Research Topic Help

[Jules35]

I am having the hardest time coming up with a research question. Our instructor wants us to pick a topic we are interested in, and my interest is in Cancer patients, more with Melanoma. I hate when I get brain blocks, and no direction as to how to come up with a research question... If anyone can help it would be greatly appreciated.

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

Go to the library and the Reader's Guides for healthcare. Look up the subject of cancer and/or melanoma to start finding the listings of research articles on this subject. If you don't know what I am talking about, go to the research area of your library and ask for help from the research librarian.

[llg, PhD, RN]

I agree with Daytonite. Go to the library and browse. Look at some journals related to cancer and nursing and get a feel for the possible topics and choose one that interests you and for which you will be able to find an adequate amount of literature to complete your project.

Too many students make the mistake of "pulling a topic out of thin air" that sounds intriguing to them only to disccover that it has not been adequately studied and/or the literature they need to complete their school project is not readily available.

So ... go to the library first and survey the literature. That's the way the pros do it.

[madascanbeRNtobe]

I would recommend going online to whatever Journal search engine your school subscribes to like Web of Science or CINAHL. Type in melanoma, and see the results you get. Read the first couple of articles briefly ie abstract and introduction, to get an idea whats hot in research currently. This should help you narrow down your topic to something specific.

Using the search engine, i find is more efficient than browsing through journals.

[llg, PhD, RN]

I would recommend going online to whatever Journal search engine your school subscribes to like Web of Science or CINAHL. Type in melanoma, and see the results you get. Read the first couple of articles briefly ie abstract and introduction, to get an idea whats hot in research currently. This should help you narrow down your topic to something specific.

Using the search engine, i find is more efficient than browsing through journals.

Using an online search engine can work as well ... but your search will then be limited to the key words you type in. In other words, you have to already have it narrowed down at least a little before you start. If you browse more generally, you can often pick up a lot of things from a broader range of topics.

If the OP only wants to consider topics in a narrow field, then an online search using specific key words is the best way to go. But if the OP wants to consider a broad range of topics, she would get a broader survey of the field by browsing entire journals and letting her mind wander a bit.

A broad survey can also be done online by browsing entire issues of journals rather than searching for specific key words. But it's a lot less fun that way and can actually be more time consuming if you have a good convenient library. The human eye can scan much more quickly as it flips through the pages of a bound copy of a year's worth of journals than a computer can search and sort the information.

I have nothing against computer searches. I do them regularly. But sometimes, the old-fashioned method actually yields better results.