Defining your topic

 What is research?
 So where do I start?
 Limiting and defining the research topic
 Creating a statement about a research topic

What is research?
Research is often defined as ‘the systematic way in which we learn about, interpret and understand some
existing thing or body of knowledge, for a definite purpose’.

This purpose can be embodied in one or more questions that we might want to ask or solve. These
questions might be quite pragmatic or entirely theoretical and self-reflective or meditative. For instance, a
pragmatic research question might be “what is the most suitable living space for elderly people with some
form of dementia?” while a more theoretical type of research question might be “what happens when a
particular space or place is changed by time? What in this case does ‘abandonment’ mean?”

Our first questions tend to be too broad, and somewhat naïve. But you will notice that these first questions
do not have any obvious or easy answer. To formulate them, we may have only read a couple of books or
articles that touched upon the issues they address, even if we have considerable background experience
related to the general area in which they are situated. Consequently, these first, broad questions will
probably need refocusing in the light of issues and discussions we are not yet aware of. What most
researchers find as they read into an area is that every question they ask can lead to other questions, and
these in turn are often the result of better information, reflection, and greater awareness of the subject.

As this implies, every research project is part of an ongoing ‘conversation’ between other experts or
researchers in the same field. And every part of this conversation, and every question implies a ‘theory’ or
theoretical context, no matter how pragmatic or ‘nuts and bolts’ the subject appears to be. This might involve
certain key concepts and approaches, certain methodological orientations, and certain ways of thinking
about a particular set of issues.

Every type of research ‘conversation’ is expressed through academic literature, both pragmatic and
theoretical, through designs, drawings, photos and other media. As a novice researcher, you will need to
learn to enter into this ‘conversation’, and that means learning about its ‘rules’, its terminology, its key
concepts and theories and favoured methodology.

Defining your research project therefore usually involves not only reading widely and energetically about a
more or less focused subject, but:

 Asking questions and defining a manageable topic (you don’t have long to do this!)
 Defining research problems – and further questions arising from these first questions
 Locating sources of related theory, information, literature, visual material or data
 Reviewing previous research efforts in directly related fields in a preliminary Literature Review
 To help you in your reading, see the related page on this website, Finding your Sources and
Information
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So where do I start?
Start with a subject or area you know relatively well or with what interests you most in your professional
activity. Remember that the best research comes out of a deeply rooted curiosity, interest or passion, and
not some hope for short-term financial or career gain. To identify your research topic, therefore, you will
need to think carefully about what really interests you, and try to relate this to what you already know,
perhaps from previous studies (ie the final years of your degree), from your professional practice, or from
your reading.

If you are a bit uncertain, start by making a list of up to three topics or areas that really interest you, and then
do a bit of reading on them, making notes of any issues or problems, or areas that seem particularly
interesting, challenging or where existing approaches seem problematic to you. The reason for choosing
more than one potential topic will become apparent as you read these notes. You will also need to think
about the theories most closely related to what interests you.

For example, if you are interested in office design and also in environmental psychology, you might in your
reading come across a theory concerning people’s apparent need or preference for natural light and outdoor
views in their working environment, and a related theory about their preferences for nature (‘biophilia’). This
particular real-life example (taken from a School honours project), after some further targeted reading, led to
a well-defined topic, that eventuated in a first class honours thesis on ‘biophilia’, user preference and
contemporary office design.

By reading widely about two or three subjects that interest us, we usually find that one particular subject
‘jumps out’ as particularly interesting to us. At this point it is still important not to simply opt for that subject or
area, since it is very possible that your own questions and ideas about the subject are still ‘naïve’ and have
already been studied, or are being studied, in some depth. For this reason it is vital to ‘keep your options
open’ for the first month or so of your preliminary investigation, or search for a topic. Remember also that a
research degree is an opportunity to further develop a specialisation in your discipline, or to further develop
an interest you might have had for some time. It must be in an area that you can see yourself reading and
writing in or on for at least 2 years (for a Masters, and up to 4 for a PhD).

Limiting and defining the research topic

A viable research topic usually comprises a focus limited to a certain set of ideas, persons or objects, a
certain timeframe, a place or places, and certain limiting conditions, often viewed through one or more
related theories or viewpoints. For example, ‘The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright and its influence in
post-war Italy’ might be a ‘researchable’ topic for study in architectural history. This is because it includes
one person’s architecture and its influence within a particular country within a particular period.

An associated theoretical literature might include various Italian debates between ‘rationalists’ and
‘organicists’ (those who followed or were influenced by Wright). While this topic may or may not be a
suitable topic (and you could only find out if it is or is not by considerable reading), it does demonstate that
topic definition is usually specific. It necessarily involves gathering a strictly limited amount of information
within a specific timeframe. (For further information on finding sources, see the related page, Finding your
Sources and Information.) Once you feel satisfied that you have found a promising topic, you can start trying
to define it. Keep the other topic (or other two topics) you have been reading about ‘in reserve’, in case this
one you are focusing on does not work out. This process of definition takes time. Bear in mind that this is a
reflective process, demanding a lot of thought, and sometimes quite a bit of inspiration. You will also benefit
greatly from having conversations about your ideas with academics who specialise in this area.

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Creating a statement about a research topic

Traditionally, a topic’s definition is usually first embodied in a statement about the project. To write this
statement, start by naming your topic (keep in mind that the definition below is for the purpose of illustration
only):

“I am learning about / working on / studying….” For example, say you might want to look at design for
Aboriginal housing. Thus your statement would become: “I am interested in studying design for Aboriginal
housing”.

Now ask yourself a series of questions in order to limit this focus further: what problems exactly are you
trying to solve? What kind of housing? Where? When? Who or which group of people? Under what
particular circumstances?

Once you have a short list of such questions, try rewriting your statement: “I am learning about / working on /
studying… (“the design of Aboriginal housing in contemporary remote South Australian settlements”) …
because i want to find out who / what / where / when / whether / how / why…(“because i want to find out
whether existing designs address the needs of these communities adequately – and if not why not”). By
including a rationale in your question, the research problem can then be identified. To do this, add a qualifier
to your question: “I am studying….because….in order to understand…” The end result, in our example,
might read something like this: “I am studying the design of Aboriginal housing in contemporary remote
South Australian settlements because I want to find out whether existing designs address the needs of these
communities adequately, in order to understand these needs and their cultural relations more fully”.

Don’t feel that you have to have a practical, ‘solution’ outcome to your project. Understanding, a richer
knowledge, and potentially, a more reflective design practice, is quite a sufficient and significant outcome. It
is certainly a more impressive outcome than rushing in to find a ‘practical solution’ before the hard work of
understanding the background, the issues, the related theory, is completed.

The aim of all this definition is to explain what the focus of your research is (the topic) what you don’t know
and want to know about it (the question), and why you need to know about it (the rationale).

For further information on this process of topic definition, and much else that is useful besides, have a look
at the useful textbook by W.C. Booth, G.G. Colomb, J.M. Williams, The Craft of Research (Chicago, 1995),
especially part II.

Once you are reasonably happy with your definition, try writing two or three short paragraphs outlining your
topic, and list beneath this outline of your intended research project 5-7 texts that are relevant to your
discussion. This brief outline can now become something that you can show to a potential supervisor.