Category Archives: gap-spotting

the problem with gap talk

Gap talk. You know, the “this research fills a gap in the literature” line. Most of us have made this statement at some point in our academic life. It’s the most common starter for journal papers, proposals and theses, according … Continue reading

Posted in gap-spotting, research warrant, thesis warrant, warrant | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

addressing ‘the gap’ in the field

One of the conventions of academic life is the work of justification. To justify. To say why we are going to do what we are going to do. We regularly have to justify why we want to research something and … Continue reading

Posted in academic writing, deficit positioning, gap-spotting, next step, research warrant, stance, thesis warrant, warrant, what if | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

a different approach to research questions: a useful holiday read

We don’t talk enough about research questions. Well, that’s according to the authors of a book I’ve just read. They are Mats Alvesson and Jorgen Sandberg, and the book is Constructing research questions: Doing interesting research (Sage 2013). Alvesson and … Continue reading

Posted in gap-spotting, problematisation, questions, research question | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments