Generally, I have a hard time narrowing my focus. I appreciate knowing the big picture, the grand scheme of things, the overarching goal. However, sometimes it gets difficult to focus on the smaller individual tasks that are needed to achieve the larger goal. I would argue that as a society, we all share in this problem. At the intersection of social media and social justice, you'll often find folks pointing out large systemic issues (racism, ableism, sexism). Yet I find it much less common to see posts about the smaller tasks that need to be taken to try and combat these issues.
My tendency to make my focus too broad is one that was apparent in my original research question. I want to know about information seeking behaviour in university students - I want to know why they look for answers in certain places, why websites are hard to use, and I want to know how to fix it. What I've realized over the course of this semester is that I can't answer all of these questions with one study. As a result, my research question has become
increasingly narrow. I've chosen less methods to use, I've specified a
location for the study to be conducted (at a specific university
campus), and I've limited what data I'm hoping to collect from the
study. For this preliminary study, I'm focusing on figuring out why students under-utilize official university websites when they're looking for academic information. And even though this scope feels too small, I know that it has to be done this way - one step at a time.
I totally agree with you, Ling! Research to me is like adding pieces to an endless puzzle. There is always more you can learn about a topic and, when reading academic articles, I always enjoy reading the closing sections that discuss how the research can be extended in the future. As for your proposal, I think that it was probably beneficial for you to have started out broad and zoned in on a more specific topic later on. After all, it is much easier to eliminate parts of a research project that is too big rather than try to add potentially unnecessary parts to a project that is too small. Also, as a student who knows the struggles of trying to navigate certain university websites, I think you have a very interesting and vital research proposal!
ReplyDeleteThanks Eleni! I too struggle to find certain pieces of information on websites, which is a shame given that these are accurate sources and so important for students to have! I also agree that it's easier to go from broad to narrow, then it would be to go from narrow to broad.. even if there is the struggle of figuring out which pieces to let go of and leave for another study.
ReplyDeleteThe hardest part I find with narrowing your topic is how the topic you've chosen is often intrinsically linked to other "sister" issues. I think you've narrowed your topic effectively, Ling! Great job!
ReplyDeleteThis part was tough for me as well Ling. I had no idea at first how I was just going to settle on one aspect or one question to ask regarding my research topic There were just so many avenues open for me to explore! I'm glad you found a way to narrow your topic down, and I hope your final proposal benefitted from renewed focus : )
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of discouraging, thinking of our hard work and research as tiny cogs in the wheel of academia. On the bright side, the things we accomplish may help and inspire others! at the same time, we learn something from every step we take :)
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