I have a research problem that I will like to investigate, however there is limited literature to review in relation to the topic.
1. Which research design will be appropriate for such investigation?
2. And is it ideal or possible to carry out such a study on a research topic which does not present the researcher with already existing literature?
Your answers are most appreciated.
It depends: without knowing your topic and angle it's hard to comment. The pure fact of their not being much literature could mean a) you're on to something! b) the answer is obvious or uninteresting so nobody's bothered to research it. It doesn't stop you from researching it, but just do make sure that you've done a thorough search and there really isn't much (i.e., you're not missing anything).
Good luck with it.
Generally speaking, qualitative research methods could be used in areas about which there is little information. With qualitative studies, you can identify future hypotheses, content areas, and concepts of a phenomenon. That is crucial for future studies. Also a quantitative descriptive approach can be used. That approach can give you statistical data about the who, what, where, or when a phenomenal occurs. As far as your research literature, you can use research that is similar or related.
A number of years ago, I had a graduate student conduct a study about what it was like for a woman to have a baby. There were no studies we could find on the topic. She interviewed women who just delivered a baby to identify the components of that experience. Since that time, a number of those studies have been done. In the review of the literature, she described significant areas of research on labor and delivery and then said, this piece, the experiences of the women, has not been studied.
Good luck with your project.
I agree with Madelaine and think that exploratory qualitative interviews with key informants on your topic might be a good first step. Assuming you can identify ( and have access to) those who have either experienced the topic/problem you want to investigate or have some expert knowledge about it, you can start with some interviews with those individuals. Good luck!
I appreciate the feedback from all who responded so far. Thank You very much please
The topic is a crucial issue on the kind of research you do.If you study people, you will probably use different methods in contrast to machines. It is common to use similar topics for the literature review, and it is sometimes possible to stretch that a bit. I will be happy to give further advice if you will describe the topic.
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