How to Select and Identify Research Topics

After reading this article you will be able to:

1.       Describe the importance of developing a good research topic

2.       Identify a topic of your research

Identifying and selecting a research topic is the first step. You can identify the general subject which is related to your personal area expertise and is of particular interest of you. For example, if your expertise is as a teacher, you can conduct a research that close to the phenomena of educational field.

Sources of Research Topics
There are so many sources that support you to find the research topics:
The five main sources of research topics are theories, personal experiences, previous study that you can refers and replicates, electronic mailing lists and library sources.

1.      Theories are organized bodies of concepts generalizations and principles. Researchers study a particular aspect of a theory to decide its applicability or generalizability.

2.       A personal experience and concern can lead to useful and personally rewarding studies.

3.       The existing studies are the best and the most common sources of research topics. Replication of a study usually involves changing some features from the original study.

4.       The library will help you find more sources, like handbook, encyclopaedia, and yearbooks that cover many topics briefly are more useful.

5.       The use of electronic mailing services is designed in order you easily communicate to others. So, it can help you to get some ideas from others.

Narrowing the topic

After selecting a research topic, it often needs to be narrowed and focussed into a manageable topic to study. In quantitative research usually is narrowed quickly at the start of a study. However, qualitative research topic is not usually narrowed until the researchers get more information about the participants and their setting.

Characteristics of good topics

1.       The topic is related to the researcher interest and it is researchable using the collection and analysis of data.

2.       A good topic has theoretical and practical significance; its solutions contribute in some way to improving the educational process

3.       A good research topic is ethical and does not harm participants in any way.

4.       A good topic you choose enable you easily to investigate, easily to find resources.