The research question is the whole project. Most students write it last.
A vague research question does not become specific later. It stays vague and drags every following chapter with it.
Ask most students to state their research question in one sentence, and the answer is usually a topic, not a question. “I am researching the impact of social media on adolescent mental health” is a topic. It is not a question a methodology chapter can be built around, because it does not specify a population, a mechanism, a comparison, or a measurable outcome.
The research question is not a formality to satisfy before the real work starts. It is the structural wall of the entire project. Every later decision, which literature to include, which method to choose, which data to collect, is a decision about how to answer that specific question. A vague question does not get more specific as the project progresses. It stays vague, and the literature review, methodology, and analysis chapters all inherit that vagueness, because there is nothing precise for them to be precise about.
Getting the question right before anything else is written is not slower. It is the only way to make everything written after it actually connect.
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