CHOOSING

AND
INTRODUCING
A RESEARCH TOPIC
Contents
01 Identifying a Research Topic

02 Narrowing Down a Research Topic

03 Developing the Research Title

04 Writing the Introduction of the Research

Contents
05 Writing the Purpose of the Study

06 Writing Research Questions

07 Writing the Significance of the Study

08 Determining the Scope and Delimitation of

the Study
01
Identifying a
Research Topic
Identifying a
Research Topic
It is important to distinguish the difference between
the research topic and the research question.
The research topic is essentially the issue one wants to
investigate. It may be an idea or subject that the
researcher is interested in.
In some books, the term research topic is used to refer to
the general area of inquiry.

On the other hand, the research question focuses the

inquiry. It stems from the research topic and asks specific
things the researcher wants to find out. Unlike the
research topic which can take the form of a discussion,
the research question is always phrased as a question.
Strategies In Choosing A
Research Topic
According to several authors (Silverman, 2013;
Merriam, 1998; Creswell, 2014)

1. Look into your own personal experience

2. Read literature in your field of study

3. Reflect on existing issues in society

Look Into Your Own Personal
Experience
Consider your own personal experiences, history, and
background and see if you can come up with a few ideas
for a research topic. You may also explore an area of
interest that is unique to your situation. You may also find
a possible research topic in the challenges you encounter
in daily life.
Lastly, the topic could be something you are genuinely
curious about.
Reading Related Literature
in Your Field of Study
Reading scholarly work, existing researches, and studies
may also help you come up with ideas on a research topic.

Decide on a possible subject area first.

After deciding on a potential subject, read literature to help

yourself refine your research topic (University of Southern
California, 2016).
Reading Related Literature
in Your Field of Study
For free journal databases, you may look into ERIC
(Education Resources Information Center), Google Scholar,
Directory of Open Access Journals, and HighWire Press
Free Online Full-Text Articles from Stanford University.

Try to evaluate your sources of information and determine

if they credible and reliable. Credible websites includes
news websites.
 In exploring possible research topics, take note of
the following roles that your literature review might
yield (University of Southern California, 2016).

Literature can be:

➢ Sources of criticism
➢ Sources of new ideas
➢ Sources of interdisciplinary insight
Tackling Political and Social
Issues
You may also get inspiration for a research
topic from existing political and social issues
affecting our society. You may feel a strong
social obligation to address a social issue and
do something about it through your own
research. To find the possible research topics,
you may read the newspaper or watch the
news. You may also study policy debates in
government.
 02
Narrowing Down
a Research Topic
...
WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR
RESEARCH TOPIC IS TOO
BROAD

When do you know if your research topic is too broad or

too narrow?
Narrowing down your research topic is crucial to
avoid difficulties in the course of your study such as
the following (University of Southern California,
2016):

➢ Generally, it will be hard to conduct research on a broad

topic and find the answers you need within the allotted
time.
➢ You will retrieve “too much information”, making it hard to
choose which ones are most relevant and which ones you
can simply discard.
➢ The information gathered are too general and it is hard to
build a clear conceptual framework with them. It is also
difficult to determine research methods that can be used to
analyze the topic.
➢ The concepts and ideas are so varied that it is hard to
integrate them and you can get easily off-track.
To narrow down a broad research topic, you may consider
the following strategies (University of Southern California,
2016):

➢ Aspects
➢ Components
➢ Methodology
➢ Place
➢ Relationship
➢ Time
➢ Type
➢ Combination
WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR
RESEARCH TOPIC IS TOO
NARROW
You may realize that your research topic is too
narrow when you “cannot find any relevant or
meaningful information about it” (University of
Southern California, 2016, para.2). If your research
topic is too narrow, you may encounter the
following difficulties (University of Southern
California, 2016, para.1):

➢ You cannot find that much information. If information is

available on the topic, you realize that these barely relate to
your topic or are irrelevant.
➢ Information you gather are “so specific that [they] can’t lead
to any significant conclusions.”
➢ Your research covers so few key ideas that it is hard to
make a significant write-up about them.
➢ The problem is “so case-specific that it limits opportunities
to generalize or apply the results to other contexts.”
If your research topic is too narrow, you can use the six
basic questions to broaden it (University of Southern
California, 2016):
➢ Who?
➢ What?
➢ Where?
➢ When?
➢ How?
➢ Why?
With these six basic questions, you may begin to consider
other aspects of your research topic to look into and
highlight.
03
Developing the
Research Title
Creswell (2014, 26) compared the research title to “a
major road sign in research.” For him, the title is “an
orienting device” which aids the researcher in focusing his
or her investigation. In addition, it helps convey to others
the central idea behind the research.
DRAFTING A RESEARCH TITLE
is a key task in research as it will capture the essence of
what you wish to do in your inquiry. There are various ways
to do this. Find some of them below.

➢ Identify the main ideas behind your research topic and

how these are related to one another. Try to form a
possible title using these main ideas.
DRAFTING A RESEARCH TITLE
➢ Completing the sentence “My study is about...” can also
aid you in thinking of a research title as it asks you to
capture the essence of your research in one sentence.
Examples of these are:

“My study is about how community leaders in Barangay

Cinco, Quezon City developed leadership skills”.
DRAFTING A RESEARCH TITLE
“My study is about how my school connects and garners
supports from its alumni”.

“My study is about how DTI employees perceive the

Performance Based Incentive System”

➢ Mention several features of your research such as its

purpose, approach, and methods (University of
Southern California, 2016).
DRAFTING A RESEARCH TITLE

➢ Wilkinson (1991, in Creswell, 2014, 26) advised to create

the research title as brief as possible and to avoid
“unnecessary words”. For example, avoid using “An
Approach to...” “A Study of...”

➢ You may develop a single title or two-part title. The

following are examples of two-part titles from
Silverman (2013, 334):
DRAFTING A RESEARCH TITLE

Reading Castañeda: A Prologue to the Social Sciences

Policing the Lying Patient: Surveillance and Self-

Regulation in Consulatations with Adolescent Diabetics
DRAFTING A RESEARCH TITLE
The first part is a snappy phrase intended to catch attention
while the second part describes the actual study. A two-part
title can also give readers an idea of the context, temporal
scope, main theory, aproach, methodology of the research
(University of Southern California, 2016). Look at the
examples below.

➢ Additional Context
“Lessons from Running an Enterprise: Case Studies of
Four Filipino-Chinese Families”
DRAFTING A RESEARCH TITLE
➢ Temporal scope of the research:
“A Comparison: Human Rights unders the Corazon Aquino
and Benigno Aquino III Administrations”

➢ Main approach used:

“The Feminists Approach: Theraphy of Battered Wives”
DRAFTING A RESEARCH TITLE
➢ Methodology used: “An Ethnography: Understanding a
Child’s Perception of Divorce”

At this point in your research project, your draft research

title is a “working title”.
 04
Writing the
Introduction of the Research
The Introduction of a Research Paper
Several key sections are usually included in the introduction chapter of a research
paper. These are the following.

● Background of the Study

● Purpose of the Study
● Research Questions
● Significance of the Study
● Scope and Delimitation
Background of the Study

It introduces your research topic, the history behind it, and

current understanding about it. This introduction also offers
a brief description of other research done on the topic, what
other authors say about it, and what was discovered about it.
 Research Topic
- Is essentially the issue one wants to investigate, It may
be an idea or subject that the researcher is interested in.
Example:
1. “I AM a warlord’s daughter, granddaughter, niece, cousin, relative, and
friend.”

2. “More than 20 years ago, the psychologist Arthur Aron succeeded in

making two streangers fall in love in his laboratory.”
Studies that have tackled the problem.
- after stating the problem, you can discuss
existing research about the topic.

Deficiencies n the previous studies

- These deficiencies could be areas overlooked
by other researches, perspectives of
underrepresented groups, methodological,
shortcomings, and potential implications of the
studies.
05
Writing the
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of the study is often at the latter
part of the background of the study section. In
some thesis and dissertations, the purpose of
the study is presented in a separate section. It is
usually written as a statement which
establishes the intent of the entire research
study”.
According to Creswell, in qualitative research,
the purpose statement encapsulates the central
phenomenon being investigated in the study, the
target research participants, and the research
site. He presented some tips for writing the
purpose statement:

● Utilize cues or keywords such as “purpose”, “intent”,

or “objective”.
● Try to focus on a single idea or concept.
● Use action words.
● Briefly mention the qualitative approach.
● State the participants of the study.
● Point out where your research take place.
● Lastly, describe the scope of your study concisely.
Creswell suggests the following script to aid
novice researchers in coming up with a purpose
statement.

“The purpose of this __________ (strategy of inquiry, such as

ethnography, case study, or other type) study is (was? will be?) to
__________ (understand? explore? develop? discover?) the
__________ (central phenomenon being studied) for __________ (the
participants, such as individuals, groups, organization) at
__________ (research site).”
 06
Writing
Research Questions
Work on improving daily habits
Roles Of Research
Questions
-They organize the project and give it direction
and coherence

-They delimit the project,showing its boundaries

a.)What land reform policies have been ratified
in the past 20 years?
b.)Who are the implements of the policy?
c.)How are the policies carried out by the
implements?
-They keep the researcher focused
-They provide a framework when you write your research
-They point to the methods and data that will be needed
Guide in Developing
Research Questions
07
Writing the
Significance of the Study
Work on improving study habits
 Another section in the introduction
chapter is the "signifance of the study."
This section usually requires the
researcher to describe the implication of
his or her research to several audiences
to assert its importance and potential
benefits to be gained from reading and
using the study.
THE PURPOSE OF SIGNIFICANCE:

-The researcher should think about how

the research:
-may resolve theoretical questions in the
research area
-may develop better theoretical models
in the reseach area
-may influence public policy
THE PURPOSE OF SIGNIFICANCE

-may change the way people do their

jobs in a particular field, or may change
the way people live.
-And if there are other contributions the
research the research will make, the
researcher should also describe them
in detail.
 Format:
This research is of great significance in
the field of [institution] because [reason].
In addition, this will help certain groups
and organizations such as [orgs, groups]
in the sense that [reason]. Moreover, this
will benefit
[certain individuals] because [reason].
 08
Determining the
Scope and Delimitation
of the Study
How to prepare self-instructions
 To make your research more feasible, it has to
have parameters.You clarify these parameters in
the scope and delimitation section of your
introduction chapter. Your research will most likely
be bound by resources such as time, finances, and
the number of researchers doing the study among
others.
Aspects for Scope and
Delimitation
In this section, describe the parameters of your research.These
pertain to the following:

•Topical focus of the study

•Research Participants
•Research site
•Time frame of the research
You may use the following key phrases in
writing this section:
● The coverage of this study...
● The researcher limited this research to...
● The study covers the...
● The study does not cover the...
● This study is focused on...
● This study is limited to...