FACTORS AFFECTING THE TOPIC SELECTION/POINTS TO OBSERVE WHEN SELECTING A RESEARCH PROBLEM

FACTORS AFFECTING THE TOPIC SELECTION/POINTS TO OBSERVE WHEN SELECTING A RESEARCH PROBLEM

  1. Personal interest-Interest produces enthusiasm on what one is doing. It is the interest that makes the experience adequately rewarding.
  2. Topic one selects should be important-The topic selected should not be brought forward just because of personal interest but also because it will add to knowledge.
  3. Time-Due to time limitations, writers of academic research need to avoid complex topics as they may require large population samples. It is important to compare the time that topic will take against time available.
  4. Newness-It is always good to look at a new area so that, what one is doing is a little different from what others have done in past.
  5. Accessibility to material and respondents-A suitable topic is one which allows researcher to access the material. It is important to note that getting materials and respondents in some areas might not be an easy task.

Examples include

  • Senior government officials.
  • Vice chancellor of a university private or public.
  • Health officials.
  • National intelligence service.
  1. Ethical consideration-It is both unethical and illegal to conduct research that may slander or do physical or psychological damage to subjects involved hence a researcher needs to take care of a subject in a very humane manner.
  2. Subject /topic selected for research should be familiar.ie known to unknown or general to specific.
  3. Costs involved
  4. Selection of a problem must be pre-decided by a preliminary study.
  5. Avoid the following;
  6. A subject that have been overdone
  7. Too narrow/fake problem
  8. Controversial subjects.

STEPS IN TOPIC SELECTION

Identify areas that puzzles an interest to you-Many issues may interest or puzzle a researcher and this may be social, economic, political, hr related issues, culture and religion.

Identify/select key words for the topic-Researcher should narrow  down to the real aspects that are puzzling or interesting him/her and express the in specific key words. Example in human resource management, researcher may be interested on how mergers and acquisitions affect company loyalty.

Define the topic-Researcher analyses selected key words and tries to put them together meaningfully.

4.Formulate the topic-After problem identification and definition it is important that reseacher comes up with a complete topic e.g. impact of mergers and acquisitions on company loyalty in a private sector.

QUALITIES OF AN EFFECTIVE RESEARCH TOPIC

  1. Clear and an un ambiguous.
  2. Supported by credible evidence.
  3. Should captivate or interest researcher.
  4. Should be researchable.

WHERE TO GET RESEARCH TOPIC FROM/SOURCES OF RESEARCH PROBLEMS.

  1. Current issues(Newspaper)
  2. Observation of environment behavior.

Personal Experience

  1. Course; lecturers, discussion groups and literature.
  2. Lifestyle
  3. Previous research work i.e. impact of microfinances on SMEs

Natural calamities

  1. Review of related literature-Review of published literature eg textbooks, journals, magazines etc. Other sources in this categories include. Research bulletin, research projects, research thesis, journals of management research, dissertations and internet.
  2. Consultation with experts and research institutions.
  3. Participation in professional discussions-forums, seminars, workshops and conferences.
  • Social development –social changes and technological changes.
  • Media-news like alcoholism, drug abuse, addiction and immorality.
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