Start with the Right Question 

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No matter how sophisticated your tools or techniques, the quality of any analysis depends on the quality of your starting point: the research question. Any analysis done in ARC kicks off with a question about the future. Here are some tips for formulating a question that is clear, focused, and conducive for guiding your collection of information.

1. Balance depth and breadth to get useful signals

ARC is designed to handle big, strategic questions, through decomposition, but it’s still important to be specific to get the information you need without missing out on important context. Broadening and narrowing the scope, changing the focus, and rephrasing can help you define your question more suitably.

Tune your question to get information specific to your case	Instead of asking “How will the China-US relationship develop?”, try narrowing your focus: “How will China-US trade policies change over the next 4 years?”
Avoid going too narrow - ARC is built for the big questions	Replace a very narrow question like "Will the US have the fastest supercomputer?" for a bigger-picture question like "What country is best positioned to lead the world in supercomputing?" The latter would broaden the ARC analysis to help you understand the global competitive landscape, not just the U.S.

2. Align with stakeholder needs

Take the time to identify who will be using the insights you create, what they’re most concerned with, and the decisions and actions they need to take.

Identify your target audience	Even in an hierarchical organization, you may be writing for multiple audiences. Who will be the direct recipients of your work? Will they be using it to advise a third party - or to make an important decision?
Align with stakeholders’ needs and provide analysis that enables them to take concrete steps	Asking “How will the ongoing trade war develop?” may be interesting, but if your stakeholder is a private investment firm, it could be more relevant to ask “Which countries are most likely to open their markets to US companies as part of the ongoing tariff war?”
Consider how consequential your analysis will be	Don’t shy away from unlikely possibilities if they’re likely to have an outsized impact. Asking about a potential Chinese military strike on Taiwan could provide useful analysis, even if the event itself is unlikely.

3. Keep your analysis forward-looking

While it’s important to look back to understand the past and even the present situation, backward-looking research is done for the purpose of creating future-focused insights.

Exclusively historical analysis can limit stakeholders’ ability to consider the full range of future possibilities

Ask questions that make use of historical information while still looking forward. A question like “How will interest rates change over the next year?” will take into account past rates changes while still exploring how different possible economic futures could affect them.

Example research questions

ARC suggests research questions right when you sign in, but here are a few ideas across different industries:

• Geopolitics:
  
• • Which maritime "choke point" is at greatest risk of having its operations disrupted?
  • How will the outcome of Canada’s election affect Canada-US trade relations?
• Finance & Markets:
  
• • How will capital markets and dealmaking evolve over the next 3 years?
  • How will the Trump administration’s tariff policy affect the position of the US dollar as the global reserve currency?
• Science & Technology:
  
• • Which quantum computing architectures or platforms are most likely to become commercially viable?
  • Which new battery technologies will be most economically viable in the next 5 years?
• Business:
  
• • Which lines of business at a large insurance company are likely to see the greatest shifts in risk exposure due to climate change?
  • Which countries are most likely to open their markets to US companies as part of the ongoing tariff war?

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