How To Find A Research Gap (Quickly!): Step-By-Step Tutorial With Examples + Free Worksheet — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00In this video, I'm gonna show you how to find a research gap as quickly
2. 0:03as possible using a straightforward process that doesn't rely on
3. 0:07any tools or special software.
4. 0:10Let's jump into it.
5. 0:13Hey, Derek, here from Grad Coach.
6. 0:15If it's your first time with us, the Grad coach channel is where we
7. 0:19cover all things research related so you can approach your research
8. 0:23project, whether that's a dissertation paper, or just a research article.
9. 0:27With competence and confidence.
10. 0:30Speaking of which, if you are currently working on a research proposal for
11. 0:34a dissertation or thesis, be sure to check out our collection of templates
12. 0:38and tools over on the Grad coach blog.
13. 0:41On the blog, we cover everything that you need to get started
14. 0:44on your research journey.
15. 0:46If that interests you, you can head over to grad coach.com/.
16. 0:52As a starting point, it's useful for us to first define what exactly
17. 0:56we mean by a research gap to make sure we're all on the same page.
18. 1:01Simply put a research gap is any space where there's currently a lack of
19. 1:05solid agreed upon research regarding a specific topic or issue or phenomenon.
20. 1:11In other words, there's a lack of established knowledge given this
21. 1:14lack and opportunity emerges for a researcher like yourself to.
22. 1:19That gap.
23. 1:20So research gaps are essentially the birthplace of research topics.
24. 1:25In other words, if you want to find a research topic, you've gotta
25. 1:29start by finding a research gap.
26. 1:31Now, we've already done a comprehensive video going into the details.
27. 1:36Of what a research gap is and the different types of research gaps.
28. 1:39So I'm not gonna go into the weeds about that right here.
29. 1:43If you're interested in that video, you can find the details up here.
30. 1:47There should be a little link for you.
31. 1:48Alternatively, there is a link in the description.
32. 1:51Instead, in this video, I'm gonna focus on the how specifically, how do you go about
33. 1:57finding a research gap really quickly now?
34. 2:01Quickly is the key word.
35. 2:02Yeah.
36. 2:02Because there are many ways to find a research gap, and we do
37. 2:05cover some of those alternative options on the grad coach blogs,
38. 2:09so remember to go check that out.
39. 2:10But in this video, we're gonna focus on a process that really allows you to
40. 2:14find potential research gaps quickly.
41. 2:17So it's important to state this because it's not the only way.
42. 2:20Saying this is the way or the best way to find a research gap.
43. 2:24But it is really a great way to quickly wrap your head around potential
44. 2:27opportunities that exist within your area of interest and what we call the strategy
45. 2:33or this process is friend hunting.
46. 2:36So without further delay, let's get into it.
47. 2:41Right.
48. 2:41So the very first step is to decide on your broad area of interest.
49. 2:45So obviously we're not talking about deciding on a topic yet,
50. 2:48just a broad area of interest.
51. 2:50Perhaps there's something that you've done in your coursework that
52. 2:52piqued your interest and you're, uh, keen to explore that further.
53. 2:56It could come from any source, but first things first, define your broad area of
54. 3:00interest and then check that this is okay with your university or your institution.
55. 3:06This might sound really dead obvious, but we've seen it so many times
56. 3:10that students run down a path.
57. 3:11With great excitement and start piecing together research proposals and getting
58. 3:15all excited about what they're gonna do.
59. 3:17Only to find that actually the university requires a very specific focus in terms
60. 3:23of the topic that needs to be researched.
61. 3:25So step one, make sure that you have some clarity about your, your rough
62. 3:30area of interest, and that that is acceptable to your university.
63. 3:34You can do that by checking any briefing documents that they've
64. 3:37given you, or of course you can just contact the faculty and check that.
65. 3:42Area that you're interested in would be acceptable.
66. 3:45In this video, we're gonna use job satisfaction.
67. 3:48In other words, satisfaction in the workplace, satisfaction with your
68. 3:51employer, and where you work as a sample area of interest to work through
69. 3:56a running example and show you step by step how this process plays out.
70. 4:01So once you've pinned down your research area of interest, the broad
71. 4:05area of interest that you're keen to explore, the next step is to head
72. 4:09over to good old Google Scholar.
73. 4:12If you don't already know, Google Scholar is a great way to source academic
74. 4:16literature for pretty much any topic.
75. 4:18It's certainly not the only way, and again, we're not prescribing this.
76. 4:22Best way to find academic literature, but it is a useful starting point.
77. 4:27And so that's the first step that we're gonna take.
78. 4:29So let's go on over to Google Scholar.
79. 4:31So to start, you gonna want to do a few searches using keywords that are
80. 4:36relevant to your area of interest.
81. 4:39In our example of.
82. 4:40Job satisfaction.
83. 4:41We could use job satisfaction as a keyword, or we might want to get a
84. 4:45little bit more specific, perhaps job satisfaction for millennials or
85. 4:49job satisfaction for Gen Zers or job satisfaction in a specific industry.
86. 4:54So it's always a good idea to play around with as many keyword combinations and
87. 4:59phrases as you can, and as you start looking at the literature, that'll
88. 5:02also give you some ideas in terms.
89. 5:05How you could potentially phrase things and what language is used within your
90. 5:09space, within your area of interest.
91. 5:11So then for each of the keyword combinations that you use, or keywords
92. 5:15or key phrases that you use, you'll wanna do some refining specifically.
93. 5:20You wanna narrow it down to very recent articles because you're
94. 5:24looking for a research gap.
95. 5:25Obviously, you want to.
96. 5:27Content that's really fresh content that's come out as recently as possible.
97. 5:31Of course, within academia, the wheels turn fairly slowly, and so what's
98. 5:35considered fresh might already be, uh, you know, a year or two old, depending on your
99. 5:39field, but you wanna narrow that down.
100. 5:41And so what you'll do is use Google Scholar to filter it down to the
101. 5:45most recent papers, perhaps a year or within the year that you're in,
102. 5:49or perhaps one year behind, depending on how fast moving the space is.
103. 5:53Then it's time to dig into the literature itself.
104. 5:57Yeah, it's time to get reading once you've run through a few searches or run
105. 6:02a few searches using different keywords, and I'd recommend that you keep a
106. 6:05separate tab for each of those keywords.
107. 6:07You'll need to scan through the results and see what's most relevant
108. 6:11and what's most interesting to you.
109. 6:12Of course, Google's going to give you a lot of content.
110. 6:16For any given keyword, there's probably gonna be tons and tons of papers and.
111. 6:20You've gotta do a little bit of scanning and see what looks interesting to you.
112. 6:23If you're looking at titles and they don't make any sense to you, well then
113. 6:27you can probably scratch that off the list because that's going to be, uh, quite a
114. 6:30curve for you to overcome in order to just get an idea of what the topic is about.
115. 6:35So you wanna have a look through all of the articles that are coming up in
116. 6:39the results, and you want to narrow your search down or pick out, let's say
117. 6:42five to 10 articles that interest you and are attractive to you in some way.
118. 6:48At least pique your.
119. 6:49Now I am making the assumption, yeah, that your university has provided you
120. 6:54with access to academic databases.
121. 6:56In other words, when you click on one of these articles, you can
122. 6:59actually access it, or at least that you can go search for it within the
123. 7:02university's database or library.
124. 7:05But if that's not the case, you will need to look at potentially two other options.
125. 7:11The first option, Open Access articles and open access are essentially free
126. 7:16to access articles and will include a link or two links to some open access
127. 7:21dial directories below this video.
128. 7:23So you can go have a look at those and that will allow you to search for
129. 7:27articles that you know you have access to.
130. 7:29And the second option is a platform called Deep Dive.
131. 7:33Now Deep Dive is essentially something like a Netflix or like
132. 7:37a subscription service to access a broad range of journal articles.
133. 7:41So this can.
134. 7:42Really useful and something that that'll probably be worth the money if you're
135. 7:46just gonna use it for a short amount of time to source a group of articles.
136. 7:50So you wanna look at those two options, either open access
137. 7:53directories or Deep Dyve.
138. 7:55All right, so onto the next step.
139. 7:57Once you've got your collection of articles, it's time to get reading.
140. 8:01Now, the good news is you don't need to read every article from start to finish.
141. 8:06That's gonna be extremely time consuming, and at least at this point
142. 8:10in time, it's just not necessary.
143. 8:12So the way that you can approach this in a more.
144. 8:14Optimized fashion is to focus on three specific sections for each given article.
145. 8:19So the first is the abstract.
146. 8:22And while you were looking through Google, uh, scholar, you're
147. 8:25probably reading the abstract.
148. 8:26Uh, that's usually what they list in any case.
149. 8:29And so you wanna have a look at the abstract.
150. 8:31That's usually one paragraph, two paragraphs, very short.
151. 8:34You wanna have a look at the introduction cuz this will give you a bit.
152. 8:37Uh, of an insight into the context of the study and the background
153. 8:40of the study and what the researchers were trying to achieve.
154. 8:43And then lastly, you want to have a look at the discussion
155. 8:46section or the conclusion section.
156. 8:48Sometimes these two things are bound together and so that will tell you.
157. 8:52What they found.
158. 8:53So by having a look at the abstract, by having a look at the introduction
159. 8:57and by having a look at the discussion slash conclusion, you've got an
160. 9:00idea of what were they trying to find and what did they find?
161. 9:04And that's gonna give you a good idea of what that study was about.
162. 9:08So you want to rinse and repeat that process.
163. 9:10Four, five, or 10 articles.
164. 9:12From there, it's really time to get down to business and to focus on where
165. 9:17you're gonna find your research gap.
166. 9:19Now, this is where the magic happens.
167. 9:23So what you wanna do is you wanna have a look within any given article for section.
168. 9:27That has phrasing along the lines of future research.
169. 9:32Uh, further research or further research is needed, research
170. 9:36opportunities or research directions.
171. 9:39You're looking for these kinds of terms.
172. 9:41And what these terms are, are pointing to is obviously opportunities for further
173. 9:47research for researchers like you.
174. 9:49And so what we call this is the FRIN the FRIN section F.R.I.N., and that just
175. 9:54stands for further research is needed.
176. 9:58Some studies will have a dedicated section for this, and some studies will
177. 10:02include this as part of the conclusion section, or as I mentioned, it might
178. 10:06even be the discussion section.
179. 10:08And simply put, regardless of what shape it takes, the friend is your goldmine.
180. 10:13This is where the researchers explain what opportunities exist.
181. 10:17Beyond their study.
182. 10:19So given that you are looking at recent papers, you're looking at
183. 10:23papers from this year or the previous year, if these researchers are saying
184. 10:27that there's an opportunity for further exploration year or further
185. 10:31exploration there, then obviously that presents a golden opportunity,
186. 10:36provided that the research paper and the researchers are credible of course.
187. 10:40Um, but for the most part, if you're sticking to high quality academic
188. 10:43journals, that's not something to worry.
189. 10:46Now, of course, they're not handing you, uh, a bunch of research gaps and research
190. 10:50topics on a silver platter, but this is a great starting point for you to at
191. 10:54least get thinking about, okay, what are the opportunities for original research?
192. 11:00So this is all probably rather conceptual.
193. 11:02So let's take a look at some examples in action to see what this looks like.
194. 11:06So looking at this article, this articles about.
195. 11:10Impact of over education, on job outcomes, and naturally job
196. 11:14satisfaction is one of the variables that they'll consider in the study.
197. 11:17Hence, it's coming up in our search.
198. 11:20So if we scroll down to the bottom of this article, you'll see there's a
199. 11:23dedicated section called Limitations and Directions for Future Research.
200. 11:28Yeah.
201. 11:28They talk about the limitations of the study and provide suggestions
202. 11:32about how further research.
203. 11:34Could, or future researchers could improve upon their work and
204. 11:37overcome some of the limitations that were encountered in this study.
205. 11:41Next up, we've got this study about organizational
206. 11:44support and job satisfaction.
207. 11:46This is a quantitative study looking at the relationships between variables.
208. 11:51So in this article, if we scroll down to the section titled,
209. 11:54Limitations and future directions.
210. 11:57They provide a really nice structure because they essentially
211. 12:00break it down into limitation and then opportunity for research,
212. 12:04limitation, opportunity for research.
213. 12:06So that's very nicely structured and it creates a nice list of opportunities
214. 12:10that you can potentially explore.
215. 12:12So what you wanna do is follow this skim review process of digging up
216. 12:17research articles quickly, skimming through those three core sections, and
217. 12:21then looking for the opportunities for further research or the fringe sections.
218. 12:25You wanna do this for the five to 10 articles that you originally pulled
219. 12:30up, and you wanna map out any potential interesting research gaps or research
220. 12:34opportunities that emerge from that.
221. 12:36You might also find.
222. 12:39You want to have a look at a larger number of articles, you might find
223. 12:42that, oh, actually there were more than five or 10 that were interesting.
224. 12:45Or you might just find that as you snowball through the articles in your
225. 12:50original list that you find other stuff that's already interesting.
226. 12:52So don't rush this process, although I did say this is a quick way of doing it.
227. 12:57You take the time to have a look at what's going on in the research
228. 13:01and dig a little bit deeper.
229. 13:03If you've developed your, your short list, if you've got through that
230. 13:07process and you've found, let's say a, a handful of areas that are interesting
231. 13:12to you, you'll then need to do a final step, which is to return to
232. 13:16Google Scholar and just double check that there aren't any fresh articles,
233. 13:20any fresher publications that have.
234. 13:21Already filled the gap.
235. 13:23Obviously you don't want to go get all excited about a specific research gap.
236. 13:28I need to find that, oh, actually there was a paper published last
237. 13:30month that already covered this, and I just missed it in my original
238. 13:34search because I was using different keywords, whatever the case may be.
239. 13:36So make sure that you just.
240. 13:39Go back and sanity check all of the interest areas that you have or the
241. 13:43potential research gaps that you have, and keep in mind that ultimately this
242. 13:48need for originality will vary from university to university and depending
243. 13:53on what level of study you're at as well.
244. 13:56So, Keep that in mind.
245. 13:58Keep in mind that you don't need to always find something that's perfectly, perfectly
246. 14:02original, but it is useful to use this as your starting point because this gives
247. 14:07you really a view of sort of the edge of the current state of knowledge, the
248. 14:12edge of the current state of research.
249. 14:15Last but not least, once you've got that short list of potential research
250. 14:19gaps, you're gonna need to evaluate them systematically so that you.
251. 14:24Choose a winner, so to speak.
252. 14:25You certainly can't go on and research everything that's of interest to you.
253. 14:28So there's many factors to consider, and if you want to evaluate your options
254. 14:33systematically, we do have a free worksheet that you can access on the
255. 14:38grad coach blog, which you can then use to kind of line up and evaluate each
256. 14:42of your research gaps, so to speak.
257. 14:45So as usual, include the link to that.
258. 14:50So there you have it, a pretty straightforward, time efficient way
259. 14:54to quickly identify potential research gaps or at least potential research
260. 14:59directions based on the existing literature, and most importantly, the
261. 15:03most cutting edge, the most recent.
262. 15:06Existing literature.
263. 15:07As I said, this is certainly not the only way to find a research gap.
264. 15:10We do have many, many other routes that you can pursue, and you can
265. 15:14learn more about those on the grad coach blog, but it is one way.
266. 15:18As I mentioned, it might be a bit overkill depending on what
267. 15:21the need for originality is.
268. 15:24But it's a great starting point nonetheless, because it does give you an
269. 15:26idea of what research gaps look like and what opportunities look like if you're
270. 15:31still a bit unsure about how to pursue a research gap or how to find a research
271. 15:36opportunity and how to move that into, let's say, a proposal into a dissertation.
272. 15:42Be sure to check out our one-on-one private coaching service where we hold
273. 15:46your hand step by step through the process and make sure that you develop the best
274. 15:51quality work that you possibly could.
275. 15:53If you're interested in that, you can learn more and book a free
276. 15:56consultation at GradCoach.com.
277. 15:58Until next time, good luck.