Choosing the right kind of question - What research is and yow researchers think about it - Part I. Research and writing: from planning to production

A manual for writers of research papers, theses, and dissertations, 7th edition - Kate L. Turabian 2007

Choosing the right kind of question
What research is and yow researchers think about it
Part I. Research and writing: from planning to production

Some new researchers dislike purely conceptual research questions because they think they're too “theoretical” or irrelevant to the “real” world. So they try to cobble an implausible practical use onto a conceptual answer: When we know how race shaped the political impact of the Alamo stories, we can understand how racism has been used to foster patriotism and thereby eliminate racist appeals to patriotism in relation to conflicts in the Middle East.

That impulse is understandable. But unless you've been assigned an applied or practical problem, resist it. You are unlikely to solve any significant practical problem in a class paper, and in any case, most of the academic world sees its mission not as fixing the problems of the world directly, but as understanding them better (which may or may not help fix them).