LIVING THE QUESTION

(BY HUBBARD AND POWER, 1999)

CHAPTER II
QUESTIONS EVOLVING

1. Introduction

Teaching is filled with researchable momentsthose instants when a question suddenly

snaps into consciousness. Questions may come from a teaching journal or a snatch of
conversation with a colleague.
Questions are often born of frustration. Andie Cunningham was bothered by what was
happening with her sixth-grade physical education students. She decided to ask them
about it. Her observations caused her to dig deeper, unearthing a research question.

2. Mining Tension

Tension is defined as both an act of stretching and a state of uneasy suspense. [] We

sometimes walk a tightrope between who we are as teachers and learners and who we
want to be.

3. The value of subquestions

4. How to refine a research question

Start with four core principles:

1. Ask only real questions. Dont do research to confirm teaching practice you already
believe is good or bad. Ask questions whose answer youre not sure about.
2. Avoid asking yes/no questions.
3. Eliminate jargon.
4. Avoid value-laden words or phrases.

5. Strategies for working toward a Research Question

Framing the question can feel like a chase in the dark game. The teacher-researchers
Ive worked with over the years have expressed a wide range of response to this
frustration. Some see too many questions to ask, yet when they try to single one out
they find themselves holding a tangled knot of questions. Others wonder when the
process of framing a question ever really ends.
There are a number of strategies you can use to guide yourself through the process of
figuring out the question.:

1. Tap your available resourcesyour daily work and the wonderings that arise from
it.
2. List questions about the area of interest you discovered.
3. Examine your list of general questions.
The best research questions often begin with the words what or how. Why question
ask you to trace the source of a phenomenon. You can develop a hypothesis as to
why something occurs, but to conclusively identify the source is virtually imposible.
By contrast, what and how questions lead you toward descriptions of phenomena.
These are more easily documentend and identified.
4. Force yourself to write a succinct what or how question.
5. Practice tunneling in on your question.

TUNNELING: Don Graves (1994) uses the term tunneling to describe the process
of anticipating the kinds of data you will need in order to answer the question.

6. Be aware of the impact a research question will have on your students.

6. Real magic: trusting the voice of a young learner

I think good research questions are found in the unexpected

7. Real teachers dont always succeed