How to Select the Area of My Research?
What Topic Should I Choose within my Research Area?
Is it necessary to have the new idea encapsulated in a topic before starting the MS/PhD Research?
Students in the initial phase of their research often waste a lot of time in finalizing the topic and delay the reading of papers.
- I think asking this question at the starting stage of your research/thesis work is a bit premature. The time to concentrate on the new idea and the “original” contribution is not when you are starting your thesis/dissertation research, but after you have reviewed sufficient research papers in the area you would like to explore.
- I have seen several students wasting several months and even years just selecting that great idea that would enthrall the research community and transform the world. This is not the way to go. The problem with this approach is that initially the researcher has no understanding of what is mean by “new idea” in the context of the chosen area of research. What kinds of “new ideas” are presented in this area? Initially the student does not know what are the problem areas in which a “new idea” can make a difference to be considered significant. The “new idea” that solves the problem depends upon the nature of problems being researched currently and which are considered of interest currently. Thus knowing what are the current problem areas and how researchers are approaching the solutions is therefore a pre-requisite to the search of the new idea/topic and your contribution that would make the difference.
- You may concentrate on the contribution and new-idea-stuff once you have reviewed at least 40 research papers in a given area. Before knowing about your chosen field, the type of problems and issues being discussed, the type of approaches being taken, it is difficult if not impossible to arrive at the “contribution” part of your research.
- At the time of starting your thesis, you should try to master the “OLD” ideas presented by other researchers in various journals over the last five years and earlier. Only when you have a command on the already existing ideas published in the papers, you would be able to generate some thing new.
- I expect that the first one-third part of your thesis time should be allocated on understanding and becoming familiar with the already existing ideas in your area of research. Once you have become comfortable with the concepts, issues, and concerns of your chosen area of research, you are then able to identify what is missing. Once you identify a missing requirement, you are ready to propose a solution to satisfy the missing requirement.
- Please postpone your search for new ideas, breakthroughs, exciting discoveries and quest for a Nobel Prize till after you have done your MS/PhD. Research degrees are only concerned about lifting you up to a level where you can become an active member of the international community of researchers in your chosen area of research.Their objective is to teach you the scientific process of making an original contribution in your area of research. The magnitude of that contribution is not important as long as it justifies the grant of the degree for which you are working.
The key idea in this regard is “original”. Thesis and Dissertation strive for an original approach to solving the problem.
How to Constrain your Research Area
- You need to know how to constrain the scope of research. How to limit it to only a small part of the chosen field where you can make some contribution.
- If you type your selected topic area on google scholar and it pulls out thousands of references then it is to broad.
- If you type your selected topic area on google scholar and it does not pull out any or few research papers, then you must rest assured that your choice of terms is not recognized by the community of researchers. The words you have chosen are recognized by different terms in the research community.
- Try to have five or six keywords in your research topic that pulls out just enough research papers to give respectability to your areas of research.
- You should be able to see whether the chosen topic is vaguely defined or too general.
- Research is not about covering a very large area, but about going deep down in a narrow and restricted area.
- How to take help from the topics of thesis done at the other universities while selecting your topic.
- Make a list of (say) 100 titles of the theses done at some foreign universities.
- Analyze the topics and see how they have constrained the scope of research and have focused on a very small area.
- Your thesis proposal may form the first three chapters of your thesis.
- Have you seen other thesis proposals?
- Do you know what they contain and what is there structure?
See Also:
- Motivation: Why PhD?
What is PhD?
- What does it Mean to Have a PhD: Myths of Specialization and Departmental Expertise
- What is the Difference between MS/MPhil Research and PhD Research
- Why PhD is Difficult to Complete and Why there are so many ABDs and PhD Dropouts
- How Progress of Research is related to the Mood and Psychology of a PhD Student
Starting with your PhD
- How to Read a Research Paper and Extract Problem Statement and Thesis Statement
- How Literature Review of a PhD Dissertation Presents the State of the Art: Synthesis vs Listing
- What is a Problem Statement and its role in MS-PhD Research
- What is a Thesis Statement and its Role in PhD-MS Research
- What is meant by Rigor of PhD Research
- Dynamic Role of Abstract in Guiding the Flow of Writing of a PhD Dissertation
- Conclusion vs Assumption in Research Writing- Flipping the Thread of Argument in your PhD Thesis
- PhD is about Pursuit of Excellence. Pursuit of Excellence vs Guzara: How to teach excellence through everyday examples
- Myth: Impact Factor Measures Real Impact
- Pursuit of Excellence vs Guzara: How to teach excellence through everyday examples
- Discerning the Forest from the Trees – The Insights from my PhD Supervisor JC Browne
- A Formula is Worth a Thousand Pictures: Dijkstra vs Buzan’s Mind-Maps
- Fairness in Grading: A Lesson by the Great Dijkstra
- Lesser known dimensions of US Universities – Archives of history and literature
- Myth: We are backward because we Lag Behind in Science and Technology
- Myth: Mushrooming of HEIs in Pakistan
- Myth: Impact factor measures impact
- Myth: Increase in PhDs Increase Teaching Quality
- What is a PhD and What is its Definition
Leave a Reply