How To Find The Gap In Research

Don't know where to start? 6 Tips on identifying research gaps

The first step of conducting a study is identifying a previously unexplored expanse of enquiry. Choosing an untapped area in your inquiry field will improve your chances of getting published. Merely the big question is: how to decide which research problem should yous written report? Some researchers have clear ideas about the enquiry problem they want to pursue. However, researchers, especially those who are at an early on stage of their career, find themselves in a gear up when they have to cypher down on a inquiry topic that is original and innovative. The best way to do this is to identify a gap in existing research in the field, i.e., finding a enquiry gap!

This article presents some tips to help you identify a noesis gap or an unexplored area on which you lot tin base your research.

What is a enquiry gap?

Let united states brainstorm with understanding what a research gap means. When you read papers or books on topics of your interest, you may realize in that location are some areas that have significant scope for more research only they have not been tapped by other researchers. In other words, no ane has picked up or worked on these ideas. A enquiry gap or a literature gap refers to such unexplored or underexplored areas that have scope for further research.

Why is it important to identify a unique research gap?

Assume that you have completed your research piece of work and published the findings merely to find out that another researcher has already published something like. How devastating would that be! Therefore, it is necessary to detect out those bug in your inquiry field which have not been addressed before. Not only would you be investing your funds and resources in the right project only also increasing the chances of your enquiry findings getting published.

Challenges y'all may confront while identifying research gaps

Finding gaps and coming upward with original and innovative topics can exist tricky for more than than one reason. Here's a list of challenges that you might face while identifying research gaps in your chosen area of study:

1. Effort of dealing with an enormous corporeality of information: There could be a lot of unanswered questions in an surface area of your interest. So you might go overwhelmed with the number of research gaps you stumble upon and feel dislocated well-nigh which one yous should focus on.

2. Difficulty of searching in an organized manner: Some researchers may discover information technology difficult to organize the information they have gathered. Ane can easily lose ideas if they are not noted properly.

iii. Hesitation in questioning established norms: Some researchers are not confident enough to claiming the existing knowledge in their field and may hesitate to question what others have claimed in their work.

How to identify gaps in literature

You may wonder what would be the best way to come up with some innovative inquiry questions. Though in that location is no well-defined process to detect a gap in existing knowledge, your curiosity, creativity, imagination, and judgment tin help yous identify it.

Hither are vi tips to identify enquiry gaps:

ane. Look for inspiration in published literature

Read books and articles on the topics that you similar the about. This will not only assist you lot sympathise the depth of work done by researchers in your field only as well provide an opportunity to inquire questions that can atomic number 82 you to a research gap. Don Davis, professor of Economics at Columbia University, says: "Read what is being written in your field, recognize the contributions that have come in the prior literature, but do non be awed past information technology. Question everything." You lot can inquire yourself questions like:
- What is the significance of this inquiry to my work or the broader field?
- How can this article help me formulate my research questions?
- Does the author's statement require more description?
- What issues or questions has the author not addressed?
- Is there a dissimilar perspective that I can consider?
- What other factors could have influenced the results?
- Are the methods or procedures used outdated or no longer considered valid in your field? Is there telescopic for you to test the findings using more a current arroyo?
While reading inquiry articles, yous tin can focus on the Introduction section where the authors explain the importance of their research topic and the gaps they have identified and attempted to fill through their research. Besides, wait at the directions or suggestions for further research that the authors have made as that could be highly inspiring.
Read meta-analyses and review papers to learn more most the developments and trends in enquiry over the years in the expanse of your liking. This will help you get acquainted with the bug that have been researched upon in the past too equally trending queries on those topics that you notice interesting.

ii. Seek assist from your inquiry advisor

Discuss the issues and bug in your field with your research advisor to generate ideas for inquiry. Articulating your ideas and knowing what others think and are working on may help you place your study area or even identify mistakes in your approach. If you think a question would be interesting to work on, you can discuss it with your advisor and get their suggestions.

3. Use digital tools to seek out popular topics or most cited research papers

To familiarize yourself with the trending queries in your field, y'all tin apply digital tools equally they can save fourth dimension and assistance you lot bandage a wider internet in your search for a enquiry gap. Websites likeEssential Scientific discipline Indicator that identify the most cited papers in a field along with the emerging branches, influential contributors, publications, and countries in that field can exist immensely useful to know which topics are considered important. You can also useGoogle Trends to larn more about the popular questions related to your inquiry expanse. This will ease your search for an untapped surface area in your research field.

4. Check the websites of influential journals

The websites of prominent journals oftentimes have a section called 'fundamental concepts' where experts in an surface area highlight the key ideas in that field. Reading through this section can assistance you gain a lot of insights and generate new ideas equally well. Moreover, y'all should too look through the reference section of these papers as it can lead you to important resources on the topic.

five. Make a note of your queries

It is a good do to note all the questions that cross your heed while reading any published literature. If possible, you should map the question to the resource information technology is based on. "Keep track of what the authors told you and the questions that occur to yous whenever you read anything - an article, a book, a volume chapter, a dissertation, etc." advises Nadine Anderson, Behavioral Sciences and Women's and Gender Studies Librarian at the University of Michigan. She says that this volition also help in ensuring that there is no unintended plagiarism in your research paper. You can apply tables, charts, pictures, or tools to maintain a tape. This can help y'all in the long run when you lot are developing your idea into a research problem or even when writing your manuscript.

vi. Research each question

Once yous accept a listing of questions that could exist explored, you must comport thorough research on them. What does this mean? Read more about each doubt or query that you lot have. Find out if other researchers take had similar questions and whether they accept plant answers to them. This will help you avoid duplication of work.

Your inquiry project is something that you lot will invest a lot of time in, then make sure information technology is something that arouses your interest and passion. While you finalize an unprecedented research idea, make sure you consider the time frame available to complete the project besides as other important aspects such equally the availability of funds, equipment, and infrastructure. An over-ambitious project may be hard to achieve due to time and resource restraints, while research that makes an bereft contribution may fail to get the approval of your funding committee or the journal'southward editorial board.

Since there is no specific method to pick out exceptional or interesting research problems, you tin use the tips presented in this commodity and figure out what works for y'all. Keep reading and asking questions until you find the extraordinary problem you've been looking for!

Good luck with your enquiry!

Related reading:

How to choose a research question
Finding the right inquiry question is the beginning step to successful publication
How to write the literature review of your research paper
Tips for constructive literature searching and keeping up with new publications

References:

Steps for identifying research gaps in the literature
Ph.D. Thesis Research: Where do I Start?
6 (very useful!) Approaches to identify research gaps and generate research questions