What makes good research questions good? I am in Computer Science and currently in my proposal phase. For my problem statement, I want to come up with good research questions. However, at the moment I am struggling with the definition of "good" research questions. My professor usually comments that my current questions are not "why" questions, but instead are "yes/no" questions.

Any recommendations what make good research questions good?
Do you want to know the answer?  Really?
Do you realistically have a good shot at finding the answer, in a reasonable amount of time?  Really?
Will lots of other people be happy to learn the answer (even if the question had never occurred to them before)?  Really?
Are you sure nobody already knows the answer?  Really?


If you can answer yes to all eight questions, it's a good research question.

(Unfortunately, some of these points may depend on what the actual answer is, which of course you don't know.)