Salam
Research Gap in Ph.D work
There is a word in English called ‘search’. Literally it means to find something that is
available somewhere. For example, our
mother is searching an English-made spoon in the kitchen. She can search
because she has a strong belief that there is such a spoon in the kitchen. Without that belief, such searching is called
a useless exercise/ activities. What
more if she is searching the spoon in the dead of the night.
Then in the university , if you notice, there is a small group of
students who are said tobe engaged in doing research.
It is formed from 2 key words called “re” which refers to repeating
something that someone has done so far and the other word is SEARCH. To seek more truth about some theories, findings
etc etc. Of course they do the research
with the guidance of their learned supervisors. To put something nice, they do
the research with some kind of grants/ scholarship from their government. These grants will cover their monthly living
allowance, attending conference(s), publish papers etc etc. After completion of their study ( search and
research) then their output would somehow contribute to
the body of knowledge of the society.
As such .. to cut
time, I would like to suggest any individual to create this template and put it
at the door of your room ( hostel or office).
From my experience, I put this template on top of the ceiling in my
hostel next to the portrait of Margaret Thatcher , the Prime Minister of
England in the 1970’s. I did this in order to remind me ..
where I am now as far as the research life is concerned.
The template will comprised of four columns ( you can type
using Excel Microsoft Please)
1. Objective
- objective of your search/ research
2. Problem
Statement – what are the issues so far that are already being addressed by the
world scholars , society etc etc.
3. Method
- what experiment , what method are you
going to use to solve the above objective
4. Contribution
- Yes , your expected contribution at
the end of the day . Yes at the end of
your wild or intellectual searching/ researching.
Will that help my readers?
With that template , you would plan your 3 – 4 years
research with a Gantt Chart. It
comprises of important mile stones like
a) Year
1 - First 4 months - what is your objective(s)?
b) Next
4 months - have you found any research
gap? Are you anywhere there yet?
c) Next
4 months – are you not going to write a paper for a conference. At
least your idea is examined by other scholars within your research area other
than your main supervisor.
d) Year
2 - Next 12 months ahead - Your
Experiment? Any guts doing that ? just do it , you mean?
e) Year
3 - Next 6 months after that - You plan
to start writing your thesis. wRite a
paragraph, a chapter a day. Rewrite.
Rewrite. Let your close friends reading
it. Get comments?
f) Next
6 months - Thesis plus 2 or 3 journal
writings from your research findings / results. I pray your writings are
accepted for publication ISI Index, Scorpus Index etc etc. Impact factor?
g) Year
4 - Next 2- 6 months – defending your thesis please?
h) Next
6 months - rewrite few paragraphs after
Viva hopefully, resubmit. Pass!
Like that I think …
All in all .. you are threading a well planned journey in
doing your search, research and addressing the research gap in your specific
field of interest.
What is a research gap? It is a small hole within 2 worlds
. First is what the others have done so
far , the second world is you have identified correctly their weaknesses/
limitations. The gap is ‘.. your plan to
address that shortcomings i.e., what method are you thinking to solve that limitation’. We can
identify this somehow by readingg any abstract of writings in a journal.. where the second line has the keyword called ‘However..’.
2) Some research
failed. They failed because they did not
plan their activities very well. Some ..
having a nice life reading 9999 books and journals under the sky in their first
year without writing down the summary of the readings and linking them to their
PhD objective. Some read like a fan of a
football club like Manchester City! yoU forgot 1 thing ...they
do not go for examination called viva , you know? Some students read those journals
while shaking their feet in the air on their wonderful bed. He..he.. they do that ..without a solid plan
what to do within this 3 years. Bad
Luck mate!
To those out there .. don’t worry ..be happy ..if you have
that template and Ghantt Chart .. I
would pen off this writings with .. Good
Luck then.
Wallahu aklam bis sawabbb. ( God knows best).
Sazali Khalid Ph.D UTHM
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