ВУЗ:
Составители:
Рубрика:
subject n.
tentative a.
topical a.
urgency n.
verify v.
предмет, тема, субъект
предварительный, пробный, ориентировочный
актуальный
настоятельность, крайняя необходимость
проверять, подтверждать, верифицировать
UNIT 3
CHOOSING AND SPECIFYING
THE RESEARCH TOPIC
The aim of this unit:
• to make you think about the importance of choosing the right research topic;
• to give information on the attributes of a good research topic;
• to provide understanding of techniques for generating and refining research ideas;
• to enable you to turn research ideas into clear research objectives;
• to get you acquainted with the content of the research proposal;
• to practise in narrowing the topic to a specific subject.
FOCUS ON INFORMATION
1. Skim the text about formulating the research topic. Find an appropriate heading for each paragraph.
a. the importance of theory in writing research projects
b. classification of techniques for generating research ideas
c. rational thinking techniques
d. the starting point of your research project
e. setting research objectives
f. writing a research proposal
g. creative thinking techniques
h. writing research questions
1. Before you start your research you need to have at least some idea of what you want to do. This is probably the
most difficult, and yet the most important, part of your research project. Without being clear about what you are going
to research it is difficult to plan how you are going to research it. This reminds us of a favourite quote in Alice’s Adven-
tures in Wonderland. This is part of Alice’s conversation with the Cheshire Cat. In this Alice asks the Cat (Carrol, 1989:
63-64):
‘Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to walk from here?’
‘That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,’ said the Cat.
‘I don’t much care where,’ said Alice.
‘Then it doesn’t matter which way you walk,’ said the Cat.
Formulating and clarifying the research topic is the starting point of your research project. Once you are clear
about this you will be able to choose the most appropriate research strategy and data collection and analysis techniques.
2. If you have not been given an initial research idea there is a range of techniques that can be used to find and se-
lect a topic that you would like to research. They can be thought of as those that are predominantly rational thinking
and those that involve more creative thinking. It is usually better to use a variety of techniques. In order to do this you
will need to have some understanding of the techniques and the ways in which they work.
Table 3.1. Techniques for generating research ideas
More frequently used techniques for generating and refining research ideas
Rational thinking Creative thinking
• Examining your own strengths
and interests
• Looking at past project titles
• Discussion
• Searching the literature
• Keeping a notebook of ideas
• Exploring personal preferences us-
ing past projects
• Relevance trees
• Brainstorming
3. Examining your own strengths and interests. It is important that you choose a topic in which you are likely to do
well and, if possible, have already some academic knowledge. There is the need to think about your future. If you plan
to work in financial management it would be sensible to choose a research project in the financial management field.
Looking at past project titles. Many postgraduates consider looking at past projects a useful way of generating re-
search ideas. For undergraduate and taught masters degrees these are often called dissertations. For research degrees
they are termed theses. A common way of doing this is to scan a list of past project titles for anything that captures your
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