RESEARCH QUESTIONS

WHY DO WE NEED RESEARCH QUESTIONS?

Strong academic research has a clear goal: adding a new, original perspective to a debate or discussion that is of interest to other researchers. Developing a research question can help provide a research project with clear direction by giving you a goal: to find an answer to the question.

Can you write a research paper without first developing a research question? Sure! But even if you do, a strong research paper will still end up providing some kind of answer to some kind of question. It is generally helpful to have at least some idea of what kind of question you want to answer.

QUALITIES OF A STRONG HUMANITIES RESEARCH QUESTION

1. Has clear direction. In other words, you could actually find an answer to the question. Note that the answer doesn’t have to be absolute or final (in fact, it’s best if the answer is non-absolute).
2. Is narrow enough in scope to be addressed in a 5-10 page paper.
3. Is open-ended. Doesn’t have a single, set answer. If your question can be answered “yes” or “no,” it is unlikely to be interesting.
4. Responds to a topic that is relevant/interesting to an existing audience. If other people aren’t writing about it, it probably isn’t going to be interesting to anyone.
5. Addresses a true debate, with real disagreements. If everyone agrees with an idea, it’s probably not worth writing about. Find a topic that writers have legitimate disagreements about. If you yourself can’t decide on an answer to your research question, that is a GREAT sign.
6. To piggyback off of #5, look for a question that you are genuinely curious about. Try to avoid topics around which you have an agenda. For example, if you already believe that rock music no longer values authenticity, avoid writing on this topic. But if you aren’t sure about the answer to this question, think about exploring it!

QUICK TIP #1: You can often make a question more open-ended by starting with words/phrases like “how,” “why,” or “to what degree.”

QUICK TIP #2: Don’t attempt to write about “music” as a whole. There is an astounding variety of music in the world, and all of us, without exception, will only ever hear a tiny fraction of it. Limit your research to a particular genre and time, such as “pop music of the past 3-5 years,” “hip-hop of the 1990s,” or “rock of the 1960s.”

SOME IDEAS TO GET YOU STARTED
● You can use the course texts to build a research question. Some examples:
○ To what degree does a “rockist” bias exist in music writing, or in some other aspect of music discussion/promotion? For example, do the Grammy awards have a rockist bias? Or could you analyze a particular publication/website to see what kinds of biases they have?
○ You may also address the opposite side of the debate: Can you detect a “poptimist” bias in some genre/publication/etc?
○ What role does authenticity play in a particular genre? A particular artist’s career? A particular song/video? You may find that authenticity matters to a particular genre/artist/song, as in Barker/Taylor’s book. Or you may argue that authenticity doesn’t matter so much anymore, as Wiener does in his article on Rick Ross.
○ How do certain genres/artists reflect cultural and political identities? You may consider the “Switched on Pop” podcast, which analyzed the political identities of Jay-Z and Toby Keith. You may also see if the ideas that the hosts apply to Keith/Jay-Z are reflected in other artists. For example, do other country artists display the same kind of patriotic identity as Toby Keith?
○ How has gender affected music criticism and/or artists’ careers? You may consider the Leszkiewicz article on Taylor Swift.
○ What side do you take in the debate between music consumers (like Emily White) and artists (like David Lowery)? Or is there some kind of ethical solution to the issues proposed by these writers that would work for both groups?
○ How has the style and/or production practice of a genre changed over time? You may consider Seabrook’s discussion of “The Song Machine.”
○ How have the values of a genre changed over time? You may consider Hopper’s discussion of indie rock and “selling out.”
● Can you think of some way pop music, or a particular genre of pop music, has changed over time? Avoid fact-based answers and consider qualitative ones:
○ Do artists in particular genre deal with different themes now than they did in the past?
○ Have artists’ perspectives on any key themes changed? For example, does this genre tend to produce artists with a particular political outlook? Have the genre’s values changed?
○ Have the musical qualities of a genre changed over time?
○ Has a genre’s overall cultural significance changed over time? For example, jazz used to be popular dance music but has now become publicly funded “art” music. Hip-hop used to be underground music performed by amateurs but is now one of, if not the, most popular genres in America. Rock used to be music for teenagers but is now largely the music of adults/parents.
● Can you think of some way that music has changed over time more broadly? Again, avoid fact-based answers and consider qualitative ones:
○ How has technology changed our experience of listening to music? Consider non-obvious ways. Ways in which the experience or feeling of listening has changed on a widespread (not personal) scale.
○ How have concerts changed over time?
○ How has the business of music changed over time?
○ Have the musical values of American culture changed over time? You may consider the “rockism vs. poptimism” debate as an example.
○ Why are particular genres/artists popular during a particular time or era? How do those genres/artists reflect the values of their era?
● What ethical debates exist around pop music?
○ What is the best/most fair way to compensate artists in the age of streaming/free music? Do we let the market decide? Or should something else be done?
○ How ethical is it to download music for free?
○ How ethical are the business practices of streaming services like Spotify and Google Play? Many artists argue that these services/businesses do not compensate them fairly while profiting from their creative work.
○ Can you find debates surrounding censorship in music? Are there writers who believe certain ideas/themes/genres should be censored?
○ How well do music awards (Grammys, critics’ polls, etc.) evaluate artists on merits such as talent, innovation, cultural significance, etc?
○ What are artists’ ethical responsibilities? For example, should artists be expected to address political/social causes in their music? Should they be expected to avoid “selling out” for money?
● How are cultural factors relevant to pop music?
○ What role does race play in a particular genre or artist’s career?
○ What role does gender play a particular genre or artist’s career?
○ What is relationship between pop music and economic class? For example, does pop music (or a particular genre of pop music) effective address the concerns of economically marginalized people?
○ How does a particular genre of music relate to current political and/or social causes, like LGBTQ rights or the Black Lives Matter movement?
○ How does the music of the past, or a particular genre of music, relate to a historical event, such as the Civil Right movement or the Vietnam War?
○ How does a particular genre of music represent, or fail to represent, the values of their era? For example, if millennials, as a generation, experience a lot of social isolation, is this reflected in their music? Consider Barker/Taylor’s discussion of authenticity.
● You may examine or analyze a particular artist.
○ How has that artist’s career/values/style changed over time?
○ How has that artist been influenced by his/her historical era? Does their music reflect the concerns of war protesters (pro or con), the economic concerns of their time, the aftermath of 9/11, etc?
○ How has that artist’s career been affected by cultural factors like race, gender, class, etc?
○ How does that artist represent, or fail to represent, the values of their era? For example, if millennials, as a generation, experience a lot of social isolation, is this reflected in a particular artist’s music?
● You may examine or analyze a particular song or video, especially if it has prompted a great deal of debate/discussion.
○ How does the song/video demonstrate some kind of change in a genre?
○ How does the song/video demonstrate a genre’s overall values or ideals?
○ How does the song/video represent the values/ideals of its time period?
○ How is the song/video related to, or affected by, cultural factors like race, gender, class, etc?
○ How does the song/video represent, or fail to represent, the values of their era? For example, if millennials, as a generation, experience a lot of social isolation, is this reflected in a particular piece of music? Consider Barker/Taylor’s discussion of authenticity.
● You may develop your own topic. In fact, the more original/creative your topic, the better!

QUESTIONS TO AVOID
● Which artist/genre/song is the best/favorite/most influential? These kinds of questions tend to lead to opinionated essays.
● What do the lyrics of a particular song mean? A good question for MA1, but you should think bigger now.
● Factual questions about topics like sales figures or number of awards won (though you can certainly use such statistics as evidence to answer other questions).
● Personal questions, such as questions surrounding your interest in a particular artist or your own personal experience listening to music. These are interesting topics for writing, they just don’t reflect the goals of academic writing, which is its own, particular genre.
MOVING FROM THE OBJECTIVE ANALYSIS ESSAY TO A BROADER RESEARCH QUESTION

While you are free to develop an topic that interests you, you may be able to build on the work you’ve already done in your Object Analysis Essay. Consider ideas, concepts, arguments that emerged in your analysis.

EXAMPLE: Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” video
● Themes/values discussed: individualism, rebellion, non-conformity.
● Video and lyrics are about not caring what others say.
● These are particular values that, according to our analysis, Swift advocates. Are they widespread in pop music? Or are there alternative values?
● For example, are there other artists who emphasize collectivity, and the importance of listening to those around you?
● Or is individualism a defining value of our era?
● Potential research question: To what degree does today’s pop emphasize values of individualism?
BRAINSTORMING--BUILDING ON THE OBJECT ANALYSIS ESSAY

Write brief answers to as many of the following questions as you can:

1. What object did you analyze in MA1?
2. What conclusions did you reach about this object?
3. How do those conclusions relate to broader topics/ideas/values in pop music? For example, did you discover anything about the artist’s perspective on a particular issue?
4. How does the object reflect the values of a genre or group of people?
5. How does the object reflect the values of its historical period (which may include the present day)?
6. How does the object relate to some kind of historical/cultural event?
7. Does the object represent some kind of change over time? For example, if you analyzed a song that was released recently, does it demonstrate how its genre is different now than it was, say, 20 years ago?
8. Does the object comment on some kind of cultural issue or debate?
9. Does the object represent some kind of cultural identity that can be related more broadly to a cultural debate/trend? For example, the “Switched on Pop” hosts relate Toby Keith’s conservative identity to present-day politics.
10. Using the answers above, can you develop a research question that you can try to address in your Annotated Bibliography?

Note that your research question may change over the course of the semester. This is OK!

Good luck!