INVESTIGATION 1 OF 6

Scope a question you can actually investigate

Turn a broad public-interest topic into a feasible question with a source plan and clear limits.

Why learn this? A compelling headline is not a research method; the question determines what evidence you need.

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Quick recap: A research question specifies an uncertainty. A source plan identifies materials that could answer it and explains what each can establish.

Choose your task depth

Choose either at any time. Your drafts stay with you.

1. Try — read before judging

Original fictional packet about a neighborhood repair café. All names, numbers and statements in this course are invented for practice. Do not present the packet as reporting you conducted.

TOPIC: Does a monthly repair café reduce waste?
LOG, event 1: 24 objects brought; 10 recorded working at departure; 8 awaiting parts; 6 not repaired. No later follow-up.
ORGANIZER NOTE: The event also aims to teach maintenance skills. No learning assessment was recorded.
BOUNDARY: No weights, replacement purchases or later disposal outcomes were measured.
AVAILABLE TASK: Investigate what the log can tell readers about this event and what remains unknown.

Go directly to the workbench

2. Predict — make a provisional choice

Which question can the log answer, and which appealing headline would require evidence it does not contain? 0 / 16,000 characters · length is a storage limit, not a quality score

3. Experiment — test your reading

In the claim field, write an answerable question and a provisional finding. In the reason field, name the evidence and unit counted.
In objection and reply, identify a missing outcome and revise the scope.
Draft a source plan with three rows: question, needed source, limitation. Include a feasible next inquiry without pretending it has been completed.

Your argument map

Follow each connection. A reason supports a claim only if you explain how the evidence makes it plausible.

Claim — what do you argue? 0 / 16,000 characters · length is a storage limit, not a quality score

↑ supported by ↓

Reason and quoted evidence — why should a reader agree? 0 / 16,000 characters · length is a storage limit, not a quality score

↔ challenged by

Strongest objection and its evidence 0 / 16,000 characters · length is a storage limit, not a quality score

↓ leads to revision

Qualified reply — what can your claim still support? 0 / 16,000 characters · length is a storage limit, not a quality score

Working draft / artifact 0 / 16,000 characters · length is a storage limit, not a quality score

Comparison draft

Save your first version here before revising. It will remain unchanged while you edit the working draft.

Revision commentary: what changed, why, and what remains uncertain? 0 / 16,000 characters · length is a storage limit, not a quality score

4. Understand — connect choice and effect

Match the question to an observable outcome

Twenty-four objects arrived. Ten worked at departure. Those are different events, and neither directly measures avoided waste. An object awaiting a part may later work; an object working at departure may fail again. Even continued use would not alone tell you what would have happened without the café.

Write the question with a unit, place, time and outcome. “What happened to objects at this event’s closing?” fits the log. “How much waste do repair cafés prevent?” needs a broader design, follow-up and a defensible comparison. Neither question is inherently better; they demand different evidence.

A source plan connects each subquestion to a possible record. For departure status, inspect the outcome log and its categories. For durability, you would need later observations or reports with dates and a response record. For skill learning, you would need a suitable measure of learning, not just attendance or enthusiasm.

Avoid designing an investigation you cannot carry out responsibly. This course does not require contacting participants or collecting personal information. The supplied packet supports analysis and a clearly labeled practice feature. If you choose real research, begin with accessible public sources and keep the question within what you can inspect.

Your scope note should state both a useful contribution and a limit. “We know nothing” discards the log’s real descriptive value. “The event solved waste” exceeds it. A precise account of immediate outcomes, paired with questions for follow-up, gives readers something informative without inventing impact.

Scope: The boundaries of a question or claim, including setting, time, population and outcome.
Source plan: A reasoned account of which materials could answer each part of an inquiry and their limits.

Worked example — a possible revision, not the only answer

Before

The café saved 24 objects from landfill.

After

Of 24 objects brought to the event, 10 were recorded working at departure. The log does not show whether those objects stayed in use or what would have happened without the event.

The revised claim reports a recorded outcome at a specific time. It does not equate arrival, repair, continued use and avoided disposal.

Return to your workbench and reconsider a choice

5. Apply — make something and try a new case

Your main artifact

Write a focused question, a 150-word scope note and a three-row source plan using the packet.

Keep your artifact in the working draft above. Suggested lengths help you plan; they do not measure quality.

Unfamiliar passage

A community garden records 50 volunteer visits in a month but does not identify repeat visitors, food harvested or neighborhood access.

Frame an answerable question and a source plan for a broader question. Distinguish visits, people and outcomes. 0 / 16,000 characters · length is a storage limit, not a quality score

0 saved attempt(s).

6. Continue — record work without claiming mastery

Completion means you worked through this investigation. Your interpretation and writing still need judgment using the project rubric; no automatic proficiency score is awarded.

Continue: Choose sources for the claims they can support

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