Ever wondered why do you have to go through so much trouble of writing a sample research gap in proposal. When you can just directly dive into your research paper. Well, there is a reason behind professors encouraging you to write samples before the theoretical analysis. As it paves the way for when you begin your actual research gap.
Why should you find research gap?
A considerable problem that most students face during the college phase is writing the research proposal sample. Because they are found wondering, “Why should I write my dissertation after the research proposal?”. However, many students fail to understand that writing a sample proposal is part of research. And it eventually helps them achieve lucid conceptual comprehension about their actual research. And as they try to locate ideas and formulate arguments. They are in turn strengthening their own concepts. The critical aspect in the proposal helps them view the shortcomings in research. This can be improved at the initial stage. Every microscopic detail can be sorted out at this stage as you can get other people’s perspective. Which will help you realize the pros and cons associated with your research project.
But the real question is how to decide which research problem should study?. Some researchers know which research problem they want to pursue. But some don’t. The best to know which research problem to pursue is to identify the gap that is finding a research gap.
This blog will help you to identify the research gap. Or you can say an unexplored area on which you can conduct your study.
What is a research gap?
When you read a book or go through any online information of your interest. You sometimes realize that there is some lack of research that has not been seen by others. In other words, no one conduct any study or picked that idea. Finally, the research gap or literature gap in the area that is not explored but has a future research scope.
Importance of identifying a research gap
Suppose if you have completed your research and published the findings to find out if another researcher has something similar or not. That would be devastating. On that account, it is important to find out the findings that are not addressed by anyone before. Otherwise, you will be wasting your time, funds, and resources on the project and decreasing the chances of getting your research findings published.
6 ways to identify the research gap
Finding the most innovative research gap is tougher than you think. There is no exact way to find a gap in the previous research but with your interest, imagination, curiosity, judgment, and creativity it is possible to identify the research gap.
Here are 6 research gaps that help with dissertation in your future project.
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Look into published literature
Read books and articles of your interest. This will not only help you to have depth knowledge of the particular study but gives you the opportunity to ask a question that helps you in identifying the research gap. As said by Don Davis, a professor of Columbia University, “Read what is being written in your field, recognize the contributions that have come in the prior literature, but do not be awed by it. Question everything.” To find the research gap you can directly go to the scope, limitations, introduction, and suggestions section of the paper. In this section, you can easily find out the gaps which are leftover by the earlier researcher.
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Help from the research advisor
Discuss issues or problems with other research colleagues, research advisors, and guiders to get unexplored research gap. Clearly discussing your interesting idea will help you to know what others think which will help to identify the gap in your study as well as the mistakes in your approach. If you think your research question is interested then it is best to discuss it with your advisor and get their suggestion.
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Digital platforms and cited research papers
Digital platforms like social media or research-related websites give the idea to pick up or modify according to the scope and limitation of the new research gap. You can probably use digital tools to save your time as well as you will have a wider search for your research gap. Websites like essential science indicators will help you to identify which is the most cited paper in the regarded field. Moreover, you can use Google Trends to know more about the popular question in that field.
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Influential journals websites
There are very few commercial and social activity-based websites that lot focus on problem-solving areas. Their purpose is to write and mention social issues in their newsletter or often they put them in the public domain. These types of articles are beneficial to identify the research gap on social issues. Moreover, the websites of these journals often have a section of “key concepts” where researchers outline the main idea of the field. Going through this section will help you have a lot of insights and you can easily the ideas. Also, you can look after the reference section of these papers because it can lead you to important resources of your paper.
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Make notes to your queries
Make notes to all the questions you came across while reading any published paper. Map the question to the resources, if it is possible. The librarian Nadine Anderson from the University of Michigan once said, “Keep track of what the authors told you and the questions that occur to you whenever you read anything – an article, a book, a book chapter, a dissertation, etc.” Later on, this will help you while creating a research problem.
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Conduct research on each question
Once you have explored the question list you are must go through each one of them. In other words, read and research each and every issue or doubt you have. Moreover, find out if other researchers have had the same questions and do they found the answer or not. This helps you with plagiarism in your study.
The last words
The research project is something you invest your time so it is important to make sure to have something that arouses your interest as well as interest. Hence, there is no specific way to pick an extraordinary research problem but the above tips in this blog will help you to figure out one
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