RESEARCH TOPICS

AND THEIR
SOURCES
•Research topics are as varied
and numerous as the realities
and complexities of daily life,
on a personal, institutional,
national or global level.
 Sources of research topics:
• 1. Pressing Issues on an individual,
organizational or societal level, or success
stories.
Example:
 Individual level – ( Problem of low sef-esteem.
 Organizational level- (Campus organization
such as Student Council Elections)
Societal level – (Narcissism among millennials
)
 2. Wide Reading / Critical
Film Viewing
 varied reading materials – books,
journals, magazines, newspapers,
monographs can help crystallize topics
o interest. Films, as well as videos and
documentaries, can spark off a research
inquiry or problem.
 3. Social Networking
 The role of netizens in present-day
society cannot be overemphasized.
Netizens voice their observations,
opinions, even condemnation of current
happenings. Giant networks even
devote to a segment of their new
broadcast on what netizens say about
recent event or issues.
 4. Replication
 Theses and dissertations are good
sources of topics. A theory used in a
previous study can still be further
invistigated. The thesis page showing
“ Recommendations for Further
Study” is a must read as will as the
critical literature review.
 5.Lectures, Talks, Seminars

These are breeding grounds of ideas.

Many researchers have claimed that
their research topics were offshoots of
ideas heard in lectures or even during
the open forum.
 6. Gray Areas
These are points of interest but very little
known about them.
Examples:
“ Is the female circumcision still practiced
among specific groups of people?
“ What is life like after the rescue of
trafficked women or rape victims?