To choose and refine a topic for a dissertation, thesis, or other research paper, you must answer two questions to your own satisfaction and to that of your intended audience: (1) what claims will the thesis make, and (2) why should anyone care? People usually start, implicitly or explicitly, with one of these questions and then turn to the other. The order is not important, but they are very different questions. The first asks about the specific arguments you will advance in an effort to explain something. The second asks about the general appeal of your topic and its larger context. You need answers to both questions.

I. The Specific Question

People often begin with a vague sense of the question they hope to answer. Sometimes, in fact, they don't begin with any particular question at all, but simply with an interest in a certain country (Russia, for example) or in a certain kind of event (such as "ethnic politics"). Initial attempts to formulate a research question often sound very descriptive.

This is fine as a first attempt to define your research interests — but it is not a research question. It asks for nothing more than description. Undoubtedly you can find and describe some way in which some ethnic group has some effect on some Russian policy. A thesis that stops here, though, will only reveal your abilities as a factfinder and storyteller. It won't answer a research question.

Here, at least, is a question. But is this an interesting question? Probably not. It might tell us something we don't already know (which ethnic groups?). But that remains a purely descriptive assignment. We don't worry about whether the question could be answered. Of course it could. If ethnic groups have any influence on Russian foreign policy at all, then no doubt you can find one that appears to have the most influence. The only thing doing so would tell us that we didn't already know is the name of the group (perhaps Chechins). To move beyond description, however, we might ask why the Chechins have influence. In other words, we might ask what kind of ethnic group has influence.

This question has moved a long way from its initially vague formulation. But work remains to be done. You must still define your terms. And you must be as specific as possible about the relationship between them. How, for example, will you define geographic concentration? How concentrated does a group have to be? What kind of foreign policy can a concentrated group influence (all kinds, or just some)? And what about the relationship between ethnic group concentration and foreign policy: what does "influence" mean? When you are able to state a non-obvious research question in clearly defined terms, then you've found your topic.

As you go through the process of moving from general interest to specific research question, keep in mind that you will sooner or later be called on to justify the choices you have made in narrowing your topic. Be ready with answers to the following questions.

Once you are ready with answers to all of these questions, you will be in a good position to defend your research design and to answer your specific research question. But you must also think of the general appeal of your research.

II. The General Question

Why should anyone care about your research? As people push you to refine your research question (and your answer), it is easy to lose perspective and, perhaps, to lose your audience. But the problem is not the "refinement." Very specific research questions can interest many people. This happens, however, only when someone goes to the trouble of making the connection between the specific question and a more general question. You must connect, in other words, what you are doing to something that other people care about. You must explain what the problem you are addressing is an instance of.

The specific problem you choose to address should be an "example" of a problem that people care about. They may care about it because of its consequences. The ability of ethnic groups to influence the Russian government may be important, for example, because so many people die in ethnic conflicts or because human rights are at stake. In this case, an investigation of ethnic group concentration and governmental influence contributes a specific answer to a general question:

Notice that, if this were the only question you planned to ask, it would be too vague (see above). But your specific question does contribute one answer to this general question about which many people care.

A second reason people (social scientists, in particular) might care about your research is that it solves a theoretical puzzle.

If they are concentrated, they may have more influence during elections and thus better representation in the government. But, if they are concentrated, it is also easier for others to think of them as "special interest group," that may not have the interests of the nation as a whole in mind. Social scientists might disagree, therefore, about the benefits of ethnic concentration. Addressing such theoretical disputes is another contribution that your own research might make.

Finally, as with your "specific" research question, you must ask whether there is an obvious answer to the "general" research question. Suppose you ask: Are powerful states really more likely to win wars than weak states? The obvious answer is that they are. This question would be much more interesting if you plan to show how, in at least some circumstances, weak states can prevail after all.