You are not alone if you have searched online for ‘write my research paper’. Identifying a research gap is the most challenging aspect when creating a strong research paper. It means locating the unexplored part in previous studies, which you can analyse in your research paper. Whether you are working on an undergraduate thesis, master’s dissertation, or even a PhD research paper, identifying the research gap can be a big challenge for you, and an excellent opportunity to showcase the depth of your research.
In this blog, we will provide you with complete knowledge about research gaps, including their definition and classification methods, and techniques to locate them. The blog will also share some insights on Quick Assignment Hub, which provides trustworthy research paper writing services to students facing “How do I write my research paper?” issues.
What Is A Research Gap?
Research gap refers to the study area of a particular research that has not been explored. When studying a certain research field, students must locate topics and fields that previous research has not sufficiently studied or provided solutions to. Some research lacks complete solutions or fails to settle open research questions. Research gaps represent essential elements for designing meaningful studies requiring originality and relevance to the field.
A research gap is the single missing part among a completed puzzle. Your responsibility is to find this piece since your research should serve as crucial evidence, which makes the picture complete.
How to Identify a Research Gap?
These 8 tips to identify a research gap will help you in starting your research paper:
Read Systematically: You must practice reading systematically rather than randomly reading articles. Use Google Scholar, Scopus, and more to find peer reviews on the research done in your field of study.
Review Recent Literature Reviews: Review literature reviews from recent times, summarising existing research by pointing out which areas demand additional study.
Look for Contradictions: When research presents competing findings about a subject, you should probe the matter more comprehensively.
Follow Emerging Trends: Studying emerging trends involves examining the present debates and questions from academic communities in their journals.
Explore Conference Proceedings: Conference Proceedings serve as an essential resource that introduces new and upcoming research ideas and identifies prospective areas for further study.
Check Methodologies: The approach through which researchers conduct studies might contain weaknesses because of outdated or faulty methods, which can become opportunities for new contributions.
Identify Underrepresented Context: Identify the need for new scholarly investigation about subject areas that have received insufficient attention from researchers in particular demographic groups within specific geographic regions.
Talk to Your Professors and Peers: Discussions with your university professors and classmates often reveal questions that past academic works have not answered.
Most of the time, identifying the research gaps becomes challenging for many students, and they often say, ‘Help me write my research paper.’ That is where’ they can seek assistance from research paper writing services.
Different Types of Research Gaps
Knowing the different research gap categories helps you to develop an effective research paper. Here are the major categories:
1. Knowledge Gaps
Certain areas of study remain unknown since no research exists about them. The topic might describe recent discoveries or activities that have escaped previous research observation.
Example: Several investigations have analysed the effects of AI education in Western countries, yet developing nations lack similar research on this topic.
2. Evidence Gaps
A study of a topic does not ensure that sufficient verified evidence will be available to draw a definitive conclusion.
Example: The current research has insufficient data on how hybrid learning methods affect student performance after an extended period.
3. Conceptual Gaps
Different research studies produce definitions and interpretations of concepts in various ways. You can seek clarification from inconsistent data while creating fresh conceptual ideas.
Example: Different studies define student engagement differently across studies using emotional, cognitive,, or behavioural frameworks.
4. Theoretical Gaps
In this scenario, the main problem arises from the insufficient use of appropriate theoretical frameworks to understand the issue at hand. Building or suggesting fresh theoretical frameworks is a solution to existing theoretical problems.
No particular learning theory has been applied that explains how gamification influences adult students.
5. Methodological Gaps
Research problems arise because of inadequate procedures used in the investigation rather than the actual subject matter under study. The implementation of fresh or more advanced methodology enables you to generate value.
Example: The approach of conducting surveys is common for stress management research on students, but you could achieve better results through in-depth interviews or experiments.
6. Data Gaps
The study data lacks up-to-date findings from a wide range of sources. The gap would be filled using new sample data or increased participant counts.
Example: A research study from 2015 about mobile device use among teenage users needs updating because it is no longer relevant to current digital conditions.
7. Practical Gaps
These relate to the real-world application of research findings. Large theoretical content exists within most studies, yet practical implementation receives minimal attention.
Example: Many studies present inclusive classroom strategies, but almost no research demonstrates realistic classroom applications of these strategies.
Strategies to Identify Research Gaps
Here are a few strategies for finding hard-to-identify research gaps:
- Creating a visual map to help show the extent of research already conducted regarding variables, themes, and target populations.
- Checking both the popularity of literature through citation tracking,ands its identification of future research direction.
- University repositories can be a goldmine of collections of emerging research ideas available for you to access.
- Use Google Scholar Alerts to enable notifications of the keywords you are interested in.
- Join academic communities like Forums and Reddit threads to help analyse ongoing concerns that need additional research.
- ResearchRabbit and Connected Papers AI tools can show connections between studies that researchers might not have noticed before.
- Attend webinars and workshops, as it regularly identify current market trends and inadequate areas within a field.
- Consult your professor, as they can help you guide and find valuable data resources.
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Identifying the research gap is only the initial stage of the research. Many students struggle with putting their research into words, and that is why the search for ‘write ‘ research paper’ help. Quick Assignment Hub is a trusted research paper writing service that assists students. Here is why students opt for research paper writing help:
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Final Thoughts
Establishing the research gaps before you develop a much-needed paper is important. Identifying the types of gaps and how to look for them is helpful as it helps you create a better research paper. Just remember that it might intimidate you initially, but with the right tips and strategies, you can get through everything.
