One of the best recommendations when I started the program was to track potential research questions that arose for me over time. In part this happens through concept mapping for me, but I have also found that keeping a running "tab" of these questions has paid off (particularly now that I am nearing the end of year two).
How do I track potential research questions/general conceptual questions of interest that come up for me?
1. Google doc called "Running Research Questions" - this is, as it sounds, a running log of research questions with generally some context as to where that question is coming from (e.g. a post I saw somewhere).
2. An Spreadsheet - I didn't start this until recently because I didn't have "enough" questions to put together. Near the end of year two I looked through the google doc and was able to lump the research questions I had come up with into broad categories that fit into my overarching "interests". I also started "plugging in" projects and work I have done related to these interests/questions so I don't forget about them if and when an opening emerges to focus on these issues.
3. I use both of these in tandem with my concept mapping strategy.
Why is this helpful?
At least for me, because it helps me start drawing connections between the questions you are asking, which helps you process next steps for your program's milestones and your dissertation. It also allows me see how interests change over time, and how some questions might actually be part of a broader set of questions and interests. For example, I have always been interested in creating partnerships between community organizations, schools, universities and libraries. Three years ago I framed this as a question of how to do that. One year later I re-framed this as a question about how we can do this as a way to build social capital, if we understand social capital as Mark Warren (2005) does as links across institutions, and fundamentally about relationships. Today I'm realizing that for me this has turned into a commitment that guides my research process, and which has guided my community projects: to have my research process itself create or support partnerships across institutions and communities, and foster relationships with collaborators (vs. just obtaining data).
Warren, M. (2005). Communities and Schools: A New View of Urban Education Reform. Harvard Educational Review, 75(2), 133–173. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.75.2.m718151032167438