## Main Question

To find the information you need, you should formulate your subject in terms of a main question. This question describes exactly what it is you would like to know about and is a way of giving direction to your search. How do you formulate a good main question?

You have thought up the following main question:

“Should the infrastructure be modified to deal with the growing number of tourists and which possible adaptations exist?”

There is great scope for improving this main question. Work out what is not very good about it and what you could do differently. If necessary, write down your suggestions for improvement!

## How do you establish a good main question?

While exploring the subject, you transformed your research problem into a subject: “Modifications to public transport to ease congestion in relation to the growing number of tourists in Amsterdam.”

How do you now come to a good main question now?

Below, you can see how a question can be improved, step by step.

This question does not represent a logical next step from the research problem to the subject. That is because you are researching the infrastructure in Amsterdam, not the city’s economy. A better question would be:

A good main question consists of one single question, and no more. Your main question is now:

Another thing to remember is that a main question should be open-ended, not one that only requires a yes or no answer. Therefore:

This question is still somewhat vague - what do you mean by “deal with”? Make your question more specific:

Make sure your main question is not too broad, and not too narrow. In your subject, you had already opted for “public transport” rather than “infrastructure”. This should feature in your main question. Your main question now ends up as:

# Importance of your research population

Many degree programmes expect your research population to form part of your main question. A research population is the group of people or objects to which a research project applies and about which a statement is made. Some examples:

- for research into the prevention of dementia among women aged thirty, your research population is “women aged thirty”.
- for research into the quality of pharmacies in Amsterdam, your research population is “pharmacies in Amsterdam”.

Including the research population in your main question provides the right focus and a clear definition.

It also prevents you from making up answers yourself; for market research, for example, you would like to know what your group of customers (research population) thinks of a particular product. For social studies, you may wish to learn the opinions of a specific section of the population (research population) on the theme of discrimination, for example.