I was part of the DRC meeting for research scholars pursuing their Ph.D. program where the agenda was to finalize the topics. It was surprising to note that the topics selected by most of the scholars were not making any sense. For example, a few of the approved topics by the respective guides were as under:
1. Study of consumer behavior during a pandemic.
2. Study of buying behavior of Gen Z
3. Study of Micro-Finance in Uttar Pradesh and many more
So I decided to conduct a small survey for these aspirants and was surprised to find that more than 50% of the aspirant selected a particular topic for the ease of availability of earlier dissertations on the same topic. This made me think that if the Ph.D. guides are not going to be vigilant then the quality of research is going to be adversely affected.
Looking for your thoughts on this concerning issue
I think you are discussig two different things here, the quality of the research and the quality of the topic being researched.
That the area of research selected and approved is a bit generic and quite common does not mean that the research performed will be of low quality. It might even unearth new theories, new facts that lead to changes.
The fact that the topic research is weak trully reflect on the standards of the University, or the lack of it, which devalue any degree obtained.
So while the students may get "an easier ride" (bear in mind a Phd research is never easy), the final result they will get will be of lower quality due to the reputation of the University
I presented a workshop to our Faculty's postgraduate student, entitled:"Topic Selection & Research Proposal Guidelines", which is available on YouTube https://youtu.be/-RVfXmIfHRs. The presentation discussed the importance of topic selection, as well as some pertinent questions when selecting a topic, which I have shared below:
- Is the research topic relevant to the discipline (e.g. marketing)?
- Will the research topic keep you interested for 2 - 5 years?
- Will this research topic/trend still be relevant in 5 years?
- Have you identified a suitable research gap in the knowledge/understanding to justify the research topic?
- Will you be able to get permission (e.g. a company) to access to the data / respondents to conduct the primary research?
- Can the research topic be empirically tested, is it researchable?
- Do you have the money, time and abilities to implement?
- Does the research topic have practical & theoretical implications to make recommendations / contributions to knowledge?
- Is the topic significant enough to warrant the research? So what? Who cares?
- Will an opportunity be missed if the research is not conducted?
Wow, that's great. Thank You Rodney Duffett for sharing such valuable insights.
i think the reading behavior is lacking among the students, resultantly, not able to explore the research gap.
Agreed Muhammad Kamal but one cannot ignore the fact that even the faculty guides are not taking the matter seriously. My concern is forthe students
CA Vinod Kr Sharma ,,,,yest very much true. First responsibility of the faculty and then students
great Joemon Pappachan
. As I have mentioned earlier the quality of research largely can be improved if we guide students to select their topic not on the basis of ease and availability of related published thesis but on the basis of the practical relevance and viability of the same to the society or community at large.
Judging on a research quality needs specific standards and benchmarks. SO, it is very important to check the parameters that you are using to decide on any research quality. The research focus depends on several environmental and contextual factors as well. And that makes more logic for international marketing theories. Therefore, what is important in a specific context might not be the same in another one. Also, the Covid-19 Pandemic has changed the globe including business schools and how business research should be done.
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