Selecting a suitable topic

Selecting a suitable topic

1. It is important to select a broad area of study and immerse yourself in the literature of that area.

   • Yoou should use textbooks that are areas of controversy or that are gaps in the research of specific topics.
     • Reading profesional journals will help you to find popular topics of your borad area
       • Completed dissertations can serve you as another good source for selecting your topic, as well as identifying acceptable approaches to writing your research questions, or hypothesis, examining houw data was recolected and analyzed, etc.
         • You should develop theories in order to explain phenomena and alos to provide structure or framework to the knowledge base in a field.

2. You should select the topic by identifying two or three areas in which different types of research may be persued.

   • You should not limit yourself to theories within your own discipline.
     • In order to make a substantial contribution to the knowledge base, you should for reported research sucb as suvey textbooks, research journals, and dissertations.

3. Qualitative research studies can be designed so that data are collected first, and then a theory is derived from those data.

   • Having access to an existing database can be a real advantage in selecting a dissertation topic.
     • Research topics and their research questions need to be reworked by the student and the advisor before they're approved,

4. In selecting an appropriate topic the following criteria should be considered as important:

   • 1) The interest: Try to find a topic for which you have a lot of curiosity and perhaps even passion to sustain you though the process.
     • 2) Significance: Try to select a significant topic that has the potential to contribute to the development of a new theory, test an existing theory, uncover new facts, suggest relationships between phenomena, or provide new insights into phenomena.
       • 3) Available data: Access to data is so important that you might consider identifying your research participants first and then seek to select a topic. So this is an activity that must be considered as a major consideration.
         • 4) Knowledge and skills: In order to save time and talk knowledgeably about your topic, you need to select a consistent topic, you need to use your knowledge and skills.
           • It is important too to select a topic that matches your skills.
           • 5) Manageability Try to find a topic that you can finish in a time frame that is within your reach.
             • 6) Funding: you may check with your department, college, or university for internal funding opportunities.
         • You need to be certain the data for your dissertation will be available and accessible when you come to the collection phase of your dissertation