At the heart of research is the inquiry process that focuses on discovery and the systematic increase in understanding of the object that is inquired. Looking at the inquiry process in more detail, it can be described as comprising five main stages in a cyclic process, the inquiry cycle.
A model describing the inquiry process (adapted from Justice et al., 2007).
In the exploration stage, students start to explore the field and the context that they are going to work in, in order to formulate relevant questions and identify problems that they are interested in. In the design stage, students design the way they want to investigate their questions and describe the methods that they want to use. On this basis, they collect and analyze their data and evidence, which they critically evaluate, judge, and relate to each other. Depending on their findings, they will need to repeat this process to gain a better understanding. At the end, the students need to develop their own conclusions and disseminate the results to people outside the inquiry team. The results might then serve as the starting point for new projects and inquiries.
Considerations and thoughts
During most part of their education, students are only exposed to parts of the inquiry cycle, or only see the results of other people’s inquiry. As a consequence, students often experience difficulties in grasping the complexity, the interconnectivity, and the iterative nature of the inquiry process. One particular challenging part, which is at the heart of the inquiry cycle, is the development and formulation of questions that can be investigated.
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