 In this section, we will address the first two questions. What are we seeking and why are we interested in it? How is this all relevant and what is its purpose in a wider context? The rest of the questions we will address in later sections. So let's begin with the first one. What are we seeking and why are we interested in it? Some of us may be commissioned to do research and some of us may initiate it on our own. In either case, it is important that we have some clarity on what we are seeking and how we may find it. Otherwise, we will land up like Mullah Nasruddin. Let me tell you that story if you don't already know it. Mullah is looking for something outside his house in the night. A passerby stops and asks, what are you looking for? He says, oh, I've lost my keys. The passerby decides to help him. When did you last see them? He asked Mullah, who answered, I had them when I went to the forest to get some grass for my donkey. So could you have lost it in the jungle? Yes, I'm pretty sure I did. Then why are we looking for them over here? Well, because it's too dark there and here there is light. We must have some clue about what we are seeking and some ideas on where we may find the answers. Often, there is a broad subject that we are interested in. But in order to take it forward as research, we have to identify an aspect of it that we find interesting and have the means to pursue. For instance, we may or may not be interested in fashion. But we may be curious to learn about how people make decisions about clothing. We might find it interesting to learn about the perceptions attached to clothes, what a sorry means to someone or how someone is perceived when they were addressed. Or we might be curious to look backstage and see how clothes are made and the lives of those who make them. The deeper we get into a subject, the more likely we are to find something about it that intrigues us. The more we learn, we realize how much more there is to learn. Of course, we cannot possibly hope to be equally interested in all subjects under the sun. But in each subject, we can find something of our interests. Ethnographic research, as we know, requires direct and sustained engagement with the subject for an extended period of time. For this, we require access to the context and material resources. So it is crucial we choose a subject that we feel deeply interested in. Else, we might find ourselves feeling trapped and wanting to quit midway. Having decided on a subject, we need to examine the relevance of our research. Why is it important for us to be pursuing it at this point in time? To address this question, we need to think about which people or groups might benefit from our research. And in what ways could the research affect the people, communities, organizations or environments associated with our chosen subject? For instance, our research may focus on a form of craft. Through our research, we could contribute to the craft's preservation and propagation and celebrate the lives and works of the artisans. In studying the lives of a marginalized community, our intent may be to make their stories visible to mainstream society. Designers, social workers or strategists amongst us might want to improve the working and living conditions of the communities we work with. We might want to do this by making better tools and processes for existing tasks or by developing better living spaces. In each of these cases, our work begins with understanding the existing universe of our participants. This understanding gives our research project its purpose. To a great extent, the purpose of the research defines the knowledge we hope to access, the nature of our inquiry and the methods that we may employ. For example, if we want to work towards better housing conditions for an urban community, we have to understand what people mean by better housing. So the knowledge we are trying to access is what a section of the urban population means by better housing. This in turn defines the methods we may use. A well-defined purpose is all the more important in application-focused disciplines like design or management, where the research is not an end in itself. Once we are decided on a subject and are sure of its relevance, we need to articulate the question our research aims to address. This is called the research question. We may start with a whole lot of smaller questions and then tease out the nodal questions that holds them together. This becomes our research question. Alternately, the research question may be broad to begin with, but eventually it must be articulated into a set of sub-questions or themes. Breaking down the research question should tell us what nature of information we are looking for, quantitative, qualitative, factual, or more ambiguous. We may find ourselves redefining this question now and again as we learn more about our subject. A well-articulated research question can also help us determine if ethnography is the method we need for our study. Consider, for example, that a student wants to undertake a research on the practice of thulpaakwood puppetry in Kerala. He wants to understand how the art form, a ritual performance of shadow puppetry accompanied by music, is faring in this day and age. As he explores a little bit about the subject, he realizes that thulpaakwood does not have many patrons. Moreover, the puppeteer receives little payment and a very small audience for their performances. So he wants to learn why they continue to perform, what are the interests and motivations of the puppeteers and their few patrons that keep them engaged with the art form. As a student of design, he's also interested in learning what role digital media and technology might play in encouraging the art form or in turning people away from it. What do you think could be a good research question for his research? Let us consider some answers you might have thought of. Some of you may have framed a question about the motivations that encouraged the performers to continue their art form. Some of you might have thought the research question is about exploring the factors that have enabled the art form to survive. And others may have thought of a question about the ways in which thulpaakwood performers have developed their art forms and skills. And maybe some of you framed a question about the role of digital technologies in preserving the art form. Let's discuss these questions. While there are no incorrect answers as such, options 1 and 2 are the closest to a research question that takes its interest forward. Option 3 and 4 are good questions, but they address a limited aspect of the student's research interest and do not cover many other aspects of the phenomena. Some of you might think that the first two options are too broad and vague. However, these questions will be further broken down later in the process to suggest multiple different aspects of the research. For example, as the researcher explores the motivations and drivers that encouraged thulpaakwood artists to continue performing, he will have to look at the ways in which their lives and art have adapted to social and economic changes. As we define a research question, we get a clearer idea of what exactly is the focus of our research within the subject we are interested in. And this enables us to determine the research method we should use. So our next step is to choose the research method. We will discuss this in our next section.