Research Methodology | communitymedicine4all

Disclaimer: This article is intended to provide broad guidance on how to choose a research topic, and may be useful to a wide audience. However, this article is not intended to provide definitive guidance on any specific subject or topic.

Pre-requisites:

Before one can start narrowing down potential research topics, the following pre-requisites must be satisfied.

Familiarity with published research in the domain: So that one can describe the research gap and justify the conduct of research.
Reasonable understanding of resources and technical expertise required to conduct the proposed research: To avoid undertaking a project that is too ambitious or impractical.
Awareness of resources available to conduct research in one’s department and institution: To help eliminate projects that are not feasible.
Understanding of expectations from/ requirements for the research project: Particularly if the research project is part of required coursework in a degree program, there should be no confusion about the purpose of the project.
Possession of basic research skills and knowledge of the research process: So that the investigator is able to conduct the project without much external assistance.

Once the investigator satisfies the above pre-requisites, s/he can commence the process of selecting a suitable research project.

Selecting a research topic

Step 1: Identify the research gap

This is probably the most important step, and may determine if the project receives approval or not. In essence, the research gap refers to the uncertainty or gap in knowledge about something. Published research will often reveal what is well known about a topic or subject. Similarly, one may discover what is either unknown or uncertain about one or more aspects of the topic. This is the grey zone, and is where the research project must be located.

Step 2: Determine where the study fits (or how it will contribute to the knowledge base)

The proposed research must fit in the research gap. It should be clear how the study will contribute to the existing literature (will it fill a gap in knowledge, resolve uncertainty or controversy about something, improve methods or practice, etc.?)

Step 3: Frame your research question(s) and objective(s)

The research question and objectives will determine the methods. Framing these will help eliminate unfeasible projects at the planning stage itself. Additionally, having a range of research questions with corresponding objectives will facilitate selection of a project that is best aligned with available resources. Later, if one proposal is rejected, one will have alternative proposals to develop at short notice (assuming that one has read adequately before arriving at this step).

Step 4: Prepare a brief outline of methods

This could be a one page document, but should contain the key elements expected in the methods section of a proposal. Not only will this bring about clarity of thought, but will also help eliminate projects that are impractical due to a variety of reasons (such as very large sample size, lack of resources [including enough time to complete the project], etc.).

Step 5: Rank research topics and prepare a short list

Hopefully, by now you would have multiple sets of research questions, their corresponding objectives, and brief methods. Rank each potential topic on a scale of 1 to 5 based on feasibility, interest (is it interesting?), novelty, ethics (are there ethical concerns?), and relevance (to your course of study). Arrange the topics in descending order of scores. Now consider the available resources and assign scores for feasibility. This should yield the best topics for your research (in descending order of priority).