Summary of Research Gap 101: What Is A Research Gap & How To Find One (With Examples)

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This video discusses research gaps and how to find them. First, researchers should become familiar with existing literature and systematic reviews. Next, they should look at recent journal articles to get a sense of the current state of knowledge. Finally, they should focus on the section titled "further research is needed." There, researchers will describe where more research is needed and where potential research gaps may exist. After following this process, the researcher should have a list of potential research topics to explore.

• 00:00:00 The four most common research gaps are the classic literature gap, the disagreement gap, the contextual gap, and the methodological gap. A classic literature gap exists when there is a new concept or phenomenon that hasn't been studied much or at all, a disagreement gap exists when there are contrasting or contradictory findings in the existing research, a contextual gap exists when there is already a decent amount of existing research on a particular topic but an absence of research in specific contexts, and a methodological gap exists when there is a lack of research on a specific topic or in a specific context.
• 00:05:00 This video discusses research gaps, and provides a step-by-step guide for finding them. First, first-time researchers should familiarize themselves with existing literature and systematic reviews. Next, they should look at recent journal articles to get a sense of the current state of knowledge. Finally, they should focus on the section titled "further research is needed." There, researchers will describe where more research is needed and where potential research gaps may exist. After following this process, the researcher should have a list of potential research topics to explore.