Scaffold MePrepare your research
- Bring a research problem informed by background reading.
- Identify your population and setting.
- Identify the experience or process you want to understand.
- For Action Research, also bring an intervention idea.
Getting Started
Prepare to build graduate-level qualitative research questions, step by step. Start with your own ideas and background reading.
Enter your study details
- Select your research design.
- Enter specific study details in your own words.
- Use the ? buttons and Research Definitions when you need help.
- Draw on your prior research to inform your entries.
Draft and refine
- Choose a question focus.
- Compare three phrasings and edit your preferred wording.
- Save your central question.
- Add up to three supporting questions only if needed.
- Download your drafts and review them with your advisor.
See an example of useful study details
Problem: New teachers describe difficulty accessing mentoring during their first year.
Population: First-year high school teachers.
Context: Baltimore public high schools.
Phenomenon: Accessing mentoring during the first year of teaching.
This is an illustration, not a research gap established by this tool.
Who is this for?
Scaffold Me is designed for master’s and doctoral students developing graduate-level qualitative research questions. You search the literature and determine your research problem. The tool uses structured patterns to help you organize, formulate, and refine your research questions.
With active paid access, you can build and save your questions. Download a copy after each session.