Good research ideas are only useful if you can carry them out. This lesson, in questions and research scope, shows how to plan work that fits your time and uses evidence you can actually reach.
It follows from the earlier lessons. Once your question and its population are clear, the next task is a plan that does not rely on luck.
What does “manageable” mean?
A manageable plan has three features. It fits the hours you really have.
It rests mainly on sources you can reach without anyone’s permission, such as published reports, official statistics, news archives and library material. And it has a back-up for any step that depends on other people.
Interviews and surveys can add useful voices. They cannot be promised in advance, because replies are outside your control.
How do you build a plan, step by step?
- Count your hours. Weeks available multiplied by hours per week.
- List the tasks. Typical tasks are scoping, finding sources, reading and noting, analysing and writing up.
- Give each task hours and add them up. If the total is over your hours, cut the scope, not the sleep.
- Mark each source as “reachable” or “depends on others”.
- Write a back-up for every task that depends on others.
- Set a checkpoint, such as the end of week 2, where you decide whether to carry on or narrow the question.
Worked example
All details are invented for teaching.
Question: To what extent did the canteen’s leftover-food scheme reduce the weight of food thrown away at Sekolah Contoh between Term 1 and Term 2?
Step 1, hours: 5 weeks at 3 hours per week gives 15 hours.
Step 2 and 3, tasks and hours:
| Task | Hours |
|---|---|
| Scoping and key terms | 2 |
| Finding sources | 4 |
| Reading and noting | 4 |
| Analysing the numbers | 2 |
| Writing up | 3 |
| Total | 15 |
The total is 2 + 4 + 4 + 2 + 3 = 15, which matches the hours available.
Step 4, sources:
- Published school notices on the scheme: reachable.
- Public articles on leftover-food schemes elsewhere: reachable.
- Weekly bin-weight records from the canteen: depends on others.
- A short interview with the canteen manager: depends on others.
Step 5, back-up: if the weight records are not shared, switch the question to compare published results from schemes at other schools and note that the original school’s figures were unavailable. If the interview does not happen, rely on the published notices.
Step 6, checkpoint: end of week 2, check what has actually arrived.
The plan still works if nobody replies.
The mistake to watch for
A common slip is to build the whole plan around people who have not yet agreed.
Mistaken plan: Interview the canteen manager and five teachers, then survey 200 students.
If two people do not reply, the plan collapses, and 200 responses is far beyond a few hours of work.
The correction is to anchor the plan in reachable sources first, treat any contact as an extra, and size the work to the hours. A plan that says “if no reply by week 2, use published sources” protects the project.
Check yourself
Every item below is invented for practice.
1. A student has 4 weeks at 2.5 hours per week. Their tasks need 2 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 3 hours. Is the plan manageable? What should they do?
Show answer
Hours available: 4 × 2.5 = 10. Hours needed: 2 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 3 = 14. The plan is 4 hours over, so the scope must be cut, for example by narrowing the period or reducing the number of sources.
2. Write a back-up for the step “Interview a local shop owner about a fictional parking change”.
Show answer
One possible answer: “If there is no reply by the checkpoint, use the town notice and published local news reports about the change instead, and record that an interview was not possible.” Any back-up that uses a reachable source is acceptable.
3. Sort these as “reachable” or “depends on others”: a government statistics page, a reply from a company, a library book, a friend’s survey results.
Show answer
Reachable: the statistics page and the library book. Depends on others: the company reply and the friend’s survey results.
Where this leads next
You now have a question, a defined population and period, and a realistic plan. Try them together in the questions and research scope practice set, and revisit defining the population and period if your scope feels too wide.
Planning time honestly is a skill that many students only learn after a rushed deadline. Our teachers can talk through your plan with you in online one-to-one Global Perspectives tuition.