Finding My Research Question

It would be perfectly logical to assume that one should start with a clear question and then proceed by researching that question. However, going through the process of simply starting with a topic and then researching without a clear question already in my mind has taught me that one can actually be more successfully when one formulates a research question only after already doing a significant amount of research. While work-shopping the primary sources in class, I had to think more critically about the research question that was beginning to form in my mind. As I thought about the sources and my unrefined question simultaneously, I could ask new questions that lead me in a slightly different direction. If I had already formed a solid research question before looking at the primary sources, I wouldn’t have tried to see how the sources could best inform my question. After going through the process of the last two weeks or so, I have now been able to work myself to a research question which is both interesting to me, but that I also know that I can back up with the sources that I have.

My research question: What were the residents of Brook Farm originally expecting to receive from community life, and why did the purpose of the community then change (from Transcendentalist community to Associationist phalanx)?