Framing a research question means turning “I wonder if customers would like this” into a precise question that names who you will ask, what you want to know and what result would change your decision. In IGCSE Business this skill is the first step of market research, and it sets up the choice of method, sample and survey wording that follow.
It appears in case questions where an owner is “thinking about” something, and the task is to say what the business should find out before acting. It belongs to the wider market research module.
What makes a research question answerable?
Start from the decision, not from the data. A business does not research for fun. It researches because it must choose between actions, and the answer should help it choose.
A usable question has four parts:
- A group: the customers or potential customers who matter for this decision.
- A topic: one product, price, feature or habit.
- A measure: what you will count or record, such as a percentage who would buy, or the price people accept.
- A setting: where and when the information applies.
If any part is missing, the answer will be too loose to act on.
How to frame a question, step by step
- Write the decision in one sentence: “Should we buy the smoothie machine?”
- Name the uncertainty. What do you not know that makes the decision hard? Usually it is demand, price or competition.
- Turn it into a question that has a group, topic, measure and setting.
- Check it is answerable. Could someone reply with a number or a clear choice?
- Check it is proportionate. Compare the cost of the research with the size of the decision.
Worked example
Encik Rahim runs a fruit juice stall near an office block in Johor Bahru. He is thinking about buying a smoothie machine for RM2,400. He asks his nephew to “find out if people like smoothies”.
Step 1, the decision: whether to spend RM2,400 on a smoothie machine.
Step 2, the uncertainty: he does not know whether enough of his lunchtime customers would buy a smoothie, or at what price.
Step 3, the question: “Among office workers who pass the stall between 12 pm and 2 pm on weekdays, what share would buy a RM9 mango smoothie at least once a week, and what is the highest price most of them would accept?”
This names a group (office workers passing at lunchtime), a topic (a mango smoothie), measures (a share who would buy, and an accepted price) and a setting (weekdays, 12 pm to 2 pm).
Step 4, answerable? Yes. Each person can give a yes or no and a price band.
Step 5, proportionate? A short questionnaire to 50 people costs about RM60 in printing and snacks as thanks. Compared with RM2,400, that is 60 ÷ 2,400 = 0.025, which is 2.5% of the decision. This is reasonable.
Notice how the question tells the nephew exactly whom to approach and what to record. “Do people like smoothies?” would not.
The mistake to watch for
A common slip is a question that is too broad, or one that already assumes the answer.
Weak question: “What do customers want from the stall?”
It names no product, no price and no group. A reply such as “good service” cannot tell Encik Rahim whether to buy the machine.
A second slip is a leading question: “How much will customers love our new smoothie?” assumes they will. The correction is to ask whether they would buy it, and let the evidence decide. A good question leaves both a “yes” and a “no” possible.
Check yourself
Try these, then open each answer.
1. Puan Lim owns a laundry in Penang and is considering a pick-up and delivery service. Write a research question with a group, topic, measure and setting.
Show answer
One good answer: “Among households within 3 km of the laundry, what share would use a pick-up and delivery service at least twice a month, and what delivery fee would they accept?” It has a group (nearby households), a topic (pick-up and delivery), measures (share who would use it, accepted fee) and a setting (within 3 km, monthly use). Other wordings can earn credit if all four parts appear.
2. Is “Will our customers be happy?” a good research question? Give one reason.
Show answer
No. It names no product, group or measure, so any answer could be argued to fit. It cannot guide a decision.
3. A bakery plans to spend RM40,000 on a new oven. It proposes research costing RM800. Work out the research cost as a percentage of the decision, and say whether it looks proportionate.
Show answer
800 ÷ 40,000 = 0.02, which is 2%. This looks proportionate, because a small cost is used to reduce the risk of a large one.
Where this leads next
Once the question is clear, the next choice is where the evidence will come from. Continue with primary and secondary data, then test the whole topic with the market research practice set.
Many students understand a question when they read it but find it harder to build one from a vague case. Our teachers watch for exactly that gap in online one-to-one Business tuition.