Setting up a research topic

Some students often ask supervisors and early career researchers to give them topics for their PhD theses and master dissertations. When students do not have what they have asked for, they may become upset. In this blog, I shall explain that we set up a topic and do not choose, as topics are not ready-made.

First, I should draw your attention that supervisors may never provide topics. You may need to check the supervision policy in your university – better to ask for it and familiarise yourself with what you expect from your supervisors so to avoid any disappointments in your research journey. In addition, seeking help from early career researchers might prove useful, but asking for a topic may not keep you in a good relationship with them. So no one may suggest or give you a topic. If these people have topics, they may use them for different publications instead. This blog is not only to tell you this, but also to show you how you set up a research topic and use your supervisors and early career researchers for guidance.

I advise not letting people suggest topics for you. I would say that research is a journey, and may take time (e.g. PhD research). Students may become bored as they live with the same research for a long period of time. If the topic was suggested, that may not be interesting to you and thus you may not be able to carry out, simply because it has not been your motivation. Research is the students’ motivation and interest. Hence, it is highly recommended that the student starts setting up a research topic. Students should ask for guidance not a topic.

Topics are not ready-made. That is, there is a process of development that we go through. This starts from the very first day we decide to conduct research (for PhD or Masters, or just research for publication), and ends the very last day that our research is ready for submission. I shall list the following pieces of advice that might help to make a start setting up and to develop a research topic:

• Use your observation skills while teaching in a school or in the university, as well as while being at other workplaces. Your interest has started the time you have identified your observation. If you find the observed issue interesting to you, why not giving it a try and see what is being said about it (reading).
• You may need then to start thinking about the area of your interest, and start making reading. For example, applied linguistics or education are very broad areas, so you may need to be more specific – for example, you may need to inform the people you seek help from that you are interested in language and digital media instead of applied linguistics, or about educational technology or English Language Teaching (ELT) instead of education.
• The more specific the topic is, the more interesting the research might be. You may not be able to manage if the research is too broad. I shall illustrate this in the following diagram:

• Students often become worried whether their research is not up to date or not useful. I would say it is the students’ responsibility to make the topic useful and up to date (aligned with the recent understandings and premises by drawing on the existing body of relevant and critical literature). Making reading is necessary to know about the state-of-the-art, through which you may know what to focus on and what theoretical and methodological frameworks to use. Supervisors may ask you at a very early stage to give them an example of a framework, so they can have their say. Also, reading the existing literature helps you identify the areas that have remained under-researched.
• Bear in mind that research is a dynamic process. While reading you have initially to brainstorm ideas, and then try to make a connection of them by thinking critically. Do not panic if you find yourself refining the topic of your research each time you read new relevant literature. This is so natural. We all started by an idea, but after time went by we found that the research has included other related ideas. However, ensure that the research remains specific and interesting, aligned with the current literature.
• While reading, you may need to list the resources that you are reading. Research requires references and bibliography. I recommend reading more from journal articles and edited book chapters at this very early stage of doing research (i.e. setting up a topic is one stage of doing research). These materials showcase empirical research that has been done in your area of interest, and therefore setting up a research topic based on empirical research is likely to be interesting and more reliable. Contact librarians from your university seeking help.
• Students may worry too much if the research topic is not interesting. I think that students will not be able to find out whether their research topics are interesting, by just finding theoretical support. An interesting topic is also the one that is possible to conduct and the one that is supported by evidence. We usually collect data in the field of education and linguistics (in social and exact sciences as well). A careful selection of the methods of collecting as well as analysing the data is necessary. The reason for thinking about data collection and analysis at this very early stage is to determine the feasibility of the study (i.e. is it possible to conduct this research and obtain evidence?). I do not want you to find out the study is not feasible after one year you started the research. After you set up the research topic, the aims and objectives, and formulate the research questions, it might be useful if you conduct a pilot study. However, pilot studies happen after you obtain ethical approval for your research. The Research Ethics Committee may not be happy if they find out that you started the research before they know about it.

Last but not least, by following these pieces of advice you are not only choosing a topic, but also developing a PhD thesis, a master dissertation, or research for publication. Interacting with early career researchers and supervisors is more helpful, so please do. Should you seek help, please do not hesitate to contact me.