Academic English. Research Question

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ACADEMIC ENGLISH
RESEARCH PUBLICATION PURPOSES
SPEAKING AT CONFERENCES
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study objective or main
research hypothesis
Task 1. Watch the video clip
on How to choose your research topic.
https://moodle.tsu.ru/mod/folder/view.php?id=736362
Then continue the sentence:
A good research topic should be
a) … b) … c) ….
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RESEARCH TOPIC should be …
?????
??????
??????
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study objective or main
research hypothesis
Task 2. Read the text to find out more on
Research gap
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RESEARCH GAP
Identifying Research Gaps to Pursue
Innovative Research
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A research gap is, simply, a topic or area for which missing or
insufficient information limits the ability to reach a conclusion for a
question. It should not be confused with a research question,
however. For example, if we ask the research question of what the
healthiest diet for humans is, we would find many studies and
possible answers to this question.
On the other hand, if we were to ask the research question of what
are the effects of antidepressants on pregnant women, we would not
find much-existing data. This is a research gap. When we identify a
research gap, we identify a direction for potentially new and exciting
research.
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Source: Miles, D. A. (2017). A Taxonomy of Research Gaps: Identifying and Defining the Seven Research Gaps.
In Doctoral Student Workshop: Finding Research Gaps-Research Methods and Strategies, Dallas, Texas.

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1. Evidence Gap, a.k.a. contradictory evidence gap
An evidence gap occurs with a provocative exception arises if a new research finding
contradicts widely accepted conclusions. This gap involves contradictions in the findings of
the prior research. It occurs if results from studies allow for conclusions in their own right, but
are contradictory when examined from a more abstract point of view. The identification of
contradictory evidence starts with analyzing each research stream. Subsequently, the results
from these analyses need to be synthesized in order to reveal contradictory evidence [MüllerBloch & Kranz, 2014].
2. Knowledge Gap
The knowledge gap is a common gap in the prior research. There are two settings
where a knowledge gap (knowledge void) might occur. First, knowledge may not
exist in the actual field to theories and literature from related research domains.
Second, it might be the case that results of a study differs from what was expected
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[Müller-Bloch & Kranz, 2014].

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3. Practical-Knowledge Gap
This kind of gap tends to be a discrepancy (несоответствие) that can motivate new
research in this direction. A practical–knowledge (action-knowledge) conflict arises
when the actual behavior of professionals is different from their advocated behavior.
In this case, research could seek to determine the scope of the conflict and to uncover
the reasons for its existence [Müller-Bloch & Kranz, 2014].
4. Methodological Gap
A methodological gap is the type of gap that deals with the conflict that occurs due to
the influence of methodology on research results. This gap addresses the conflicts with
the research methods in the prior studies and offers a new line of research that is
divergent from those research methods. It is noted that it might be useful to vary
research methods, especially if certain research topics have been mainly explored
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using a singular or common method [Müller-Bloch & Kranz, 2014].

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5. Empirical Gap
An empirical gap is the type of gap that deals with gaps in the prior research. This
conflict deals with the research findings or propositions need to be evaluated or
empirically verified. For example, the empirical gap often addresses conflicts that
no study to date has directly attempted to evaluate a subject or topic from an
empirical approach [Müller-Bloch &Kranz, 2014].
6. Theoretical Gap
The theoretical gap is the type of gap that deals with the gaps in theory with the prior
research. For example, if one phenomenon is being explained through various theoretical
models, similar to a methodological gap conflict, there might be a theoretical conflict.
Researchers and scholars could examine whether one of those theories is superior in terms of
the gap in the prior research. Theoretical gaps are a common occurrence in examining prior
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research on a phenomenon [Müller-Bloch & Kranz, 2014].

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7. Population Gap
A population gap is a common gap recognized among researchers.
There are always under-served populations that have been underresearched. This gap is the type of research regarding the population
that is not adequately represented or under-researched in the evidence
base or prior research (e.g., gender, race/ethnicity, age and etic)
[Robinson, et al, 2011]
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Task 3. Take the following SELF-ASSESSMENT
quiz
True or False?
1. A research gap is an unanswered question or unresolved problem in a
field.
2. An evidence gap involves contradictions in the findings of the
previous research.
3. There are more than 2 reasons leading to the knowledge gap.
4. Methodological gap motivates new research.
5. Population gap deals with the differences in the age of the scholars
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conducting the research.

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SELF-ASSESSMENTS quiz, answers
1. True
2. True
3. False
4. False
5. False
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Narrowing a Research Topic down
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A Step-by-Step Example on Narrowing a Research Topic
1. employee *turnover
1. Choose a general topic area
2. turnover in the nursing industry
3. factors that affect turnover among
2. Give specific description of the topic area
registered nurses
4. Workplace stress and turnover among
3. Mention an aspect of the specific topic
nurses.
5. Workplace stress has a significant
4. Note down extra specifics about the topic impact on turnover among **registered
nurses.
5. Turn the topic into a sentence or
6. Workplace stress causes increased
statement
turnover among registered nurses in
Brooklyn.
6. Fine-tune your topic’s focus using
*текучка кадров
elements such as time, place, and
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**средний медицинский работник
relationship

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The Dangers Of Not Narrowing Down
•Finding tons of sources of information, which makes it difficult to choose
what to omit or include, or what’s the most essential.
•Finding generic information that makes it tricky to come up with a clear
framework for addressing the research problem
•Lack of adequate parameters to effectively define the research problem
makes it challenging to identify and use correct methods required for its
analysis.
•You come across information that addresses a wide array of concepts that
can’t be included in a single paper.
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TIPS FOR NARROWING A RESEARCH
TOPIC
Aspect
Select one lens and use it for viewing a research problem. The other
alternative is to focus on just one angle. For example, instead of studying the
different factors that cause cancer, study how smoking can cause lung cancer.
Components
Figure out if the initial unit or variable of analysis can be partitioned into
smaller components, so you analyze them with more precision. For
example, a study on the use of tobacco among teenagers can be narrowed
down to chewing tobacco instead of all forms of tobacco use or teenagers in
general. A better approach would be to focus on male teenagers in a specific
age range and region who chew tobacco.
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TIPS FOR NARROWING A RESEARCH TOPIC
Methodology
The methods used to gather data can reduce the scope of interpretive analysis
required to address your research problem. For example, you can design a
single case study to generate data that won’t require an extensive explanation
as that of using multiple cases.
Place
In general, analyzing a smaller geographical unit means a narrow topical
focus. For example, instead of studying trade relations in Asia, focus on trade
relations between China and Singapore as a case study to guide you in
explaining problems in that region.
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TIPS FOR NARROWING A RESEARCH TOPIC
Relationship
Find out how two or more variables or perspectives relate to each other. When you design a study
around the correlation of different variables, it helps you to reduce the scope of your analysis.
Examples of variables to look out for are:
•Cause and effect
•Group and individual
•Compare and contrast
•Contemporary and historical
•Problem and solution
•Male and female
•Opinion and reason
Time
Study periods can be assigned timeframes. Generally, the shorter a study’s time period, the more
narrow its focus becomes. For example, instead of studying trade relations between China and
Singapore, focus on the trade relations between China and Singapore between 2010 and 2018. 19

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TIPS FOR NARROWING A RESEARCH TOPIC
Type
Focus the study topic with regard to a particular class of people,
phenomena, or places. For instance, a study of developing better housing
near schools may focus on condominiums, universities, or building
materials only.
Combination
You can choose at least two of the above tips to narrow down to a specific
topic.
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CONCEPT TABLES
▰ To visually spell out the concepts and relationships among the
ideas try making concept tables.

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CONCEPT MAPPING
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devasa
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Let’s recap
RESEARCH TOPIC
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Take the moodle comprehension test based
on the video clip, text and slides, visit
https://moodle.tsu.ru/mod/quiz/view.php?id=
736397
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