What is the Good Questions Review?

Good Questions Review is a living literature review on designing and implementing more valuable social science research. This means writing articles about topics like methods for responding to decision-makers knowledge needs, approaches to incorporating a wider range of perspectives in the process of asking and answering questions, and the ways that research questions might be changing as our societies become increasingly data rich, written by Paul Kellner.

The articles will usually be between 1,000 to 4,000 words and will weigh up evidence relating to a specific question or prompt. As the collection of articles grows, a clearer picture of what current social science research says about three sets of overarching questions:

• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the approaches we currently identify, develop, and prioritise questions and set research agendas?

• What makes "good" questions in the social sciences for policy and program impact? 

• Who writes "good" questions? In what conditions and with what skills? 

Good Questions Review is written to be useful to many types of readers, including decision-makers in government, non-profit, and the private sector; academics from all disciplines; and anyone else who is interested. However, articles will also be written to provide enough substance for readers who are action-oriented research methods enthusiasts. 

For readers with interest in reading the journal articles cited on Good Questions Review, there is a “living library” of these documents with tags relevant to the overarching questions. As the content on this site grows, so will the opportunity to explore key documents from several articles on a particular overarching question. 

Who is Paul Kellner and why is he writing this review?

I am a Research Fellow at the Monash Sustainable Development Institute. A part of my role is writing and maintaining this site. When I am not working on Good Questions Review, I lead a range of projects as a part of the Evidence Review Service, a specialist team of methods experts who undertake rapid reviews and other methods to respond to decision-makers’ time-sensitive knowledge needs. I have keen interest in finding solutions for complex social issues and enjoy designing bespoke methods for this work. I received my doctorate from the University of Oxford’s Department of International Development and also hold Master of Science degrees in International Health (University of Bergen/University College London) and Life Science Communications (University of Wisconsin). More importantly, I am enthusiastic about high-quality research and be useful to people who might use it to deal with a real-world challenge. 

Who supports this project?

Open Philanthropy provided a grant to Monash University to support my ability to work on this project. Open Philanthropy does not exercise editorial control over the project. I’m quite grateful to have the opportunity to spend some time reading and writing about these topics on a regular basis!

Reaching out about my missing a paper, making an error, etc.

You can email me at this address. I will make corrections where needed as quickly as possible. If there is a request to add a to an article or develop an article on a new topic, I may take a bit longer because I only work part-time on this project and I have a list of other articles already planned. I cannot guarantee that I can respond to all suggestions. It is also important to note that although I seek to write articles that are substantial, they are not meant to be comprehensive literature reviews. 

Why ‘Good Questions Review’?

“Good” is not the most unique, elegant, or catchy word, but it's just right for this project because “good” can mean “high quality”, “thorough”, “valid”, “(morally) right”, and even “satisfying”, among other things. Good Questions Review will consider the contemporary science of identifying, prioritising, and selecting questions and planning research in social science from all of these, and other, perspectives. 

As for “Questions”, yes, I’ll be discussing actual questions, but the space around questions will be just as important. Good Questions Review is keenly interested in the people and processes involved in framing of questions, deciding which questions are most important, and choosing methods to gather answers that are at the balance point of timely and robust.

Lastly, regarding “review”, this project was developed as a response to a call for living literature reviews on policy-relevant areas. It should be noted that there is really important and interesting(!) work currently taking place related to developing Living Evidence Reviews, which are systematic reviews that involve continuous updating and a range of other techniques. Good Questions Review is not a systematic review, but I will do my best to use the literature reviewed to make a meaningful contribution to an important or timely discussion. 

Acknowledgement of Country

I wish to acknowledge the Peoples of the Kulin Nations, on whose land I undertake this writing. I pay my respects to Elders past and present.