LibGuides: Dissertation Subject Guide: Choosing a topic

Choosing a topic

Choosing a topic area for your dissertation is the first step.

Choose an area that you are interested in related to your coursework/practice/profession
a question that you would like to know the answer to
lack of knowledge in a particular area

Your question should be clear.

Narrow your topic down to an area that you would like to know the answer to, or interesting or worth investigating

Think about:

Before continuing, you need to check if a review has been recently or currently carried out on your question that you're thinking of.

Cochrane Library This link opens in a new window
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The Cochrane Library is a collection of resources that contain high-quality, independent evidence to inform healthcare decision making
For off-campus access select Sign in then Institutional login. Type Dundee in the search box and select University of Dundee. Enter your University of Dundee username and password.

search in Cochrane Library for already published reviews on your subject area

PROSPERO
The international prospective register of systematic reviews, rapid reviews and umbrella reviews. PROSPERO includes details of any planned or on-going systematic review that has a health related outcome.

Search PROSPERO for any planned or ongoing systematic reviews.

Scoping reviews are not included in PROSPERO or Cochrane.

If your research question idea already exists in PROSPERO and/or Cochrane.

Is it more than 7-10 years old? Would it be beneficial to do an updated systematic review?
Think of a different angle e.g. home setting or acute setting? different age group?

During your scoping searches, it might be worth considering if you'd like to look at Qualitative or Quantitative research for your review.

Qualitative vs Quantitative Research
QUALITATIVE	QUANTITATIVE
collecting and analysing non-numerical data	objective measurements: statistical, mathematical, numerical analysis
concepts, opinions, experiences	gathering numerical data & generalising across a group of people or explain a particular phenomenon.
first hand observations, interviews, questionnaires, focus groups, participant-observation	polls, questionnaires, surveys, using pre-existing statistical data
recordings made in natural settings, documents, case studies etc	large sample sizes representative of the population
felt more than measured not based on measurable terms but the impact of satisfaction and worth	usually gathered using structured research instruments. Research is replicable. Used to generalise concepts more widely, predict future results or investigate causal relationships.

Babbie, E.R. (2014) The practice of social research. Fourteenth edition. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning; Muijs, D. (2011) Doing quantitative research in education with SPSS. 2nd ed. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.