Being selfish is something few adults would, openly at least, admit to. Yet it is central to the sanity of the hard-pressed researcher. At the start of your project you are about to take on a considerable commitment which is probably in addition to many continuing demands on your time . . . So be selfish, focus on what interests you, think about your curriculum vitae and your future professional development as well as the impact your study might have on the workplace, and then step forward with confidence.
(Edwards and Talbot 1999: 3) Choosing your research topic is probably the most important single decision you have to make in doing research. In this section, we discuss 12 points you might bear in mind in making that choice.
How much choice you have
You may not, of course, have much choice in what you do. The general area for your research, and perhaps the detailed specification, may be determined by your employer or funder. But even in these cases, you will likely have some scope for making the project more interesting or relevant to your own concerns. If, for example, you have to do a piece of research which you are not particularly interested in, you might make it more palatable by adding something to it or by focusing on a part of the project which does interest you.
It is quite common for part-time students or researchers, who are registered for degrees which require them to undertake a piece of small-scale research, and who are receiving some support from their employers, to have their choice of research topic at least partly determined by their boss. Their employer will usually then expect to receive a report on the research project, and may also be seeking a more practical result in terms, for example, of improved working practices. In such cases, it is important to be aware of the different expectations of employers and educational institutions, and to plan ahead accordingly.
More guidance on this is given in the section in Chapter 8 on Who am I writing for?
Your motivation
If you have not already read it, you might usefully read the section in Chapter 1 on Why am I doing this research?
If you are in doubt about whether you have the necessary motivation to carry through the piece of research you have in mind, ask yourself:
Will it get me out of bed early on a wet Monday morning?
Or, if you are an early morning person:
Will I want to work on it on Friday evening?
If your answer is no, you may well have problems ahead, and you might be best advised to change or modify your research topic, if you can, to something which rouses your passion or drive rather more strongly.
Regulations and expectations
As we noted in Chapter 1, understanding any and all written regulations and unwritten expectations which apply to your research is of critical importance.
If you are undertaking a research project for, or as part of, a university degree, then you should be provided with a copy of the relevant rules and regulations.
If you do not have a copy, ask for one or look them up online. Read these regulations, question any you are not clear about, and follow them.
If you don’t follow the regulations – and produce a dissertation or thesis which is too long or too short, in the wrong format or inappropriately written – you are laying yourself open to problems. It may still get through if the infringements are relatively minor, but don’t count on it. You may have to substantially revise and re-submit your work. At best, you are likely to irritate your examiners, whereas, by following the rules, you should immediately create a good impression.
Further advice on the processes of writing up and presentation is given in Chapters 8 and 9.
Whatever documentation you are given about rules and regulations, however, it is unlikely to deal with ‘unwritten rules’ or expectations. These you may need to tease out by pertinent questioning of your supervisor, manager, colleagues or fellow researchers.
If you are undertaking research not for a degree, but for your employer,
funder or somebody else, or just perhaps for personal interest, there will likely still be rules and regulations which you have to follow, both written and unwritten. Funders may provide quite precise specifications for the work, often requiring regular updates or reports on your progress. Your employer may not be so clear, but will still have expectations which you will need to uncover and address if the process is to be successfully carried through. And, if you wish to publish the results of your research, the publisher will have another set of expectations for you to satisfy.
Your subject or field of study
Many of the unwritten rules and expectations associated with your research will have to do with the particular discipline or subject area you are working in. It may have preferred styles or conventions for writing, and preferred methodologies for undertaking research. There will certainly be established traditions, and work by ‘key thinkers’, which you will need to be aware of and perhaps refer to. Your supervisor or department may also have their own preferences or specialisms.
You should check on all of these by:
• talking to your supervisor, their colleagues or other researchers in the area;
• looking at other examples of recent research projects carried out in your subject area;
• looking at the research literature for your subject area (books, journals and reports).
Previous examples of research projects
Whatever subject you are studying, there are likely to be previous examples of similarly sized research projects on similar kinds of topic to which you can get access. If you can’t find any in the libraries you have access to, ask a librarian, your supervisor, manager, colleagues or fellow researchers for help.
If you can get hold of some previous examples, don’t turn down the chance to do so, because you can learn a lot. This learning will not be so much about the particular subject you are going to research, but about what a completed piece of research looks like, the way it is put together, its scope and its limita-tions. When you see a completed thesis, dissertation or research report for the first time, you may feel daunted and unable to produce something of that scale. As you become more familiar, however, you should begin to feel that you could write something at least as good.
If you can, get some advice from your supervisor or someone else on which are considered to be better examples of previous research projects, and why.
But make your own judgement as well.
The size of your topic
One of the key skills involved in choosing a topic is to be able to pick one of the right size: not too big, not too small, but do-able within the time, space and resources available.
Hint: Think of choosing your research topic in terms of the Goldilocks strategy.
You want to select a topic which is not too big, and not too small, but just right (and one which will not break).
If you are new to research you will probably not have developed this skill.
Indeed, it is a very common failing, but not necessarily that serious a one, for new researchers to choose topics which are far too big for them to cover. Hence the need to focus down your study, which is the theme of another section in this chapter.
If you are carrying out a research project for a university degree, there will almost certainly be restrictions both on the size and format of your final disser-tation or report. In most cases a typewritten or word-processed submission will be required. There will commonly be a maximum number of words allowed, and possibly also a minimum. Appendices or references may be within these totals, or additional to them.
If you don’t already know, find out what these restrictions on size are, and keep to them. You may think that the quality of what you write should be more important than its quantity, but think of your readers. Another of the key skills associated with doing research is being able to deliver a ‘good enough’ product within the time and space allowed. You should be able to write your research up within any reasonable word limit. Over-writing is really just self-indulgence, and it can be more difficult to cut your drafts down in size than expand them.
Further advice on this is given in the section on Drafting and re-drafting in Chapter 8.
If you you are undertaking research for professional or employment reasons, rather than for a degree, there will almost certainly still be restrictions on the size and format of your report. In business, for example, where you may be writing for very busy people, the need for brevity is paramount. Lengthy and tedious reports will not be read, even by enthusiasts. You need to make it as to the point and interesting as possible; so keep it short and punchy.
The time you have available
Similar considerations relate to the time you have available for your research study. For a small-scale research study, this will typically be of the order of a
few hundred hours in total. You need to make the best use of this time pos-sible. It is unlikely, therefore, that you will be able to do empirical research a long way from your home, university or work (though a surprising amount can be done using the Internet, email and the telephone). You will also have to limit the extent of any data collection you undertake: there are, for example, only so many interviews or questionnaires you can get completed, or, more importantly, usefully analysed, within a given amount of time.
Of course, time issues vary for different groups of people and different research approaches. For example, if you are a busy professional researching your own practice, you may have a strong temptation to focus on completing your interviews or questionnaire survey, and then hurriedly get on with the job of analysis and writing. Even though you cannot see the ‘products’
immediately, it cannot be said too loudly that it is imperative that time and space is given to reflecting on your methods and your data. For those of you who are considering action research approaches, for example, you need to allow sufficient time to progress through the varied cycles involved.
The limitations on your time highlight the importance of planning ahead, scheduling and piloting your work.
See also the sections in Chapter 5 on Managing time and Piloting.
The cost of research
And don’t forget the cost factor. Unless you have an employer, funder or spon-sor who is going to meet absolutely all of the costs of your research project, you should be aware of the different costs associated with alternative kinds of research. You will find a list of the kinds of expenses most commonly associ-ated with social science research projects in Box 2.1.
Box 2.1 The costs of research
• Fees for degree registration or examination.
• Travel costs to and from your university or college, and/or your research sites.
• The costs of consumables such as paper, tapes, ink cartridges and batteries.
• Charges for access to certain institutions or individuals, or the Internet.
• Equipment purchase or hire costs (e.g. computer, tape recorder, software).
• Book, report and journal purchases.
• Photocopying, printing and publication costs.
• Postage and telephone costs.
• Library fines!
For even a relatively modest project, the costs which you may have to bear will very easily amount to hundreds of pounds; or, if you have to pay registra-tion fees, thousands of pounds. Draw up a budget now, and then check whether you are going to be able to afford it. Try Exercise 2.1, at the end of the chapter.
Hint: You may be able to cut your costs in very simple ways. For example, you could re-use the tapes you use for recording interviews. And keep your inter-views short. Buy your tape recorder second-hand. You can reduce the costs of photocopying by copying two pages on to one. Buy or borrow key texts from previous researchers. Never use first class post. Do your own typing, word-processing and transcribing. Print drafts on recycled paper.
The resources you have available
If you have colleagues or friends to help you with your research, this will clearly allow you to do rather more than if you are on your own: but make sure you are aware of any regulations or restrictions relating to this. The particular case of group research is considered later in this chapter.
Most people undertaking small-scale research projects will, however, prob-ably be working largely on their own. But this does not mean that you have no resources. These may include, for example, a wordprocessor or computer, access to a typist and, perhaps most importantly, a good library, and access to the Internet. Against these you need to set the resources you will probably need to undertake your research project successfully. Doing Exercise 2.2 should help you to address these questions.
Once you’ve completed this exercise, focus on the differences between your two lists. If there is a huge difference between the resources you have available and the resources you think you will need, you might be best advised to start thinking of a research topic or approach which requires fewer resources. If the difference between the two lists is not so great, you could usefully think about how you are going to get access to any additional resources you need.
Your need for support
One of the key resources you may have identified in Exercise 2.2 is your need for support. Here we are talking about personal and emotional sup-port, rather than the academic kind. In other words, who will ask you,
‘How’s it going?’, who will make you cups of tea, who will give you permis-sion not to do things, and who will you be able to ‘earbash’ about your research?
Health warning: undertaking research, or any kind of education, can threaten your personal, family, work or social life. Be aware of the demands which your research project may put on your loved ones, friends and colleagues. See also the discussion of acknowledgements in the section on Added extras in Chapter 9.
If you don’t have people to fill these kinds of support roles, you may need to find them or develop them unless, that is, you are an unusually confident, organized and self-aware kind of person. You may think you can go it alone, that you can successfully complete a demanding research project without anybody’s support; indeed, even with their active opposition. But what if you are mistaken?
Access issues
Virtually any research project involves questions of access to people, places and/or documents. These are discussed in rather more detail later in this book.
See the section in Chapter 6 on Access and ethical issues, which also considers the issue of consent.
Here we are primarily concerned with the influence of access on your choice of topic. Access can be seen as relating as much to the resources you have available (e.g. a good library), as discussed in a previous sub-section, as to the subjects of your research.
Obviously, from this point of view, it may make sense to choose a topic for which you believe access will be less problematic. This may suggest doing your research project within your own institution, though that does not guarantee there will be no problems. Your own institution or employer is likely, for example, to try to exert influence upon, or control, your research strategy and the dissemination of your findings. However, when time is limited, such ready access will be easier than getting permission to research in an organization where you know no one and no one knows you.
More generally, it is a good idea if you check out the access issues you may run into before you become completely committed to one particular research topic.
Methods for researching
In choosing a research topic, it makes sense to think about the methods you will use to collect and analyse data as soon as possible. If you have a choice, consider the methods you will enjoy using or not. For example, if you like
talking to people, you might be well advised to make use of interview methods. If, on the other hand, you don’t like talking to people, you might think about undertaking library or document-based research. And if you like carrying out statistical or multivariate analyses, you might consider a more quantitative methodology.
The methods you use are a key part of your research, so you need to under-stand something of the alternatives available to you, and their strengths and weaknesses.
See Chapter 3, Thinking about methods, for a discussion of the main kinds of research methods which you might use.
If you enjoy or have a flair for a particular method, this can make your research project more interesting, and help to motivate you to carry it through. Or you might like to use your research project to learn about, or develop your skills in, methods you are not familiar with.