Ways to find a good research question

After we discuss about the general research topic, in the third part I will share with you about the ways to find a good research question. About the ways to find a good research question, we will cover the following topics. Research problem that driven by phenomena, driven by method, driven by inspiration and driven by literature. Research problems from your personal interest. And lastly problem you find from academic conferences.

The following will be a detailed introduction to these six ways in finding a good research question.

The first way is that you find a research problem from a social phenomenon. Here are some scenarios as examples. The first scenario is that Chinese citizens like to travel to Southeast Asia. The second one is increasing people like vacation travel. The third is that senior tourists like package tours while young generations like independent travel.

Based on these phenomena, do you have any new ideas? Can you find some suitable questions for academic research? The purpose of these examples is to show that many phenomena can lead to research problems. You should learn to find the hidden problems from the phenomena. The second way to find a good research question is to find problems that driven by method. This includes two main points. One is that the research question has been derived from the interest in research method itself. This kind of research addresses the shortcomings of existing methods, and then proposed better ways to reduce bias, to solve the shortcomings of current methods.

Another approach focuses on applying the latest research methods to study management or social phenomena in tourism field.

For the research problem driven by inspiration, you should think deeply and communicate with other peers. Most research questions come from personal observations and reflections. For observant students, any phenomena can be the material for research. Many research problems would come through deep thinking. The inspirations for research can also come from communication with others. You can chat with peer students, you can talk with a business people and you can also communicate with your professors. Such communication exchange can bring inspiration for your research topics although there are differences in the ways, contents and roles in the communication.

The fourth way is to find research problem driven by literature, reading literature to find out current issues in a certain field, or to explore topics worthy of studying. This method has advantages and disadvantages. The greatest advantage is that the research risk is relatively narrow. Research risk here refers to whether the subject is recognized by other research peers, and the possibility of the paper being published. By using this way, it is easier to find a solid theoretical foundation and research tools for your study. Its biggest disadvantage is that the research subject may be insufficiently innovative. Another important way to find a good research is from your personal interest. Your research questions must match your personal academic interests.

Choose academic questions that make you excited, curious and feel eagerly to know the answer. Such problems often come from unique personal experience. For example, your travel activity makes you pay attention to the uncivilized behavior of the tourist. Then some of you may think that why tourists behave unethically in destination Or your internship experience in a company makes you start to focus on employee satisfaction. These are all the experiences which you can develop into your research field.

Finally, you may also find a good research question from the academic conference. Academic conferences are the important ways for scholars who are just getting started to a research career. You can join academic conference in your field to see what other scholars are doing and what the entire field is focusing on. It will help scholars interact with each other and generate new ideas. Not only will you hear about the latest research from domestic and international scholars, you can also greatly save time in reading literature.