Prior to beginning work on this discussion forum, read the article by Mattick, Johnston, and de la Croix (2018), How to…Write a Good Research Question, and the article by Ratan, Anand, and Ratan, J. (2019), Formulation of Research Question – Stepwise Approach. Then, review the web page Worksheet: Evaluate Your Own Research Question (Links to an external site.).

Part 1

This discussion forum is the first part of a two-part integration. The peer and instructor feedback you receive in this discussion forum will be integrated into this week’s written assignment. You must provide feedback on your peers’ initial posts by Day 5 of this week.

In this discussion, you will develop a specific research question associated with your topic of interest and research focus, based on the research you have conducted over the past five weeks. Your research question should probe an aspect of the topic that you wish to explore in greater depth. For example, if your topic of interest is emotional intelligence and leadership effectiveness, your research focus and your subsequent research question might explore the effectiveness of leaders with differing levels of emotional intelligence.

Make sure that the question you write is specific enough to narrow the topic area. For example, the question, “Why is emotional intelligence important to leadership success?” is very broad and represents a research focus, not a research question. A more specific research question might be, “How does the emotional intelligence of female executives influence the success of the not-for-profit organizations they lead?”

Your initial post should be at least 300 words in length, and should reference at least two different academic sources. In your post,

• Identify your research question,
• Explain why you selected this specific question, referencing sources you gathered over the past weeks to justify your choice of topics and to expand on your understanding of the topic.
• Explain why your research question is of interest both to you and to the practitioner community more generally.