Research Gap one of the critical issue for the beacholar, master students, Ph and as well early career researcher. Research Gap is one key source to solve the problem to find a interseting and innovative topic for the thesis, disseration and research project. This article address three question about the Research Gap.
Research Gap and its Types
by Muhammad Yousuf Ali
a. What is Research Gap?
b. How many types of Research Gaps?
c. How to identify Research Gap?
a. What is a Research Gap?
A research gap is a question or a problem that has not been answered by any of the existing studies or research within your field. Research gap is an area where research is needed. Sometimes, a research gap exists when there is a concept or new idea that hasn’t been studied at all. Sometimes you’ll find a research gap if all the existing research is outdated and in need of new/updated research.
b. How many types of Research Gaps?
There are seven types of Research Gaps
1. Evidence Gap
An evidence gap if Systematic literature reviews find there is no conclusive evidence of benefits and harms. Results from studies allow for conclusions in their own right, but are contradictory when examined from a more abstract point of view (Jacobs, 2011; Müller-Bloch & Kranz, 2014; Miles, 2017).
2. Empirical Gap
Empirical gap means Research findings need to be evaluated or empirically verified (Jacobs, 2011; Müller-Bloch & Kranz, 2014; Miles, 2017).
3. Knowledge Gap
Knowledge gap in research refers to problems in a particular field that has not been addressed yet. Desired research findings do not exist and researcher wants to explore himself or her self (Jacobs, 2011; Müller-Bloch & Kranz, 2014; Miles, 2017).
4. Methodological Gap
Methodological gaps means missing in methodology respective study can be carry out in different methods. A variation of research methods is necessary to generate new insights or to avoid distorted findings (Jacobs, 2011; Müller-Bloch & Kranz, 2014; Miles, 2017).
5. Practical Knowledge Gap/Literature Gap
Practical Knowledge is also referred as a literature gap any aspects or innovation of methodlgoy or discover. Professional behavior or practices deviate from research findings or are not covered by research (Jacobs, 2011; Müller-Bloch & Kranz, 2014; Miles, 2017).
6. Population Gap
Population gap describe that study can be conducted by specific population groups on the basis of gender, ethnicity, age (Robinson, et al, 2011).
7. Theoretical Gap
Theory should be applied to certain research issues to generate new insights. There is lack of theory thus a gap exists (Jacobs, 2011; Müller-Bloch & Kranz, 2014; Miles, 2017).
c. How to Identify Research Gap?
1. Identify your key motivating issue/question/problem.
2. Identify key terms associated with this issue.
3. In Scholarly documents like Articles Theses & Dissertations (Limitations and Further study Segment)
4. Top cited publication in respective field relevant publications.
5. Review the literature cited by the key publications which you located in the above step.
6. Seeking advices and guidance from your research supervisor.
References
Jacobs, R. L. (2011). “Developing a Research Problem and Purpose Statement”, In the Handbook of Scholarly Writing and Publishing, T. S. Rocco and T. Hatcher (eds.), San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, pp. 125–141.
Müller-Bloch, C. & Kranz, J., (2014). A Framework for Rigorously Identifying Research Gaps in Qualitative Literature Reviews, The Thirty Sixth International Conference on Information Systems, Fort Worth 2015, pp. 1–19.
Miles, D.A. (2017). A Taxonomy of Research Gaps: Identifying and Defining the Seven Research Gaps, Doctoral Student Workshop: Finding Research Gaps – Research Methods and Strategies, Dallas, Texas, 2017.
Robinson, K., Saldanha, I. & McKoy, N.A. (2011). Development of A Framework for to Identify Research Gaps Systematic Reviews, Journal of Epidemiology, 64(1), pp. 1325-1330.
How to Cite This Article:
M.Y. ,Ali (2022). Research Gap and its Types.https://profileusuf.wordpress.com/research-gap/
Research Knowledge and Information 