-“How do I find a research topic when I have no ideas?”
- “I am trying to identify a research project, where should I start?”
-“How do I know which of my research ideas is the best adapted for a research assignment?”
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These are questions I am often asked by students in the modules assessed by autonomous research projects that I teach at the London School of Economics and Political Science. In this blog, post I have put together for you a three-step process to help you a find a research topic:

1. Starting points to identify a research topic
2. Criteria to help you select the most adapted research topic
3. One thing to keep in mind: research topics are not set in stone and they evolve over time

• Starting point 1: Something that interests you in the socio-political world. Is there a social or political phenomenon that sparks your curiosity? Events that you would like to know better? Problems that you would like to understand? These are all relevant starting points. Your next step then would be to identify the key words and concepts through which social scientists talk about such phenomena so you can identify the relevant literature.
• Starting point 2: Analytical frameworks (theories and concepts) that make sense to you and that you would like to use. Are there theories or concepts that you would like to explore? That you would like to apply to a case or phenomena to help people understand it differently? This is a common way of starting a research project. You next step then would be to identify a specific case to which you can apply your framework, and make your idea more concrete.
• Starting point 3: There is a piece of research that inspired you and that you would like to emulate. Are there articles you read that really made you think and stayed with you for a long time? An academic conversation/debate that you would like to contribute to? Then go for it. Your next step would be to identify what exactly in this publication/conversation you want to focus on and find an angle through which you can contribute through your project (you can write something that is inspired by a published piece but this must be different to a simple copy of it, be careful of plagiarism!).

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Take a step forward: Brainstorm using the three starting points above and list 3-5 potential research topics. For each of these options, address “the next step” identified (1. finding key words in the literature, 2. identifying a potential case, 3. pinpoint specific contributions/positioning).
At the end of this exercise, you should have 3-5 potential ideas for research topics in front of you in writing.

1. Module’s/programme’s expectations. If you are developing a research project for a graded assignment, the first thing you should do is to read the documentation for your module to make sure you understand the objective(s) of the assignment, its potential structure, and marking criteria. Make sure that you pick a research topic that enables you to showcase the skills you will be assessed on. For example, if your module is about text analysis, pick a research topic that enables you to analyse textual data. Or, if your module is about producing a research design for empirical work, make sure that your topic enables you to do just that.
2. Skill set. Chose a topic that you have the capacity to investigate. By skillset, for example, I refer to your methodological and linguistic skills. Basically, you need to make sure that you have the skills required to deliver your project to completion. If the topic requires the use of certain methods of data collection and analysis, you need be comfortable using them. For example, if you have to produce an empirical analysis but you have never done statistics or text analysis, avoid choosing a research topic that requires advanced methods in these domains – let’s say multivariate analysis or discourse analysis – if your deadline is a few months and you are not taking specialised modules to learn these methods. Producing research takes time and if you work under time constrains, it might be more strategic to use methods you already know or that are easier to learn on your own (let’s say descriptive statistics or thematic analysis if we follow the previous example). The same goes for learning a new language. If a project requires learning a new language, that might work for a PhD where you have several years to develop your skill set but, considering all the other things you have to do in a shorter programme, it might not be reasonable to assume you will be able to do so.
3. Personal interest. Another important criterion when it comes to selecting a research topic is to consider what sparks your interest and curiosity. Better to pick a topic that you personally enjoy learning about rather than something that you would do just because a lot of people are doing it. For many students, the research projects they do during their studies are the only ones they will do in their life, so you might as well pick something you are passionate about. Also, you will be more motivated to spend time working on your project if you have a personal interest in it and therefore more likely to produce better work!
4. Feasibility. Make sure that you pick a project that you can actually deliver. This criterion builds upon the skill set point I made above and encompasses other elements. Quite often, students come to my office hours saying things like: “It is the perfect topic but to be able to do it, I would need to have access to secret military material that is classified and which therefore I cannot access”. By definition, if your project is impossible for you to do, it is not a perfect project! A perfect project is a project that shows the readers something they did not know before and that you can finish on time. You need to find the right balance between going out of your comfort zone and forcing a project onto yourself that you cannot actually deliver.
5. Planned trajectory. Finally, I also encourage students to choose their project in relation to what they want to do after the end of their programme. Depending on the professional path you want to take, producing a piece of work that you can showcase on your resume or send to your future employer might be useful. Here I think in terms of your research question/research problem, case study, and methodological skillset demonstrated. Between the different options in front of you, is there one that is more likely to be seen as a bonus for the type of interviews/applications you are considering?

It is likely that no research topic will perfectly tick all these boxes. So rather than searching for a research topic that surpasses all other research topics, it is about you comparing the different options in front of you, assessing the trade-offs and making an informed choice on this basis.

Finally, it is important to consider that the topic you have chosen will likely not be exactly the same topic as the one you end up submitting. By this I mean that it is normal that your research project evolves throughout your research journey, which includes transforming/tweaking some aspects of your initial research topic. That research topics evolve is a process inherent to research; letting go of our previous ideas, perceptions and anticipations is an integral part of being a self-critical researcher!

​That being said, transforming a research topic through research is different to changing a research topic all together. By changing topics, I mean that you have started working on one of the options selected through the criteria above, but a couple of months down the line you decide you want to work on another option. This is a different scenario. If this is something you consider doing, you need to ask yourself the reasons behind this desire (as some might be strategic and relevant but many are ... not). For example, if you realise that you didn’t anticipate a feasibility issue, it might be wiser to reorient the research question instead of changing the topic altogether. Indeed, if you have a deadline, time is precious and it might be risky to completely change a project after a certain point.

In many regards, the research question can be considered the most important part of a research project. Because of its centrality, it is a common source of struggle and anxiety for students as they learn to become junior autonomous researchers.
 
In this blog post, I tell you what the role of the research question is, why it is 300% worth spending time working on it and provide some ready-to-use advice on how to improve your research question, starting with its formulation.  

To start, let’s distinguish between different types of research questions. The list, of course, is not exhaustive. I unpack here the research questions that the students I teach have to navigate in the development of their research projects in UK higher education.
 
1. “Working research questions”
 
Throughout a research project, we ask ourselves dozens of questions while conducting our inquiry. I call these questions “working research questions”.

2. “Main research questions” 
This is a question that comprises a concept and that is pitched and formulated in a way that helps you to produce rich analytical work, rather than only description.

An analytical question will help you produce more analytical results (for more information on what I mean by “analytical”, read the blog post “What is analysis? Some tips to become more analytical”)
 
3. “Sub-questions”
 
Some research designs require the execution of distinct steps, each providing results that will then be analysed jointly, to be able to reach overall conclusions. This can be the case with mixed-method research (part of the research design is quantitative, part is qualitative) or multi-method (different methods are used and all can be either qualitative or quantitative). In this type of research design, different sub-questions may need to be investigated separately, as each constitutes a different piece of the puzzle that needs to be solved to answer the main research question.

Not all the questions we ask ourselves throughout a research project need to be shared with the readers. Don’t forget that a piece of research is an argumentative discourse produced for someone else rather than a chronological archive of every idea you went through. In the same way that a music album is a finite product aimed for an audience to experience, a research paper is an intellectual product, a discourse aimed for an audience to learn from. While sub-questions are essential foundations to understanding the architecture of your project and need to be shared, you do not need to share all the working questions with the readers.

In the rest of the blog post, I will focus on main research questions as this is what most students are asking me about. Regarding my students at the London School of Economics more specifically, these are the type of questions you are usually expected to formulate for 3000 word and 4000 word individual project assignments.
 
The main research question plays several important roles. This is why it is important to spend time working on it …. and a badly formulated research question often involves consequences rippling throughout the rest of the research design (aka shooting yourself in the foot!). A research question is a tool of research design:

'Students often approach the idea of “formulating” a research question as a way to polish it at the end of their project to make it “sound nice”. But there is more to it than that. The words we pick for our research question are more important than any other words in our research project: they are the magic ingredients that can take our research project to the next level. Taking the formulation of your research question seriously enables you to create a more coherent and impactful research design; it also lays a solid foundation for the rest of your project.
Let’s unpack how research questions are constructed through two examples (one rather qualitative and one rather quantitative). I have kept them abstract on purpose so it is easier for you to fill in the blanks with something related to projects that you may have in mind, rather than being distracted by the specifics of what these research questions may be about:

​How do [social group x] experience [something]?
Does [something] impact [social group]’s access to [something]?
 
In the following, I’ll unpack one by one the different types of words that constitute common research questions such as these two:

• How do you start your research question?​

How     does [social group x] represent [something]?
Does    [something] impact [a social group]’s access to [something]?
 
Notice the difference between how these two research questions start. The first one is open-ended (not answerable via 'yes' or 'no') while the second one is closed-ended (answerable via 'yes' or 'no'). This difference has big research design implications, both epistemological and methodological. For example, open-ended questions work well when you have a small sample with rich material that you can unpack analytically to show nuances, tensions and the like. In contrast, 'yes'/'no' questions will often end up leading to very flat results with a small sample. On the other hand, hypothetico-deductive designs often work well with closed-ended questions. Closed-ended questions can also help problematise assumptions that the literature takes for granted (if everyone agrees that something is a 'yes', and your exploratory work seems to suggest it might be a 'no', a 'yes' or 'no' question can potentially lead to very innovative/provocative results). So it is always a question of making sure the word that guides the nature of your question aligns with the other dimensions of your research design.

• The grammatical subject of your sentence

How do [social group x] represent [something]?
Does      [something] impact [social group]’s access to [something]?
 
The grammatical subject is the core of your research design. Make sure there is an alignment between what you chose as the grammatical subject and the rest of your research design choice: such as the empirical material and analytical framework you choose, as well as the literature you review.
 
For example:
 
How does [social group x] represent [something]?
 
Is different to:
 
How is [something] represented by [social group X]?
 
Here I am not talking about active style vs passive; the difference has implications in terms of what the project is about:
 
“How does the World Health Organisation represent childbirth?” reflects a project about international organisations, discourses of authority and policy-making etc while “How is childbirth represented by the World Health Organisation?” focuses on childbirth as a discursive and symbolic site, the history and geography of its representation of which international organisations represent the current instance your project aims to focus on.

• The verb characterising the phenomenon or process you will investigate

How do [social group x]  represent [something]?
Does      [something]        impact [social group]’s access to [something]?
 
This verb is the entry point to operationalisation, so you need to ask yourself: do you understand the process or phenomenon this verb entails and is your research design enabling you to empirically assess this process or phenomena?

• The question mark

How do [social group x] represent [something]?
Does      [something] impact [social group]’s access to [something]?
 
I encourage junior researchers to ask a question with a question mark. This will make it easier for you to identify whether your research question is actually a research question or something else (e.g. a hypothesis or variable in disguise). Make sure that your research question is different from the (formal or informal) hypothesis you may have and that there is not an answer already included in your question (that it is not a real question!).

​Here are a few criteria that can help you further brainstorm/self-assess your research question. Namely, your research question needs to be:

1. Well-bounded, not too narrow (“how does the coffee shop at my university advertise their mocha latte?”) nor too broad (“how do universities all around the world advertise merchandise?”). Include some elements of your case in the research question to help bound the claims you make.
2. Follow naturally from your introduction/literature review. If the rest of the introduction is well written, readers should be capable of guessing your research question without seeing it.
3. Formulated via concepts: concepts a) facilitate empirical operationalisation b) bring analytical depth to your project: e.g. it would be much harder for you to operationalise empirically and to bring analytical depth to your project if your research question is “How do British people portray Polish people in the UK?” than if your research question is “How do urban British youth represent eastern European immigrants?”.
4. Lead to empirical results via the methods you plan to use: make sure that your research question is answerable via the methods that you aim to use.
5. Able to be answered in one impactful sentence. That sentence will be the main takeaway of your project and you should make sure this sentence is explicitly written in your project and not let for your readers to guess.

 
To conclude, there is no cookie-cutter recipe. Each methodological tradition has its own specificities when it comes to what constitutes good research questions, which goes way beyond what a blog post (or my expertise!) allows. But I assure you that implementing the tips I give you in this blog post will help you on your research design journey 😉.