Starting Research

Picking a Topic, identifying a Research Aim, finding a Research Gap and identifying a Research Question

The Research Question:

The Research Question is the central question you seek to answer with your research. This question is generally developed in a funneling process that starts with a broad topic of interest and progresses to well defined question that is rooted in the scholarly literature.

Research Question Development:

  • General Topic: “I’m doing my paper on…” Based on your interests (Begin reading scholarly literature on the subject)

  • Research Aim: Overall purpose of the research (dependent variable). Narrowed down from topic based off your interests and initial reading of the literature. (Begin critical survey of the literature in earnest to identify state of the art and research gaps)

  • Research Question: Empirical question that fills a research gap. Generally, you identify the Research Question when surveying the literature and refine it when begin the research design process.

    • Thesis: Theoretical answer to the research question (independent variables)

    • Hypothesis: An expected observation or correlation in data based on theory

Research Gaps:

Grad Coach’s Big 4 Types of Gaps

  1. Classic Literature Gap: There simply is no literature on the subject, often because it is new or novel

  2. Disagreement Gap: There is contradictory evidence or a debate in the literature

  3. Contextual Gap: A lack of research on particular contexts

  4. Methodological Gap: Methodologies of existing studies are lacking in some way

Lennart Nacke provides a
7 Type breakdown of Research Gaps

The use of this video does not imply an endorsement or promotion of the services provided by Grad Coach

Writing a Research Question:

There are dozens of videos online about how to write a research question but this is the one I like the best. In particular, I like the four attributes Grad Coach focuses on

  1. Focused: The question should have a clear and singular focus

  2. Feasible: One must be able to answer the question with empirical research

  3. Rooted: The question should address a research gap identified in the literature

  4. Aligned: The narrower research question should further your broader research aim

The use of this video does not imply an endorsement or promotion of the services provided by Grad Coach. They just make really good videos

Overview of the Process