FINAL TERM LEARNING RESOURCES AND ASSESSMENTS

WEEK 1- FINDING THE RESEARCH GAPS

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In the past 8 weeks of midterm, you have implored to master the concepts of creating
an effective practical research. After the 8 masterful weeks of learning, this week, you
are expected to deliver unparalleled understanding as a requisite of the next lesson.  
 
As we move forward with our discussion, be reminded of our objectives. 
 
At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:
     Identify the research gap from literatures reviewed
     Formulate the research objective

Let us also stir our curiosity, and develop a good thinking habit as we ponder on this
question: 
 

 
Researchers often find it difficult to identify the gaps in the body of knowledge in their
own chosen fields. Identifying gaps and generating research questions can be
regarded as the first and most important step in writing a research paper. Of course,
there are many approaches for overcoming this difficulty, but finding original and
innovative topics, and distinguishing gaps in the literature is never an easy feat. There
are different approaches to employ and not all researchers, especially younger ones,
are aware of them. In this module, we will discuss them in the simplest way we could.
 
Remember that you are to do research for the following reasons:
    TO ANSWER
     If there is no answer to a particular problem because no
one have worked on it yet
     TO DISCOVER
- If there is a gap in knowledge
- If there is an insufficient solution to a problem
     TO VALIDATE
- If there are answers to problems but the answers are not yet tested
- If a contradiction exist
 
If you have:
            a question to answer; or
            a gap in knowledge to fill; or
            a contradiction to test,
then you have a research gap to work on for your research.
 

 
 R     E     S     E     A     R     C      H           G    A     P
     It is a research question or problem, which has not been answered
appropriately or at all in a given field of study. Research gap is what makes a
research publishable because it shows that one is not just duplicating existing
research, rather it shows that he has a deep understanding of the status of the
body of knowledge in his chosen field; and finally it shows that it is conducted to
fulfil a gap in the literature.
     A research gap is simply a topic or area for which missing or insufficient
information limits the ability to reach a conclusion for a question. It should not be
confused with a research question, however. 
 When you read papers or books on topics of your interest, you may realize there are
some areas that have significant scope for more research but they have not been
tapped by other researchers. In other words, no one has picked up or worked on these
ideas. A research gap or a literature gap refers to such unexplored or underexplored
areas that have scope for further research.
 
Importance of identifying a unique research gap
     It is necessary to find out those problems in your research field which have not
been addressed before. Not only would you be investing your funds and
resources in the right project but also increasing the chances of your research
findings getting published.
 
Finding gaps and coming up with original and innovative topics can be tricky for more
than one reason. Below is a list of challenges that you might face while identifying
research gaps in your chosen area of study:
 
Effort of dealing with an enormous amount of information
    There could be a lot of unanswered questions in an area of your interest. So
you might get overwhelmed with the number of research gaps you stumble upon
and feel confused about which one you should focus on.
    To avoid the problem of changing from one research objective to another, stay
focused on your objective.
 
Difficulty of searching in an organized manner
     Some researchers may find it difficult to organize the information they have
gathered. One can easily lose ideas if they are not noted properly.
     Your literature matrix would be a big help to organize everything that you
need.
 
Hesitation in questioning established norms
     Some researchers are not confident enough to challenge the existing
knowledge in their field and may hesitate to question what others have claimed in
their work.
     Keep reading research literatures and be an expert of that topic which you
wish to investigate.

 
 H  O  W    T  O    I  D  E  N  T  I  F  Y    G  A  P  S    I  N 
  L  I  T  E  R  A  T  U  R  E  ? 
 
You may wonder what would be the best way to come up with some innovative
research questions. Though there is no well-defined process to find a gap in existing
knowledge, your curiosity, creativity, imagination, and judgment can help you identify it.
 
This portion would be an attempt to provide you a guide on how to identify what else
can you work on. You will need your literature matrix in this portion. Remember that
you will be required to work as a group, therefore consider the combined matrix by the
entire members of the group. You are expected then to evaluate at least 20 literatures
to be able to find a gap. The leader of the group may divide the work for each member,
and evaluate the output as a group later. Here is what you can do:

1. Evaluate the objectives of the research literatures.

     Are they different from what you intend to do?
     What issues or questions has the author not addressed?
     Please take note that if you do research, there must be something
new that you can contribute to what is already existing.

2. Evaluate the variables.

     From the variables that have been investigated in the literatures that
you have read, what other variables do you think are important to
include?
     What other factors could have influenced the results?
     Would there be a different result, if the study will be done in a place
with a much different situation?
     Would there be a different result, if the study will be conducted with a
different group of respondents?
     Whatever is the variable that was not investigated yet can be included
in the research that you plan to do.

3. Evaluate the methods.

     Are the methods or procedures used outdated or no longer
considered valid in your field?
     Is there scope for you to test the findings using more a current
approach?

4. Evaluate the findings

     Does the author’s argument require more clarification?
     Is there a different perspective that I can consider?
     What is the significance of this research to my work or the broader
field?

5. Evaluate the recommendations.

     What recommendation of the research can I do?

 
Read meta-analyses and review papers to learn more about the developments and
trends in research over the years in the area of your liking. This will help you get
acquainted with the problems that have been researched upon in the past as well as
trending queries on those topics that you find interesting.
 
 Seek Help From Your Research Advisor
Discuss the issues and problems in your field with your research advisor to generate
ideas for research. Articulating your ideas and knowing what others think and are
working on may help you identify your study area or even identify mistakes in your
approach. If you think a question would be interesting to work on, you can discuss it
with your advisor and get their suggestions.
 
Use Digital Tools To Seek Out Popular Topics Or Most Cited
Research Papers
To familiarize yourself with the trending queries in your field, you can use digital tools
as they can save time and help you cast a wider net in your search for a research gap.
Websites that identify the most cited papers in a field along with the emerging
branches, influential contributors, publications, and countries in that field can be
immensely useful to know which topics are considered important. You can also use
Google Trends to learn more about the popular questions related to your research
area. This will ease your search for an untapped area in your research field.
 
Check The Websites Of Influential Journals
The websites of prominent journals often have a section called ‘key concepts’ where
experts in an area highlight the central ideas in that field. Reading through this section
can help you gain a lot of insights and generate new ideas as well. Moreover, you
should also look through the reference section of these papers as it can lead you to
important resources on the topic.
 
Make A Note Of Your Queries
It is a good practice to note all the questions that cross your mind while reading any
published literature. If possible, you should map the question to the resource it is based
on. 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.
This will also help in ensuring that there is no unintended plagiarism in your research
paper. You can use tables, charts, pictures, or tools to maintain a record. This can help
you in the long run when you are developing your idea into a research problem or even
when writing your manuscript.
 
Research Each Question
Once you have a list of questions that could be explored, you must conduct thorough
research on them. What does this mean? Read more about each doubt or query that
you have. Find out if other researchers have had similar questions and whether they
have found answers to them. This will help you avoid duplication of work.
 
G  E  N  E  R  A  L  I  Z  A  T  I  O  N
 
Your research is something that you will invest a lot of time in, so make sure it is
something that arouses your interest and passion. While you finalize an unprecedented
research idea, make sure you consider the time frame available to complete the
research as well as other important aspects such as the availability of funds,
equipment, and infrastructure. An over-ambitious project may be difficult to accomplish
due to time and resources restraints, while research that makes an insufficient
contribution may fail to get the approval.
 
Since there is no specific method to pick out exceptional or interesting research
problems, you can use the tips presented in this module and figure out what works for
you. Keep reading and asking questions until you find the gap which you are interested
to fill through your research investigation. It is a hope that after finishing this module,
you have formulated your research objective, ready to be presented.
 

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