When you think of starting a postgraduate study by research, either for a master's or a doctorate degree, the first thing you need to think about is your research scope and topic.
A lot of students asked me, "what can I study for postgraduate research programme? My answer is normally a question: do you have constraints imposed by third parties? What I actually mean is, do you have the freedom to choose your scope and topic of research?
Some of my students do not have the freedom to set the scope of their research topic because they are funded by governmental or private research grant scheme(s) to conduct a designated study. The scope of research has been set, and in certain situations, their research topics were determined by their supervisor when applying for a specific grant scheme. In a word, the students actually do not have the option to choose what to study. In this case, you need to fit into the scope and /or topic.
For those who do not receive any fund to further study, they do have to decide what to research. There are at least five things you need to consider when choosing a research topic:
1. Your undergraduate / master's degree results
- what courses you scored A or A+?
- what courses you like most? (because of the contents, not because of the lecturer or tutor)
2. Your interests in academia
- If you are going to be a lecturer after completion of the postgraduate study, what courses would you like to teach?
- If you are working, which expertise would you like to master in?
3. Your supervisor's interest
- If you have specific choices of potential supervisor(s) in mind, what is his or her current area of expertise?
- If you are still looking for a supervisor, you can refer to the area of expertise of a role model or ideal supervisor of your choice.
4. Your budget
- How much money have you prepared for the tuition fee and the postgraduate research study?
- How much time (in terms of semester) have you planned for the postgraduate study?
- How many working man-day you actually have per semester to do your research work?
5. Your choice of university and faculty or department
- Which area your choice of university is famous for?
- Which area your choice of faculty is famous for?
