Guidelines for Developing a Research Topic

1. What is the question that you want to answer? What do I want to know in this study?

 Identify concepts and terms and their relationships with each other.
 Make sure that you are not confusing the context/issue and the topic you
want to explore.
 Make sure that your question can be answered by the study – i.e. that it
is not too broad.

2. What has already been studied concerning this topic? Why is it an important topic?

 Identify the extant research and relevant literature, and situate your
topic within these studies (i.e. research and knowledge gaps).
 Regarding the importance of the topic, think of ‘how does my research
build upon research already conducted on the topic?’
 List the literature you’ve consulted.

3. How will I answer the question?

 This pertains to the methodology that you will use that will answer your
question. Make sure that this methodology is suitable.

3a. Who are the actor(s) (e.g. individuals, organisations, groups) involved in this
study? Or will you be examining processes or practices instead?
3b. Are you comparing these actors? How are these actors related to each other? Are
these actors considered as cases?
3c. Is there a temporal component (e.g. time period)?
3d. What is the geographical dimension of the study? (e.g. which place?)