Module 03 Selecting Research Topic .pdf

1. Research Methodology:
Complete Research
Project
By Saed A Mohamed
Module 03
SELECTING
RESEARCH TOPIC
(Starting Point)

2. ?

3. MODULE
OBJECTIVES
You will learn in this module:
● Why do a thesis or a dissertation?
● Guiding questions on selecting
research topic
● To generate ideas that will help in the
choice of a suitable research topic
● To identify the attributes of a good
research topic
● Steps for selecting research topic
● To turn research ideas into a research
project that has clear research
questions and objectives
● Major characteristics research title

4. Why do a thesis or a
dissertation?
● Degree program requirement
● Preparation for future graduate work
● Interested in research/scholarship
● Advance your career
● Want to answer a question
● Employment because employers often
prefer students with a thesis paper in
their portfolio
● Personal satisfaction and
accomplishment

5. Selecting research
topic
Do not expect choosing a topic for
research project to be a quick or easy task!
● One of the hardest parts is choosing
your thesis topic.
● Some spending months even years on
this research project because they
didn’t know how to choose a great
topic.
● Choosing a right and meaningful
dissertation or thesis topic is a difficult
decision to make.

6. Selecting
research topic
Deciding on a topic for your thesis,
dissertation or research project is the first
step in making sure your research goes as
smoothly as possible.
When choosing a topic, it’s important to
consider:
● Your institution and department’s
requirements
● Your areas of knowledge and interest
● The scientific, social, or practical
relevance
● The availability of data and sources
● The length and timeframe of your
dissertation

7. Who?
What?
Where?
When?
Why?
Questions to
Ask When
Browsing

8. Questions to
Ask When
Browsing
• Which groups have an interest in this topic? (ex.
patients. particular organizations. students, the
government, etc.) Who specifically will you focus on?
Who?
• What are the most important issues at stake? What
are the different factors involved?
What?
• Where is the topic relevant? Will you focus on the
Somalia? Lasanod? Some sort of comparison?
Where?
• When did the situation or event start? Is it ongoing?
Flow recent should your sources be to be useful?
When?
• What interests you about it? Why do you want to
write about it?
Why?

9. Selecting
research topic
● The ability to develop a good research
topic is an important skill.
● Sometimes instructors will assign a
specific topic or,
● usually they will ask you to select a topic
that interests you.
● If you have no dissertation ideas yet, it
can be hard to know where to start.
● Follow these steps to begin narrowing
down your ideas.

10. Steps
selecting research topic
Step 1: Check
the
requirements
Step 2:
Brainstorm to
Get Research
Topic Ideas
Step 3: Read
General
Background
Information
Step 4: Focus
on your topic
(Find a niche)
Step 5:
Consider the
type of research
Step 6:
Determine the
relevance
Step 7: Make
sure possibility
and plausibility
Step 8: Design
and phrase your
research title
Step 9: Sum up
your research
Step 10: Get
your topic
approved

11. STEP 1:
Check the requirements
The very first step is to check the practical
requirements of your educational program.
This determines the scope of what it is possible for
you to research.
● What is the minimum and maximum word
count?
● When is the deadline?
● Do you have to choose from a list of topics, or do
you have to think of a topic yourself?
● Should the research have an academic or a
professional orientation?
● Are there any methodological conditions (e.g. do
you have to conduct fieldwork or use specific
types of source)?
● Are there any other restrictions?

12. STEP 2:
Brainstorm to Get Research
Topic Ideas
Start by thinking about your areas of
interest within the subject you’re studying.
● It’s a good idea to pick a field that you
already have some familiarity with
● Don’t to start your research completely
from scratch.
● You don’t have to be an expert on the
topic, read a few articles to get good
starting point to find out more.

13. STEP 2:
Brainstorm to Get Research
Topic Ideas
Use the following questions to help you
generate topic ideas.
● Do you have a strong opinion on a current
social or political controversy?
● Did you read a newspaper article, or see a
TV broadcast recently that piqued your
curiosity or made you angry or anxious?
● Do you have a personal issue, problem, or
interest you'd like to know more about?
● Is there an aspect of one of your courses
you are interested in learning more about?

14. STEP 3:
Read General Background
Information
● Try skimming through a few recent
issues of the top journals in your field, as
well as looking at their most-cited
articles.
● For inspiration, you can also
search Google Scholar, subject-specific
databases, and your university library’s
resources.
● Check their reference lists to find more
useful sources.
● As you read, note down any specific
ideas that interest you and make a
shortlist of possible topics.

15. After all said and...
*Find a study that has already been done
and duplicate that study.
-or-
*Find a study that has already been done
and replicate it using new definitions of
some of the variables in the study.
-or-
*Find a study that has already been done
and replicate it using additional moderator
or control variables
-or-
STEP 3:
Read General Background
Information

16. *Find an existing study and develop a different
way to test the hypothesis
-or-
* Follow an author's suggestions for further
research needed - usually found at the end of
an article
-or-
*Contact the author of an interesting study
using the internet for ideas for further study
-or-
*Choose a problem, analyze it, and invent a
completely new study
-or-
*Use a combination of the above techniques
STEP 3:
Read General Background
Information

17. STEP 4:
Focus in on Your Topic
(Find a niche)
Select and keep manageable topic.
● A topic will be very difficult to
research if it is too broad, or too
narrow.
● One way to narrow a broad topic such
as "the environment" is to limit your
topic.
● Common ways to limit a topic by:
○ Geographic region
○ Time frame
○ Discipline
○ Culture
○ Population group

18. STEP 4:
Focus in on Your Topic
(Find a niche)
Select and keep manageable topic.
● Twentieth-century literature
○ Twentieth-century Irish literature
○ Post-war Irish poetry
● Economic history
○ African economic history
○ Somaliland labor union history
● Health policy
○ Reproductive health policy
○ Reproductive rights in Somaliland
● Online marketing
○ Social media marketing
○ Social media marketing and purchase
decision

19. STEP 4:
Focus in on Your Topic
(Find a niche)
EXAMPLE:
Ideas
• Pricing strategy or Sales variation
Research Question
● How Pricing strategy affects on sales
variation?
Focused Research Question
● How price reductions affects on income
promotion?
● How price additions affects on income
promotion?

20. STEP 5:
Consider the type of
research
It’s a good idea to start thinking
about what kind of approach you’ll
take to your topic.
Will you mainly focus on:
● Your overall aims and approach
● The type of research design you’ll
use
● Your sampling methods or criteria
for selecting subjects
● Your data collection methods
● The procedures you’ll follow to
collect data
● Your data analysis methods

21. STEP 6:
Determine the
relevance
It’s important that your topic is interesting
to you and relevant to the social:
● Academic relevance means that the
research can fill a gap in knowledge or
contribute to a scholarly debate in your
field.
● Social relevance means that the research
can advance our understanding of
society and inform social change.
● Practical relevance means that the
research can be applied to solve
concrete problems or improve real-life
processes.

22. STEP 7:
Make sure possibility and
plausibility
Before you make a final decision on your
topic, consider again
● the length of your dissertation,
● the timeframe in which you have to
complete it,
● the practicalities of conducting the
research.
Ask your self
● Will you have enough time to read all the most
important academic literature on this topic?
● Do you have to go to a specific location to gather
data on the topic?
● Do you have enough funding and practical
access?

23. STEP 8:
Design and phrase your
research title
Research Title
Context
Unit of Analysis
Variables
Dependent
Variable (DV)
problem
Independent
Variables(IV)
causes

24. STEP 8:
Design and phrase your
research title
● Identify specific problem with in
your area of interest;
● Identify the possible causes of that
problem;
● Link the cause to the problem;(get
one or more causes)
● Modify your statement further
add the context & unit of analysis
● Context: area of the study;
● Unit of Analysis:
Respondents/units to be studied

25. STEP 9:
Sum up your your research
● You must take time to think about your
research as this will save you problems
later. & When you’re thinking about
your research, ask yourself the five ‘Ws’:
● – What is my research?
● – Why do I want to do the research?
● – Who are my research participants?
● – Where am I going to do the research?
● – When am I going to do the research?
● Sum up your research project in one
sentence.
● Discuss your sentence with your tutor or
boss and revise if there is any confusion.

26. My study is about communication practices across business firms in terms of
understanding the effect of communication practices on business performance
in Burco, Togdheer, Somaliland by distributing a survey to the business owners,
management, and operatives in their workplaces between September 15 and
December 15, 2022. This study will be designed to determine the effect of
communication practices using a quantitative approach to assess variables using
statistical and numerical models, analyze these measurements, and report the
effects among the studied variables based on a descriptive, causal research
design to measure the fact that communication practices affect business
performance on the basis of a survey as a method of data collection, to collect
data from business owners, management, and operatives on "what" they practice
and "how" they practice by using a questionnaire to measure the communication
practices of managers on business performance by asking respondents to fill in a
questionnaire in order to acquire the required information about this study topic.
The regression analysis will be utilized to measure the level of causality between
variables in order to find out how the communication practices of managers
affect the performance of a company.

27. STEP 10:
Get your topic approved
● Most programs will require you to submit a
brief description of your topic before you are
assigned a supervisor.
● It’s a good idea to discuss your ideas with
your supervisor before you write a
full research proposal.
● Remember, if you discover that your topic is
not as strong as you thought it was, it’s
usually acceptable to change your mind and
switch focus early in the dissertation
process.
● Just make sure you have enough time to
start on a new topic, and always check with
your supervisor or department.

28. THANK
YOU