| NSF Org: |
EFMA Office of Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation (EFRI) |
| Recipient: |
|
| Initial Amendment Date: | August 9, 2017 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | August 9, 2017 |
| Award Number: | 1745919 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Louise R. Howe
lhowe@nsf.gov (703)292-2548 EFMA Office of Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation (EFRI) ENG Directorate for Engineering |
| Start Date: | September 1, 2017 |
| End Date: | August 31, 2020 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $299,962.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $299,962.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
|
| History of Investigator: |
|
| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
415 SOUTH ST WALTHAM MA US 02453-2728 (781)736-2121 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
|
| Primary Place of Performance: |
MA US 02453-2728 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
|
| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
|
| Parent UEI: |
|
| NSF Program(s): |
SSA-Special Studies & Analysis, EFRI Research Projects |
| Primary Program Source: |
|
| Program Reference Code(s): |
|
| Program Element Code(s): |
|
| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.041 |
ABSTRACT
This project is designed to achieve a simple, yet ambitious goal; to create a model that all doctoral students can use to improve their ability to ask questions. Question formulation is an often overlooked yet profoundly important intellectual ability that includes knowing how to produce one's own questions, refine and improve them, and strategize on how to use the questions to guide research. This study will expand upon an evidence-based method, the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) pioneered by the Right Question Institute, to create a rigorous Question Improvement Model (QIM) that will facilitate a more direct path to better research and new discoveries. It is anticipated that the QIM will make an important contribution by providing a key resource for improving doctoral education. The QIM will have broader impacts in three areas. First, the ability to efficiently produce and improve one's research questions should serve as a cornerstone of a strong infrastructure for research and education. In turn, this is likely to lead to beneficial economic outcomes. Finally, the current widespread adoption of the Question Formulation Technique in many fields and diverse communities suggests that the QIM could lead to increased participation of women, persons with disabilities, and underrepresented minorities in STEM.
The QFT involves sequential steps focusing on divergent thinking, convergent thinking, and metacognitive thinking, and provides a powerful tool for generating novel questions. The QFT has demonstrated efficacy in K-12 settings, but has not been deployed in graduate education. In this study, the QFT will be refined to provide a structured method for generating and improving questions that is suitable for training graduate students in the natural sciences. In the quasi-experimental design of the project, participants in the experimental group will learn to use the Question Improvement Model (QIM) while the remaining participants (the control group) will not initially receive QIM training. All participants will be tested before, during, and over the course of a year for their skill in formulating questions and attitudes about questions. A crossover design will allow the control group participants to receive identical QIM training to the experimental group following assessment. The QIM training may provide a useful complement to existing graduate engineering pedagogy focusing on identifying solutions to predefined questions. Furthermore, it is anticipated that the QIM will be highly scalable and useful in a wide array of disciplines
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
This project tried to determine whether doctoral students in the sciences and engineering can deliberately sharpen their question-formulating skills, a key component of the research process.
We found that a simple method ? one that takes about an hour to learn ? can boost doctoral students? confidence in asking research questions and strengthen their skillset in connection to this central part of the research process.
The project built on 30 years of pioneering fieldwork by the Right Question Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Institute developed the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) to help individuals develop question-asking skills. The QFT has been used widely and successfully with K-12 students, undergraduates, and adults. In the classroom, the QFT puts students? own questions at the center of learning and builds students? ability to generate, prioritize, and improve questions ? and reflect on the process. It?s a protocol for learning that has spread to more than 150 countries and is taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Education?s Professional Education program, among other places.
With support from this National Science Foundation grant, researchers from Brandeis University and the Right Question Institute sought to adapt and refine the QFT for higher-level, doctoral research.
The result, the QFT for Research, is a model for generating research questions more efficiently and effectively at the doctoral-studies level ? although it can be applicable to all levels of higher education.
As part of this project, we hoped to increase doctoral students? appreciation for the critical role research questions play, determine the efficacy of the QFT for Research approach, and share the QFT for Research with academic organizations beyond those directly involved in the grant.
Based on the existing body of work from the Right Question Institute, we developed and delivered a one-hour workshop experience for doctoral students that helped them generate, prioritize, and improve research questions. The experience allowed doctoral students to focus on questions directly tied to their own graduate-level research, and it also gave them an opportunity to reflect more broadly on the significance of question formulation in the scientific process.
Delivering the QFT for Research experience through workshops allowed us to collect questionnaire-based data from participants, but it is worth noting the QFT for Research has also been delivered through online sessions, during one-on-one encounters with faculty advisors or peers, and in self-directed settings.
To evaluate the efficacy of the QFT for Research, we used a pre-post mixed-methods design, using questionnaires to survey participants before and after the workshops while also collecting qualitative evidence through open-ended responses.
Our studies demonstrated that the QFT for Research impacted students significantly in a positive way. We found that it is possible to boost doctoral students? confidence and skills around question formulation in a manner that requires only a small commitment of time and resources.
After the workshops, participants felt that they now possessed specific strategies for generating and prioritizing research questions. They indicated significantly greater confidence in their abilities to formulate research questions, and the vast majority agreed they had gained valuable skills. Almost 70 percent felt their ability to write grants and proposals had improved. Tellingly, all responding participants agreed with the statement, ?I anticipate that I will adopt the strategies [learned through the QFT for Research] ? in my future research endeavors.?
Qualitative evidence showed a similar story, suggesting participants had found a new way of framing the research process. One student felt they had achieved ?deeper questions than I originally started with.? Another said the process had allowed them ?to come up with questions I had never asked myself before.?
In the short term, the QFT for Research provided doctoral students with strategies and skills that can improve the quality of their own doctoral research.
In the long term, it provided them with a framework for generating, prioritizing, and improving research questions over the course of their future careers ? giving them a useful thinking tool for contributing to more ambitious, boundary-pushing, socially relevant research.
Learn more at rightquestion.org.
Last Modified: 12/14/2020
Modified by: Dan L Perlman
Please report errors in award information by writing to: awardsearch@nsf.gov.
