Puzzles and Questions
A strong thesis starts from something that does not fit what scholars expect. This page shows how to turn a topic into a puzzle, then a simple research question with two or three rival answers. Your literature review then develops those answers.
From Topic to Answers
| Step | What it is | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Topic | A subject area | Education under authoritarian rule |
| Puzzle | Something that happens despite what existing knowledge leads us to expect | Scholars long assumed that autocrats would fear an educated public, yet autocracies pioneered mass primary schooling |
| Research question | One simple why or how question | Why do autocrats expand mass schooling? |
| Rival answers | Two or three answers from the literature | Social control, skills and productivity, nation building |
This example draws on Paglayan (2026, 534–537). It runs through this page and the Literature Review page.
Why a Gap Is Not Enough
A gap is a topic that no one has studied. It is a useful place to start, but it does not justify a thesis on its own. A topic may have been neglected because it has no implications for what scholars already know (Gustafsson and Hagström 2018, 636–637). The same applies to a pressing real-world problem or a sophisticated method. Each can start a project, but neither explains why an answer would change what we know.
When you find a gap, ask what filling it would change.
| Starting point | Weak rationale | Stronger rationale |
|---|---|---|
| Gap | No one has studied X in Korea. | Theory T expects A. In Korea we see B. Why? |
| Real-world problem | X is an urgent problem. | Experts expected policy P to reduce X, yet X persisted. Why? |
| Method | No one has applied topic modeling to X. | Scholars describe coverage of X as uniform, yet a large corpus suggests otherwise. How did the coverage differ? |
Scholars do not all rank these rationales the same way. McCauley and Ruggeri (2020, 30–31) treat the puzzle, the gap, the real-world problem, and feasibility as separate supports for a question. Your program’s rubric may also ask you to identify gaps. A puzzle does that, and it also says why the gap matters.
Building a Puzzle
Gustafsson and Hagström (2018, 639) write the formula for a puzzle as “Why x despite y?” or “How did x become possible despite y?” Here x is what you observe, and y is what existing knowledge leads us to expect. Since y comes from the literature, you have to cite it.
Anyone can ask “Why do states go to war?” without reading anything. To turn a question like this into a puzzle, ask why we would not expect x. The literature offers reasons to expect peace, such as interdependence or democracy. The question then becomes why some states go to war despite these conditions (Gustafsson and Hagström 2018, 640–641).
If no one has studied your case. Ask what your case is a case of. Studies of similar cases and general theories can supply the y (Gustafsson and Hagström 2018, 641).
If your project is interpretive. The y need not be an established fact. It can be a widely shared belief, so the formula also works for discourse analysis and other interpretive projects (Gustafsson and Hagström 2018, 639).
Stating the Question
The puzzle and the question are separate sentences. The puzzle belongs in your opening. The question is then short and simple, usually one why or how question (van der Maat 2026). Keep the “despite y” out of it, because your opening has already explained it. Keep the answer out of it too.
| Draft | Problem | Better |
|---|---|---|
| Authoritarian schooling | A topic, not a question | Why do autocrats expand mass schooling? |
| Why do autocrats expand mass schooling despite the risk that an educated public poses to them? | The puzzle is packed into the question | Why do autocrats expand mass schooling? |
| How did fear of unrest lead autocrats to expand schooling? | The answer is built in | Why do autocrats expand mass schooling? |
| Did mass schooling help autocrats survive? | Can be answered yes or no | How did mass schooling affect the survival of autocratic regimes? |
Two examples from van der Maat (2026) are “What explains mass killing?” and “How did radical right parties enter the mainstream?”
Check that you can answer your question with evidence you can access, within your word count. Aim for one main question. A thesis can add closely related sub-questions (McCauley and Ruggeri 2020, 39). Expect the question to change as you read, and revise your answers when it does.
Rival Answers
Rival answers show that the answer is not obvious, which is what makes the question academically relevant. Give two or three, and check each against these points.
- It answers the question. A why question calls for a cause. A how question calls for a process.
- It has a name and fits in one sentence. Use the same name throughout the thesis.
- It comes from the academic literature. Support it with more than one source.
- It is a real rival. Ask what would look different if this answer were right. If nothing would, it is not a rival.
Causes can combine in practice, so your final answer may draw on more than one. To start, though, each answer has to predict something the others do not. Otherwise your research has no way to weigh them, and the answer becomes “all of the above.”
| Answer | Claim | What should look different |
|---|---|---|
| Social control | Autocrats use schools to create obedient subjects | Curricula stress obedience and morals. Expansion follows mass unrest. |
| Skills and productivity | Autocrats use schools to raise labor productivity | Curricula stress skills. Expansion follows economic competition. |
| Nation building | Autocrats use schools to create a shared national identity | Curricula stress a common language and patriotism. Expansion follows territorial threats. |
These answers name causes because the question asks why. For “How did radical right parties enter the mainstream?”, answers name a process. Perhaps the mainstream moved toward these parties, or the parties changed, or public discourse made their themes normal (van der Maat 2026).
Writing the Opening
Your opening has to show the reader why the question is worth asking (van der Maat 2026).
- Start with the real world that people care about. The academic debate comes later.
- Lead the reader to the puzzle, with citations for what we would expect.
- State the research question in one sentence.
- Name your rival answers, with their main sources.
Write plainly, and use examples to explain concepts. Leave full definitions for later.
A Published Example
Hofius (2022) studies European Union diplomats in Kyiv during the Euromaidan protests. It is an interpretive study based on interviews, and the same structure applies.
- Puzzle. Diplomacy is often described as an institution in decline, yet diplomats are central to managing crises (2–3).
- Question. “How is diplomatic knowledge produced, ordered and rearranged” by diplomats on the front line of a crisis? (3)
- Rival answers. Some authors expect a crisis to give diplomats more room for judgment. Others expect diplomats to fall back on routine and existing procedure. The review groups its sources by answer and notes that the evidence does not settle the matter (12–13).
- Finding. Both modes were present in Kyiv, and reflective judgment became dominant in the crisis (4, 13).
BA and MA Expectations
The logic is the same at both levels, but the bar differs. Your supervisor and program rubric have the final word.
| BA | MA | |
|---|---|---|
| Rationale | A clear reason from the literature that the answer is not obvious. A gap can be your starting point if you say why it matters. | A puzzle that builds on the academic literature. |
| Question | One clear how or why question. How questions often suit a BA thesis, since a causal why question can be too ambitious. | One simple why or how question. |
| Answers | Two plausible answers from the literature. | Two or three rival answers, each with a variety of academic sources. |
If a course or program sets its own form or rubric for this work, follow that first.
Check Your Draft
Ask yourself
These questions are adapted from van der Maat’s seminar exercise (2026).
- Could someone ask this without having read the literature? If so, what would turn it into a puzzle?
- Is it one simple question, and does it follow from the puzzle?
- Does the question contain its answer or hidden assumptions?
- Does each answer respond to the question?
- Are they rivals, or could the answer be “all of the above”?
- Does any answer have only one source?
Exercise
Write your puzzle in two or three sentences and your research question in one. Then name two or three rival answers, each with one sentence and its sources, including page numbers. Read this aloud to a classmate and ask them to explain the puzzle back to you. Then bring it to your first supervision meeting, using the Research Question Memo.
AI and brainstorming. You do not need prior agreement to brainstorm with AI. The text and claims must still be yours, and you must check every source yourself. Other uses fall under Working with AI.
Sources
This page adapts for general use the approach Eelco van der Maat teaches in the MAIR program. The wording and the running example are mine.
- Gustafsson, K., & Hagström, L. (2018). What is the point? Teaching graduate students how to construct political science research puzzles. European Political Science, 17(4), 634–648. DOI: 10.1057/s41304-017-0130-y. Open access. Start here.
- Hofius, M. (2022). Diplomats on the frontlines: Knowing and ordering in crisis. The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, 18(1), 1–34. DOI: 10.1163/1871191x-bja10142.
- McCauley, A., & Ruggeri, A. (2020). From questions and puzzles to research project. In L. Curini & R. Franzese (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Research Methods in Political Science and International Relations (pp. 26–43). Sage. DOI: 10.4135/9781526486387.n5.
- Paglayan, A. S. (2026). Education as a political institution. Annual Review of Political Science, 29, 525–546. DOI: 10.1146/annurev-polisci-042623-034027. Open access.
- van der Maat, E. (2026). Literature review materials for Humanities-Based International Relations: seminar slides, explanation video, and submission form. MA International Relations, Leiden University. Unpublished course materials.