Here you will find some important elements to take into account when doing your topic selection. Read them and comment with your group if your topic for Problema Eje fulfills them.
Select a Topic to Research
Selecting a Topic
The ability to develop a good research topic is an important skill. An instructor may assign you a specific topic, but most often instructors require you to select your own topic of interest. When deciding on a topic, there are a few things that you will need to do:
- brainstorm for ideas
- choose a topic that will enable you to read and understand the literature
- ensure that the topic is manageable and that material is available
- make a list of key words
- be flexible
- define your topic as a focused research question
- research and read more about your topic
- formulate a thesis statement
Be aware that selecting a good topic may not be easy. It must be narrow and focused enough to be interesting, yet broad enough to find adequate information. Before selecting your topic, make sure you know what your final project should look like. Each class or instructor will likely require a different format or style of research project.
7 basic steps:
- Select a topic
- Review existing research and theory that are relevant
- Develop a hypothesis or research question/s
- Determine the appropriate methodology/research design
- Collect relevant data
- Analyze and interpret the results
- Present the results in an appropriate form
Factors to consider in the choice of a research topic
- Novel – When considering a research topic, the researcher has to focus on one which has not been investigated before. In the event that the problem has been studied before, he has to inject originality in it by coming up with another research design, using a different data-gathering tool or a different scheme for analyzing the research data.
2. Interesting – The researcher needs to consider his interest in the choice of a research problem. Interest counts a lot in the conduct of a study. If a researcher is not interested in the topic, it will be difficult on his part to put his heart and soul in it.
3. Relevant – The results of the study on a given problem should be of practical value to the researcher and the significant others in the field.
This means that once the study had been completed, its findings, its conclusions and recommendations can be used in improving practices or solving an identified difficulty.
• Will the results add knowledge to information already available in the field?
4. Feasible – This means that a problem that an investigator is going to work on can be completed without undue amount of time, money or effort. Feasibility of research also means that the researcher has the necessary competence or expertise to conduct the study on the chosen problem.
• Is the topic too broad? (e.g. the effects of TV violence on children)
• Can the problem really be investigated? (e.g. availability of information)
• What costs and time are involved in the analysis?
5. Researchable – Data can be collected to answer the problem posed by the researcher.
• Can the data be analyzed? (Can the data be measured?)
6. Ethical – A problem is said to be ethical when it does not involve physical or psychological harm or damage to human beings or organizations. In other words, a study on a particular topic should not put people or institutions in a bad light.
Points for delimiting study:
- Purpose of study
- Time coverage of investigation
- Geographical coverage of inquiry
- Variables to be studied
- Specific indicators of variables
- Types and size of respondents if the study
- Data collection tools
