Chapter 2 - Generating The Research Topic

Chapter 2 – Generating the research topic
2.2 Characteristics of a good research topic
Before generating ideas for a research topic it is always useful to address the assessment criteria.
The topic of research should be something that really excites the researcher and it should lie within
his capabilities. These capabilities depend on constraints on time and financial resources,
possession of the necessary skills and access to the relevant data. Moreover, it is useful for a
researcher to have knowledge of the literature associated with the topic and to be able to provide
bright insights.
It is important to have a symmetry of potential outcomes, which means that the result will
have to be of similar value whatever you find out. If this is not the case there is a chance you find
an answer of little importance. Also consider your career goals, consider how this research could
be useful in your future career.
2.3 Generating and refining research ideas
There are many different techniques that can be used to generate research ideas. They can be
divided into those techniques that involve rational thinking…:
• Examine own strengths and interests, choose a topic in which you are likely to do well
• Explore your university staff research interests
• Analyse past project titles of your university such as dissertations (projects from
undergraduates) and theses (projects made by postgraduates)
• Discuss with colleagues, friends or university tutors
• Search through literature and media (articles in journals, books, reports). Review articles
in particular, since they contain a lot of information about a specific topic and can therefore
provide you with many ideas
…and those that are more based on creative thinking:
• Noting ideas down in a notebook

• Exploring preferences using past projects (see page 28 to know how)
• Brainstorming
• Exploring relevance of an idea to business using the literature, articles may be based on
abstract ideas (conceptual thinking) or on empirical studies (collected and analysed data)
Most often it is a combinations of these two ways of thinking that leads to a good research idea.
Refining Ideas
There exist different techniques for refining research techniques, one of which is the Delphi
technique. This approach requires a group of people who are involved with or share the same
interest in the research idea to generate and pick a more specific research idea. Another way to
refine a research idea is to is to turn it into a research question before turning it into a research
project. This is called preliminary inquiry.
Integrating Ideas
The integration of the ideas from the techniques is an important part of a research project. This
process includes ‘working up and narrowing down’, which means that each research idea needs to
be classified into its area, its field, and ultimately the precise aspect into which one is interested.
2.4 The transformation from research idea to research project
Writing research questions
It is very important to define a clear research question at the beginning of the research process. A
research question may be:
• Descriptive – question usually starts with ‘When’, ‘What’, ‘Who’, ‘Where’, or ‘How’
• Evaluative – question may start with ‘How effective…’ or ‘To what extent….’
• Explanatory – question mainly starts with ‘Why’ or has this word in it
Do not make the research question too simple or too difficult to answer. The ‘Goldilocks test’ may
be helpful to determine if a question is too big (when it demands too many resources), too small
(provides insufficient data), too hot (when it is a sensitive subject) or ‘just right’. It is also essential
for a research question to provide new insights.
Writing research objectives
Research questions can be used either to produce more detailed investigative questions or as a
starting point for research objectives. Writing objectives is more generally accepted as a way to
specify sense and direction in a research project than research questions. This is because they are
more precise in displaying what one would like to make clear. Research objections operationalize
the research question, which means that they show the steps that are required to take to answer it.
What is theory and why is it important?
Theory is concerned with causality. This means that it regards the cause and effect relationship
between two or more variables. For example, theory explains why and how a promotion influences
employee’s behaviour. Logical reasoning is essential here to explain in a clear way why this is the
case. The role of theory is to explain the relationship between variables and to make predictions
about possible new outcomes. Advising on how to take research in a certain way (Variable 1) is
based on the theory that this will eventually create effective results (Yield B). By undertaking
research it is possible to collect data with which new theories could be developed.
A research project is designed to either test a theory or to develop a theory. When someone
is taking a clear theoretical standpoint and wishes to test this through the collection of data one is
using a deductive approach. An inductive approach is used when someone builds a theory from
the collected and analysed data. There exist three kinds of theories:
• Grand theories – Newton’s gravity theory, Darwin’s evolution theory etc.

• Middle range theories – these are significant, but they don’t change the way in which we
think like grand theories do
• Substantive theories – focussed on a particular, setting, group, or time theories
2.5 Writing a research outline
The research proposal is a structured outline of a research project. Making a research proposal
demands that you think through what you want to do and why. It helps you to guide the project
through all of its stages. When producing a proposal think of these general criteria:
• A research project needs to be coherent, which means that all the different components of
the project need to be in relationship with each other.
• It needs to be feasible as well. This means that the project should be possible to achieve.
Structure of a research proposal
• Title – This should summarise the research question

• Background – This is an introduction for the reader to the problem or issue, it gives
answers to the questions ‘what is going to be done’ and ‘for what purpose?’. The
background also shows the relationship between a theory and a particular context and it
should demonstrate the relationship between the research and what has been done before
in this subject area.
• Research question and objectives - the background should eventually lead to a statement
of the research questions and objectives and the observable outcomes
• Method – This is the longest section and reveals how the research will be conducted. It
consists of two parts: Research design and data collection. Research design is an overall
overview of the chosen method and provides the reason for choosing this method. Here
you will explain the choice for a certain research strategy and determine an appropriate
time frame for the project . The section ‘data collection’ will specific how and where the
data will be collected and will explain the various analysis techniques that will be used
during the research.
• Timescale – In this section you will divide the research into different stages and explain
how much time each stage will approximately take.
• Resources – In this facet of the proposal certain resource categories such as finance, data
access and equipment will be taken into consideration. This section will also include the
expenses that may be involved with these categories.
• References – This section consists of the literature sources to which you have referred to.

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Chapter 2 – Generating the research topic

2.2 Characteristics of a good research topic

2.3 Generating and refining research ideas

…and those that are more based on creative thinking:

• Noting ideas down in a notebook

2.4 The transformation from research idea to research project

Writing research questions

Writing research objectives

What is theory and why is it important?

• Grand theories – Newton’s gravity theory, Darwin’s evolution theory etc.

2.5 Writing a research outline

Structure of a research proposal

• Title – This should summarise the research question

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