Steve Tippins explains how to spot research gaps that aren't spelled out in the literature. Pay attention when you read and think, "I wonder why no one has examined this?" Those moments signal potential gaps, especially when the same question keeps appearing across multiple papers.
What if I've looked at the literature and it doesn't expressly hit me in the head, saying, hey, here's your gap. What do I do now? I like to think that research gaps are going to arise naturally as you do reading. Where does your mind go when they start talking about doing something? When you start saying, huh, I wonder why no one's looked at it this way? Or I wonder if this could be done. Those become gaps in the literature, or at least paths to gaps. Now, if you're following the I wonder why or I wonder if approach, if you see it once, that's a trigger. Yeah, maybe. And if you start looking at more literature, you start keeping track of this when you realize, wow, no one's ever done this. I can see that there have been seven or eight people who've approached it this way, but no one's ever done this way. I wonder why not. That could be the beginning of a gap in literature. If you're struggling with finding a gap or just having difficulties in fine tuning it, join our free dissertation help community. I'll see you there.
