Research Top Tips

Qualitative research is best suited to studying what people do know and do about health, not their failings or lack of knowledge (if you want to study those, set a quiz).

Good topics and questions for research are those where there is a gap in scholarship, not just a gap in the researcher’s knowledge, so start with a review of the literature to see what is already known about your topic.

Once you have an initial research question on your topic, try to identify who would be interested in the answer: other researchers in your/other disciplines? Practitioners? Policy makers? Civil society organizations?

It is also worth thinking at the outset how your specific project fits with what has gone before (adding depth? Testing existing theory? Addressing a gap?) and what might come later.