Short-Question Research

he Four Questions (A heuristic for Argument Invention)

Choose a potential research subject to explore. The information you gather should be part of the pre-drafting process and enable you to clarify your thinking on the subject, assumptions and values shared by members of the gaming community and establish areas where more research needs to be done.

Subject:

A. Conjecture – Is there an act to be considered?

1. Where did it come from?

2. How did it begin?

3. What is its cause?

4. Can it be changed?

B. Definition – How can the act be defined?

1. What kind of thing or event is it?

2. To what larger class of things does it belong?

3. What are its parts?

4. How are they related?

C. Quality – How serious is the act?

1. Is it a good or bad thing?

2. Should it be sought or avoided?

3. Is it honorable or dishonorable?

4. Is it better or worse than any alternatives?

D. Policy – Should some action be taken?

1. What actions are possible?

2. How will proposed actions change the current state of affairs? Or should the current state of affairs remain unchanged?

3. How will the proposed changes make things better? Worse? How? In what ways? For whom?

4. Should some aspects be regulated (or not) by some formalized policy?

What are the potential research questions?