How to write an IB IA research question

English Literature

Too broad · Themes in Hamlet.

Works · How does Shakespeare use soliloquy in Act III to position the audience's sympathy for Hamlet?

Close reading of one technique in one scene.

IV:

Soliloquy passages selected

DV:

Audience sympathy / positioning (argued)

Evidence:

Annotated extracts + secondary criticism

Trap:

Whole-play summary

Language & Literature

Too broad · How is advertising persuasive?

Works · How does multimodal layout in one charity campaign construct its target reader?

One campaign, one reader construction — fits Lang & Lit analysis.

IV:

Layout / mode choices

DV:

Reader positioning (argued)

Evidence:

Annotated ads + course concepts

Trap:

Many campaigns with no depth

Spanish B

Too broad · Is Spanish useful?

Works · How does the candidate use past-tense narration vs present commentary to structure the individual oral photo description?

Oral IA — question targets performance structure, not a written RQ.

IV:

Tense / structure choices in oral

DV:

Coherence of description (rubric-aligned)

Evidence:

Recorded oral against rubric criteria

Trap:

Treating the oral like a written IA

Economics

Too broad · Are taxes good or bad?

Works · Commentary on a recent article about a national sugar tax, analysed with an indirect-tax diagram, incidence, and welfare loss.

One article, one diagram — the actual Economics IA format.

IV:

Policy change in the article

DV:

Incidence / DWL in your diagram

Evidence:

Named article + labelled diagram

Trap:

General debate with no article

Business Management

Too broad · How can a café improve sales?

Works · Should [local café] introduce a loyalty app to improve customer retention, given current repeat-purchase data?

Real business, one decision, tools you can apply.

IV:

Loyalty intervention (proposed)

DV:

Retention / repeat purchase rate

Evidence:

Sales logs, customer survey, financial estimates

Trap:

No access to real business data

History

Too broad · Was World War One inevitable?

Works · To what extent was the Schlieffen Plan responsible for Germany's failure to win a quick victory in 1914?

Bounded in time with evaluable sources.

IV:

Schlieffen Plan decisions (as factor)

DV:

Speed of victory / stalemate outcome

Evidence:

Two evaluated primary/secondary sources

Trap:

Whole-war question in 2,200 words

Geography

Too broad · Is urbanisation bad?

Works · How does distance from the city centre affect building height along a transect in [your city]?

Field data collection with one clear gradient.

IV:

Distance from CBD

DV:

Building height (m)

Evidence:

Transect survey points

Trap:

Mixed land uses on one transect line

Global Politics

Too broad · Why is politics important?

Works · How effectively does a local refugee-support NGO influence municipal housing policy?

Engagement project with a political issue and stakeholders.

IV:

NGO engagement activities

DV:

Policy influence indicators

Evidence:

Interviews, documents, meeting records

Trap:

Issue too broad for 2,000-word report

Psychology (2027 proposal)

Too broad · Does memory get worse with age?

Works · How could a survey study test whether social-media multitasking predicts self-reported attention difficulties in students aged 16–18?

Proposal format — aim, population, method — not a finished experiment write-up.

IV:

Multitasking score (proposed measure)

DV:

Attention difficulty score

Evidence:

Proposed questionnaire + ethics plan

Trap:

Writing up results you never collected

Biology

Too broad · How does temperature affect enzymes?

Works · How does temperature (10–50 °C) affect the rate of catalase activity in potato extract, measured as volume of O₂ produced in 60 s?

Names enzyme, range, and measure — one experiment you could start tomorrow.

IV:

Water-bath temperature (10–50 °C)

DV:

Volume of O₂ in 60 s

Evidence:

Gas syringe readings, 5 temps × 5 trials

Trap:

No enzyme named; effect confounded by H₂O₂ age

Chemistry

Too broad · What affects reaction rate?

Works · How does the concentration of sodium thiosulfate (0.05–0.25 mol dm⁻³) affect the rate of its reaction with dilute HCl, measured by the disappearing-cross method?

One variable, one method, a range for order-of-reaction analysis.

IV:

Na₂S₂O₃ concentration

DV:

Time for cross to disappear

Evidence:

Timed runs at 5 concentrations

Trap:

Multiple variables changed at once

Physics

Too broad · How do pendulums work?

Works · How does the length of a simple pendulum (0.10–1.00 m) affect its period, and what value of g does the gradient of T² against L give?

States the graph and the constant you will extract.

IV:

Pendulum length

DV:

Period T

Evidence:

T² vs L plot, uncertainty on gradient

Trap:

Angle too large — small-angle approximation breaks

ESS

Too broad · How does pollution affect ecosystems?

Works · How does distance from a road (10–100 m) affect lichen coverage on tree trunks as a bioindicator of air quality?

Field transect with one gradient and one measurable indicator.

IV:

Distance from road

DV:

Lichen cover % on trunks

Evidence:

Quadrat/transect data along one site

Trap:

Multiple pollution sources along the transect

SEHS

Too broad · Does exercise help performance?

Works · How does warm-up duration (0, 5, 10, 15 min) affect vertical jump height in school athletes aged 16–18?

Controlled manipulation with a sport-relevant DV.

IV:

Warm-up duration

DV:

Vertical jump height (cm)

Evidence:

Repeated jumps per condition, paired design

Trap:

Fatigue order effects without counterbalancing

Computer Science

Too broad · Can AI help students?

Works · How effectively does a revision-quiz web app reduce average time-to-complete for a fixed question set compared with paper revision?

Computational solution with measurable success criteria.

IV:

Revision mode (app vs paper)

DV:

Time to complete quiz

Evidence:

Logged timings from prototype testing

Trap:

Product built but success criteria never tested

Maths AA

Too broad · How is calculus used in real life?

Works · What release angle maximises the range of a basketball free throw, modelling the ball as a projectile?

Specific optimisation with a quantity to compare against video/data.

IV:

Release angle

DV:

Horizontal range

Evidence:

Model output vs measured throws

Trap:

No comparison to real data

Maths AI

Too broad · Is there a link between screen time and sleep?

Works · Is the relationship between daily screen time and sleep duration in a sampled cohort better modelled as linear or logarithmic?

Compares models on the same dataset — clear analysis path.

IV:

Screen time (hours)

DV:

Sleep duration (hours)

Evidence:

Survey data + regression comparison

Trap:

Correlation without controlling confounds

Visual Arts

Too broad · How do artists use colour?

Works · How does your use of restricted palette in three resolved artworks communicate a consistent conceptual focus?

Tied to your own body of work, not art history in general.

IV:

Palette restriction (your choice)

DV:

Conceptual focus communicated

Evidence:

Photos of your works + process notes

Trap:

Generic art history with no own work

Film

Too broad · What makes a good film?

Works · How does sound design in one selected sequence establish tension before the narrative reveal?

One film, one sequence, one craft element.

IV:

Sound design choices in sequence

DV:

Tension (audience response argued)

Evidence:

Shot-by-shot analysis + audio cues

Trap:

Plot summary of entire film

Music

Too broad · How does music affect mood?

Works · How do changes in tempo and dynamics in your original composition reflect the stated programmatic narrative?

Your composition, linked technique to intent.

IV:

Tempo / dynamics sections

DV:

Programmatic narrative alignment

Evidence:

Score excerpts + recording

Trap:

General psychology of music with no composition

Dance

Too broad · Why is dance emotional?

Works · How does your use of stillness versus repetition in one choreographed phrase communicate the chosen stimulus?

Choreographic choice tied to one phrase.

IV:

Stillness vs repetition

DV:

Stimulus communication (argued)

Evidence:

Video of phrase + choreographic notes

Trap:

General essay on dance history