When you need to broaden or narrow down your topic, ask yourself:
Who?
Who am I researching?
- Consider age, gender, profession, ethnicity, humans vs. animals vs. corporations, etc.
What?
What am I researching?
- Consider potential causes and effects, trends, statistics, problems, etc.
When?
What time period am I interested in?
- Consider when the topic became significant, century vs. specific dates, historical vs. current data, etc.
Where?
Where is my research topic taking place?
- Consider country, state, city, urban vs. rural, environments like prisons vs. college towns, etc.
Why?
Why does my research matter?
- Consider what makes it important to you, to your colleagues and peers, to your community, to the world, etc.
