Question raising (optional) (Move 2, Step 2)

This section suggests another common way of “establishing the niche” – through “question raising statements”. We encourage you to check your comprehension of what you have learnt by doing self-check comprehension activities in the next tab.

The “niche” or gaps in addressing a research problem can also be established in the form of questions. This step is referred to as “question raising” (Swales, 2004). “Question raising” statements will often include question words such as “whether (or not),” “as to how,” “what, ”when,” etc., and would normally be formulated as indirect (also known as embedded) questions. This means they will follow the normal word order, with the subject in the subordinate clause coming before the verb! “Question raising” statements can also be made in the form of direct questions (see example 4 below).

While favored by some authors, as a rhetorical strategy question raising tends to occur less frequently than indicating a gap. 

Examples:

Here are some examples of “question raising” in research studies:

1. The question then becomes whether or not students perceive the socially-constructed textual production online in the same ways they perceive socially-constructed textual production in academic spaces (EDU.G1.0., MICUSP) (Education).
2. This homogeneity of socialization experiences raises the question of whether such elites can sufficiently represent the interests of voters with whom they share so few life experiences (Courtney, 2015) (Political Science).
3. Yet, despite the importance of understanding how shop person predetermined budgets might estimate the total price of their shopping baskets, it remains largely unclear whether, when, and how they keep track of in-store spending (Van Ittersum et al., 2010 (Marketing) .
4. The 2004 Madrid bombings are portrayed as having played a major role in the electoral loss of the incumbent right-wing political party in Spain. On the other hand, the incumbent right-wing political party or parties appear to gain from terrorist attacks in Israel. This creates several questions: Given that most studies linking electoral politics with terrorism are based on Israel and Spain: is the finding for Israel or Spain more pertinent for other parts of the world? While the focus has mainly been on the fate of right-wing incumbent parties, what about left-wing parties? Moreover, if terrorist attacks do not affect the incumbent political parties, how can this situation be explained? (Bayer et al., Kural) (Political Science)