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Developing Your Research Question or Topic

This guide provides students with a systematic 7-step process for developing strong research topics, moving from broad interests to focused, answerable questions. It emphasizes topic development as the foundation for successful research

Even the best research question is useless if you can't realistically answer it. This feasibility check helps you avoid impossible projects and design something both achievable and impactful.

Key Feasibility Factors

Resources

  • Can you get the data you need? (participants, datasets, samples, documents)
  • Do you have access to necessary equipment or software?
  • Are there costs involved, and can you cover them?

Time

  • Can you complete all research phases within your deadline?
  • Does data collection require specific timing (like seasonal data)?
  • How long will analysis and writing realistically take?

Skills

  • Do you have the methodological skills needed?
  • Can you learn required techniques within your timeframe?
  • Do you have enough background knowledge in the subject area?

Ethics

  • Will you need institutional review board approval?
  • How will you protect participant privacy and get informed consent?
  • Are there potential conflicts of interest to address?

Common Problems and Solutions

Engineering Student: Plans to design and build a new wind turbine. Problem: Building full-scale turbines requires massive resources. Solution: Design and simulate a novel turbine component, or conduct comparative analysis of existing designs.

Health Sciences Student: Plans to develop and test a novel cardiac pacemaker design with human subjects. Problem: Medical device testing requires extensive regulatory approval and safety protocols beyond student scope. Solution: Computer simulation of device performance, bench testing with artificial heart models, or analysis of existing pacemaker failure modes.

Psychology Student: Wants to study long-term effects of childhood trauma on adult relationships. Problem: Longitudinal data is typically unavailable to students. Solution: Cross-sectional study examining correlations between retrospective trauma reports and current attachment styles.

Computer Science Student: Wants to create a new operating system. Problem: OS development requires teams and years of work. Solution: Develop a specific module for an existing open-source OS, or create specialized applications.

The key is matching your ambition to your realistic capabilities while keeping the intellectual challenge that interests you.