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(Volume: 3, Issue: 3)
How to choose a research theme?
A doctoral degree might be a lifetime achievement for most academicians and researchers, rewarding them with career advancements and umpteen knowledge in their research discipline. However, the choice on the research theme is the first and foremost step that needs complete scrutiny to lead to this achievement. So, why the choice on the research theme is of utmost importance? What steps are to be followed, while making a choice on the research theme.
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Why research theme is important?
The research theme serves as the backbone of the research. It is the most fundamental entity upon which ones’ research revolves around, providing a cohesion with the past studies as well as the research integrity for the future. A research theme only allows a researcher to focus and plan on delivering a useful finding in a stipulated period of time, specifically when there is an urgent need for their finding in some application. Moreover, it is the research theme that shapes the research and allows to check whether the ultimate aim has been accomplished or not, whenever the research structure gets modified or the results get out of control. In all, a proper research theme is required to end the research in a meaningful manner, so as to support varied applications in its discipline.
Steps to choose a research theme
Knowing the importance of research theme, there are few steps that a researcher should carefully follow to decide on their research theme and they are stated below.
1. Identify the area of interest: The first factor that a researcher needs to ensure, before selecting his/ her research theme, is whether it falls under his/ her domain of interests. Choosing a research theme in a known and interesting field of study would self-motivate the researcher to dwell into deeper investigations and thus, promoting a valuable and consequential research finding in the chosen theme
2. Review existing studies: Once the researcher has identified the area of interest to perform research, he/ she should opt for few themes in the chosen area of interest. To get insight into the themes, the researcher can read relevant knowledgeable resources like, academic journal publications, books or online study materials
3. Formulate innovative ideas: Upon gaining knowledge from the abundant literature of the past, the researcher has a handful of ideas to work upon now. For instance: (i) The researcher might have identified an emerging topic that needs research attention from his/ her area of interest; (ii) The researcher could have pinpointed the potential causes for the failure of a previous research and he/ she could be able to formulate a technique or a procedure to overcome it; (iii) The researcher could have identified a novel theme that has not yet been researched so far from his/ her area of interest and (iv) The researcher could have framed a theme that has a greater impact on the society and its well-being from various studies
4. Ensure whether the research is practical or feasible: The researcher cannot dwell into research directly with the research themes identified and techniques being formulated from previous studies. Instead, he/ she should analyze whether the implementation of the chosen research themes is practically possible. The researcher should ensure the availability of data and other resources to do research and if they are known to be unavailable, the researcher should see whether there are ways to collect them. Additionally, the researcher should ensure that the chosen research theme could be accomplished with great results within the period of research completion. In all, the researcher should identify all the problems questioning the practical implementation of a research theme, before deciding it to be final
5. Ensure the future scope of research: Analyzing the feasibility, the researcher could have two or three research themes at hand now. The scope of the research theme has a predominant role in prioritizing it over the other. Any research and its findings should be most promising to be used in future applications and it has to promote further research too. So, a researcher can select a research theme with wider scope in future for career advancements and to establish a relevance or impact for a considerable number of years in the respective discipline
6. Expect expert’s guidance, if necessary: This step enables the researcher to refine his/ her research theme and the adopted techniques with an expert’s opinion. A research theme that seems good to a researcher might not look the same to an expert in a research domain, as the expert is more familiar with the current research expectations in that domain. Hence, an expert guidance can modify and strengthen the researcher’s proposal
7. Conclude the research theme: A researcher following the above steps is certainly going to have a better and more- promising research theme from his/ her own area of interests and expertise, self-motivating themselves to perform deeper investigations and contribute better
Hence, The Research Seer’s Rationale on “How to choose a research theme?” is:
“Select a research theme with socio-relevance and wider scope”
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