Families: Adding Cultural Differences to Interparental Communication

For a country such as the United States, with 102 million people from many different cultural backgrounds, the presence of cross-cultural families is on the rise, as is the likelihood of intermarriage between immigrants and natives. With this cultural diversity, the two most prominent groups are Hispanics and Asians, particular cases of which will be discussed next. Besides the fact that parenting itself is a very complex and difficult task, certainly the biggest conflict consists of making decisions about the best way to raise children in terms of their values with regard to which ethnic identity better enacts the values that parents believe their children should embrace. As a result, interracial couples might confront many conflicts and challenges due to cultural differences affecting marital satisfaction and coparenting.

Assimilation , the degree to which a person from a different cultural background has adapted to the culture of the hostage society, is an important phenomenon in intermarriage. Assimilationists observe that children from families in which one of the parents is from the majority group and the other one from the minority do not automatically follow the parent from the majority group (Cohen, 1988 ). Indeed, they follow their mothers more, whichever group she belongs to, because of mothers are more prevalent among people with higher socioeconomic status (Gordon, 1964 ; Portes, 1984 ; Schwartz et al., 2013 ).

In an interracial marriage, the structural and interpersonal barriers inhibiting the interaction between two parents will be reduced significantly if parents develop a noncompeting way to communicate and solve conflicts, which means that both of them might give up part of their culture or ethnic identity to reach consensus. Otherwise, the ethnic identity of children who come from interracial marriages will become more and more obscure (Saenz, Hwang, Aguirre, & Anderson, 1995 ). Surely, parents’ noncompeting cultural communication patterns are fundamental for children’s development of ethnic identity. Biracial children develop feelings of being outsiders, and then parenting becomes crucial to developing their strong self-esteem (Ward, 2006 ). Indeed, Gordon ( 1964 ) found that children from cross-racial or cross-ethnic marriages are at risk of developing psychological problems. In another example, Jognson and Nagoshi ( 1986 ) studied children who come from mixed marriages in Hawaii and found that the problems of cultural identification, conflicting demands in the family, and of being marginal in either culture still exist (Mann & Waldron, 1977 ). It is hard for those mixed-racial children to completely develop the ethnic identity of either the majority group or the minority group.

The question of how children could maintain their minority ethnic identity is essential to the development of ethnic identity as a whole. For children from interracial marriage, the challenge to maintain their minority ethnic identity will be greater than for the majority ethnic identity (Waters, 1990 ; Schwartz et al., 2013 ) because the minority-group spouse is more likely to have greater ethnic consciousness than the majority-group spouse (Ellman, 1987 ). Usually, the majority group is more influential than the minority group on a child’s ethnic identity, but if the minority parent’s ethnicity does not significantly decline, the child’s ethnic identity could still reflect some characteristics of the minority parent. If parents want their children to maintain the minority group’s identity, letting the children learn the language of the minority group might be a good way to achieve this. By learning the language, children form a better understanding of that culture and perhaps are more likely to accept the ethnic identity that the language represents (Xin & Sandel, 2015 ).

In addition to language socialization as a way to contribute to children’s identity in biracial families, Jane and Bochner ( 2009 ) indicated that family rituals and stories could be important in performing and transforming identity. Families create and re-create their identities through various kinds of narrative, in which family stories and rituals are significant. Festivals and rituals are different from culture to culture, and each culture has its own. Therefore, exposing children to the language, rituals, and festivals of another culture also could be helpful to form their ethnic identity, in order to counter problems of self-esteem derived from the feeling of being an outsider.

To conclude this section, the parenting dilemma in intercultural marriages consists of deciding which culture they want their children to be exposed to and what kind of heritage they want to pass to children. The following section will provide two examples of intercultural marriages in the context of American society without implying that there are no other insightful cultures that deserve analysis, but the focus on Asian-American and Hispanics families reflects the available literature (Canary & Canary, 2013 ) and its demographic representativeness in this particular context. In addition, in order to acknowledge that minorities within this larger cultural background deserve more attention due to overemphasis on larger cultures in scholarship, such as Chinese or Japanese cultures, the Thai family will provide insights into understanding the role of culture in parenting and its impact on the remaining familial interaction, putting all theories already discussed in context. Moreover, the Hispanic family will also be taken in account because of its internal pan-ethnicity variety.

An Example of Intercultural Parenting: The Thai Family

The Thai family, also known as Krob Krua, may consist of parents, children, paternal and maternal grandparents, aunts, uncles, grandchildren, in-laws, and any others who share the same home. Thai marriages usually are traditional, in which the male is the authority figure and breadwinner and the wife is in charge of domestic items and the homemaker. It has been noted that Thai mothers tend to be the major caregivers and caretakers in the family rather than fathers (Tulananda, Young, & Roopnarine, 1994 ). On the other hand, it has been shown that Thai mothers also tend to spoil their children with such things as food and comfort; Tulananda et al. ( 1994 ) studied the differences between American and Thai fathers’ involvement with their preschool children and found that American fathers reported being significantly more involved with their children than Thai fathers. Specifically, the fathers differed in the amount of socialization and childcare; Thai fathers reported that they obtained more external support from other family members than American fathers; also, Thai fathers were more likely to obtain support for assisting with daughters than sons.

Furthermore, with regard to the family context, Tulananda and Roopnarine ( 2001 ) noted that over the years, some attention has been focused on the cultural differences among parent-child behaviors and interactions; hereafter, the authors believed that it is important to look at cultural parent-child interactions because that can help others understand children’s capacity to socialize and deal with life’s challenges. As a matter of fact, the authors also noted that Thai families tend to raise their children in accordance with Buddhist beliefs. It is customary for young Thai married couples to live with either the wife’s parents (uxorilocal) or the husband’s parents (virilocal) before living on their own (Tulananda & Roopnarine, 2001 ). The process of developing ethnicity could be complicated. Many factors might influence the process, such as which parent is from the minority culture and the cultural community, as explained in the previous section of this article.

This suggests that there is a difference in the way that Thai and American fathers communicate with their daughters. As a case in point, Punyanunt-Carter ( 2016 ) examined the relationship maintenance behaviors within father-daughter relationships in Thailand and the United States. Participants included 134 American father-daughter dyads and 154 Thai father-daughter dyads. The findings suggest that when quality of communication was included in this relationship, both types of families benefit from this family communication pattern, resulting in better conflict management and advice relationship maintenance behaviors. However, differences were found: American fathers are more likely than American daughters to employ relationship maintenance behaviors; in addition, American fathers are more likely than Thai fathers to use relationship maintenance strategies.

As a consequence, knowing the process of ethnic identity development could provide parents with different ways to form children’s ethnic identity. More specifically, McCann, Ota, Giles, and Caraker ( 2003 ), and Canary and Canary ( 2013 ) noted that Southeast Asian cultures have been overlooked in communication studies research; these countries differ in their religious, political, and philosophical thoughts, with a variety of collectivistic views and religious ideals (e.g., Buddhism, Taoism, Islam), whereas the United States is mainly Christian and consists of individualistic values.

The Case of Hispanic/Latino Families in the United States

There is a need for including Hispanic/Latino families in the United States because of the demographic representativeness and trends of the ethnicity: in 2016 , Hispanics represent nearly 17% of the total U.S. population, becoming the largest minority group. There are more than 53 million Hispanics and Latinos in the United States; in addition, over 93% of young Hispanics and Latinos under the age of 18 hold U.S. citizenship, and more than 73,000 of these people turn 18 every month (Barreto & Segura, 2014 ). Furthermore, the current Hispanic and Latino population is spread evenly between foreign-born and U.S.-born individuals, but the foreign-born population is now growing faster than the number of Hispanic children born in the country (Arias & Hellmueller, 2016 ). This demographic trend is projected to reach one-third of the U.S. total population by 2060 ; therefore, with the growth of other minority populations in the country, the phenomenon of multiracial marriage and biracial children is increasing as well.

Therefore, family communication scholarship has an increasing necessity to include cultural particularities in the analysis of the familial system; in addition to the cultural aspects already explained in this article, this section addresses the influence of familism in Hispanic and Latino familial interactions, as well as how immigration status moderates the internal interactions, reflected in levels of acculturation, that affect these families negatively.

With the higher marriage and birth rates among Hispanics and Latinos living in the United States compared to non-Latino Whites and African American populations, the Hispanic familial system is perhaps the most stereotyped as being familistic (Glick & Van Hook, 2008 ). This family trait consists of the fact that Hispanics place a very high value on marriage and childbearing, on the basis of a profound commitment to give support to members of the extended family as well. This can be evinced in the prevalence of extended-kind shared households in Hispanic and Latino families, and Hispanic children are more likely to live in extended-family households than non-Latino Whites or blacks (Glick & Van Hook, 2008 ). Living in extended-family households, most likely with grandparents, may have positive influences on Hispanic and Latino children, such as greater attention and interaction with loving through consistent caregiving; grandparents may help by engaging with children in academic-oriented activities, which then affects positively cognitive educational outcomes.

However, familism is not the panacea for all familial issues for several reasons. First, living in an extended-family household requires living arrangements that consider adults’ needs more than children’s. Second, the configuration of Hispanic and Latino households is moderated by any immigration issues with all members of the extended family, and this may cause problems for children (Menjívar, 2000 ). The immigration status of each individual member may produce a constant state of flux, whereas circumstances change to adjust to economic opportunities, which in turn are limited by immigration laws, and it gets even worse when one of the parents isn’t even present in the children’s home, but rather live in their home country (Van Hook & Glick, 2006 ). Although Hispanic and Latino children are more likely to live with married parents and extended relatives, familism is highly affected by the immigration status of each member.

On the other hand, there has been research to address the paramount role of communication disregarding the mediating factor of cultural diversity. For example, Sotomayor-Peterson et al. ( 2013 ) performed a cross-cultural comparison of the association between coparenting or shared parental effort and family climate among families from Mexico, the United States, and Costa Rica. The overall findings suggest what was explained earlier in this article: more shared parenting predicts better marital interaction and family climate overall.

In addition, parenting quality has been found to have a positive relationship with children’s developmental outcomes. In fact, Sotomayor-Peterson, Figueredo, Christensen, and Taylor ( 2012 ) conducted a study with 61 low-income Mexican American couples, with at least one child between three and four years of age, recruited from a home-based Head Start program. The main goal of this study was to observe the extent that shared parenting incorporates cultural values and income predicts family climate. The findings suggest that the role of cultural values such as familism, in which family solidarity and avoidance of confrontation are paramount, delineate shared parenting by Mexican American couples.

Cultural adaptation also has a substantial impact on marital satisfaction and children’s cognitive stimulation. Indeed, Sotomayor-Peterson, Wilhelm, and Card ( 2011 ) investigated the relationship between marital relationship quality and subsequent cognitive stimulation practices toward their infants in terms of the actor and partner effects of White and Hispanic parents. The results indicate an interesting relationship between the level of acculturation and marital relationship quality and a positive cognitive stimulation of infants; specifically, marital happiness is associated with increased cognitive stimulation by White and high-acculturated Hispanic fathers. Nevertheless, a major limitation of Hispanic acculturation literature has been seen, reflecting a reliance on cross-sectional studies where acculturation was scholarly operationalized more as an individual difference variable than as a longitudinal adaptation over time (Schwartz et al., 2013 ).

Culture and Family Communication: the “so what?” Question

This article has presented an entangled overview of family communication patterns, dyadic power, family systems, and conflict theories to establish that coparenting quality plays a paramount role. The main commonality among those theories pays special attention to interparental interaction quality, regardless of the type of family (i.e., intact, postdivorce, same-sex, etc.) and cultural background. After reviewing these theories, it was observed that the interparental relationship is the core interaction in the familial context because it affects children from their earlier cognitive development to subsequent parental modeling in terms of gender roles. Thus, in keeping with Canary and Canary ( 2013 ), no matter what approach may be taken to the analysis of family communication issues, the hypothesis that a positive emotional climate within the family is fostered only when couples practice a sufficient level of shared parenting and quality of communication is supported.

Nevertheless, this argument does not suggest that the role of culture in the familial interactions should be undersold. While including the main goal of parenting, which is the socialization of values, in the second section of this article, the text also provides specific values of different countries that are enacted and socialized differently across cultural contexts to address the role of acculturation in the familial atmosphere, the quality of interactions, and individual outcomes. As a case in point, Johnson et al. ( 2013 ) provided an interesting way of seeing how cultures differ in their ways of enacting parenting, clarifying that the role of culture in parenting is not a superficial or relativistic element.

In addition, by acknowledging the perhaps excessive attention to larger Asian cultural backgrounds (such as Chinese or Japanese cultures) by other scholars (i.e., Canary & Canary, 2013 ), an insightful analysis of the Thai American family within the father-daughter relationship was provided to exemplify, through the work of Punyanunt-Carter ( 2016 ), how specific family communication patterns, such as maintenance relationship communication behaviors, affect the quality of familial relationships. Moreover, a second, special focus was put on Hispanic families because of the demographic trends of the United States, and it was found that familism constitutes a distinctive aspect of these families.

In other words, the third section of this article provided these two examples of intercultural families to observe specific ways that culture mediates the familial system. Because one of the main goals of the present article was to demonstrate the mediating role of culture as an important consideration for family communication issues in the United States, the assimilationist approach was taken into account; thus, the two intercultural family examples discussed here correspond to an assimilationist nature rather than using an intergroup approach.

This decision was made without intending to diminish the value of other cultures or ethnic groups in the country, but an extensive revision of all types of intercultural families is beyond the scope of this article. Second, the assimilationist approach forces one to consider cultures that are in the process of adapting to a new hosting culture, and the Thai and Hispanic families in the United States comply with this theoretical requisite. For example, Whites recognize African Americans as being as American as Whites (i.e., Dovidio, Gluszek, John, Ditlmann, & Lagunes, 2010 ), whereas they associate Hispanics and Latinos with illegal immigration in the United States (Stewart et al., 2011 ), which has been enhanced by the U.S. media repeatedly since 1994 (Valentino et al., 2013 ), and it is still happening (Dixon, 2015 ). In this scenario, “ask yourself what would happen to your own personality if you heard it said over and over again that you were lazy, a simple child of nature, expected to steal, and had inferior blood? . . . One’s reputation, whether false or true, cannot be hammered, hammered, hammered, into one’s head without doing something to one’s character” (Allport, 1979 , p. 142, cited in Arias & Hellmueller, 2016 ).

As a consequence, on this cultural canvas, it should not be surprising that Lichter, Carmalt, and Qian ( 2011 ) found that second-generation Hispanics are increasingly likely to marry foreign-born Hispanics and less likely to marry third-generation or later coethnics or Whites. In addition, this study suggests that third-generation Hispanics and later were more likely than in the past to marry non-Hispanic Whites; thus, the authors concluded that there has been a new retreat from intermarriage among the largest immigrant groups in the United States—Hispanics and Asians—in the last 20 years.

If we subscribe to the idea that cultural assimilation goes in only one direction—from the hegemonic culture to the minority culture—then the results of Lichter, Carmalt, and Qian ( 2011 ) should not be of scholarly concern; however, if we believe that cultural assimilation happens in both directions and intercultural families can benefit both the host and immigrant cultures (for a review, see Schwartz et al., 2013 ), then this is important to address in a country that just elected a president, Donald Trump, who featured statements racially lambasting and segregating minorities, denigrating women, and criticizing immigration as some of the main tenets of his campaign. Therefore, we hope that it is clear why special attention was given to the Thai and Hispanic families in this article, considering the impact of culture on the familial system, marital satisfaction, parental communication, and children’s well-being. Even though individuals with Hispanic ancentry were in the United States even before it became a nation, Hispanic and Latino families are still trying to convince Americans of their right to be accepted in American culture and society.

With regard to the “So what?” question, assimilation is important to consider while analyzing the role of culture in family communication patterns, power dynamics, conflict, or the functioning of the overall family system in the context of the United States. This is because this country is among the most popular in the world in terms of immigration requests, and its demographics show that one out of three citizens comes from an ethnic background other than the hegemonic White culture. In sum, cultural awareness has become pivotal in the analysis of family communication issues in the United States. Furthermore, the present overview of family, communication, and culture ends up supporting the idea of positive associations being derived from the pivotal role of marriage relationship quality, such that coparenting and communication practices vary substantially within intercultural marriages moderated by gender roles.

Culture is a pivotal moderator of these associations, but this analysis needs to be tethered to societal structural level, in which cultural differences, family members’ immigration status, media content, and level of acculturation must be included in family research. This is because in intercultural marriages, in addition to the tremendous parenting role, they have to deal with cultural assimilation and discrimination, and this becomes important if we care about children’s cognitive development and the overall well-being of those who are not considered White. As this article shows, the quality of familial interactions has direct consequences on children’s developmental outcomes (for a review, see Callaghan et al., 2011 ).

Therefore, the structure and functioning of family has an important impact on public health at both physiological and psychological levels (Gage, Everett, & Bullock, 2006 ). At the physiological level, the familial interaction instigates expression and reception of strong feelings affecting tremendously on individuals’ physical health because it activates neuroendocrine responses that aid stress regulation, acting as a stress buffer and accelerating physiological recovery from elevated stress (Floyd & Afifi, 2012 ; Floyd, 2014 ). Robles, Shaffer, Malarkey, and Kiecolt-Glaser ( 2006 ) found that a combination of supportive communication, humor, and problem-solving behavior in husbands predicts their wives’ cortisol and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)—both physiological factors are considered as stress markers (see 2006 ). On the other hand, the psychology of individuals, the quality of family relationships has major repercussions on cognitive development, as reflected in educational attainment (Sohr-Preston et al., 2013 ), and highly mediated by cultural assimilation (Schwartz et al., 2013 ), which affects individuals through parenting modeling and socialization of values (Mooney-Doyle, Deatrick, & Horowitz, 2014 ).

Further Reading

• Allport, G. W. (1979). The nature of prejudice . Basic books.
• Arias, S. , & Hellmueller, L. (2016). Hispanics-and-Latinos and the US Media: New Issues for Future Research. Communication Research Trends , 35 (2), 4.
• Barreto, M. , & Segura, G. (2014). Latino America: How AmericaÕs Most Dynamic Population is Poised to Transform the Politics of the Nation . Public Affairs.
• Benish‐Weisman, M. , Levy, S. , & Knafo, A. (2013). Parents differentiate between their personal values and their socialization values: the role of adolescents’ values. Journal of Research on Adolescence , 23 (4), 614–620.
• Child, J. T. , & Westermann, D. A. (2013). Let’s be Facebook friends: Exploring parental Facebook friend requests from a communication privacy management (CPM) perspective. Journal of Family Communication , 13 (1), 46–59.
• Canary, H. , & Canary, D. J. (2013). Family conflict (Key themes in family communication). Polity.
• Dixon, C. (2015). Rural development in the third world . Routledge.
• Dovidio, J. F. , Gluszek, A. , John, M. S. , Ditlmann, R. , & Lagunes, P. (2010). Understanding bias toward Latinos: Discrimination, dimensions of difference, and experience of exclusion. Journal of Social Issues , 66 (1), 59–78.
• Fitzpatrick, M. A. , & Koerner, A. F. (2005). Family communication schemata: Effects on children’s resiliency. The evolution of key mass communication concepts: Honoring Jack M. McLeod , 115–139.
• Fullerton, A. S. (2014). Work, Family Policies and Transitions to Adulthood in Europe. Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews , 43 (4), 543–545.
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A research plan helps you record the who, what, when, where and why of your family history quest. Think of it as a road map, or in modern terms, a GPS that provides a navigational system to your past. Just as you wouldn’t attempt to change the oil in your car without instructions or try to prepare a baked Alaska without a recipe, you shouldn’t even think about going on your ancestral journey without a solid plan.

In this article, I’ll take you through a simple, five-point strategy to create a research plan by showing you how I used this method to trace the birth, marriage and death records of my paternal great-grandfather, Mihaly Fenscak. You can use it as a model to chart your own course for genealogical success.

1. Establish genealogy research objective.

Write down as specifically as possible what you want to accomplish. Perhaps you want to identify the name of the overseas town or village where your great-grandfather was born, or when he immigrated to the United States.

Your objective should include both long-term research goals and the short-term steps that will help you reach your overall objective (note any steps you can think of now, but you’ll add more as you develop your plan). For example, a long-term goal might be to determine when your great-grandfather left home and the date he arrived in the United States. A short-term goal might be to l ocate him in a US federal census that asks for the year of immigration — the 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930 censuses.

Like most family historians, you probably have more than one genealogy problem you’re trying to solve. For now, though, choose one or two to focus on. My objective was to find the birth, marriage and death dates for my great-grandfather.

2. List known ancestor facts.

Assuming you’ve completed a pedigree chart and family group sheet using genealogy software or  one of our free forms , your next step is to list known facts about the person you’re researching.

You can use the  free, downloadable biographical outline form here  to record your known facts. Examine any genealogical records you’ve gathered and write down what they tell you. Include names of the person and his family members; any spelling variations of the first and last names you’ve found in records; dates of birth, death and marriage; dates of migrations; and places where his life events took place.

For example, you may know your great-grandfather had three sisters and two brothers, and you may even have their first names from a family Bible or other book. Perhaps you have a marriage date or location, or a record that refers to a particular county seat or region in the old country. Think of these facts as your data points that you’ll plug into your genealogy GPS.

One caveat: Be careful not to blindly accept as truth family tales about where your ancestors went and why. You can treat these as clues and investigate their validity by tracking down records to document what happened.

I looked in home and family sources and wrote some notes I made during my search. I was able to determine the following from a family narrative naming Mihaly Fenscak and his wife, Illa. Other clues included:

• Ancestral village listed as Posa, Slovakia.
• Also mentioned time spent in Liverpool, England, and Freeland, Pa.
• Mihaly was a widower with two children, Anna and John, when he married Illa.
• His children with Illa were: Mary, born in Liverpool; Anna, born in Freeland; Elizabeth and Mihaly (Mike) Fenchak, both born in Slovakia.
• Mihaly died first and Illa remarried a man named Zelenak-no date listed but story notes that she died before World War I because her daughter who was already in America returned to Slovakia to care for her mother and was unable to return to America because of the war.

From this narrative I was able to pinpoint some information to research:

• Surnames and variations: Fenscak/Fencak/Fenchak/Finch; Alzo; Bavolar; Ceyba; Ragan; Zelenak.
• First names and variations (Hungarian/Slovak/English): Mihaly /Michael/Mike; Illa/Ilona/Helen; Erzebet/Elizabeth; Jan/Janos/Jan; Mary; Anna.

3. Form a working hypothesis.

Based on the known facts you recorded in the previous step, make some educated guesses about the possible answers to your research question or problem. For example, say you know your great-grandfather’s date of birth, and that he was born in Germany, but his sister who was five years younger was born in America. That lets you estimate a date range — between the two birth dates — for their family’s immigration to the United States. If you’ve found their father in the 1900 census and then again in the 1920 census, but not in 1910, you could speculate that he moved. Or perhaps he was a “bird of passage” who came to the United States for a short time, worked to earn enough money to return home and buy land, and then came back to America later.

Here’s the hypothesis I came up with, outlining Mihlay Fenscak’s life:

Mihaly Fenscak was born in Posa, Slovakia, married there and had two children. His first wife died and then he married Illa. Their first child was born in Liverpool, England, and then they arrived in America. While in Freeland, Pa., their daughter Anna was born, and then they eventually returned to Slovakia where their final two children, Elizabeth and Michael were born. Mihaly and Illa both died in Slovakia. Their three daughters eventually settled in America, and their son in Argentina. Mihaly’s children from first wife: John settled in America; Anna stayed in Slovakia and married.

4. Identify sources with related records.

Now it’s time for some searching: Become familiar with the types of records most likely to prove (or disprove) your hypothesis. Include both primary sources (those created at or near the time of an event, usually by a direct observer) and secondary sources (those created either much later than the event, or by someone who was reading or interpreting a primary source). Primary sources are generally preferable to secondary sources because they’re more likely to be accurate.

Note that the same source might be a primary source of some information, and a secondary source of other information. For example, a death certificate is a primary source of the cause of death, but a secondary source of the deceased’s date of birth (reported years after the birth by someone probably lacking first-hand knowledge).

TIP:  For more information on evaluating primary and secondary sources, see the  Board for Certification of Genealogists’ Guidelines for Evaluating Genealogical Resources .

Among the records that would provide your great-grandfather’s US arrival date are passenger lists, naturalization records and maybe Alien Registration files (created from 1940 to 1944, when the US government required non-citizens to register as aliens). Do some research to find out what records are available for the time period you’re researching, where they’re located (such as your public library or the  National Archives ) and in what format (microfilm, digitized online, indexed in a book, etc.).

Once I established my hypothesis, I listed records and other sources I felt would be useful based on what I learned in step 2:

• Family narrative (original source)
• 1910, 1920 and 1930 US Census records for Elizabeth Fenchak Alzo, Mary Fenchak Ceyba, Anna Fenchak Bavolar and John Fenchak
• Death certificates for Elizabeth Fenchak Alzo and her sisters Anna, Mary and her brother, John
• Ellis Island database for Port of New York passenger lists
• Other passenger lists for other ports as needed
• Port of departure lists (emigration) for Hamburg and Bremen, Germany (as available)
• Cemetery tombstones in Duquesne, Pa.
• Marriage records for Elizabeth and siblings in the United States
• Naturalization papers/declaration of intent for Elizabeth, Anna, Mary, John
• Search Social Security Death Index for all children of Mihaly Fenchak who settled in America. Write for SS-5 Applications.
• Family History Library (FHL) microfilm of births, marriages and deaths in Posa, Slovakia, and 1869 Hungarian census returns for Zemplen County, Hungary

5. Define steps for accessing and using resources.

Next, determine how you’ll access those records. Can you find them on a subscription website such as  Footnote  or  Ancestry.com  ? (And is free access to the site available at your local public library or Family History Center)? In researching your great-grandfather’s immigration, for example, you’ll find that Footnote (which you can use at many Family History Centers ) has digitized naturalization records for many areas of the United States, and  Ancestry.com  has nearly all extant passenger lists for US ports and borders. The free websites  CastleGarden.org  and  EllisIsland.org  have information on passengers arriving at the port of New York.

If you can’t find the records online, you may need to order microfilm through a Family History Center, submit an interlibrary loan request or order the records from a repository, such as the National Archives.

Once you know how to access the records, determine the order in which you’ll seek them. For example, you might decide it’s easiest to first check the passenger lists and naturalization indexes in Ancestry.com’s online immigration databases, then visit your library for printed resources such as  Germans to America: Lists of Passengers Arriving at US Ports 1850-1897  by Ira A. Glazier and P. William Filby (Scarecrow Press), and go to your Family History Center to rent microfilmed naturalization records that you’re unable to find online.

TIP:  To help you research record sources, type the record you want to find out about into the  FamilySearch Research Wiki  search box. In your search results, click a matching article title for how-to information on the topic.

To avoid repeating the same fruitless searches on the same websites again and again, keep a written record of all the sources you search, the date you search them, and what you find (or don’t find). You may be able to do this in your genealogy software, or  use the free, downloadable Research Journal . When one resource points to another type of record you should check, note that in your research journal, too.

Once I had a list of records and other sources for information on Mihaly, I came up with research strategies for each one:

• Check online US Census records (1910, 1920, 1930) for children of Mihaly and Illa Fenchak.
• Confirm naturalizations and confirm place of birth (1920, 1930 census); locate certificates and declarations of intent either in Pennsylvania or at the federal level using Freedom of Information Act request form.
• Search the online Ellis Island database, the Castle Garden database and the Ancestry.com US Immigration Collection for Anna, Mary, John and Elizabeth; also for Mihaly and Illa Fenchak.
• Search Social Security Death Index for all children of Mihaly Fenchak who settled in America; If so, request SS-5 Applications from the Social Security Administration.
• Check cemeteries in Duquesne, Pa., for tombstones and write for death records for Anna Bavolar, Mary Ceyba and John Fenchak.
• Contact or visit appropriate courthouses in Allegheny County, Pa., for marriage records.
• Find birth records for Anna (Pennsylvania), Mary (Liverpool, England) and Elizabeth, Michael and John (Slovakia).
• Search the FHL catalog for records available for Posa, Slovakia to view online or at a Family History Center. Relevant records include church records for Posa (microfilm film numbers: 1793237, 1793238 and 1793239) and the 1869 Hungarian Census for Zemplen county film number 722769. Search films for all listings of the name “Fenscak.”

It may seem overwhelming at first, but don’t let making research plans intimidate you. A little practice and it will become easier and easier to make plans and identify hypotheses. Remember, a solid research plan is key to making ancestral breakthroughs and knocking down those brick walls standing between you and your ancestors.

Download your free Research Planner and Log from Family Tree Magazine !

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A version of this article appeared in the January 2011 issue of Family Tree Magazine.

Lisa A. Alzo

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Research Questions & Hypotheses

Generally, in quantitative studies, reviewers expect hypotheses rather than research questions. However, both research questions and hypotheses serve different purposes and can be beneficial when used together.

Research Questions

Clarify the research’s aim (farrugia et al., 2010).

• Research often begins with an interest in a topic, but a deep understanding of the subject is crucial to formulate an appropriate research question.
• Descriptive: “What factors most influence the academic achievement of senior high school students?”
• Comparative: “What is the performance difference between teaching methods A and B?”
• Relationship-based: “What is the relationship between self-efficacy and academic achievement?”
• Increasing knowledge about a subject can be achieved through systematic literature reviews, in-depth interviews with patients (and proxies), focus groups, and consultations with field experts.
• Some funding bodies, like the Canadian Institute for Health Research, recommend conducting a systematic review or a pilot study before seeking grants for full trials.
• The presence of multiple research questions in a study can complicate the design, statistical analysis, and feasibility.
• It’s advisable to focus on a single primary research question for the study.
• The primary question, clearly stated at the end of a grant proposal’s introduction, usually specifies the study population, intervention, and other relevant factors.
• The FINER criteria underscore aspects that can enhance the chances of a successful research project, including specifying the population of interest, aligning with scientific and public interest, clinical relevance, and contribution to the field, while complying with ethical and national research standards.
• The P ICOT approach is crucial in developing the study’s framework and protocol, influencing inclusion and exclusion criteria and identifying patient groups for inclusion.
• Defining the specific population, intervention, comparator, and outcome helps in selecting the right outcome measurement tool.
• The more precise the population definition and stricter the inclusion and exclusion criteria, the more significant the impact on the interpretation, applicability, and generalizability of the research findings.
• A restricted study population enhances internal validity but may limit the study’s external validity and generalizability to clinical practice.
• A broadly defined study population may better reflect clinical practice but could increase bias and reduce internal validity.
• An inadequately formulated research question can negatively impact study design, potentially leading to ineffective outcomes and affecting publication prospects.

Checklist: Good research questions for social science projects (Panke, 2018)

Research Hypotheses

Present the researcher’s predictions based on specific statements.

• These statements define the research problem or issue and indicate the direction of the researcher’s predictions.
• Formulating the research question and hypothesis from existing data (e.g., a database) can lead to multiple statistical comparisons and potentially spurious findings due to chance.
• The research or clinical hypothesis, derived from the research question, shapes the study’s key elements: sampling strategy, intervention, comparison, and outcome variables.
• Hypotheses can express a single outcome or multiple outcomes.
• After statistical testing, the null hypothesis is either rejected or not rejected based on whether the study’s findings are statistically significant.
• Hypothesis testing helps determine if observed findings are due to true differences and not chance.
• Hypotheses can be 1-sided (specific direction of difference) or 2-sided (presence of a difference without specifying direction).
• 2-sided hypotheses are generally preferred unless there’s a strong justification for a 1-sided hypothesis.
• A solid research hypothesis, informed by a good research question, influences the research design and paves the way for defining clear research objectives.

Types of Research Hypothesis

• In a Y-centered research design, the focus is on the dependent variable (DV) which is specified in the research question. Theories are then used to identify independent variables (IV) and explain their causal relationship with the DV.
• Example: “An increase in teacher-led instructional time (IV) is likely to improve student reading comprehension scores (DV), because extensive guided practice under expert supervision enhances learning retention and skill mastery.”
• Hypothesis Explanation: The dependent variable (student reading comprehension scores) is the focus, and the hypothesis explores how changes in the independent variable (teacher-led instructional time) affect it.
• In X-centered research designs, the independent variable is specified in the research question. Theories are used to determine potential dependent variables and the causal mechanisms at play.
• Example: “Implementing technology-based learning tools (IV) is likely to enhance student engagement in the classroom (DV), because interactive and multimedia content increases student interest and participation.”
• Hypothesis Explanation: The independent variable (technology-based learning tools) is the focus, with the hypothesis exploring its impact on a potential dependent variable (student engagement).
• Probabilistic hypotheses suggest that changes in the independent variable are likely to lead to changes in the dependent variable in a predictable manner, but not with absolute certainty.
• Example: “The more teachers engage in professional development programs (IV), the more their teaching effectiveness (DV) is likely to improve, because continuous training updates pedagogical skills and knowledge.”
• Hypothesis Explanation: This hypothesis implies a probable relationship between the extent of professional development (IV) and teaching effectiveness (DV).
• Deterministic hypotheses state that a specific change in the independent variable will lead to a specific change in the dependent variable, implying a more direct and certain relationship.
• Example: “If the school curriculum changes from traditional lecture-based methods to project-based learning (IV), then student collaboration skills (DV) are expected to improve because project-based learning inherently requires teamwork and peer interaction.”
• Hypothesis Explanation: This hypothesis presumes a direct and definite outcome (improvement in collaboration skills) resulting from a specific change in the teaching method.
• Example : “Students who identify as visual learners will score higher on tests that are presented in a visually rich format compared to tests presented in a text-only format.”
• Explanation : This hypothesis aims to describe the potential difference in test scores between visual learners taking visually rich tests and text-only tests, without implying a direct cause-and-effect relationship.
• Example : “Teaching method A will improve student performance more than method B.”
• Explanation : This hypothesis compares the effectiveness of two different teaching methods, suggesting that one will lead to better student performance than the other. It implies a direct comparison but does not necessarily establish a causal mechanism.
• Example : “Students with higher self-efficacy will show higher levels of academic achievement.”
• Explanation : This hypothesis predicts a relationship between the variable of self-efficacy and academic achievement. Unlike a causal hypothesis, it does not necessarily suggest that one variable causes changes in the other, but rather that they are related in some way.

Tips for developing research questions and hypotheses for research studies

• Perform a systematic literature review (if one has not been done) to increase knowledge and familiarity with the topic and to assist with research development.
• Learn about current trends and technological advances on the topic.
• Seek careful input from experts, mentors, colleagues, and collaborators to refine your research question as this will aid in developing the research question and guide the research study.
• Use the FINER criteria in the development of the research question.
• Ensure that the research question follows PICOT format.
• Develop a research hypothesis from the research question.
• Ensure that the research question and objectives are answerable, feasible, and clinically relevant.

If your research hypotheses are derived from your research questions, particularly when multiple hypotheses address a single question, it’s recommended to use both research questions and hypotheses. However, if this isn’t the case, using hypotheses over research questions is advised. It’s important to note these are general guidelines, not strict rules. If you opt not to use hypotheses, consult with your supervisor for the best approach.

Farrugia, P., Petrisor, B. A., Farrokhyar, F., & Bhandari, M. (2010). Practical tips for surgical research: Research questions, hypotheses and objectives.  Canadian journal of surgery. Journal canadien de chirurgie ,  53 (4), 278–281.

Hulley, S. B., Cummings, S. R., Browner, W. S., Grady, D., & Newman, T. B. (2007). Designing clinical research. Philadelphia.

Panke, D. (2018). Research design & method selection: Making good choices in the social sciences.  Research Design & Method Selection , 1-368.

Oral Histories

Family history sample outline and questions.

The following outline can be used to structure a family oral history interview and contains examples of specific questions.

• Early Childhood and Family Background
• Teenage Years
• Overview and Evaluation

I. Early Childhood and Family Background

A. parents and family.

• When and where were you born?
• Tell me about your parents or your family background
• Where was your family originally from?
• What did your parents do for a living? Did you contribute to the family income or help parents in their work in any way?
• What was your parents' religious background? How was religion observed in your home?
• What were your parents' political beliefs? What political organizations were they involved in?
• What other relatives did you have contact with growing up?
• What do you remember about your grandparents?
• What stories did you hear about earlier ancestors whom you never knew?
• How many children were in the family, and where were you in the line-up?
• Describe what your siblings were like. Who were you closest to?
• Describe the house you grew up in. Describe your room.
• What were your family's economic circumstances? Do you remember any times when money was tight? Do you remember having to do without things you wanted or needed?
• What were your duties around the house as a child? What were the other children's duties? How did duties break down by gender?
• When did you learn to cook and who taught you? Were there any special family foods or recipes? Do you still make any traditional family foods?
• What activities did the family do together?
• What did you do on Christmas? Thanksgiving? Birthdays? Other holidays?

B. Community You Grew Up In

• Describe the community you grew up in.
• Describe your neighborhood.
• Where did you shop? How far away were these shops and how did you get there?
• What's the largest town or city you remember visiting when you were young? Can you describe your impressions of it?

C. Early Schooling

• What was school like for you? What did you like about it? What was hard about it for you?
• Who were your friends at school?
• Who were your favorite teachers?
• Do you remember teasing or bullying of you or anyone else?

D. Friends and Interests

• What did you do in your spare time?
• Who were your friends and what did you do when you got together?
• Did you have any hobbies?
• Favorite stories? Favorite games or make-believe? Favorite toys?
• What did you want to be when you grew up?

II. Teenage Years

A. changes in family.

• How did your relationship with your parents change when you became a teenager?
• If you had conflict with them, what was it over?
• Did you have chores around the house? What were they?
• What were your favorite subjects? Particular interests?
• What were your least favorite subjects?
• Did you have any memorable teachers? Describe their teaching style. How did they influence you?
• Was it okay for girls to be smart at your school?
• What were the different groups at your school? Which did you belong to? How do you think you were perceived by others?
• Were you involved in any extracurricular activities? What were they?
• What were your plans when you finished school? Education? Work?
• What did your parents think of your plans? What did your friends think? What did your friends plan to do?
• Did the boys and girls in the family have different plans/expectations?
• Did you have jobs during your teenage years? Doing what?
• Did you contribute to the family income? If not, how did you spend your money?

D. Social Life and Outside Interests

• Who were your friends? What did you do together? What individuals did you spend the most time with during this period?
• Was your group of friends single-sex, or did it include both boys and girls?
• At what age did you begin dating? What kinds of activities did you do on dates? Describe your first date.
• What was your parents' advice/rules related to dating/contact with opposite sex? Did they give you a "birds and bees" lecture? Did you get teaching on this in church or school? What was it?
• What were your peer group's norms with regard to dating and relationships with the opposite sex?
• What were your hobbies/interests? What books did you read? What music did you listen to? What sports did you play? What crafts did you participate in?

III. Adulthood

A. further education, b. work and career, c. marriage or formation of significant relationships.

• When and where did you meet? What drew you to him/her?
• When and how did you decide to move in together and/or marry?
• What was originally the most difficult for you about being married/being in a relationship? What was most satisfying?
• What advice would you give to someone today who was contemplating a serious relationship?

D. Children

• Describe the birth of your children.
• What were they each like when they were young? How have they changed or not changed?
• What were their relationships with each other and with you like when they were young? Now?
• What family traditions did you try to establish?
• Does your family have any heirlooms or objects of sentimental value? What is their origin, and how have they been passed down?
• What was most satisfying to you about raising children? What was most difficult?
• What values did you try to raise your children with? How did you go about doing that?
• What forms of discipline did you use and why?

E. Ongoing Interests and Hobbies

Iv. overview and evaluation.

• What has provided you the greatest satisfaction in life?
• How would you say the world has changed since you were young?

Also, ask about historically significant events the family member lived through:

• Was your family affected by the Depression?
• Did you or anyone close to you serve in a war? What do you remember of that experience?
• Did you support or oppose the war in Vietnam? How did you express your political opinions?
• Did you participate in, or do you have any memories of any of the movements that came out of the 1950s, '60s, and '70s, such as the civil rights movement, the women's liberation movement, or the gay liberation movement?
• If the family member belongs to a group that has traditionally been discriminated against: what were you told, both positive and negative, about your group inside your family? Outside? Did you experience discrimination? Who were your role models?
• If the family member is an immigrant or the child/grandchild of immigrants: what do you know of the country you or they came from? Why did you or they immigrate? How did you or they immigrate? What were some of your or their experiences and difficulties of beginning a life in a new country?
• Do you remember your first contact with such significant inventions as radio, television, or a computer? When did your family first buy these items?

50 Questions to Ask Relatives About Family History

ThoughtCo / Nusha Ashjaee

• Genealogy Fun
• Vital Records Around the World
• American History
• African American History
• African History
• Ancient History and Culture
• Asian History
• European History
• Latin American History
• Medieval & Renaissance History
• Military History
• The 20th Century
• Women's History
• Certificate in Genealogical Research, Boston University
• B.A., Carnegie Mellon University

A great way to uncover clues to your family history or to get great quotes for journaling in a heritage scrapbook is a family interview. By asking the right open-ended questions, you're sure to collect a wealth of family tales . Use this list of family history interview questions to help you get started, but be sure to personalize the interview with your own questions as well.

Questions About Their Childhood

• What is your full name? Why did your parents select this name for you? Did you have a nickname ?
• When and where were you born?
• How did your family come to live there?
• Were there other family members in the area? Who?
• What was the house (apartment, farm, etc.) like? How many rooms? Bathrooms? Did it have electricity? Indoor plumbing? Telephones?
• Were there any special items in the house that you remember?
• What is your earliest childhood memory?
• Describe the personalities of your family members.
• What kind of games did you play growing up?
• What was your favorite toy and why?
• What was your favorite thing to do for fun (movies, go to the beach, etc.)?
• Did you have family chores? What were they? Which was your least favorite?
• Did you receive an allowance? How much? Did you save your money or spend it?
• What was school like for you as a child? What were your best and worst subjects? Where did you attend grade school? High school? College?
• What school activities and sports did you participate in?
• Do you remember any fads from your youth? Popular hairstyles? Clothes?
• Who were your childhood heroes?
• What were your favorite songs and music genres?
• Did you have any pets? If so, what kind and what were their names?
• What was your religion growing up? What church, if any, did you attend?
• Were you ever mentioned in a newspaper?
• Who were your friends when you were growing up?

Questions About the Family

• What world events had the most impact on you when you were a child? Did any of them personally affect your family?
• Describe a typical family dinner. Did you all eat together as a family? Who did the cooking? What were your favorite foods ?
• How were holidays (birthdays, Christmas, etc.) celebrated in your family? Did your family have special traditions?
• How is the world today different from what it was like when you were a child?
• Who was the oldest relative you remember as a child? What do you remember about them?
• What do you know about your family surname ?
• Is there a naming tradition in your family, such as always giving the firstborn son the name of his paternal grandfather?
• What stories have come down to you about your parents? Grandparents? More distant ancestors?
• Are there any stories about famous or infamous relatives in your family?
• Have any recipes been passed down to you from family members?
• Are there any physical characteristics that run in your family?
• Are there any special heirlooms , photos, bibles, or other memorabilia that have been passed down in your family?

Questions About Their Adult Life

• What was the full name of your spouse? Siblings? Parents?
• When and how did you meet your spouse? What did you do on dates?
• What was it like when you proposed (or were proposed to)? Where and when did it happen? How did you feel?
• Where and when did you get married?
• What memory stands out the most from your wedding day?
• How would you describe your spouse? What do (did) you admire most about them?
• What do you believe is the key to a successful marriage?
• How did you find out you were going to be a parent for the first time?
• Why did you choose your children's names?
• What was your proudest moment as a parent?
• What did your family enjoy doing together?
• What was your profession and how did you choose it?
• If you could have had any other profession, what would it have been? Why wasn't this your first choice?
• Of all the things you learned from your parents, what do you feel was the most valuable?
• What accomplishments are you most proud of?
• What is the one thing you most want people to remember about you?

While these questions make great conversation starters, the best way to uncover the good stuff is through more of a storytelling session than a Q&A. 

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