Research topic

During this course, you will learn how to deal with information in different ways. In this course we will use an example to show this process. The example will be on: “the sustainability of the automotive industry”.

This subject is too broad to be researched in its entirety and a more specific research question needs to be developed. You will most likely encounter the same when you start with a new research topic.

A good research question should be:

• specific: it clearly describes what you will and what you won’t be researching
• socially relevant: useful to a certain target group

To formulate a specific research question, we will create a mind map of the automotive industry. A mind map is a visual way of analysing your subject. Start with your subject or research topic in the middle and think of related areas. For each area come up with more specified topics and examples. You can use an (online) encyclopaedia for this.
To understand a subject like “the sustainability of the automotive industry” we have created the following mind map (click to enlarge):

 

We have defined 8 possible areas influenced by the subject and we have specified topics within these areas.

From this mind map we will formulate a research question by searching connections between the areas and topics.

Possible research questions that can be derived from the mind map are:

• How can the automotive industry contribute to the improvement of air quality by adapting existing fuels?
• How can the automotive industry improve the environmental impact through material recycling in car design?
• Do car free zones have a positive impact on societal behaviour and impact the automotive industry?

For this course, the following research question has been chosen: “How can the automotive industry contribute to the improvement of air quality by adapting existing fuels?”

On TUlib you have read more on the Research question and how you can select a proper topic yourself:

• Prepare for your search plan