One of the most common questions often asked by the students is how to choose the thesis topic. Unfortunately, this is not about simply "finding research gaps", and there are many complex factors to consider.
What are the factors to consider before choosing a research topic/title?
A good research project depends on many aspects, and just having a good idea of the subject is not enough. Following are some of the main factors that need to be considered:
Research Implementation
Research Skills
Significance and Time
Tutor/Project Advisor/Counsellor
Originality
Develop new ideas
Proposal
I will discuss these factors in greater detail in the next part of the article as well as I'll provide a few sure-fire and effective methods to find and plan a great project topic.
But before diving into those details, I want you to ask yourself the following questions about your research project as these will help you get a clear picture of what you want and what you want to avoid:
However, sooner or later, you will take over the project. There are no fixed formulas to follow, but you can ask yourself some questions that may help you make a decision.
Does the project have clear goals?
Do you know what technology will be used?
What resources and how much funds do you need?
What skills do you need to develop?
Do other researchers in your research group have relevant expertise?
Are you interested in this project?
Can you explain why this project can attract others?
Who would be interested in this project?
Implementation
Maybe you have a brilliant idea, but the final quality of the research depends on your implementation. Bad execution can lead to the failure of a very good research idea.
Research Skills
Correspondingly, your ability to conduct research depends on your specific research skills (already possessed and developing) as well as on your ability to gain other resources such as equipment, funds, technical support and time. Because these factors vary widely, what works for one person may not be suitable for another at all.
Significance and Time
Your research philosophy needs to arouse the interest of other scholars in this field. To an extent, it depends on whether your ideas are reasonable and the originality of the proposal, but the timing is also very important, because technology is new, and various theories and research fields are constantly being updated.
Tutor/Project Advisor/Counsellor
Whether your project attracts the interest of others depends on your audience. Some projects are attractive to some people but meaningless to some people, and even offend others in some cases. Just like when you choose the examiner when you take the exam or when you choose the reviewer for the published paper; you also need to consider when you choose the tutor. If your tutor completely disagrees with your project, then you either Change the tutor or change the project.
Originality
Although a certain degree of originality is the key to doing research, research is never completely original. On the contrary, a good research paper aims to find an entry point to carry out new research in the existing literature, and constantly moves forward on the basis of the existing results.
Not every aspect of your research needs to be original, and the clever use of non-original ideas, combined with mature technology, can be used as a reliable basis for work. Even the most revolutionary research has many aspects that are unoriginal. It may just be a groundbreaking combination of research results that already exist in different fields.
However, this advice should not be mistaken as my recommendation to submit plagiarised work but rather to find the perfect balance between the original unique context and ethical use of the academic literature with minimal plagiarism.
So, How do I find a good thesis topic/title easily?
1. Find a research entry point
At the social level, academic research and learning are the same things. Just like learning skills, research goes beyond the average level of society’s current collective ability or knowledge.
For a thesis, it's not that you are looking for areas that have not been studied, but that you should conduct more in-depth research based on existing results. The way to do this is by asking yourself after reading a paper in your subject area of interest: "Is there a way to expand this research, or carry out research in different ways, or apply the same technology to different topics?" After several tries and attempts, you will find what scientific research topic continues to inspire you, and thus, that becomes your thesis title.
2. Verifying unverified hypothesis
Another method is to verify the basic assumptions proposed by others in the field. A hypothesis is likely to become a generally accepted fact because it has been cited by many people, even if this hypothesis has not been systematically tested and proven. If you find such an unverified hypothesis, and you can find a way to verify it, then your work will have important value in the field (provided that the method can perform well).
Academic research is similar to learning but within the scope of society. Just like learning a skill, research only goes beyond the edge of society's current collective ability or knowledge.
Rather than looking for gaps where there is nothing, perhaps it is better to find an advantage where you can carry out existing research work. If you do this with several papers, you will find that there is no shortage of ideas.
Another method is to test the basic assumptions used by others in the field. A hypothesis is likely to become an accepted fact, simply because several authors have stated or quoted the same point, although it has never been systematically tested or proven. If you find such an untested hypothesis and can come up with a way to test it, then your work will be of great value in this field (provided that it can be well-executed).
3. Develop new ideas
The research direction you choose early in your specialization study will profoundly affect your future research path, so choosing a project is a stressful decision.
When you are free from stress, not worrying about results, and thinking freely, it is often when creative thinking is most active. This kind of free thinking is very important because usually, bad ideas are the transitional stage to produce good ideas. So, let your imagination run free and indulge in it, don't rush to find the idea you want at first.
However, developing new ideas is not just about freely creating creativity. Once you have some ideas, then you need to concentrate on verifying their feasibility and optimizing them to a potential research project. So, how do you verify the feasibility of these ideas?
Of course, you need to consult the existing literature to determine whether your ideas have been studied and what similar studies exist. This aspect is to ensure that your ideas are original, and the other is to help you think about how to conduct your own research.
Through the literature, you can understand how other researchers deal with similar problems. But it is also useful to talk directly with researchers in the same department. You can get feedback on your own ideas and get effective resources and expertise.
Even for a specific problem, there are many possible solutions. So you should be good at considering alternatives, fully considering their respective practicality, and not limited to the first one printed in your mind.
Developing a new research idea means that you may invest time and energy in some areas that you will not study in depth. But this is not a waste of time, because it is usually through research in the wrong direction to find a suitable research direction.
4. Start small
People take it for granted that goals should be set as high as possible, and projects should be as comprehensive as possible. Such projects are easy to imagine but very difficult to implement.
First, think about the lite version of your project and how you will complete it. You can then increase its complexity appropriately, but remember that you must first implement the simple version.
5. Be Impartial
Although it is good to choose a project that interests you, it can also have drawbacks if you have too much interest in the topic. Because proving what you are passionate about through research will lead to confirmation bias, then you will only focus on the results that support your existing views.
It wouldn't hurt to expect a certain result, but as a researcher, you should be a little bit suspicious of your assumptions and actively try to prove yourself wrong even if the new results meet your expectations.
6. Proposal
You need to write a research plan based on your doctoral or masters course. Different institutions have different requirements for this-you may have to write before being admitted, or it may be at a later stage. But at any stage, you need to figure out how to write the plan. Generally speaking, the plan should reflect clear research objectives and appropriate research methods.
Clear thinking is the key to writing a good research plan. You should be straightforward to clarify what you want to study. This requires that you first have a clear idea in your mind, write what you ca n’t think of, or write what you know.
Conclusion
Writing a thesis is not as simple as "finding a blank space in the literature", there are many complex factors to consider, here we will understand in detail
When you get rid of pressure and let yourself think about many ideas freely without worrying about whether they are good or not, the creative process is often the most effective. This freedom is very important because bad thoughts are often the intermediate stage of good thought development. So let your imagination run free, come up with many ideas, and do n’t worry about the initial discovery.
However, developing an idea is not just freedom of creation. Once you have some ideas, it needs to concentrate on testing their feasibility and distilling them into a potential research project. So, how do you test survivability?
This aspect is to ensure that your ideas are original, and the other is to help you think about how to conduct your own research.
I hope this article will help you find the perfect thesis topic and if you still have any query, please feel free to shoot us an email.
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