I'm a senior psychology major facing a tight deadline for my thesis proposal: What are some actionable strategies to overcome the overwhelming feeling of creating a research question for my Capstone p?

The most effective way to move past this block is to stop brainstorming in a vacuum and start scanning the "limitations" or "future research" sections of recent peer-reviewed articles. Since you've already settled on attachment styles and relationship satisfaction, you're likely struggling because these are massive, well-trodden concepts. When a topic feels too broad, it's usually because you're trying to solve a general problem rather than testing a specific mechanism. By looking at where other researchers stopped, you'll find pre-identified gaps that are already sized correctly for a senior capstone project. To refine your focus, try introducing a moderating or mediating variable. Instead of asking if attachment styles affect satisfaction, ask how a third factor—like communication patterns, conflict resolution strategies, or social support—influences that relationship. This shifts your goal from proving a known correlation to exploring a specific nuance. If an idea feels too narrow, you're likely focusing on a demographic that's too small to yield meaningful data; if it's too broad, you're likely using terms that could be interpreted in five different ways. Once you have a draft question, test it against your available resources. A common mistake is designing a "perfect" question that requires a longitudinal study or a clinical population you can't access in two weeks. Ensure your variables are operationalized, meaning you know exactly which validated scales you'll use to measure attachment and satisfaction. If you can't name the specific instrument you'd use to measure a variable, the question is still too vague. If you're still feeling anxious, take your three best "imperfect" options to your advisor immediately. Academic writing is an iterative process, and your professor would rather help you pivot a flawed question now than have you submit a broad, unmanageable proposal in fourteen days. Getting a quick "yes" or "no" on a few directions will break the paralysis of perfectionism and let you start the actual writing.