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One of the hardest parts of writing a research paper can be just finding a good topic to write about. Fortunately we've done the hard work for you and have compiled a list of 113 interesting research paper topics. They've been organized into ten categories and cover a wide range of subjects so you can easily find the best topic for you.

In addition to the list of good research topics, we've included advice on what makes a good research paper topic and how you can use your topic to start writing a great paper.

What Makes a Good Research Paper Topic?

Not all research paper topics are created equal, and you want to make sure you choose a great topic before you start writing. Below are the three most important factors to consider to make sure you choose the best research paper topics.

#1: It's Something You're Interested In

A paper is always easier to write if you're interested in the topic, and you'll be more motivated to do in-depth research and write a paper that really covers the entire subject. Even if a certain research paper topic is getting a lot of buzz right now or other people seem interested in writing about it, don't feel tempted to make it your topic unless you genuinely have some sort of interest in it as well.

#2: There's Enough Information to Write a Paper

Even if you come up with the absolute best research paper topic and you're so excited to write about it, you won't be able to produce a good paper if there isn't enough research about the topic. This can happen for very specific or specialized topics, as well as topics that are too new to have enough research done on them at the moment. Easy research paper topics will always be topics with enough information to write a full-length paper.

Trying to write a research paper on a topic that doesn't have much research on it is incredibly hard, so before you decide on a topic, do a bit of preliminary searching and make sure you'll have all the information you need to write your paper.

#3: It Fits Your Teacher's Guidelines

Don't get so carried away looking at lists of research paper topics that you forget any requirements or restrictions your teacher may have put on research topic ideas. If you're writing a research paper on a health-related topic, deciding to write about the impact of rap on the music scene probably won't be allowed, but there may be some sort of leeway. For example, if you're really interested in current events but your teacher wants you to write a research paper on a history topic, you may be able to choose a topic that fits both categories, like exploring the relationship between the US and North Korea. No matter what, always get your research paper topic approved by your teacher first before you begin writing.

113 Good Research Paper Topics

Below are 113 good research topics to help you get you started on your paper. We've organized them into ten categories to make it easier to find the type of research paper topics you're looking for.

Arts/Culture

• Discuss the main differences in art from the Italian Renaissance and the Northern Renaissance .
• Analyze the impact a famous artist had on the world.
• How is sexism portrayed in different types of media (music, film, video games, etc.)? Has the amount/type of sexism changed over the years?
• How has the music of slaves brought over from Africa shaped modern American music?
• How has rap music evolved in the past decade?
• How has the portrayal of minorities in the media changed?

Current Events

• What have been the impacts of China's one child policy?
• How have the goals of feminists changed over the decades?
• How has the Trump presidency changed international relations?
• Analyze the history of the relationship between the United States and North Korea.
• What factors contributed to the current decline in the rate of unemployment?
• What have been the impacts of states which have increased their minimum wage?
• How do US immigration laws compare to immigration laws of other countries?
• How have the US's immigration laws changed in the past few years/decades?
• How has the Black Lives Matter movement affected discussions and view about racism in the US?
• What impact has the Affordable Care Act had on healthcare in the US?
• What factors contributed to the UK deciding to leave the EU (Brexit)?
• What factors contributed to China becoming an economic power?
• Discuss the history of Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies  (some of which tokenize the S&P 500 Index on the blockchain) .
• Do students in schools that eliminate grades do better in college and their careers?
• Do students from wealthier backgrounds score higher on standardized tests?
• Do students who receive free meals at school get higher grades compared to when they weren't receiving a free meal?
• Do students who attend charter schools score higher on standardized tests than students in public schools?
• Do students learn better in same-sex classrooms?
• How does giving each student access to an iPad or laptop affect their studies?
• What are the benefits and drawbacks of the Montessori Method ?
• Do children who attend preschool do better in school later on?
• What was the impact of the No Child Left Behind act?
• How does the US education system compare to education systems in other countries?
• What impact does mandatory physical education classes have on students' health?
• Which methods are most effective at reducing bullying in schools?
• Do homeschoolers who attend college do as well as students who attended traditional schools?
• Does offering tenure increase or decrease quality of teaching?
• How does college debt affect future life choices of students?
• Should graduate students be able to form unions?

• What are different ways to lower gun-related deaths in the US?
• How and why have divorce rates changed over time?
• Is affirmative action still necessary in education and/or the workplace?
• Should physician-assisted suicide be legal?
• How has stem cell research impacted the medical field?
• How can human trafficking be reduced in the United States/world?
• Should people be able to donate organs in exchange for money?
• Which types of juvenile punishment have proven most effective at preventing future crimes?
• Has the increase in US airport security made passengers safer?
• Analyze the immigration policies of certain countries and how they are similar and different from one another.
• Several states have legalized recreational marijuana. What positive and negative impacts have they experienced as a result?
• Do tariffs increase the number of domestic jobs?
• Which prison reforms have proven most effective?
• Should governments be able to censor certain information on the internet?
• Which methods/programs have been most effective at reducing teen pregnancy?
• What are the benefits and drawbacks of the Keto diet?
• How effective are different exercise regimes for losing weight and maintaining weight loss?
• How do the healthcare plans of various countries differ from each other?
• What are the most effective ways to treat depression ?
• What are the pros and cons of genetically modified foods?
• Which methods are most effective for improving memory?
• What can be done to lower healthcare costs in the US?
• What factors contributed to the current opioid crisis?
• Analyze the history and impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic .
• Are low-carbohydrate or low-fat diets more effective for weight loss?
• How much exercise should the average adult be getting each week?
• Which methods are most effective to get parents to vaccinate their children?
• What are the pros and cons of clean needle programs?
• How does stress affect the body?
• Discuss the history of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
• What were the causes and effects of the Salem Witch Trials?
• Who was responsible for the Iran-Contra situation?
• How has New Orleans and the government's response to natural disasters changed since Hurricane Katrina?
• What events led to the fall of the Roman Empire?
• What were the impacts of British rule in India ?
• Was the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki necessary?
• What were the successes and failures of the women's suffrage movement in the United States?
• What were the causes of the Civil War?
• How did Abraham Lincoln's assassination impact the country and reconstruction after the Civil War?
• Which factors contributed to the colonies winning the American Revolution?
• What caused Hitler's rise to power?
• Discuss how a specific invention impacted history.
• What led to Cleopatra's fall as ruler of Egypt?
• How has Japan changed and evolved over the centuries?
• What were the causes of the Rwandan genocide ?

• Why did Martin Luther decide to split with the Catholic Church?
• Analyze the history and impact of a well-known cult (Jonestown, Manson family, etc.)
• How did the sexual abuse scandal impact how people view the Catholic Church?
• How has the Catholic church's power changed over the past decades/centuries?
• What are the causes behind the rise in atheism/ agnosticism in the United States?
• What were the influences in Siddhartha's life resulted in him becoming the Buddha?
• How has media portrayal of Islam/Muslims changed since September 11th?

Science/Environment

• How has the earth's climate changed in the past few decades?
• How has the use and elimination of DDT affected bird populations in the US?
• Analyze how the number and severity of natural disasters have increased in the past few decades.
• Analyze deforestation rates in a certain area or globally over a period of time.
• How have past oil spills changed regulations and cleanup methods?
• How has the Flint water crisis changed water regulation safety?
• What are the pros and cons of fracking?
• What impact has the Paris Climate Agreement had so far?
• What have NASA's biggest successes and failures been?
• How can we improve access to clean water around the world?
• Does ecotourism actually have a positive impact on the environment?
• Should the US rely on nuclear energy more?
• What can be done to save amphibian species currently at risk of extinction?
• What impact has climate change had on coral reefs?
• How are black holes created?
• Are teens who spend more time on social media more likely to suffer anxiety and/or depression?
• How will the loss of net neutrality affect internet users?
• Analyze the history and progress of self-driving vehicles.
• How has the use of drones changed surveillance and warfare methods?
• Has social media made people more or less connected?
• What progress has currently been made with artificial intelligence ?
• Do smartphones increase or decrease workplace productivity?
• What are the most effective ways to use technology in the classroom?
• How is Google search affecting our intelligence?
• When is the best age for a child to begin owning a smartphone?
• Has frequent texting reduced teen literacy rates?

How to Write a Great Research Paper

Even great research paper topics won't give you a great research paper if you don't hone your topic before and during the writing process. Follow these three tips to turn good research paper topics into great papers.

#1: Figure Out Your Thesis Early

Before you start writing a single word of your paper, you first need to know what your thesis will be. Your thesis is a statement that explains what you intend to prove/show in your paper. Every sentence in your research paper will relate back to your thesis, so you don't want to start writing without it!

As some examples, if you're writing a research paper on if students learn better in same-sex classrooms, your thesis might be "Research has shown that elementary-age students in same-sex classrooms score higher on standardized tests and report feeling more comfortable in the classroom."

If you're writing a paper on the causes of the Civil War, your thesis might be "While the dispute between the North and South over slavery is the most well-known cause of the Civil War, other key causes include differences in the economies of the North and South, states' rights, and territorial expansion."

#2: Back Every Statement Up With Research

Remember, this is a research paper you're writing, so you'll need to use lots of research to make your points. Every statement you give must be backed up with research, properly cited the way your teacher requested. You're allowed to include opinions of your own, but they must also be supported by the research you give.

#3: Do Your Research Before You Begin Writing

You don't want to start writing your research paper and then learn that there isn't enough research to back up the points you're making, or, even worse, that the research contradicts the points you're trying to make!

Get most of your research on your good research topics done before you begin writing. Then use the research you've collected to create a rough outline of what your paper will cover and the key points you're going to make. This will help keep your paper clear and organized, and it'll ensure you have enough research to produce a strong paper.

What's Next?

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These recommendations are based solely on our knowledge and experience. If you purchase an item through one of our links, PrepScholar may receive a commission.

Christine graduated from Michigan State University with degrees in Environmental Biology and Geography and received her Master's from Duke University. In high school she scored in the 99th percentile on the SAT and was named a National Merit Finalist. She has taught English and biology in several countries.

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How to research a topic online.

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Why i’ll never buy a gaming laptop (even though they’re good now), i spent $200 to replace my perfectly good headphones just for these two features, quick links, organize your information early on, start broad and collect a lot of information, decide what's important, and narrow things down, optimize your google search, go further than google, double-check your research, what if you find conflicting information.

Online research is a crucial skill, whether you're working on an academic paper, writing a blog post, or just trying to learn something new about your houseplants. But it's not always easy when you're tackling a complicated or niche topic.

Organizing your information can help you save time, and it can save you from forgetting or misremembering anything that you've learned from your research. You should keep a link to every webpage that you visit from the start to the very end of your research. It's best to write down a little bit of information for each link so that you remember why you saved them and what kind of information that you could take from them. You should also save any PDF's or images related to your research because you can use them as valuable primary sources.

If you need to organize a lot of data across multiple devices, consider using a note-taking app like  Evernote , OneNote , or Google Keep . They're all great for keeping track of web pages, PDF's, photos, and whatever else you need for your big project.

If you're just trying to knock out a short essay or learn something about DIY woodworking, then you probably don't need to grab a dedicated note-taking app unless you already use one. You might find it easier to cut and paste web pages into a Word or Google Doc file and save any PDFs or images to your local or cloud storage drive. Just make sure that you keep your files organized  and take notes for all of your sources.

In the end, you'll probably only use a handful of the links that you save. But if you're publishing a blog post or writing an essay, you need to be able to double-check and cite all of your sources. Otherwise, you might end up creating a lot of extra work for yourself later.

When researching, it's tempting to dive straight into the first exciting thing that you find. But you should try to start as broad as possible. Otherwise, you might miss out on some fascinating pieces of information and end up with a poor understanding of your topic.

That's why you should try to find a lot of information on your topic, more than you think that you'll need. A good way to start broad is to search Google for general terms related to your topic. If you're researching the difference between sunflowers and tulips, then you should learn a bit of information about each flower before going deeper.

Of course, Wikipedia is also a fantastic place to begin your research. You can use Wikipedia to find a lot of general information on your topic, and you can use it to find related topics or primary sources that may be useful as you go deeper into your research.

Once you've collected a broad swath of data, you need to review everything and decide on what to focus. Don't just go for the first thing that sounds interesting to you. Try to find any new relationships between the different pieces of information that you've gathered.

Let's say that you're researching an author, like Mark Twain. You found in your broad research that he was in the Civil War and that some of his stories take place in the antebellum south. On their own, those two pieces of information are boring and hard to care about. But when you put them together, it's clear that there may be a tantalizing relationship that's worth some in-depth research.

It's okay to research a relationship that seems obvious or well-known, especially if you're writing a blog, doing personal research, or doing a rudimentary history paper. But if you want to find something unique, then you need to think about how to narrow your research.

Okay, you're ready to do some more in-depth research. Now what? If you're looking into something that's kind of unique, then you may have trouble finding some good search results on Google.

That's why you need to use some  Google Search Operators  to get the most out of your Google searches. There are a lot of search operators that you can use, and they're all pretty straightforward. But there are a few that are especially useful for doing online research.

If you need to look up exact phrases or names on Google, then you can put them in quotation marks. For example, if you search the phrase "mole people" on Google, then you'll only find pages that contain the word "mole" followed by the word "people."

"Mole people"

The idea of starting broad and then narrowing your search applies to searching the web, too.

For example, if your search for "mole people" include too many results related to New York, then you could use a minus sign to exclude those results. This is what it would look like:

"Mole people" -"New York"

Note that we also used quotation marks around "New York" in that search because we want the whole phrase excluded.

If you hit a point in your research where you can't find any new websites to visit, then you should try to switch up your Google search. Try using variations on the same search terms, and change which Search Operators you're using. Sometimes the slightest change in your search will give you wildly different results.

Sometimes Google's expertise won't be enough for you. If you're working on a full academic paper or writing a deep-dive blog post, then you may need to look through some magazines, academic papers, or old books. You know, "primary sources."

Some websites, like  Project Muse and JSTOR , are an excellent resource for periodicals, academic papers, and other primary sources. You can usually access them through your University or public library. There's also some free alternatives to these websites, like Google Scholar  and SSRN .

But if you're writing a deep-dive on dairy advertisements, then you're going to need to find some old catalogs, magazines, periodicals, and posters.  Google Books  is an excellent resource for this kind of material.

You can also use Wikipedia to find some primary sources. At the end of every Wikipedia article, there's a "References" table. This table tells you the sources for all of the information in the article. If you come across a juicy bit of information while reading a Wikipedia article, then there's usually a small number that links to the reference table.

It's good to look into all of these resources because they usually come up with different results for the same search. They also tend to have built-in advanced search functions, which are useful for topics that are unique or niche.

Once you've completed your research, you need to make sure that all of your information is accurate. You can save yourself a lot of heartbreak by double-checking all of your research before doing any writing.

Go and reread all of your sources, because there's a chance that you misinterpreted what they're saying. Of course, you're not the only person that can misread a source, so it's good to check any citations that you find on a website.

You should also consider how you used Google to research your topic. If you included any bias in your search terms, then there's a chance that the information that you gathered will reflect that bias. Try searching Google with a variety of search terms and  Google Search Operators .

There are also fact-checking websites that you can use to make sure that your information is accurate. Websites like  Factcheck.org  or Snopes  are pretty fantastic; just don't use them as your only fact-checking resource.

Sometimes you'll spend a lot of time double-checking all of your research, and you'll realize that things don't seem to line up. In this situation, it's tempting to stand behind some information that may not be entirely factual. After all, it's a lot easier to go along with inaccurate information than to redo your entire research process.

But you should never write or publish any information unless you're confident that it's accurate. If you run into conflicting information while researching a topic, go back to the drawing board or try to spin the pieces of contradictory information in your favor.

For example, if you find a lot of conflicting eyewitness accounts while researching the Titanic, then you can quickly turn those conflicting accounts into an exciting piece of information. You could even go back and do some in-depth research into who made those eyewitness accounts, and how they shaped the public's opinion on the sinking of the Titanic. Hey, that could be a book.

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Online research: Definition, Methods, Types and Execution

Online survey research is much more impactful than traditional research, considering the ease of access and cost savings they come with. The response rates received for online research are much higher than the others as the respondents are assured that their identity will be protected.

There’s constant progress in the field of online survey research with the progress that’s happening on the internet and social media. Social media has been a catalyst in the entire process of online research regarding access to databases and the experiments that can be conducted on this platform.

What is Online Research?

Online research is a research method that involves the collection of information from the internet. With the advent of the internet, the traditional pen-and-paper research techniques have taken a backseat and made room for online research design .

Online surveys , online polls , questionnaires , forms , and focus groups are various tools of online research that are vital in gathering essential information for market research . The internet has created impressive avenues for small and large businesses to conduct market research with zero to a minimum investment. Online research can be carried out for product testing, targeting an audience, database mining, customer satisfaction et al.

LEARN ABOUT:  Market research industry

5 Online Research Methods and Techniques:

Researchers and statisticians collect data from respondents using various online research techniques. They are often called internet research or web-based research methods. Many of these research methods are already being used in one way or another but are being revived for online mediums. The latest in this line of online research methods in social media research, as it offers extended levels of complexities and, thus, new avenues for research.

Researchers extensively use 5 such online research methods due to the precise nature of the offered results.

• Online focus group: A subset of the online research techniques, online focus groups are methods usually used for B2B research, consumer research and political research. A moderator is assigned to conduct and supervise the focus group who invites pre-selected and qualified participants who represent a specific area of interest to be a part of this focus group at a particular time. The respondents are usually incentivized to be a part of the discussion, which usually is an hour and 90 minutes.

LEARN ABOUT: B2B Online Panels

• Online interview: This online research method is quite similar to the face-to-face interview methods yet different in terms of the required standard practices, understanding with respondents, and sampling. Online interviews are organized using various computer-mediated communication (CMC), essentially SMS or Email. Based on  the response time for these interviews, they’re classified into synchronous and asynchronous methods.Synchronous online interviews are carried out via mediums such as online chat, where the responses are received in real-time. Asynchronous online interviews are those that happen over Email, where the responses are usually not in real-time. Just like face-to-face interviews, online interviews probe into respondents’ thoughts and feedback about a particular topic to get insights into their experiences, ideas, or attitudes.
• Online qualitative research: Other than the mainstream online focus groups and online interviews, there are various aspects of online qualitative research . These aspects include blogs, mobile diaries , and communities . These methods contribute toward cost and time savings and are supremely convenient for the researchers to gather information for their research topics. The level of sophistication that online qualitative research methods bring to the table is superior to any other traditional forms as the respondents can be either recruited from existing databases, or panels or can be added by conducting surveys . LEARN MORE: Qualitative Research Questions and Questionnaires
• Online text analysis: This analysis technique is an extension of text analysis which exists since the 17th century which is a collection of various online research examples used to derive insights from content available online. By using this online research technique, researchers can explain penned, verbal or graphic communication formats. Categories such as web pages, paragraphs, sentences, quasi-sentences, documents, etc. It is most often used for quantitative research but for better interpretation of the text, researchers also use qualitative techniques.

LEARN ABOUT: Qualitative Interview

• Social network analysis: Social network analysis is an emerging online research technique which is gaining acceptance due to the increased adoption of social networking platforms. By conducting social network analysis, a researcher can map and measure flows and relationships between people, organizations, URLs, groups or computers using graph theory. For instance, the latest meme culture has developed new social structures in which the people associated are termed as “nodes” and memes are the “links” between these nodes.

LEARN ABOUT: Best Data Collection Tools

Types of online research:

• Customer satisfaction research: Earlier, this type of research used to be conducted over phone calls but nowadays, the customers are accustomed to getting mail asking them to give their feedback on their recent experience with an organization. For instance, if you own a newly opened restaurant, you’d want to know customer satisfaction . You can either have a survey ready for them to fill out after their meal, send it out after taking their email address or use the offline app to conduct the survey.
• New product research: The launch of a new product can be unnerving. Understanding whether a new product will succeed with the target audience is much needed. New product research can be carried out by testing the product with a group of selected guinea pigs and collecting feedback almost immediately. It can be highly effective when conducting research for a new mall outlet (read: Walmart!), launching a car variant, or introducing adding new credit card options.
• Understand brand loyalty: Many small and big businesses survive merely on brand loyalty . It’s undoubtedly a big deal but to every organization needs to work on it to either maintain or improve it. Conduct online research to know what attracts a customer to a particular brand or the points that are currently keeping them from being loyal to your brand.
• Employee engagement and employee satisfaction research: Understanding what employees think about working with your organization is the key to success. The mood and morale of the employees must be tracked regularly so that they effectively contribute to the growth of the company. Surveys should be sent to improve employee engagement and also to strive to maintain employee satisfaction . 

Things to keep in mind for online survey research

Online survey research is one of the most impactful ways to carry out web-based research that yield effective results. Here are a few points that all organizations should take care of while designing an online survey for research:

Give open-ended questions a miss:

A respondent needs to think before submitting open-ended questions, so the time taken for completion can increase. This can annoy them to a point where they’d simply quit the survey. Yes-No questions, multiple choice questions, or ranking questions will be much easier for respondents to fill out and as effective as open-ended questions .

Show urgency but also be tolerant:

In case you want a response for something important, sending more than one invitation for respondents to fill out is alright. But, a prerequisite for this is that your database should be very well aware of this, and they should have no objection to it. Most importantly, be patient with the results once you’ve conducted an online survey. Appoint someone from the team who will take care of the entire process of conducting this survey.

Detailed surveys produce better results:

Survey takers can sit through a survey that would take them a maximum of 25 minutes. They would usually quit to never return, even for the surveys that you might send out in the future. The inclusion of drop-down questions or multiple choice questions (with accurate options) will help reduce the survey size and, in turn, the time invested by the survey takers.

Online Research Advantages:

• Access to data across the globe: The Internet is an elaborate platform for researchers to invest their time in retrieving crucial information that would otherwise consume a lot of their time. It is straightforward for them to conduct research skills even if they’re lazing on their couch and have deadlines.   
• Minimum investment of time and resources: Online mediums have become the numero uno resort for individuals to look up information to broaden their horizons of knowledge. There’s information being updated daily, and researchers latch onto this information for their benefit. It has eased the process of publishing and collecting information and thus saves time and money.  
• Central pool of facts and figures: Researchers and statisticians keep searching for updated information on various important topics. Students explore the internet for academic purposes, which is the most significant edge the internet offers.
• Capable tools for collecting information: Surveys, questionnaires, and polls are being conducted via online mediums like emails or QR codes, or embedded websites to gather or spread vital information.

Know more about the various online research methods.

LEARN ABOUT: 12 Best Tools for Researchers

QuestionPro’s robust suite of research tools provides you with all you need to derive research results. Our online survey platform includes custom point-and-click logic and advanced question types.

LEARN ABOUT: Market research vs marketing research

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Reference management. Clean and simple.

The top list of academic search engines

1. Google Scholar

4. science.gov, 5. semantic scholar, 6. baidu scholar, get the most out of academic search engines, frequently asked questions about academic search engines, related articles.

Academic search engines have become the number one resource to turn to in order to find research papers and other scholarly sources. While classic academic databases like Web of Science and Scopus are locked behind paywalls, Google Scholar and others can be accessed free of charge. In order to help you get your research done fast, we have compiled the top list of free academic search engines.

Google Scholar is the clear number one when it comes to academic search engines. It's the power of Google searches applied to research papers and patents. It not only lets you find research papers for all academic disciplines for free but also often provides links to full-text PDF files.

• Coverage: approx. 200 million articles
• Abstracts: only a snippet of the abstract is available
• Related articles: ✔
• References: ✔
• Cited by: ✔
• Links to full text: ✔
• Export formats: APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, Vancouver, RIS, BibTeX

BASE is hosted at Bielefeld University in Germany. That is also where its name stems from (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine).

• Coverage: approx. 136 million articles (contains duplicates)
• Abstracts: ✔
• Related articles: ✘
• References: ✘
• Cited by: ✘
• Export formats: RIS, BibTeX

CORE is an academic search engine dedicated to open-access research papers. For each search result, a link to the full-text PDF or full-text web page is provided.

• Coverage: approx. 136 million articles
• Links to full text: ✔ (all articles in CORE are open access)
• Export formats: BibTeX

Science.gov is a fantastic resource as it bundles and offers free access to search results from more than 15 U.S. federal agencies. There is no need anymore to query all those resources separately!

• Coverage: approx. 200 million articles and reports
• Links to full text: ✔ (available for some databases)
• Export formats: APA, MLA, RIS, BibTeX (available for some databases)

Semantic Scholar is the new kid on the block. Its mission is to provide more relevant and impactful search results using AI-powered algorithms that find hidden connections and links between research topics.

• Coverage: approx. 40 million articles
• Export formats: APA, MLA, Chicago, BibTeX

Although Baidu Scholar's interface is in Chinese, its index contains research papers in English as well as Chinese.

• Coverage: no detailed statistics available, approx. 100 million articles
• Abstracts: only snippets of the abstract are available
• Export formats: APA, MLA, RIS, BibTeX

RefSeek searches more than one billion documents from academic and organizational websites. Its clean interface makes it especially easy to use for students and new researchers.

• Coverage: no detailed statistics available, approx. 1 billion documents
• Abstracts: only snippets of the article are available
• Export formats: not available

Consider using a reference manager like Paperpile to save, organize, and cite your references. Paperpile integrates with Google Scholar and many popular databases, so you can save references and PDFs directly to your library using the Paperpile buttons:

Google Scholar is an academic search engine, and it is the clear number one when it comes to academic search engines. It's the power of Google searches applied to research papers and patents. It not only let's you find research papers for all academic disciplines for free, but also often provides links to full text PDF file.

Semantic Scholar is a free, AI-powered research tool for scientific literature developed at the Allen Institute for AI. Sematic Scholar was publicly released in 2015 and uses advances in natural language processing to provide summaries for scholarly papers.

BASE , as its name suggest is an academic search engine. It is hosted at Bielefeld University in Germany and that's where it name stems from (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine).

CORE is an academic search engine dedicated to open access research papers. For each search result a link to the full text PDF or full text web page is provided.

Science.gov is a fantastic resource as it bundles and offers free access to search results from more than 15 U.S. federal agencies. There is no need any more to query all those resources separately!

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27 Research-Backed Web Design Tips: How to Design a Website That Works

Total visitors. It’s easy to see. Every marketer knows how much traffic they’re getting because it’s right there in your Analytics. But what happens next isn’t as obvious.

That’s why giving advice for driving traffic is easy, but web design tips are hard. There are so many factors. Even after 1000+ successful web design projects, it’s difficult for us to know what will work best.

This article has 27 web design tips for getting more value from every single visitor. Most of these tips are supported by research. These are for beginner designers and advanced UX pros, for small business and big enterprise.

Here is our best advice, ideas and inspiration on how to design a website that gets results. A site that looks beautiful, converts visitors and gets more value from every one of those hard-earned visits.

The two most important studies cited here are at the very end. If you’re impatient, skip down!

The Structural Layout of the Website

Websites are two things: containers and content. The container is two things: structure and style. Let’s start with the first. These tips are about the structure and layout of the pages.

1. Leverage a visual hierarchy

Every page has a visual hierarchy. If you’re not familiar with that concept, here’s our definition:

Visual hierarchy refers to the arrangement, size, color and contrast of visual elements. It determines their relative prominence and the order in which they are seen by the human eye.

Web designers use visual hierarchy to guide visitors attention to important elements first. The website layout includes the position (high or low on the page), sizes (big or small), visuals (video, images, icons) and contrast (color and white space).

Combining aspects multiplies their effect. Everyone will see a large video, high on the page. Few people will see low contrast text surrounded by images.

Visual hierarchy is why your eyes follow a certain path on every page you visit on the internet. When used deliberately, it guides the visitor’s attention through a series of messages, toward a call to action.

2. Use a descriptive, keyphrase-focused headline high on the homepage

The headline on the top of the homepage (and every page) is either descriptive or not. If not, the visitor may not be able to answer their first question: “Am I in the right place?”

It’s also an opportunity to use a target keyphrase and indicate relevance. But a lot of marketers write something clever or vague instead. But clear is better than clever.

Rather than write a fancy, but vague headline, write something descriptive. Make sure that you explain what the company does high up on the page, above the fold.

Wait, the fold is still a thing?

Yes, there is a fold. For every visit on every screen, there is a viewable area. At the bottom is the famous fold. To see anything below this line, that visitor must scroll.

Why and if this matters in web design is a hotly debated topic. Here are two of the best arguments: “ There is no fold! “ vs “ The fold still matters .”

Of course, there are thousands of screen sizes, ranging from tiny to huge. This website was viewed on 958 different sized screens in the last month. So some designers say the fold is no longer relevant.

But here’s the bottom line (get it?) There is still a fold for every visit and still an average fold for all visits. Tools like Hotjar show it clearly as a line in the scroll heatmap, for desktop/laptop, mobile and tablet.

So yes, there’s a fold and it matters what you put above and below it. One study showed that visitors spend 80% of their time above the fold.

So put your value proposition, that 8-word version of what you do, high on the page, above the fold.

3. But don’t put all of your calls to action at the top

Visitors may be spending more time there, but that doesn’t mean that they’re ready to take action. A lot of persuasion happens farther down the page.

When Chartbeat analyzed 25 million visits they found that most engagement happens below the fold. Content at the top may be visible, it’s not necessarily going to be the most effective place to put your calls to action.

One caveat about this frequently-cited study: Chartbeat is used mostly by news websites , which are very different from marketing websites. No one does much above the fold on a news website! Normal web design tips don’t apply.

Make sure to put calls to action farther down the page, in any place where interest is likely to be high.

4. Make it a tall page. Answer all your visitors’ questions.

More pixels means more space to answer questions, address objections and add supportive evidence. If the visitor doesn’t find an answer to an important question, they can simply keep moving down the page. Once they are satisfied, they’ll simply stop reading.

The most effective sales pages emulate sales conversations.

You would never cut someone off during a sales meeting and stop answering their questions, would you? That’s all a short page does; it stops answering questions.

Here’s where the famous study from Crazy Egg comes in. They surveyed their audience, discovered their top questions and concerns, and built a tall page that addresses everything.

The page was 20x longer. The conversion rate went up by 30%.

5. Show one thing at a time

“I like clean, modern designs.” That’s what most of our clients tell us when we begin web design projects. They often refer to Apple’s website as an example.

Visitors don’t like clutter. We like whitespace. In other words, we like low visual complexity.

In 2012, Google set out to discover what types of websites are seen as beautiful to visitors. It’s a study about simplicity with a very complicated name: The role of visual complexity and prototypicality regarding first impression of websites: Working towards understanding aesthetic judgments.

They learned that more complex designs are less likely to be perceived as beautiful.

This explains the trend toward single column layouts and tall pages. Designs with multiple columns (left side navigation, content area, right rail) are more complex, with more visual elements within the visitors field of vision.

So cut the clutter. Make one of two elements the focus at each scroll depth.

6. Stick to standard layouts

That same study by Google found that “high prototypicality” also correlates with perceived beauty. In other words, weird isn’t usually pretty. A website that follows web design standards is more likely to be loved.

The sites considered the most beautiful have both high prototypicality and low visual complexity. They are both simple and clean.

Think of it this way, it’s good to differentiate your brand, but the layout isn’t the place to do it. Be different in WHAT you say. But be typical in HOW your site is used.

Some cars look amazing. They’re different. They’re beautiful. But they still have doors on the sides, wheels on the bottom and headlights in front.

But what’s standard? According to our own research , these are the standard elements for a website:

The “standard” website with high prototypicality includes the following:

• Logo in the top left
• Horizontal navigation in the header
• Search bar at the top
• Social icons at the bottom
• Mobile responsive design

7. Beware of “false bottoms”

Modern marketing websites, especially the sales pages, are built with page blocks. These are rows of content, often with an image on one side and text on the other, flowing down the page in a single column.

Here’s the anatomy of a typical service page on a lead generation website .

As the diagram shows, the footer has a darker background color. So many sites do this that visitors now expect that a switch to a darker background means the bottom of the page.

But if the design has a pageblock with a dark background, the visitor might think they’ve hit the bottom and stop scrolling. It’s a false bottom.

Note: I debate with my own designers about this one. Kurt Cruse , our creative director, makes an excellent point. Changes in background color is an excellent way to let visitors know that the type of content is changing. I hear you, Kurt!

Just be deliberate when selecting background colors for page blocks. To be safe, choose only slight variations or just always use white or light gray. Then switch to dark gray or black in the footer.

8. Avoid carousels and rotating sliders

They’ve been popular for years and clients love them. But there is a problem with the homepage slideshow: visitors might only see the first slide.

There have been a lot of studies that come to the same conclusion. Messages on subsequent slides are less likely to be seen and calls to action are unlikely to be clicked. Just look at the click through rates for the slides on a university website.

They may be popular because they’re easy to get approved. Different stakeholders from different departments all get some pixels above the fold. They’re good for internal politics, not for visitors.

Homepage slideshows are good at keeping people from stabbing each other in conference rooms.

So what to do instead?

• Stack the slides , so the visitor can see each by scrolling down the page. They will suddenly become much more visible.
• Use a featured image , using the one most impactful slide as the hero. Give it a good call to action!

9. Avoid tabs and accordions

Here’s another way to take things out of hiding: avoid tabs and expandable boxes of content.

Knowing that up to 76% of website visitors are scanning , you can make your content more visible to them by keeping it all exposed, with no need to click to reveal something.

If tabs and expandable accordions were effective, you’ll probably see them on Amazon.

Remember, scrolling is faster and easier than clicking. If the visitors have to aim and click or tab to be able to view something, they are less likely to see it.

Let’s move on to the visuals. These tips are specific to the pictures on web pages.

10. Use people pictures

Faces are uniquely powerful imagery. From the time we are born, we gaze at faces more anything else . The magnetic power of people pictures is very useful in web design.

Not only do faces draw attention, they correlate with conversion. The famous case study by Basecamp showed a huge lift in results when faces and testimonials were combined on a sales page.

Make sure your website doesn’t look like an “abandoned spaceship” without a soul onboard.

I’ve talked to thousands of businesses about their marketing over the years and I’ve noticed a pattern. Big companies are always trying to look small, and small companies are trying to look big. Strange, right?

Really, every company should just try to be more personal, more human.

11. But avoid stock photos of people

There is a time and place for stock photos, but I would avoid stock photos of people like the plague. They just never feel genuine, therefore they don’t build trust.

Companies are tempted by stock photos because the production quality is high. But your visitors care more about reality. They would prefer to see real people who actually work at the company.

Authenticity is more important than polish.

The research backs this up. A study by NN Group found that visitors tune out stock photos of people and “filler” images, but actually look at pictures of real people.

So be yourself, show your team and use pictures of real people, even if they are perfectly polished.

12. Use faces as visual cues

People pictures give you a special opportunity to guide the visitors attention. The famous “you look where they look” phenomenon.

When researcher James Breeze showed designs to 106 people , he demonstrated the power of well-positioned faces. They have the power to direct the visitors attention toward other elements.

This is the famous study with the baby face. When the baby looks at the camera, visitors look at the baby. When the baby looks at the headline, visitors look at the headline.

My friend Oli Gardner is tired of this example with the baby (sorry, Oli!). If anyone knows of other research or good examples, please let me know in the comments!

Use a line of sight in face imagery as a directional cue to guide the visitors attention to benefit statements or calls to action.

13. Use arrows as visual Cues

Faces can guide attention, but they aren’t the only way to control the eyes of your visitors. Little hand drawn arrows may be even more effective.

In this eye tracking study by CXL found that a simple arrow was even more powerful at getting visitors to look at a page element.

If you want your visitors to look at something, point at it with an arrow. I’m not sure if this tip is ridiculously obvious or profoundly insightful.

14. Use color to guide visitors’ attention toward calls to action

Colors have emotional connotations (red is urgent, blue is calm) and they’re part of brand standards. But they are also opportunities to pull the visitors eye toward buttons and CTAs.

A study by Eyequant about button color confirms the power of color and luminance contrast to draw attention.

But the study shows that colorful buttons aren’t always effective. If you want your button to be more visually prominent:

• Contrast the button color with the background
• Contrast the button color and the button text
• Contrast the button color with nearby elements on the page (or leave plenty of white space around it)

The “Von Restorff Effect”

In the 1930s, German scientist Hedwig von Restorff discovered that when shown a list of ten items, people remember items if they are a color different from the others. This is because the occipital lobe is sensitive to visual differences, or “pattern interrupters.”

Web marketer Paras Chopra conducted experiments that showed how standout colors aren’t just remembered more, they’re clicked more: 60% more!

Pro Tip! Pick an “action color” for all of your links, buttons, and rollover effects. Make it a color that’s distinct from the brand colors used throughout the design (these are the “passive colors”). Use the action color nowhere else but in the clickable items.

Navigation and Links

Now we get into the advice for navigation of the site, including the menus, buttons and links that let your visitors move around.

15. Be descriptive

Navigation is always visually prominent, so it’s an opportunity to communicate. Visitors typically start their visit by scanning across the header. Anything there, including your menus, are very likely to be seen.

Source: UX Movement

When the navigation labels are generic, you’ve missed a chance to tell the visitors what you do. Compare these two examples:

If your navigation labels are generic, then they are common to thousands or even millions of websites. You’ve missed a chance to leverage website navigation best practices , help your visitors and improve your search rankings.

16. Put home on the left, but other than that, don’t worry too much about the order of menu items

If you do have a home link, put it on the left. It’s the most common place for it, so visitors expect to find it there.

As far as the rest of the menu items, research shows that the order isn’t all that important. There are two different eye tracking studies that show a low correlation between the order of menu items and success of visitors ( source and source ).

So don’t spend a ton of time worrying about the order of things in your menu.

17. Be careful linking from service pages to blog posts

If the visitor is on a service page, the goal is to convert them into a lead. If you add big opportunities to leave and go read your blog, they’ll land on pages that are less focused on lead generation. Blog posts naturally have more distractions, exits opportunities and lower conversion rates.

18. Be careful linking to anything on other websites

Whenever relevant, link to things that help the visitor reach their goals. On a blog post, that’s often a citation of a source or link to external references. This post links to dozens of articles and studies!

But on service pages and on your homepage, you should link away to other sites with care. For any page optimized to convert visitors into leads, ask yourself, do you really want visitors to click on that link? Does it help you reach your goals?

19. Avoid using social media icons in your website header

Similarly, colorful social media icons in your header isn’t great for your goals. If visitors click on any of those candy-colored buttons, they land on a site filled with distractions. They are unlikely to come back.

This is generally the wrong way to do social media integration . If you link to a social network, do so from your footer. Visitors can find the social networks if they’re looking, but you’re not suggesting that they leave.

Let’s talk about words. Earlier, we recommended a keyphrase-focused headline on the homepage. Here are a few more tips for the writing that goes into the website, including headers, subheads and body text.

20. Write meaningful subheads

Vague subheads are everywhere. They are often large and useless but followed by things that are small but useful. Strange, right? The opposite would make more sense.

Make sure that the big things are meaningful and helpful to visitors. If your subheaders say things like “products” or “services,” ask yourself if a more descriptive term would be more helpful. Here are some examples.

This is good for scanners and usability. It’s good for the visually impaired and accessibility. It’s also good SEO best practices . Never miss a chance to indicate relevance!

ProTip: Subheads may be completely unnecessary. Would this page be just as good without it? Would visitors still know what they’re looking at? If so, just remove it.

21. Avoid long paragraphs and long line length

Long, blocky paragraphs do not align with digital content best practices. Simply breaking up long paragraphs makes the content easier to consume. As a general rule, don’t write paragraphs longer than 3-4 lines.

If line length is very long, it can be more difficult for visitors to read. The Web Style Guide recommends lines of no more than 12 words.

22. Avoid jargon. Use simple words.

The easier it is the read, the more successful the website will be. Use the common words that visitors expect. Long sentences and fancy words force the temporal lobe to work harder. That’s not good.

Copy that works well for “low literacy” users works well for everyone. It’s not about dumbing it down; it’s about using simple language that everyone can understand. Research has shown that bringing down the readability levels can improve the success rate for all visitors.

Even PhDs prefer to read at an 8th-grade level.

That big word might make you sound smart, but it might make your visitor feel dumb. A visitor who doubts themselves is unlikely to take action. So as you write, keep asking yourself this question:

Do 100% of visitors know the meaning of the words on this page?

23. List Order and “Serial Position Effect”

When ordering any lists within your copy, put the important stuff at the beginning and end. The reader’s’ attention and retention are lowest in the middle of any list. As visitors scan the page, the first and the last items are most likely to stay in short-term memory.

Source: Order Effects Theory: Primacy versus Recency

24. Answer the visitors’ top questions

They came with questions. The main job of the website is to answer those questions. Every unanswered question is a missed opportunity to build trust. Unanswered questions also increase the likelihood that the visitor will leave.

When Joel Klettke applied his process finding questions and writing answers, he was able to double the conversion rates on Hubspot landing pages . He interviewed customers, analyzed their answers, prioritized the messages and in the end, he used the words of the audience themselves in the new marketing copy. Smart!

Here are the questions Joel uses to discover visitors’ top questions:

• What was happening that sent you looking for a solution?
• What else did you try and what didn’t you love about it?
• What almost kept you from buying from us?
• What made you confident enough to give us a try?
• What made X the best solution for you?
• When evaluating X, what was most important to you?
• What can you do now (or do better) that you couldn’t do before?
• Give me an example of when X made a difference for you?

In one word, what is the purpose of your website? Answer.

Additional reading: The Perfect B2B Website Service Page: 13-Point Checklist

25. Add evidence and social proof

The “conformity bias” is the human tendency to do what other people are doing. So giving evidence that others have selected you makes choosing your company seem like a good choice. The goal is to make any decision other than using your company seem outside the norm.

Give your visitors proof that you’re legitimate. Ideally, every one of your marketing claims is supported with evidence.

The fastest, easiest way is to add testimonials . Here are other types of social proof.

• Endorsements from relevant influencers
• Product reviews from customers
• “As seen in…” logos of media where your company has been mentioned
• Social media widgets showing the size of your following
• Trust seals, including association memberships, security certificates, and awards

How much proof is enough? How many testimonials should you add?

A lot. It’s possible that there is no such thing as too much evidence. We did a quick analysis of one of Amazon’s product detail pages and found that 43% of the page is evidence and reviews.

Pro Tip! Don’t make a testimonials page. They tend to be low traffic pages. Instead, add testimonials to every service page.

26. Mention scarcity, trigger “loss aversion”

Humans are not efficient cost/benefit calculators. We tend to overvalue losses and undervalue gains. In other words, losses are more painful than gains are pleasurable.

This is true online and offline and explains a lot of human behavior. This article explains it well: Applying Behavioral Economics And Cognitive Psychology to the Design Process by Nikki Pfarr .

This aversion to losses can be useful to web designers and copywriters. Here are some tips for writing copy with loss aversion in mind.

• Emphasize the costs of not using your product or service.
• Group costs together, list benefits separately.
• Emphasize immediate gains.
• Create urgency with limited time offers. If the product is scarce, say so.

Gently remind your visitors what they’ll miss, risk or lose by not taking action right now.

27. Optimize email signup forms for subscribers

There’s one at the bottom of this post. It’s a call to action to subscribe. If you look closely, you’ll see that it includes three separate elements. These are the 3 P’s for email signup forms .

• Prominence It stands out within the visual hierarchy
• Promise It tells the reader what they’ll get an how often
• Proof It uses social proof: the number of subscribers or a tiny testimonial

When we first experimented with these changes, the conversion rate on the older form was very low, so the improvement was dramatic. We saw a 4,863% increase in email signups .

When designing your emails signup form, make it visible, use social proof and tell the readers what they’re going to get.

More than just a pretty site

Everyone loves beauty. Everyone loves cool new design features. Everyone’s a critic. But as visitors, we need more than beauty. We need information. And as website owners, we need results.

Here are two studies with the same finding. The first is a survey by Hubspot that shows visitors value easy to find information more than beautiful design or fancy UX.

This second study is the conclusion of a set of user tests by NN Group . It shows that when visitors fail, it’s because they can’t find information, not because the site isn’t beautiful enough.

I love beautiful design as much as anyone. It’s why I got started in this business! And I often think of this quote:

But in web design, we create containers for content. And the visitors came for the content, not the container.

Websites should be beautiful. They should have a visual or emotional impact on the visitors. But the success of your website goes far beyond beauty. It’s about helping visitors find what they need. That is the heart of every tip in this article. And it’s the true purpose of web design.

Help your visitor find what they came for, and then give them what you want them to have.

Wait, more practical insights? Yes, please!

3 Advanced B2B Lead Generation Strategies: AI, GA4 and Session Recordings

Andy Crestodina

Inbound vs. Outbound Marketing: 10 Tips to Improve Lead Generation and Encourage Conversions

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Online Lead Generation: How Websites Drive Inbound Leads

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Content Chemistry, The Illustrated Handbook for Content Marketing , is packed with practical tips, real-world examples, and expert insights. A must-read for anyone looking to build a content strategy that drives real business impact. Check out the reviews on Amazon .

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Home » Research Topics – Ideas and Examples

Research Topics – Ideas and Examples

Table of Contents

Research Topic

Definition:

Research topic is a specific subject or area of interest that a researcher wants to investigate or explore in-depth through research. It is the overarching theme or question that guides a research project and helps to focus the research activities towards a clear objective.

How to Choose Research Topic

You can Choose a Research Topic by following the below guide:

Identify your Interests

One of the most important factors to consider when choosing a research topic is your personal interest. This is because you will be spending a considerable amount of time researching and writing about the topic, so it’s essential that you are genuinely interested and passionate about it. Start by brainstorming a list of potential research topics based on your interests, hobbies, or areas of expertise. You can also consider the courses that you’ve enjoyed the most or the topics that have stood out to you in your readings.

Review the Literature

Before deciding on a research topic, you need to understand what has already been written about it. Conducting a preliminary review of the existing literature in your field can help you identify gaps in knowledge, inconsistencies in findings, or unanswered questions that you can explore further. You can do this by reading academic articles, books, and other relevant sources in your field. Make notes of the themes or topics that emerge and use this information to guide your research question.

Consult with your Advisor

Your academic advisor or a mentor in your field can provide you with valuable insights and guidance on choosing a research topic. They can help you identify areas of interest, suggest potential research questions, and provide feedback on the feasibility of your research proposal. They can also direct you towards relevant literature and resources that can help you develop your research further.

Consider the Scope and Feasibility

The research topic you choose should be manageable within the time and resource constraints of your project. Be mindful of the scope of your research and ensure that you are not trying to tackle a topic that is too broad or too narrow. If your topic is too broad, you may find it challenging to conduct a comprehensive analysis, while if it’s too narrow, you may struggle to find enough material to support your research.

Brainstorm with Peers

Discussing potential research topics with your peers or colleagues can help you generate new ideas and perspectives. They may have insights or expertise that you haven’t considered, and their feedback can help you refine your research question. You can also join academic groups or attend conferences in your field to network with other researchers and get inspiration for your research.

Consider the Relevance

Choose a research topic that is relevant to your field of study and has the potential to contribute to the existing knowledge. You can consider the latest trends and emerging issues in your field to identify topics that are both relevant and interesting. Conducting research on a topic that is timely and relevant can also increase the likelihood of getting published or presenting your research at conferences.

Keep an Open Mind

While it’s essential to choose a research topic that aligns with your interests and expertise, you should also be open to exploring new ideas or topics that may be outside of your comfort zone. Consider researching a topic that challenges your assumptions or introduces new perspectives that you haven’t considered before. You may discover new insights or perspectives that can enrich your research and contribute to your growth as a researcher.

Components of Research Topic

A research topic typically consists of several components that help to define and clarify the subject matter of the research project. These components include:

• Research problem or question: This is the central issue or inquiry that the research seeks to address. It should be well-defined and focused, with clear boundaries that limit the scope of the research.
• Background and context: This component provides the necessary background information and context for the research topic. It explains why the research problem or question is important, relevant, and timely. It may also include a literature review that summarizes the existing research on the topic.
• Objectives or goals : This component outlines the specific objectives or goals that the research seeks to achieve. It should be clear and concise, and should align with the research problem or question.
• Methodology : This component describes the research methods and techniques that will be used to collect and analyze data. It should be detailed enough to provide a clear understanding of how the research will be conducted, including the sampling method, data collection tools, and statistical analyses.
• Significance or contribution : This component explains the significance or contribution of the research topic. It should demonstrate how the research will add to the existing knowledge in the field, and how it will benefit practitioners, policymakers, or society at large.
• Limitations: This component outlines the limitations of the research, including any potential biases, assumptions, or constraints. It should be transparent and honest about the potential shortcomings of the research, and how these limitations will be addressed.
• Expected outcomes or findings : This component provides an overview of the expected outcomes or findings of the research project. It should be realistic and based on the research objectives and methodology.

Purpose of Research Topic

The purpose of a research topic is to identify a specific area of inquiry that the researcher wants to explore and investigate. A research topic is typically a broad area of interest that requires further exploration and refinement through the research process. It provides a clear focus and direction for the research project, and helps to define the research questions and objectives. A well-defined research topic also helps to ensure that the research is relevant and useful, and can contribute to the existing body of knowledge in the field. Ultimately, the purpose of a research topic is to generate new insights, knowledge, and understanding about a particular phenomenon, issue, or problem.

Characteristics of Research Topic

some common characteristics of a well-defined research topic include:

• Relevance : A research topic should be relevant and significant to the field of study and address a current issue, problem, or gap in knowledge.
• Specificity : A research topic should be specific enough to allow for a focused investigation and clear understanding of the research question.
• Feasibility : A research topic should be feasible, meaning it should be possible to carry out the research within the given constraints of time, resources, and expertise.
• Novelty : A research topic should add to the existing body of knowledge by introducing new ideas, concepts, or theories.
• Clarity : A research topic should be clearly articulated and easy to understand, both for the researcher and for potential readers of the research.
• Importance : A research topic should be important and have practical implications for the field or society as a whole.
• Significance : A research topic should be significant and have the potential to generate new insights and understanding in the field.

Examples of Research Topics

Here are some examples of research topics that are currently relevant and in-demand in various fields:

• The impact of social media on mental health: With the rise of social media use, this topic has gained significant attention in recent years. Researchers could investigate how social media affects self-esteem, body image, and other mental health concerns.
• The use of artificial intelligence in healthcare: As healthcare becomes increasingly digitalized, researchers could explore the use of AI algorithms to predict and prevent disease, optimize treatment plans, and improve patient outcomes.
• Renewable energy and sustainable development: As the world seeks to reduce its carbon footprint, researchers could investigate the potential of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, and how these technologies can be integrated into existing infrastructure.
• The impact of workplace diversity and inclusion on employee productivity: With an increasing focus on diversity and inclusion in the workplace, researchers could investigate how these factors affect employee morale, productivity, and retention.
• Cybersecurity and data privacy: As data breaches and cyber attacks become more common, researchers could explore new methods of protecting sensitive information and preventing malicious attacks.
• T he impact of mindfulness and meditation on stress reduction: As stress-related health issues become more prevalent, researchers could investigate the effectiveness of mindfulness and meditation practices on reducing stress and improving overall well-being.

Research Topics Ideas

Here are some Research Topics Ideas from different fields:

• The impact of social media on mental health and well-being.
• The effectiveness of various teaching methods in improving academic performance in high schools.
• The role of AI and machine learning in healthcare: current applications and future potentials.
• The impact of climate change on wildlife habitats and conservation efforts.
• The effects of video game violence on aggressive behavior in young adults.
• The effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction techniques in reducing anxiety and depression.
• The impact of technology on human relationships and social interactions.
• The role of exercise in promoting physical and mental health in older adults.
• The causes and consequences of income inequality in developed and developing countries.
• The effects of cultural diversity in the workplace on job satisfaction and productivity.
• The impact of remote work on employee productivity and work-life balance.
• The relationship between sleep patterns and cognitive functioning.
• The effectiveness of online learning versus traditional classroom learning.
• The role of government policies in promoting renewable energy adoption.
• The effects of childhood trauma on mental health in adulthood.
• The impact of social media on political participation and civic engagement.
• The effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy in treating anxiety disorders.
• The relationship between nutrition and cognitive functioning.
• The impact of gentrification on urban communities.
• The effects of music on mood and emotional regulation.
• The impact of microplastics on marine ecosystems and food webs.
• The role of artificial intelligence in detecting and preventing cyberattacks.
• The effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions in managing chronic pain.
• The relationship between personality traits and job satisfaction.
• The effects of social isolation on mental and physical health in older adults.
• The impact of cultural and linguistic diversity on healthcare access and outcomes.
• The effectiveness of psychotherapy in treating depression and anxiety in adolescents.
• The relationship between exercise and cognitive aging.
• The effects of social media on body image and self-esteem.
• The role of corporate social responsibility in promoting sustainable business practices.
• The impact of mindfulness meditation on attention and focus in children.
• The relationship between political polarization and media consumption habits.
• The effects of urbanization on mental health and well-being.
• The role of social support in managing chronic illness.
• The impact of social media on romantic relationships and dating behaviors.
• The effectiveness of behavioral interventions in promoting physical activity in sedentary adults.
• The relationship between sleep quality and immune function.
• The effects of workplace diversity and inclusion programs on employee retention.
• The impact of climate change on global food security.
• The role of music therapy in improving communication and social skills in individuals with autism spectrum disorder.
• The impact of cultural values on the development of mental health stigma.
• The effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction techniques in reducing burnout in healthcare professionals.
• The relationship between social media use and body dissatisfaction among adolescents.
• The effects of nature exposure on cognitive functioning and well-being.
• The role of peer mentoring in promoting academic success in underrepresented student populations.
• The impact of neighborhood characteristics on physical activity and obesity.
• The effectiveness of cognitive rehabilitation interventions in improving cognitive functioning in individuals with traumatic brain injury.
• The relationship between organizational culture and employee job satisfaction.
• The effects of cultural immersion experiences on intercultural competence development.
• The role of assistive technology in promoting independence and quality of life for individuals with disabilities.
• The impact of workplace design on employee productivity and well-being.
• The impact of digital technologies on the music industry and artist revenues.
• The effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy in treating insomnia.
• The relationship between social media use and body weight perception among young adults.
• The effects of green spaces on mental health and well-being in urban areas.
• The role of mindfulness-based interventions in reducing substance use disorders.
• The impact of workplace bullying on employee turnover and job satisfaction.
• The effectiveness of animal-assisted therapy in treating mental health disorders.
• The relationship between teacher-student relationships and academic achievement.
• The effects of social support on resilience in individuals experiencing adversity.
• The role of cognitive aging in driving safety and mobility.
• The effectiveness of psychotherapy in treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
• The relationship between social media use and sleep quality.
• The effects of cultural competency training on healthcare providers’ attitudes and behaviors towards diverse patient populations.
• The role of exercise in preventing chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
• The impact of the gig economy on job security and worker rights.
• The effectiveness of art therapy in promoting emotional regulation and coping skills in children and adolescents.
• The relationship between parenting styles and child academic achievement.
• The effects of social comparison on well-being and self-esteem.
• The role of nutrition in promoting healthy aging and longevity.
• The impact of gender diversity in leadership on organizational performance.
• The effectiveness of family-based interventions in treating eating disorders.
• The relationship between social media use and perceived loneliness among older adults.
• The effects of mindfulness-based interventions on pain management in chronic pain patients.
• The role of physical activity in preventing and treating depression.
• The impact of cultural differences on communication and conflict resolution in international business.
• The effectiveness of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) in treating anxiety disorders.
• The relationship between student engagement and academic success in higher education.
• The effects of discrimination on mental health outcomes in minority populations.
• The role of virtual reality in enhancing learning experiences.
• The impact of social media influencers on consumer behavior and brand loyalty.
• The effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) in treating chronic pain.
• The relationship between social media use and body image dissatisfaction among men.
• The effects of exposure to nature on cognitive functioning and creativity.
• The role of spirituality in coping with illness and disability.
• The impact of automation on employment and job displacement.
• The effectiveness of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) in treating borderline personality disorder.
• The relationship between teacher-student relationships and school attendance.
• The effects of mindfulness-based interventions on workplace stress and burnout.
• The role of exercise in promoting cognitive functioning and brain health in older adults.
• The impact of diversity and inclusion initiatives on organizational innovation and creativity.
• The effectiveness of cognitive remediation therapy in treating schizophrenia.
• The relationship between social media use and body dissatisfaction among women.
• The effects of exposure to natural light on mood and sleep quality.
• The role of spirituality in enhancing well-being and resilience in military personnel.
• The impact of artificial intelligence on job training and skill development.
• The effectiveness of interpersonal therapy (IPT) in treating depression.
• The relationship between parental involvement and academic achievement among low-income students.
• The effects of mindfulness-based interventions on emotional regulation and coping skills in trauma survivors.
• The role of nutrition in preventing and treating mental health disorders.

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How to come up with research ideas?

As a very new researcher who is exploring the best way to generate ideas, some guidance on this question would be very helpful. I have found that this is NOT easy. Ideas seem to pop out of my Professor every day and I wonder how he does it. This question is broad;

How do you tend to come up with initial/seed ideas? What is your search method (if you have one)?

What proportion of your ideas for past papers come from; (i) colleagues, (ii) intentionally browsing the literature for ideas, (iii) on the spot inspiration, (iv) conferences, (v) other?

How do you prioritize research ideas?

Is there any special, generalizable method that you've discovered to sift out those ideas that are likely to be unrealistic early on in the process of idea generation?

Based on small amounts of anecdotal evidence I have reason to believe that there is vast heterogeneity among professors regarding the above questions. For example, economist Steven Levitt says he works on 22 papers at once. A professor I know will have maybe 25% of this at any one time.

Related but not duplicate: Is there any software or tools for managing developing research ideas?

• research-topic

• 11 Anecdotally - for me it just happens (and I have much more ideas than time to develop them), while either reading or (much more) solving other problems. Just sparks of "what if?" or "can I generalized it?". For me it rarely happens on purpose - it it not hard, but impossible to force myself to be creative (on research or anything else). Related - Paul Graham, "How to get startup ideas" . –  Piotr Migdal Commented Dec 18, 2012 at 18:53

9 Answers 9

Okay, as you say, this is very broad, and possibly argumentative. So, I'll try to section off my answer for your various sub-questions, and talk not so much about how I do come up (and organize) research ideas, but how I see it done by everyone (including me).

Coming up with ideas

The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not “Eureka!” but rather, “hmm... that's funny...” — Isaac Asimov

It's probably very akin to asking a large number of artists “how do you come up with inspiration?” , i.e. you can probably get one thousand different answers, and yet not useful answer at the same time. However, there are some elements that I think are common to all. You can't “trigger” new ideas to come into your mind, but you can put your mind into the right disposition to host these new ideas: recognize them and welcome them. Below is a list, certainly partial and limited, trying to detail my perspective in this matter:

Be challenged! Nothing sparks ideas more than being confronted with contradiction, healthy criticism, a spirited debate, maybe a bit of competition. Some people manage to do that by themselves, arguing against their ideas and improving them. I myself (and most of the colleagues and students I have seen) need an echo chamber, someone to discuss things with. If they're not exactly from your field, all the better, as they may have unusual/naïve/silly questions or expectations.

To give an example, some of the most “successful” ideas I have had came while answering questions, for example from a PhD student or colleague, and replying by “no, it doesn't work like that… in fact, it's probably always guaranteed to be false, because… see, it's linked to X… or maybe it's not? hum…”

Be curious! Ideas come from problems. Identifying worthy problems in your field of research, and dissecting larger issues into of specific problems of manageable scope, is at least as hard as coming up with new ideas. In the end my feeling is that, especially for a researcher, all ideas are the result of one’s curiosity.

Manage to get some free time for thinking (and not: teaching, supervising, tutoring, reviewing, writing, sleeping, …). Body and mind. Sure, an idea can pop into your head any time, but it's probably less likely to happen when you teach basic calculus all day that when you get some time to really think .

Know your field, know where a new development need to occur, what is currently missing. Read review papers, search for such ideas through people's articles or blog posts , discuss with senior colleagues who have a comprehensive view of the field, …

One of the ways you can come with ideas is by analyzing how different groups work in your fields, seeing what has been addressed and avoided, what big questions are still open, and how you can link between different works to build a coherent global picture… This is not always successful, but it usually generates some good ideas along the way!

Explore more or less closely related fields, and see if there is something from your background that you could apply to their problems, or ways you could build something together. Such ideas tend to be very strong, because you can oftentimes apply an entire branch of knowledge (ideas, methods, algorithms, etc.) to a very different problem. In that case, the added value comes from your different perspective, as you might try things that others would not think of.

Ways have been devised to come up with new ideas on a given topic, either alone or in group sessions. Brainstorming is probably the best know such method (and might be the most popular, in one form or another), but a really large number of creativity techniques have been developed. They can be applied both to enhance creativity or to boost problem solving efficiency.

Organizing ideas

A quote often attributed to Kant: “someone’s intelligence can be measured by the quantity of uncertainties that he can bear” . If that true, that has serious consequences for research. Accepting that your mind can only efficiently support a finite number of ongoing research ideas, you have to come up with ways to write them down, organize them, prioritize them, come back to them later, etc. Just as you cannot juggle with as many balls as you'd like, such “external” tools will help your brain focus on the ones that you assign high priority (or the ones to which it gives high priority; the brain works in funny ways).

Most people use very low-tech tools for that:

Notebooks , either sorted chronologically or thematically; in the later case, open a series of blanks pages for each new project/idea, and flip through the book whenever you want to check on them. I use a Moleskine ( WP ) for that purpose; having a nice, leather-bound notebook somehow helps me “value” it more and treat it with care (always have it with me, actually use it).

Post-it’s scattered through one’s (real or virtual) desktop. Downsides are obvious.

More people than I thought actually don't use any tools, and just keep all in their mind. Apparently it can be done, but I don't advise it.

But more complicated methodologies have been devised, that are supposed to help you with it:

• Mind mapping , either on paper or software-based.
• Using todo-list flat or two-dimensional todo-list software, or more complex task-tracking software (see, e.g. Trello ).
• The software side of this question is already covered (though possibly not extensively) here on this very Q&A site .

Finally, don't underestimate the possibilities opened by delegating: people in charge of a specific project or sub-project (PhD students or post-docs) can be tasked with maintaining a list of ideas by all contributors of the project, to come to later on.

Answers to your miscellaneous smaller questions:

Most ideas are hardly “traceable” to one source or another. A given idea might have formed in my head during a conference, seeing how people were failing to address a certain issue, then crystallized during a discussion with colleagues, but would never have occurred to me if not for a literature review I had performed a few months before.

I'll come back a bit later and continue working on this answer :)

• 5 +1 for the Asimov quotation. I had this as an epigram in my PhD thesis. –  Nicholas Commented Dec 19, 2012 at 9:37
• Agreed! +1 for Asimov! –  Ben Norris Commented Dec 19, 2012 at 11:44
• What do you think of using something like OneNote as a surrogate to the physical notebooks you were recommending? Latex equation typesetting websites can effortlessly generate .gif pictures of your equations that you can copy into OneNote. Wouldn't this do the same thing with the same level of efficiency (or even more because you won't have any clutter) as a physical notebook? –  Jase Commented Dec 23, 2012 at 3:26
• I've only been using it for a few days, but TiddlyWiki seems promising as a non-linear notebook for ideas. –  Detached Laconian Commented Jul 21, 2018 at 7:07

I'll address two points in your question (the overall question is quite broad):

Ideas seem to pop out of my Professor every day : If you've worked on enough problems, you amass a collection of tools and mental shorthands that you can apply to a new problem. It's a matter of experience. You also might see someone else's paper and realize that they are doing something in a clumsy way and you have learnt a better way to do it, and so on.

I wouldn't worry too much about this: it's a matter of time and experience, and will happen on its own. You're not evaluated on the number of ideas you have in any case. You might want to check how many of these ideas are actually good ones :).

How do you tend to come up with initial/seed ideas? : When you're first staring at a problem, it can be intimidating and difficult. While there's no single strategy for getting a "leg up", some useful techniques (and these might be very math/CS specific) are:

• simplify the problem : can you solve a simpler version ? if not, can you simplify even further ? Often, finding the largest solvable element starts to get your mind rolling
• pattern match : does this problem look like something related that has been solved ? can you borrow a method from there ? if not, why not ? again, the goal is to get your mind off the "ZOMG THIS PROBLEM IS TEH HARD" and onto "Here's a tiny piece that I can chew on".

I'm sure others will have useful ideas as well. Ultimately, you'll find that getting ideas isn't the problem: it's getting GOOD ideas that is hard.

• 1 +1 for pattern match; found it very effective specially among different graph-like representations. –  seteropere Commented Dec 20, 2012 at 7:15
• +100 because I expect that your simplify the problem and pattern match advice will be very helpful. –  Jase Commented Dec 24, 2012 at 5:04
• Check out e.g. Pólya's "How to solve it" for related suggestions –  vonbrand Commented Jan 11, 2016 at 0:10

Here is some things I found useful:

Attending public seminars at the department could spark nice ideas (even if it seems not related to your research).

Chatting with other graduate students.

• Reading deeply with why? in mind. This means reading a lot and also means stopping more than usual in the assumptions hypothesis and results for different papers.
• Read future work and conclusions of the papers. Some papers have a real list of future research ideas.
• Capture the Big Picture. This usually will result in many whys for what you encountered.
• Ask Questions .. Even what seems as silly and fundamental questions for some can be the key for good ideas.

Do you, when presented with anything related to your research, routinely ask, "Why is that? How can I tell if that is the case?"

If not, try doing so.

If so, you probably won't be short on ideas. Your problem will be sorting the good ones from the bad ones.

Then start asking "Is this important? How can I explain why it is important?"

Be open/curious to what related disciplines are doing. In some you'll see that the way they solve their problems could also applied to your field but hasn't been tried yet.

I am also a green researcher, and similarly to you, I find coming up with ideas a daunting task. I have tried to approach this task in a bit more systematic way, than to just be waiting for Godot. Feel free to draw inspiration!

• Finding a problem to work on

I keep a list of interesting problems. This could be something a hear about at a seminar, read about in an article, or just something I think about. I write it down - usually half a page, only few references - and forget about it. I can then pull out my list, and find something. Some of the problems quickly turn out to be too small to be interesting, others not.

• Starting out

When one of my problems are deemed interesting enough, I turn to lit. study. This goes on until I find someone with an interesting treatise. Then I read it, and try to reproduce the result as they do it. (I should here mention that my field is theoretical)

• Reproducing - talk about it

I can use quite some time reproducing previous authors' work. But it is very fruitful, and you tend to learn something. I try to give a local seminar about the work at this point, the junior people in my department does bi-weekly blackboard seminars, where presentations like this are encouraged for exactly this reason.

At this point it is hopefully possible where I can go in and improve state of matter. So I start. This can sometimes require correspondence with the author of aforementioned work.

• Talk about it - again!

For me, discussing my work with peers is essential. At this point I would try to sneak in two slides about 'ongoing work' in a conference presentation in order to get feedback from peers and seniors from the field.

From this point on it is not so much getting the idea anymore, as following through on it. I will leave that to another day.

The most practical way is to go to the Library and look through journals for articles that interest you.

When you have found a selection, then sort them by a) Is this a current concern in your field? b) Is the prevailing methodology/technique practical - have you the resources? c) Will your supervisor(s) find this project interesting?

When you can answer all three questions as Yes, then do a deeper literature research and assess again whether the project is doable in the time available and publishable (sound and interesting to people in your field).

• 2 I think it would be much more efficient to do it over the internet where every single journal article can be accessed instantly (which is not the case in the library where some references are inaccessible or take 5 minutes of wasted time to find). –  Jase Commented Dec 30, 2012 at 1:21

Maybe you could try approaching the problem from another direction,

"What is it that you would like to achieve? what is the purpose of your research?"

There are millions of problems in life at the moment, and finding things to research is not the problem at all, even though it may seem that way. Inspiration is not purely found in a textbook, but are a function of the mind and soul and body.

Experience is what probably allows your professor to come up with constant questions. He probably practices free thinking, whereby he doesn't feel constrained in any way by other people and current belief systems. Maybe a lot of the problems that actually need to be understood, such as mental health and problems that people and our planet, experience everyday, just aren't being taken into your current world-view.

Science in itself is not an end. Science is a state of being, including understanding; and is a way that you as an intelligent, caring and investigative person (I presume) approach problems. A classic example of a problem is, that we don't understand. However, simply not understanding something is not a problem. A problem is something that has effects in the real world, such as, how can we help infertile couples reproduce and have children? Although it appears that now that we have resolved this in some detail, that it was the problem of not understanding DNA and the details of reproduction that probably is what resulted, with in vitro fertilisation, and even in vivo transplants etc. If one were to take the time to step out of this 'curiosity breeds progress' mindset, it would appear that these problems weren't purely driven by a quest for knowledge, but from real world problems, that have fortunately been solved.

I'd be interested in further discussion, as I have only this evening come up with an idea myself!

There's always a thirst for improvement, and this won't cease until people realize that happiness doesn't come from materials. Happiness is within all of us, all we have to do is tap into it. Being only 24 I have seen some truly eye-opening things and I am very humble to each of our personal strengths, but I do feel its a shame that research has become so fascinated with one-upmanship, and away from the real potential and benefit of being so intelligent.

I would recommend Pragmatic Thinking and Learning: Refactor Your Wetware by Andy Hunt. This book has some very good tips for coming up with ideas, research or otherwise.

• 5 I don't think this is very useful without giving some indication of what is actually in the book. –  David Z Commented Dec 21, 2012 at 2:09

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You need a place to gather the information you're finding. To avoid a cluttered space when collecting and organizing data, you can use a tool dedicated to research.

• Pocket : Save web pages to your online account to reference them again later. It's much tidier than bookmarks, and it can all be retrieved from the web or the Pocket mobile app .
• Mendeley : Organize papers and references, and generate citations and bibliographies.
• Quizlet : Learn vocabulary with these free online flashcards .
• Wikipedia : Find information on millions of different topics.
• Quora : This is a question and answer website where you can ask the community for help with any question.
• SparkNotes : Free online study guides on a wide variety of subjects, anything from famous literary works of the past century to the present day. 
• Zotero : Collect, manage, and cite your research sources. Lets you organize data into collections and search through them by adding tags to every source. This is a computer program, but there's a browser extension that helps you send data to it.
• Google Scholar : A simple way to search for scholarly literature on any subject.
• Diigo : Collect, share, and interact with information from anywhere on the web. It's all accessible through the browser extension and saved to your online account.
• GoConqr : Create flashcards, mind maps, notes, quizzes, and more to bridge the gap between your research and studying.

Writing Tools

Writing is the other half of a research paper, so you need somewhere useful to go to jot down notes, record information you might use in the final paper, create drafts, track sources, and finalize the paper.

• Web Page Sticky Notes : For Chrome users, this tool lets you place sticky notes on any web page as you do your research. There are tons of settings you can customize, they're backed up to your Google Drive account, and they're visible not only on each page you created them on but also on a single page from the extension's settings.
• Google Docs or Word Online : These are online word processors where you can write the entire research paper, organize lists, paste URLs, store off-hand notes, and more.
• Google Keep : This note-taking app and website catalogs notes within labels that make sense for your research. Access them from the web on any computer or from your mobile device. It supports collaborations, custom colors, images, drawings, and reminders.
• Yahoo Notepad : If you use Yahoo Mail , the notes area of your account is a great place to store text-based snippets for easy recall when you need them.
• Notion : Workflows, notes, and more, in a space where you can collaborate with others.

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• Content Marketing

Next-Level Content: 35+ Research Tools and Strategies to Push Your Ideas Further

Sometimes when you get a good content idea, you can feel it. You just know that it’s fully formed, ready to be executed, and sure to be a hit.

Other times, the idea isn’t quite so clear. Maybe it’s only a partial idea, or you’re not quite sure what actually creating it would look like.

Anyone who’s dipped their toes in the content marketing pool knows that creating content can be incredibly taxing of our creativity. Worth it , but time consuming.

Luckily, there are plenty of strategies and tools for getting new ideas , fleshing out existing ideas and evolving good ideas into awesome ones.

In this post, we’ll walk through tons of different tools and strategies (35+!) to take your ideas further. Read on to learn how to find, validate, research and execute more killer ideas in less time.

From good to great: 5 ways to make the most of any idea

Let’s say you’ve already identified your target audience and created reader personas . You know which topics they’re most interested in and have created a giant list of content ideas based on this intel.

Now to determine which ideas are going to resonate with and engage your audience most. Here are five methods to try:

• Use your metrics: Once you’ve built a bit of a following and published enough content to serve as a benchmark , you can turn to metrics to determine what your audience is responding to. Metrics such as time on page ( SumoMe’s Content Analytics and Heat Map tools are great for this), click-throughs, bounce rate, and rate of return visits (i.e. how many times a reader visits your site after the post you’re measuring) can help helpful content KPIs.
• Ask your editor or a friend. This post was originally going to be a list of tools. When I submitted my initial outline, Courtney suggested I add the advice you’re reading right now, about evolving ideas. Brainstorming and talking ideas through with people who have differing perspectives can evolve an idea into an awesome one.
• Find points of idea intersection. Can two or three of your topic ideas be combined to create one monster piece? Or maybe there are points from each idea that can be turned into a normal-sized but more valuable piece of content.
• Research what’s already been written. No need to reinvent the wheel. Do a quick Google search for all of your validated ideas. See what’s already been written on and what has been said. How can you add your own twist and perspective to the topic ?
• Leverage your research and remain open minded. Once you think you’ve nailed down an idea and started conducting the research necessary to write the piece, you may stumble across new information that has you second guessing the topic. Let your idea to twist and turn to grow and become something else. As long as it still accomplishes your goals, you’ll be better off letting the idea take on a life of its own.

You can then take these findings and apply them when qualifying and prioritizing your list of ideas. Now that you’ve got a plan for zeroing in on good ideas and taking them to the next level, let’s get to the research tools and strategies.

Keep a swipe file with bookmarking tools

Bookmarking tools are especially useful when you know your topic buckets or general categories. When you’re browsing the web, you can save interesting articles and resources and add them to your swipe file or collection of resources that will be helpful when it comes time to produce your content. Having an established library of resources to reference creates efficiencies in conducting research. Here are a few bookmarking tools I like:

• Pocket ( Chrome Extension ): I love Pocket. It’s free to use and available on the web and mobile. Best part is, if you download your Pocketed stories via the app when you have service or wifi, they’re then available offline so you can read them on the train, for example. If you’d like to save these resources forever, you can pay $4.99/month for Premium.
• Pinboard.in ( Chrome Extension ): At $11/year, Pinboard feels a bit more like a research tool than Pocket does. It’s handy because you can search your own pins, or pins from the public like you would a search engine. You can also see how many times each piece of research has been pinned.
• Kifi : Kifi is a new community around resource sharing that’s free to join. You can create public or private libraries, and follow people. I really like how information is organized within the libraries with color coding and tagging.

Pro tip: Proper tagging is crucial to making the most of these tools so that all saved content is easily discoverable and organized according to your preferred workflow. Keep tags consistent among tools to save time and to keep yourself organized.

Get inspired by industry news and conversations

Once you have general topic buckets in mind (i.e. community strategy, remote work, or e-commerce, for example) and a tagging system in place, you can start to narrow down what your go-to resources are.

To get you started, here are some great places to find information, news and conversations on a variety of topics.

Forums and communities

• GrowthHackers : Great discussions and articles around anything marketing.
• Inbound.org : Covers anything inbound and content marketing, and has developed a very dedicated community with AMAs and native blog posts.
• Quora : The ultimate Q&A forum. The engagement on Quora can be unreal.
• Reddit : Once you’ve found your groove on Reddit, you’ve struck gold. To avoid being overwhelmed, definitely stick with relevant subreddits. Check out this list Kevan at Buffer put together . Potentially the most active communities on the Internet, here are Reddit’s engagement stats for one day:

Niche search engines

• Topsy: Search popular stories around a given topic.
• BuzzSumo : Identifies influential pieces measured by social shares on any given topic searched.

Curation platforms

• Buffer Suggestions and Daily by Buffer : One of my favorite places to find high-quality content on a variety of topics including marketing, entrepreneurship, lifehacks, and more, including Buffer’s own picks. You can also directly add the stories to your social queue, which is pretty handy. ?
• The Latest : Polls influencers for the top links shared on Twitter each day.
• This. : A forum where all members only post one piece of content per day — so you know it’s going to be good!
• Quibb : An invite-only community popular among startup folks.
• Feedly : Today’s go-to RSS feed.
• Flipboard : A favorite among iPad users, Flipboard creates a beautiful flip book with articles relevant to your interests.
• Swayyy.co: See what articles are most popular among your networks on any given topic.
• Sidebar.io : A hand-curated list of links from around the web.

Social networks and content platforms

• Slideshare : Slideshare is perfect for data and stat-packed content in an easily digestible form. Some people and organizations use it to house slides from presentations, others use it solely for repurposing content into more digestible pieces. Some of my favorite slides come from Rand Fishkin of Moz and Kapost .
• Twitter lists: Make a list of all the people or brands you follow on Twitter that share valuable information as it relates to your focus areas. Then, when it comes time to produce your piece, you can quickly scan the feed for anything that jumps out to you. Here’s my list of go-to content pros and people discussing community experience .
• Medium : This has become one of my favorite places to find unique stories around all sorts of different topics, including everything from entrepreneurship to music discovery.

Newsletters

• Crew : Great for research-heavy stories on freelance workflows, entrepreneurship, work-life balance, and more.
• Remotive : From Buffer’s own Rodolphe Dutel , Remotive provides resources to remote workers and digital nomads across the globe.
• SwissMiss : By far one of my favorite blogs and newsletters, Tina Roth Eisenberg shares unique products and designery things that will make anyone’s life better. Great for content inspiration!
• Brain Pickings : Maria Popova’s blog and newsletter is the ultimate literary and art nerd’s bible, with pieces of psychology and science sewn throughout.
• Austin Kleon : Best-selling author Austin Kleon’s weekly newsletter might have THE most interesting links around the web.
• Paul Jarvis’ Sunday Dispatch : A mix of personal anecdotes and research. If nothing else, Paul’s Sunday Dispatch will inspire you to get moving on that piece of content!
• CloudPeeps : Ok, so personal plug here. ? We’re now sending weekly emails with our latest content and resources that will be helpful to anyone interested in freelance and remote work, community building, habits, and more!

Those are just my personal favorites. Check out these 25 newsletters for shareable content from Kevan.

Pro tip: Set up a filter in your inbox to file newsletters in a folder associated with the topic bucket it’s relevant to. That way when it comes time to write your piece, you can quickly peruse the latest issues for information that might be helpful.

Collaborate with your team

Others on your team are likely a pretty great source for ideas, news and resources. Make it easy for your team to share with you as they stumble across valuable information.

At CloudPeeps, we have a #readinglist channel within Slack —our preferred team collaboration and messaging platform—that we use for sharing interesting articles and resources. You can then mark these messages with a star to be able to view them later.

You could also collaborate with your team by making a shared library within a platform like Kifi, discussed earlier.

Crowdsource from your circles

If you already have a topic in mind, it’s likely that it’s really on your mind. Next time you attend an event or chat with a friend, ask questions around that topic—even if the person you’re speaking with is not an expert! The differing perspective might help you to evolve your idea into one a specific audience wants or needs. (Make sure to carry your notebook!)

Another option is to ask the groups you’re active in on Facebook, LinkedIn, listservs, Slack Groups, etc. for insights. I have written entire pieces based on findings from a Slack Group of content marketers that I formed a while back, including this winter reading list .

Gather the data

Adding some stats, facts or other science-based research to your topic is a great way to flesh out an idea and to make your content more persuasive .

There are plenty of free research databases online that will allow you to discover the cold hard facts on any topic. These will also be helpful in vetting information gathered from your networks:

• Google Scholar
• Academia.edu
• A list of academic databases and search engines via Wikipedia

Another trick is to refine your Google search to only include results from .gov or .edu sites:

Build a research habit

Like most other things in life, content research comes more naturally when it is a habit. Try carving out a certain amount of time each day or week for your research.

Better yet, implement if-then planning to build this habit. For example, you could make an if-then rule for yourself, such as: “If I hit a wall writing an article, I will spend five minutes researching a new topic.” Or “If I take a coffee break, I will read two articles.”

Personally, I carve out time (~20 min) in the morning, at lunch, and before signing off each day for browsing forums and catching up on saved articles. So for me, one of my if-then rules is “If I wrapped up my work for the day, I will research remote working habits for 15 minutes before I pack up.”

Have more tips or tools to add? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!

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Methodology

• What Is a Research Design | Types, Guide & Examples

What Is a Research Design | Types, Guide & Examples

Published on June 7, 2021 by Shona McCombes . Revised on November 20, 2023 by Pritha Bhandari.

A research design is a strategy for answering your   research question  using empirical data. Creating a research design means making decisions about:

• Your overall research objectives and approach
• Whether you’ll rely on primary research or secondary research
• Your sampling methods or criteria for selecting subjects
• Your data collection methods
• The procedures you’ll follow to collect data
• Your data analysis methods

A well-planned research design helps ensure that your methods match your research objectives and that you use the right kind of analysis for your data.

Table of contents

Step 1: consider your aims and approach, step 2: choose a type of research design, step 3: identify your population and sampling method, step 4: choose your data collection methods, step 5: plan your data collection procedures, step 6: decide on your data analysis strategies, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about research design.

• Introduction

Before you can start designing your research, you should already have a clear idea of the research question you want to investigate.

There are many different ways you could go about answering this question. Your research design choices should be driven by your aims and priorities—start by thinking carefully about what you want to achieve.

The first choice you need to make is whether you’ll take a qualitative or quantitative approach.

Qualitative research designs tend to be more flexible and inductive , allowing you to adjust your approach based on what you find throughout the research process.

Quantitative research designs tend to be more fixed and deductive , with variables and hypotheses clearly defined in advance of data collection.

It’s also possible to use a mixed-methods design that integrates aspects of both approaches. By combining qualitative and quantitative insights, you can gain a more complete picture of the problem you’re studying and strengthen the credibility of your conclusions.

Practical and ethical considerations when designing research

As well as scientific considerations, you need to think practically when designing your research. If your research involves people or animals, you also need to consider research ethics .

• How much time do you have to collect data and write up the research?
• Will you be able to gain access to the data you need (e.g., by travelling to a specific location or contacting specific people)?
• Do you have the necessary research skills (e.g., statistical analysis or interview techniques)?
• Will you need ethical approval ?

At each stage of the research design process, make sure that your choices are practically feasible.

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Within both qualitative and quantitative approaches, there are several types of research design to choose from. Each type provides a framework for the overall shape of your research.

Types of quantitative research designs

Quantitative designs can be split into four main types.

• Experimental and   quasi-experimental designs allow you to test cause-and-effect relationships
• Descriptive and correlational designs allow you to measure variables and describe relationships between them.

With descriptive and correlational designs, you can get a clear picture of characteristics, trends and relationships as they exist in the real world. However, you can’t draw conclusions about cause and effect (because correlation doesn’t imply causation ).

Experiments are the strongest way to test cause-and-effect relationships without the risk of other variables influencing the results. However, their controlled conditions may not always reflect how things work in the real world. They’re often also more difficult and expensive to implement.

Types of qualitative research designs

Qualitative designs are less strictly defined. This approach is about gaining a rich, detailed understanding of a specific context or phenomenon, and you can often be more creative and flexible in designing your research.

The table below shows some common types of qualitative design. They often have similar approaches in terms of data collection, but focus on different aspects when analyzing the data.

Your research design should clearly define who or what your research will focus on, and how you’ll go about choosing your participants or subjects.

In research, a population is the entire group that you want to draw conclusions about, while a sample is the smaller group of individuals you’ll actually collect data from.

Defining the population

A population can be made up of anything you want to study—plants, animals, organizations, texts, countries, etc. In the social sciences, it most often refers to a group of people.

For example, will you focus on people from a specific demographic, region or background? Are you interested in people with a certain job or medical condition, or users of a particular product?

The more precisely you define your population, the easier it will be to gather a representative sample.

• Sampling methods

Even with a narrowly defined population, it’s rarely possible to collect data from every individual. Instead, you’ll collect data from a sample.

To select a sample, there are two main approaches: probability sampling and non-probability sampling . The sampling method you use affects how confidently you can generalize your results to the population as a whole.

Probability sampling is the most statistically valid option, but it’s often difficult to achieve unless you’re dealing with a very small and accessible population.

For practical reasons, many studies use non-probability sampling, but it’s important to be aware of the limitations and carefully consider potential biases. You should always make an effort to gather a sample that’s as representative as possible of the population.

Case selection in qualitative research

In some types of qualitative designs, sampling may not be relevant.

For example, in an ethnography or a case study , your aim is to deeply understand a specific context, not to generalize to a population. Instead of sampling, you may simply aim to collect as much data as possible about the context you are studying.

In these types of design, you still have to carefully consider your choice of case or community. You should have a clear rationale for why this particular case is suitable for answering your research question .

For example, you might choose a case study that reveals an unusual or neglected aspect of your research problem, or you might choose several very similar or very different cases in order to compare them.

Data collection methods are ways of directly measuring variables and gathering information. They allow you to gain first-hand knowledge and original insights into your research problem.

You can choose just one data collection method, or use several methods in the same study.

Survey methods

Surveys allow you to collect data about opinions, behaviors, experiences, and characteristics by asking people directly. There are two main survey methods to choose from: questionnaires and interviews .

Observation methods

Observational studies allow you to collect data unobtrusively, observing characteristics, behaviors or social interactions without relying on self-reporting.

Observations may be conducted in real time, taking notes as you observe, or you might make audiovisual recordings for later analysis. They can be qualitative or quantitative.

Other methods of data collection

There are many other ways you might collect data depending on your field and topic.

If you’re not sure which methods will work best for your research design, try reading some papers in your field to see what kinds of data collection methods they used.

Secondary data

If you don’t have the time or resources to collect data from the population you’re interested in, you can also choose to use secondary data that other researchers already collected—for example, datasets from government surveys or previous studies on your topic.

With this raw data, you can do your own analysis to answer new research questions that weren’t addressed by the original study.

Using secondary data can expand the scope of your research, as you may be able to access much larger and more varied samples than you could collect yourself.

However, it also means you don’t have any control over which variables to measure or how to measure them, so the conclusions you can draw may be limited.

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As well as deciding on your methods, you need to plan exactly how you’ll use these methods to collect data that’s consistent, accurate, and unbiased.

Planning systematic procedures is especially important in quantitative research, where you need to precisely define your variables and ensure your measurements are high in reliability and validity.

Operationalization

Some variables, like height or age, are easily measured. But often you’ll be dealing with more abstract concepts, like satisfaction, anxiety, or competence. Operationalization means turning these fuzzy ideas into measurable indicators.

If you’re using observations , which events or actions will you count?

If you’re using surveys , which questions will you ask and what range of responses will be offered?

You may also choose to use or adapt existing materials designed to measure the concept you’re interested in—for example, questionnaires or inventories whose reliability and validity has already been established.

Reliability and validity

Reliability means your results can be consistently reproduced, while validity means that you’re actually measuring the concept you’re interested in.

For valid and reliable results, your measurement materials should be thoroughly researched and carefully designed. Plan your procedures to make sure you carry out the same steps in the same way for each participant.

If you’re developing a new questionnaire or other instrument to measure a specific concept, running a pilot study allows you to check its validity and reliability in advance.

Sampling procedures

As well as choosing an appropriate sampling method , you need a concrete plan for how you’ll actually contact and recruit your selected sample.

That means making decisions about things like:

• How many participants do you need for an adequate sample size?
• What inclusion and exclusion criteria will you use to identify eligible participants?
• How will you contact your sample—by mail, online, by phone, or in person?

If you’re using a probability sampling method , it’s important that everyone who is randomly selected actually participates in the study. How will you ensure a high response rate?

If you’re using a non-probability method , how will you avoid research bias and ensure a representative sample?

Data management

It’s also important to create a data management plan for organizing and storing your data.

Will you need to transcribe interviews or perform data entry for observations? You should anonymize and safeguard any sensitive data, and make sure it’s backed up regularly.

Keeping your data well-organized will save time when it comes to analyzing it. It can also help other researchers validate and add to your findings (high replicability ).

On its own, raw data can’t answer your research question. The last step of designing your research is planning how you’ll analyze the data.

Quantitative data analysis

In quantitative research, you’ll most likely use some form of statistical analysis . With statistics, you can summarize your sample data, make estimates, and test hypotheses.

Using descriptive statistics , you can summarize your sample data in terms of:

• The distribution of the data (e.g., the frequency of each score on a test)
• The central tendency of the data (e.g., the mean to describe the average score)
• The variability of the data (e.g., the standard deviation to describe how spread out the scores are)

The specific calculations you can do depend on the level of measurement of your variables.

Using inferential statistics , you can:

• Make estimates about the population based on your sample data.
• Test hypotheses about a relationship between variables.

Regression and correlation tests look for associations between two or more variables, while comparison tests (such as t tests and ANOVAs ) look for differences in the outcomes of different groups.

Your choice of statistical test depends on various aspects of your research design, including the types of variables you’re dealing with and the distribution of your data.

Qualitative data analysis

In qualitative research, your data will usually be very dense with information and ideas. Instead of summing it up in numbers, you’ll need to comb through the data in detail, interpret its meanings, identify patterns, and extract the parts that are most relevant to your research question.

Two of the most common approaches to doing this are thematic analysis and discourse analysis .

There are many other ways of analyzing qualitative data depending on the aims of your research. To get a sense of potential approaches, try reading some qualitative research papers in your field.

If you want to know more about the research process , methodology , research bias , or statistics , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• Simple random sampling
• Stratified sampling
• Cluster sampling
• Likert scales
• Reproducibility

 Statistics

• Null hypothesis
• Statistical power
• Probability distribution
• Effect size
• Poisson distribution

Research bias

• Optimism bias
• Cognitive bias
• Implicit bias
• Hawthorne effect
• Anchoring bias
• Explicit bias

A research design is a strategy for answering your   research question . It defines your overall approach and determines how you will collect and analyze data.

A well-planned research design helps ensure that your methods match your research aims, that you collect high-quality data, and that you use the right kind of analysis to answer your questions, utilizing credible sources . This allows you to draw valid , trustworthy conclusions.

Quantitative research designs can be divided into two main categories:

• Correlational and descriptive designs are used to investigate characteristics, averages, trends, and associations between variables.
• Experimental and quasi-experimental designs are used to test causal relationships .

Qualitative research designs tend to be more flexible. Common types of qualitative design include case study , ethnography , and grounded theory designs.

The priorities of a research design can vary depending on the field, but you usually have to specify:

• Your research questions and/or hypotheses
• Your overall approach (e.g., qualitative or quantitative )
• The type of design you’re using (e.g., a survey , experiment , or case study )
• Your data collection methods (e.g., questionnaires , observations)
• Your data collection procedures (e.g., operationalization , timing and data management)
• Your data analysis methods (e.g., statistical tests  or thematic analysis )

A sample is a subset of individuals from a larger population . Sampling means selecting the group that you will actually collect data from in your research. For example, if you are researching the opinions of students in your university, you could survey a sample of 100 students.

In statistics, sampling allows you to test a hypothesis about the characteristics of a population.

Operationalization means turning abstract conceptual ideas into measurable observations.

For example, the concept of social anxiety isn’t directly observable, but it can be operationally defined in terms of self-rating scores, behavioral avoidance of crowded places, or physical anxiety symptoms in social situations.

Before collecting data , it’s important to consider how you will operationalize the variables that you want to measure.

A research project is an academic, scientific, or professional undertaking to answer a research question . Research projects can take many forms, such as qualitative or quantitative , descriptive , longitudinal , experimental , or correlational . What kind of research approach you choose will depend on your topic.

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Research Process

• Brainstorming
• Explore Google This link opens in a new window

Explore Web Resources

• Explore Background Information
• Explore Books
• Explore Scholarly Articles
• Narrowing a Topic
• Primary and Secondary Resources
• Academic, Popular & Trade Publications
• Scholarly and Peer-Reviewed Journals
• Grey Literature
• Clinical Trials
• Evidence Based Treatment
• Scholarly Research
• Database Research Log
• Search Limits
• Keyword Searching
• Boolean Operators
• Phrase Searching
• Truncation & Wildcard Symbols
• Proximity Searching
• Field Codes
• Subject Terms and Database Thesauri
• Reading a Scientific Article
• Website Evaluation
• Article Keywords and Subject Terms
• Cited References
• Citing Articles
• Related Results
• Search Within Publication
• Database Alerts & RSS Feeds
• Personal Database Accounts
• Persistent URLs
• Literature Gap and Future Research
• Web of Knowledge
• Annual Reviews
• Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
• Finding Seminal Works
• Exhausting the Literature
• Finding Dissertations
• Researching Theoretical Frameworks
• Research Methodology & Design
• Tests and Measurements
• Organizing Research & Citations This link opens in a new window
• Scholarly Publication
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Although not scholarly, the Internet will more than likely be your initial starting point for topic ideas and information. Informal channels of information, such as blogs and alert services, are invaluable resources that help you stay current and informed about your research area, and will provide assistance in directing you to the resources that are appropriate to use in your research. Start by searching for some of the keywords related to your area of interest to begin a very broad scan of the range of topics and information sources. Use keywords such as: trending news or trending topics, recent research, controversial issues, policy debates, and other relevant terms to locate recent news. Remember that using the Internet to find academic information takes a lot of hard work to carefully evaluate the good from the bad.

Remember, not everything you find on the Internet is appropriate to use as a resource in your research. For more guidance on how to evaluate online information, review the Website Evaluation  page, or view the Library’s Workshop Video on Website Evaluation .

Web Resource Types

• Research News
• Popular News & Magazines
• Feeds & Alerts
• Open Access

Blogs can be a valuable source for information on trending issues, current events, recent research, debates and more. Scholars, associations, executives, innovative researchers, every day practitioners, and students are just some of the people who write blogs. Knowing about and reading blogs that are written by experts in the field, or relevant associations, may be an important step in identifying current studies and trends in a subject area.

The websites ResearchBlogging.org and ACI Scholarly Blog Index aggregate blog posts regarding recent peer-reviewed research and publications.

Many online popular and news magazines have blog sections. For example, Psychology Today offers a large index of their blogs with a guide to their blogging experts’ credentials.

• Psychology Today Index of Blogs
• Scienceblogs.com

Another great resource for searching blogs is Nexis Uni . On the home page, select News and conduct a search using your keyword or phrase. On the search results screen, you may filter Publication Type to Blog, as shown below:

Research news websites are also good sources for the latest information in research. This is a great way to keep up with current research, learn about potentially interesting topics, and understand where the research in a particular field is heading. Headlines for recently published research can be found by searching by the keywords ‘research news’.

Science Daily is a website that provides top headlines in recent research and discoveries in key topic areas like Health and Medicine, Education & Learning, Computers & Mathematics and more. EurekAlert! , sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, is a service that gathers and posts press releases from research organizations (universities, medical centers, government agencies, publishers).

• Science Daily
• EurekAlert!

Popular news sources and magazines can also be useful for finding out about the latest trends or research. News sources, like New York Times , Washington Post , NPR, The Chronicle of Higher Education and more, will regularly report on research of interest to a general audience.

Use the links provided in online articles or the informal in-text citation within the article to locate the original research publication. These resources can be found by conducting an internet search, or using NU Library’s Find a Resource tool to search for specific publications by title.  

You may also want to learn more about the differences between Academic and Popular Sources  to better understand the use of these resources in your academic research.

• New York Times
• Washington Post
• The Chronicle of Higher Education
• Find a Resource

Controversial topics and debates are useful for learning about different perspectives on the same issue. For a general internet search, try the keyword phrase “policy debate” to find trending or hot topics in the news or from policy institutes.

The website ProCon.org presents articles on current debates in the news and society. This site is directed toward students and educators.

News feeds or alerts are another extremely useful tool to locate recently published research in a subject area. Subscribing to news feeds helps you stay up-to-date on the research that is being done in a specific field. Many websites offer ways to subscribe to their feeds. Tools like Feedly allow you to keep websites and news sources all in one place. A simple way to organize and streamline information is to use an RSS feed reader. This quick tutorial video explains how to choose an RSS feed reader and subscribe to a number of RSS feeds.

There are also many websites that offer news and journal table of contents alert services. One example is Google Alerts for news and other web content. Another site,  Journal TOCs , a free service that collects and makes available Table of Contents for the top academic journals in a wide range of disciplines. On their website you can browse or search for research areas.

It is important to keep in mind that with so many resources out there, you could quickly become overwhelmed with information being delivered daily. It is probably best to skim blogs and newsgroups until you settle on a specific idea, and then limit yourself to one or two key groups, newsfeeds, etc.

• Google Alerts
• Journal TOCs

Open Access Resources can be invaluable for exploring your topic. These resources are freely available 'open access’ documents from professional and trade associations, government agencies, non-profit organizations, research institutes, universities and other entities. These resources are not proprietary , meaning they do not require login or subscription (although occasionally for-profit associations may request that you create a free account to access their publications). They are good places to explore for statistics, reports, conference abstracts and proceedings, white papers, association newsletters, industry news and more.

NU Library maintains a collection of curated links organized by NU disciplines and specializations, as well as related academic topics. Visit the Open Access Resources Guide for recommended sites.

Wikipedia or other online wiki sources are helpful for finding background information on a topic and getting ideas for keywords and phrases, but they should never be used as a cited reference in academic research . These sites can be useful for learning the basics of a topic that you are not familiar with. If the website entries provide references, these can be sources of scholarly information to explore further.

Here is an example of an article with extensive references from academic books and journals on the topic of Mirror Symmetry . This article is also designated as a Feature Article by Wikipedia because meets specific criteria such as supporting claims with citations.

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Drugs, Brains, and Behavior: The Science of Addiction Preface

How science has revolutionized the understanding of drug addiction.

For much of the past century, scientists studying drugs and drug use labored in the shadows of powerful myths and misconceptions about the nature of addiction. When scientists began to study addictive behavior in the 1930s, people with an addiction were thought to be morally flawed and lacking in willpower. Those views shaped society’s responses to drug use, treating it as a moral failing rather than a health problem, which led to an emphasis on punishment rather than prevention and treatment.

Today, thanks to science, our views and our responses to addiction and the broader spectrum of substance use disorders have changed dramatically. Groundbreaking discoveries about the brain have revolutionized our understanding of compulsive drug use, enabling us to respond effectively to the problem.

As a result of scientific research, we know that addiction is a medical disorder that affects the brain and changes behavior. We have identified many of the biological and environmental risk factors and are beginning to search for the genetic variations that contribute to the development and progression of the disorder. Scientists use this knowledge to develop effective prevention and treatment approaches that reduce the toll drug use takes on individuals, families, and communities.

Despite these advances, we still do not fully understand why some people develop an addiction to drugs or how drugs change the brain to foster compulsive drug use. This booklet aims to fill that knowledge gap by providing scientific information about the disorder of drug addiction, including the many harmful consequences of drug use and the basic approaches that have been developed to prevent and treat substance use disorders.

At the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), we believe that increased understanding of the basics of addiction will empower people to make informed choices in their own lives, adopt science-based policies and programs that reduce drug use and addiction in their communities, and support scientific research that improves the Nation’s well-being.

Nora D. Volkow, M.D. Director National Institute on Drug Abuse

Microsoft Research Blog

Microsoft vision model resnet-50 combines web-scale data and multi-task learning to achieve state of the art.

Published February 3, 2021

By Zygmunt Lenyk , Software Engineer, Microsoft Bing Multimedia Group Junwon Park , Program Manager, Microsoft Bing Multimedia Group

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Pretrained vision models accelerate deep learning research and bring down the cost of performing computer vision tasks in production. By pretraining one large vision model to learn general visual representation of images, then transferring the learning across multiple downstream tasks, a team achieves competitive performance at a fraction of the cost when compared to collecting new data and training a new model for each task. Further fine-tuning of the pretrained model with task-specific training data often yields even higher performance than training specialized models.

Microsoft Vision Model ResNet-50 is a large pretrained vision model created by the Multimedia Group at Microsoft Bing. The model is built using the search engine’s web-scale image data in order to power its Image Search (opens in new tab) and Visual Search (opens in new tab) . We are excited to announce that we are making Microsoft Vision Model ResNet-50 publicly available today.

We evaluate Microsoft Vision Model ResNet-50 against the state-of-the-art pretrained ResNet-50 models and the baseline PyTorch implementation of ResNet-50, following the experiment setup of OpenAI CLIP (opens in new tab) . Linear probe is a standard evaluation protocol for representation learning in which a linear classifier is trained on frozen embeddings of the pretrained vision model for each benchmark.

To achieve the state-of-the-art performance in a cost-sensitive production setting, Microsoft Vision Model ResNet-50 leverages multi-task learning and optimizes separately for four datasets, including ImageNet-22k (opens in new tab) , Microsoft COCO (opens in new tab) , and two web-supervised (opens in new tab) datasets containing 40 million image-label pairs collected from image search engines.

We chose to use multi-task learning with hard parameter sharing (see figure above). Single neural networks will optimize each classification problem at the same time. By using tasks of varied sizes—up to 40 million images with 100,000 different labels from web-supervised sources—Microsoft Vision Model ResNet-50 can achieve high robustness and good transferability to different domains.  

Microsoft Research Podcast

Collaborators: Holoportation™ communication technology with Spencer Fowers and Kwame Darko

Spencer Fowers and Kwame Darko break down how the technology behind Holoportation and the telecommunication device being built around it brings patients and doctors together when being in the same room isn’t an easy option and discuss the potential impact of the work.

During training, images from each dataset are sampled proportionally to the size of the datasets. This approach promotes larger datasets at first, but once optimization flattens, the optimizer needs to look for improvements to smaller datasets without downgrading the performance of the larger ones. As a result, final accuracy scores for each of the datasets are competitive with specialized models trained on each specific dataset.

Dive deeper into Microsoft Vision Model ResNet-50

• Code Microsoft Vision Model ResNet-50 

You can get your hands on Microsoft Vision Model ResNet-50 by visiting https://aka.ms/microsoftvision (opens in new tab) . On this webpage, you will find a description of how to install and use the model to encode images into embedding vectors. We are also hosting a public webinar about our model on February 25 at 10 AM PT. Part of the webinar will be a demo of applying the model to example computer vision tasks, and there will be a live Q&A session at the end. You can learn more and register (opens in new tab) for the webinar at its registration page.

Acknowledgments

Microsoft Vision Model ResNet-50 is one in a family of world-class computer vision models we’ve built at Microsoft Bing Multimedia Group. We thank Mark Bolin, Ravi Yada, Kun Wu, Meenaz Merchant, Arun Sacheti, and Jordi Ribas for enabling this work. If the opportunity to build pioneering computer vision models excites you, visit our career page (opens in new tab) to learn about our openings.

Meet the authors

Zygmunt Lenyk

Software Engineer, Microsoft Bing Multimedia Group

Junwon Park

Program Manager, Microsoft Bing Multimedia Group

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Microsoft at CVPR 2024: Innovations in computer vision and AI research

Frontiers of multimodal learning: A responsible AI approach

Microsoft at CVPR 2023: Pushing the boundaries of computer vision

Swin Transformer supports 3-billion-parameter vision models that can train with higher-resolution images for greater task applicability

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Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

• Younger researchers re...

Younger researchers recive DFF-grants to explore their best ideas

Assistant Professor Peter C. Petersen and Associate Professor Andreas Mæchel Fritzen each receive more than DKK 6 million for exploring some of their best ideas.

A total of 336 researchers have applied for a Sapere Aude: DFF Research Leader grant, but only 38 have received funding.

Two of them are from SUND: Associate Professor Andreas Mæchel Fritzen from Endocrinology and Metabolism and Assistant Professor and Team Leader Peter C. Petersen from the Department of Neuroscience.  

Their research projects have undergone extensive assessment starting with a preliminary review by an international panel.

This was followed by a more detailed assessment by the Fund’s scientific research council and finally an interview conducted by a Fund committee. Subsequently, 38 new Sapere Aude: DFF Research Leaders were selected, and they have each received around DKK 6 million for their research projects.  

Heart Failure and coconut oil

Associate Professor Andreas Mæchel Fritzen has received almost DKK 6.2 million for the research project “Cardiovascular and metabolic effects of medium-chain fatty acids in heart failure” .  

He will be exploring heart failure, which is a chronic, life-threatening condition. More than 60,000 Danes suffer from heart failure.  

Infusion of ketone bodies can improve heart function in heart failure patients, but regular infusion of ketone bodies in hospital is not a viable solution.  

“Pilot studies have shown that ingestion of a particular type of fat, so-called medium-chain fatty acids, present in coconut oil and to a lesser extent in milk naturally increases the blood’s ketone body level. Some of these fatty acids enter the blood and constitute an optimal fat source for the heart and can prompt the liver to release positive signalling molecules,” Andreas Mæchel Fritzen says.  

His project will therefore investigate whether the intake of medium-chain fatty acids improves heart function in heart failure patients and analyse the underlying mechanisms.  

The brain's spatial memory

Assistant Professor and Team Lead Peter C. Petersen from the Department of Neuroscience has also received just under DKK 6.2 million for the research project “How our brain navigates using its cognitive map and place cells sequences – unraveling the brain’s fundamental spatial memory units”. 

Peter C. Petersen will be exploring the part of the brain known as the hippocampus, a key brain structure for spatial navigation and memory, which contains specialised neurons known as place cells that selectively fire when we occupy specific locations in a given environment.  

“These place cells – together with other spatially encoding cells – form the neural basis of a ‘cognitive map’ that enables us to navigate and remember spatial information. Recent studies have also implicated place cells in the generation of sequential activity patterns, reflecting our trajectory through an environment. However, the precise mechanisms underlying the formation and use of cognitive maps and sequence generation remain elusive,” Peter C. Petersen says.  

According to Peter C. Petersen, the project aims to unravel the neural mechanisms of spatial navigation, focussing on the role of place cells in cognitive map formation and sequence generation. This could be crucial for establishing a new field of research and understanding how imbalances in the circuits of the brain can lead to pathological conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease.

You can read more about the Sapere Aude: DFF Research Leader from the Independent Research Fund Denmark here .

Associate Professor Andreas Mæchel Fritzen [email protected] +45 35 32 17 56

Assistant Professor Peter C. Petersen [email protected] +45 42 41 40 04

Research Topics & Ideas: Healthcare

100+ Healthcare Research Topic Ideas To Fast-Track Your Project

Finding and choosing a strong research topic is the critical first step when it comes to crafting a high-quality dissertation, thesis or research project. If you’ve landed on this post, chances are you’re looking for a healthcare-related research topic , but aren’t sure where to start. Here, we’ll explore a variety of healthcare-related research ideas and topic thought-starters across a range of healthcare fields, including allopathic and alternative medicine, dentistry, physical therapy, optometry, pharmacology and public health.

NB – This is just the start…

The topic ideation and evaluation process has multiple steps . In this post, we’ll kickstart the process by sharing some research topic ideas within the healthcare domain. This is the starting point, but to develop a well-defined research topic, you’ll need to identify a clear and convincing research gap , along with a well-justified plan of action to fill that gap.

If you’re new to the oftentimes perplexing world of research, or if this is your first time undertaking a formal academic research project, be sure to check out our free dissertation mini-course. In it, we cover the process of writing a dissertation or thesis from start to end. Be sure to also sign up for our free webinar that explores how to find a high-quality research topic.

Overview: Healthcare Research Topics

• Allopathic medicine
• Alternative /complementary medicine
• Veterinary medicine
• Physical therapy/ rehab
• Optometry and ophthalmology
• Pharmacy and pharmacology
• Public health
• Examples of healthcare-related dissertations

Allopathic (Conventional) Medicine

• The effectiveness of telemedicine in remote elderly patient care
• The impact of stress on the immune system of cancer patients
• The effects of a plant-based diet on chronic diseases such as diabetes
• The use of AI in early cancer diagnosis and treatment
• The role of the gut microbiome in mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety
• The efficacy of mindfulness meditation in reducing chronic pain: A systematic review
• The benefits and drawbacks of electronic health records in a developing country
• The effects of environmental pollution on breast milk quality
• The use of personalized medicine in treating genetic disorders
• The impact of social determinants of health on chronic diseases in Asia
• The role of high-intensity interval training in improving cardiovascular health
• The efficacy of using probiotics for gut health in pregnant women
• The impact of poor sleep on the treatment of chronic illnesses
• The role of inflammation in the development of chronic diseases such as lupus
• The effectiveness of physiotherapy in pain control post-surgery

Topics & Ideas: Alternative Medicine

• The benefits of herbal medicine in treating young asthma patients
• The use of acupuncture in treating infertility in women over 40 years of age
• The effectiveness of homoeopathy in treating mental health disorders: A systematic review
• The role of aromatherapy in reducing stress and anxiety post-surgery
• The impact of mindfulness meditation on reducing high blood pressure
• The use of chiropractic therapy in treating back pain of pregnant women
• The efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine such as Shun-Qi-Tong-Xie (SQTX) in treating digestive disorders in China
• The impact of yoga on physical and mental health in adolescents
• The benefits of hydrotherapy in treating musculoskeletal disorders such as tendinitis
• The role of Reiki in promoting healing and relaxation post birth
• The effectiveness of naturopathy in treating skin conditions such as eczema
• The use of deep tissue massage therapy in reducing chronic pain in amputees
• The impact of tai chi on the treatment of anxiety and depression
• The benefits of reflexology in treating stress, anxiety and chronic fatigue
• The role of acupuncture in the prophylactic management of headaches and migraines

Topics & Ideas: Dentistry

• The impact of sugar consumption on the oral health of infants
• The use of digital dentistry in improving patient care: A systematic review
• The efficacy of orthodontic treatments in correcting bite problems in adults
• The role of dental hygiene in preventing gum disease in patients with dental bridges
• The impact of smoking on oral health and tobacco cessation support from UK dentists
• The benefits of dental implants in restoring missing teeth in adolescents
• The use of lasers in dental procedures such as root canals
• The efficacy of root canal treatment using high-frequency electric pulses in saving infected teeth
• The role of fluoride in promoting remineralization and slowing down demineralization
• The impact of stress-induced reflux on oral health
• The benefits of dental crowns in restoring damaged teeth in elderly patients
• The use of sedation dentistry in managing dental anxiety in children
• The efficacy of teeth whitening treatments in improving dental aesthetics in patients with braces
• The role of orthodontic appliances in improving well-being
• The impact of periodontal disease on overall health and chronic illnesses

Tops & Ideas: Veterinary Medicine

• The impact of nutrition on broiler chicken production
• The role of vaccines in disease prevention in horses
• The importance of parasite control in animal health in piggeries
• The impact of animal behaviour on welfare in the dairy industry
• The effects of environmental pollution on the health of cattle
• The role of veterinary technology such as MRI in animal care
• The importance of pain management in post-surgery health outcomes
• The impact of genetics on animal health and disease in layer chickens
• The effectiveness of alternative therapies in veterinary medicine: A systematic review
• The role of veterinary medicine in public health: A case study of the COVID-19 pandemic
• The impact of climate change on animal health and infectious diseases in animals
• The importance of animal welfare in veterinary medicine and sustainable agriculture
• The effects of the human-animal bond on canine health
• The role of veterinary medicine in conservation efforts: A case study of Rhinoceros poaching in Africa
• The impact of veterinary research of new vaccines on animal health

Topics & Ideas: Physical Therapy/Rehab

• The efficacy of aquatic therapy in improving joint mobility and strength in polio patients
• The impact of telerehabilitation on patient outcomes in Germany
• The effect of kinesiotaping on reducing knee pain and improving function in individuals with chronic pain
• A comparison of manual therapy and yoga exercise therapy in the management of low back pain
• The use of wearable technology in physical rehabilitation and the impact on patient adherence to a rehabilitation plan
• The impact of mindfulness-based interventions in physical therapy in adolescents
• The effects of resistance training on individuals with Parkinson’s disease
• The role of hydrotherapy in the management of fibromyalgia
• The impact of cognitive-behavioural therapy in physical rehabilitation for individuals with chronic pain
• The use of virtual reality in physical rehabilitation of sports injuries
• The effects of electrical stimulation on muscle function and strength in athletes
• The role of physical therapy in the management of stroke recovery: A systematic review
• The impact of pilates on mental health in individuals with depression
• The use of thermal modalities in physical therapy and its effectiveness in reducing pain and inflammation
• The effect of strength training on balance and gait in elderly patients

Topics & Ideas: Optometry & Opthalmology

• The impact of screen time on the vision and ocular health of children under the age of 5
• The effects of blue light exposure from digital devices on ocular health
• The role of dietary interventions, such as the intake of whole grains, in the management of age-related macular degeneration
• The use of telemedicine in optometry and ophthalmology in the UK
• The impact of myopia control interventions on African American children’s vision
• The use of contact lenses in the management of dry eye syndrome: different treatment options
• The effects of visual rehabilitation in individuals with traumatic brain injury
• The role of low vision rehabilitation in individuals with age-related vision loss: challenges and solutions
• The impact of environmental air pollution on ocular health
• The effectiveness of orthokeratology in myopia control compared to contact lenses
• The role of dietary supplements, such as omega-3 fatty acids, in ocular health
• The effects of ultraviolet radiation exposure from tanning beds on ocular health
• The impact of computer vision syndrome on long-term visual function
• The use of novel diagnostic tools in optometry and ophthalmology in developing countries
• The effects of virtual reality on visual perception and ocular health: an examination of dry eye syndrome and neurologic symptoms

Topics & Ideas: Pharmacy & Pharmacology

• The impact of medication adherence on patient outcomes in cystic fibrosis
• The use of personalized medicine in the management of chronic diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease
• The effects of pharmacogenomics on drug response and toxicity in cancer patients
• The role of pharmacists in the management of chronic pain in primary care
• The impact of drug-drug interactions on patient mental health outcomes
• The use of telepharmacy in healthcare: Present status and future potential
• The effects of herbal and dietary supplements on drug efficacy and toxicity
• The role of pharmacists in the management of type 1 diabetes
• The impact of medication errors on patient outcomes and satisfaction
• The use of technology in medication management in the USA
• The effects of smoking on drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics: A case study of clozapine
• Leveraging the role of pharmacists in preventing and managing opioid use disorder
• The impact of the opioid epidemic on public health in a developing country
• The use of biosimilars in the management of the skin condition psoriasis
• The effects of the Affordable Care Act on medication utilization and patient outcomes in African Americans

Topics & Ideas: Public Health

• The impact of the built environment and urbanisation on physical activity and obesity
• The effects of food insecurity on health outcomes in Zimbabwe
• The role of community-based participatory research in addressing health disparities
• The impact of social determinants of health, such as racism, on population health
• The effects of heat waves on public health
• The role of telehealth in addressing healthcare access and equity in South America
• The impact of gun violence on public health in South Africa
• The effects of chlorofluorocarbons air pollution on respiratory health
• The role of public health interventions in reducing health disparities in the USA
• The impact of the United States Affordable Care Act on access to healthcare and health outcomes
• The effects of water insecurity on health outcomes in the Middle East
• The role of community health workers in addressing healthcare access and equity in low-income countries
• The impact of mass incarceration on public health and behavioural health of a community
• The effects of floods on public health and healthcare systems
• The role of social media in public health communication and behaviour change in adolescents

Examples: Healthcare Dissertation & Theses

While the ideas we’ve presented above are a decent starting point for finding a healthcare-related research topic, they are fairly generic and non-specific. So, it helps to look at actual dissertations and theses to see how this all comes together.

Below, we’ve included a selection of research projects from various healthcare-related degree programs to help refine your thinking. These are actual dissertations and theses, written as part of Master’s and PhD-level programs, so they can provide some useful insight as to what a research topic looks like in practice.

• Improving Follow-Up Care for Homeless Populations in North County San Diego (Sanchez, 2021)
• On the Incentives of Medicare’s Hospital Reimbursement and an Examination of Exchangeability (Elzinga, 2016)
• Managing the healthcare crisis: the career narratives of nurses (Krueger, 2021)
• Methods for preventing central line-associated bloodstream infection in pediatric haematology-oncology patients: A systematic literature review (Balkan, 2020)
• Farms in Healthcare: Enhancing Knowledge, Sharing, and Collaboration (Garramone, 2019)
• When machine learning meets healthcare: towards knowledge incorporation in multimodal healthcare analytics (Yuan, 2020)
• Integrated behavioural healthcare: The future of rural mental health (Fox, 2019)
• Healthcare service use patterns among autistic adults: A systematic review with narrative synthesis (Gilmore, 2021)
• Mindfulness-Based Interventions: Combatting Burnout and Compassionate Fatigue among Mental Health Caregivers (Lundquist, 2022)
• Transgender and gender-diverse people’s perceptions of gender-inclusive healthcare access and associated hope for the future (Wille, 2021)
• Efficient Neural Network Synthesis and Its Application in Smart Healthcare (Hassantabar, 2022)
• The Experience of Female Veterans and Health-Seeking Behaviors (Switzer, 2022)
• Machine learning applications towards risk prediction and cost forecasting in healthcare (Singh, 2022)
• Does Variation in the Nursing Home Inspection Process Explain Disparity in Regulatory Outcomes? (Fox, 2020)

Looking at these titles, you can probably pick up that the research topics here are quite specific and narrowly-focused , compared to the generic ones presented earlier. This is an important thing to keep in mind as you develop your own research topic. That is to say, to create a top-notch research topic, you must be precise and target a specific context with specific variables of interest . In other words, you need to identify a clear, well-justified research gap.

Need more help?

If you’re still feeling a bit unsure about how to find a research topic for your healthcare dissertation or thesis, check out Topic Kickstarter service below.

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16 Comments

I need topics that will match the Msc program am running in healthcare research please

Hello Mabel,

I can help you with a good topic, kindly provide your email let’s have a good discussion on this.

Can you provide some research topics and ideas on Immunology?

Thank you to create new knowledge on research problem verse research topic

Help on problem statement on teen pregnancy

This post might be useful: https://gradcoach.com/research-problem-statement/

can you provide me with a research topic on healthcare related topics to a qqi level 5 student

Please can someone help me with research topics in public health ?

Hello I have requirement of Health related latest research issue/topics for my social media speeches. If possible pls share health issues , diagnosis, treatment.

I would like a topic thought around first-line support for Gender-Based Violence for survivors or one related to prevention of Gender-Based Violence

Please can I be helped with a master’s research topic in either chemical pathology or hematology or immunology? thanks

Can u please provide me with a research topic on occupational health and safety at the health sector

Good day kindly help provide me with Ph.D. Public health topics on Reproductive and Maternal Health, interventional studies on Health Education

may you assist me with a good easy healthcare administration study topic

May you assist me in finding a research topic on nutrition,physical activity and obesity. On the impact on children

I have been racking my brain for a while on what topic will be suitable for my PhD in health informatics. I want a qualitative topic as this is my strong area.

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A technique for more effective multipurpose robots

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Let’s say you want to train a robot so it understands how to use tools and can then quickly learn to make repairs around your house with a hammer, wrench, and screwdriver. To do that, you would need an enormous amount of data demonstrating tool use.

Existing robotic datasets vary widely in modality — some include color images while others are composed of tactile imprints, for instance. Data could also be collected in different domains, like simulation or human demos. And each dataset may capture a unique task and environment.

It is difficult to efficiently incorporate data from so many sources in one machine-learning model, so many methods use just one type of data to train a robot. But robots trained this way, with a relatively small amount of task-specific data, are often unable to perform new tasks in unfamiliar environments.

In an effort to train better multipurpose robots, MIT researchers developed a technique to combine multiple sources of data across domains, modalities, and tasks using a type of generative AI known as diffusion models.

They train a separate diffusion model to learn a strategy, or policy, for completing one task using one specific dataset. Then they combine the policies learned by the diffusion models into a general policy that enables a robot to perform multiple tasks in various settings.

In simulations and real-world experiments, this training approach enabled a robot to perform multiple tool-use tasks and adapt to new tasks it did not see during training. The method, known as Policy Composition (PoCo), led to a 20 percent improvement in task performance when compared to baseline techniques.

“Addressing heterogeneity in robotic datasets is like a chicken-egg problem. If we want to use a lot of data to train general robot policies, then we first need deployable robots to get all this data. I think that leveraging all the heterogeneous data available, similar to what researchers have done with ChatGPT, is an important step for the robotics field,” says Lirui Wang, an electrical engineering and computer science (EECS) graduate student and lead author of a paper on PoCo .      

Wang’s coauthors include Jialiang Zhao, a mechanical engineering graduate student; Yilun Du, an EECS graduate student; Edward Adelson, the John and Dorothy Wilson Professor of Vision Science in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and a member of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL); and senior author Russ Tedrake, the Toyota Professor of EECS, Aeronautics and Astronautics, and Mechanical Engineering, and a member of CSAIL. The research will be presented at the Robotics: Science and Systems Conference.

Combining disparate datasets

A robotic policy is a machine-learning model that takes inputs and uses them to perform an action. One way to think about a policy is as a strategy. In the case of a robotic arm, that strategy might be a trajectory, or a series of poses that move the arm so it picks up a hammer and uses it to pound a nail.

Datasets used to learn robotic policies are typically small and focused on one particular task and environment, like packing items into boxes in a warehouse.

“Every single robotic warehouse is generating terabytes of data, but it only belongs to that specific robot installation working on those packages. It is not ideal if you want to use all of these data to train a general machine,” Wang says.

The MIT researchers developed a technique that can take a series of smaller datasets, like those gathered from many robotic warehouses, learn separate policies from each one, and combine the policies in a way that enables a robot to generalize to many tasks.

They represent each policy using a type of generative AI model known as a diffusion model. Diffusion models, often used for image generation, learn to create new data samples that resemble samples in a training dataset by iteratively refining their output.

But rather than teaching a diffusion model to generate images, the researchers teach it to generate a trajectory for a robot. They do this by adding noise to the trajectories in a training dataset. The diffusion model gradually removes the noise and refines its output into a trajectory.

This technique, known as Diffusion Policy , was previously introduced by researchers at MIT, Columbia University, and the Toyota Research Institute. PoCo builds off this Diffusion Policy work. 

The team trains each diffusion model with a different type of dataset, such as one with human video demonstrations and another gleaned from teleoperation of a robotic arm.

Then the researchers perform a weighted combination of the individual policies learned by all the diffusion models, iteratively refining the output so the combined policy satisfies the objectives of each individual policy.

Greater than the sum of its parts

“One of the benefits of this approach is that we can combine policies to get the best of both worlds. For instance, a policy trained on real-world data might be able to achieve more dexterity, while a policy trained on simulation might be able to achieve more generalization,” Wang says.

Because the policies are trained separately, one could mix and match diffusion policies to achieve better results for a certain task. A user could also add data in a new modality or domain by training an additional Diffusion Policy with that dataset, rather than starting the entire process from scratch.

The researchers tested PoCo in simulation and on real robotic arms that performed a variety of tools tasks, such as using a hammer to pound a nail and flipping an object with a spatula. PoCo led to a 20 percent improvement in task performance compared to baseline methods.

“The striking thing was that when we finished tuning and visualized it, we can clearly see that the composed trajectory looks much better than either one of them individually,” Wang says.

In the future, the researchers want to apply this technique to long-horizon tasks where a robot would pick up one tool, use it, then switch to another tool. They also want to incorporate larger robotics datasets to improve performance.

“We will need all three kinds of data to succeed for robotics: internet data, simulation data, and real robot data. How to combine them effectively will be the million-dollar question. PoCo is a solid step on the right track,” says Jim Fan, senior research scientist at NVIDIA and leader of the AI Agents Initiative, who was not involved with this work.

This research is funded, in part, by Amazon, the Singapore Defense Science and Technology Agency, the U.S. National Science Foundation, and the Toyota Research Institute.

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Globally, Biden Receives Higher Ratings Than Trump

Still, most disapprove of how biden has dealt with the israel-hamas war, table of contents.

• Views of the U.S.
• Confidence in Biden, Trump and other world leaders
• Differences by ideology, age and gender
• 1. Views of the U.S.
• 2. Confidence in Joe Biden
• 3. Confidence in Donald Trump
• 4. Comparing confidence in Macron, Putin and Xi to ratings of Biden and Trump
• Biden’s handling of global economic problems
• Biden’s handling of climate change
• Biden’s handling of China
• Biden’s handling of the Russia-Ukraine war
• Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war
• 6. Is U.S. democracy a good example to follow?
• Appendix A: Favorability of the United States since 2000
• Appendix B: Confidence in the U.S. president since 2001
• Acknowledgments
• About Pew Research Center’s Spring 2024 Global Attitudes Survey

This Pew Research Center analysis focuses on public opinion of the United States, President Joe Biden and other world leaders. It also explores what people think about Biden’s handling of international issues and their perceptions of American democracy. The study includes publics in 34 countries across the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, North America and sub-Saharan Africa.

This analysis draws on nationally representative surveys of 40,566 adults conducted from Jan. 5 to May 21, 2024. All surveys were conducted over the phone with adults in Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Surveys were conducted face to face in Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ghana, Hungary, India, Israel, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tunisia and Turkey. In Australia, we used a mixed-mode probability-based online panel.

Throughout the report, we analyze respondents’ attitudes based on where they place themselves on an ideological scale. We asked about political ideology using several slightly different scales and categorized people as being on the ideological left, center or right.

• In most countries, we asked people to place themselves on a scale ranging from “Extreme left” to “Extreme right.” The question was asked this way in Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
• In Australia, the scale ranged from “Left” to “Right”.
• In Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand, ideology was measured on a scale from “Extremely progressive” to “Extremely conservative.”
• Ideology was not asked about in Ghana, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Sri Lanka or Tunisia. 

Prior to 2024, combined totals were based on rounded topline figures. For all reports beginning in 2024, totals are based on unrounded topline figures, so combined totals might be different than in previous years. Refer to the 2024 topline to see our new rounding procedures applied to past years’ data.

Here are the questions used for the report, along with responses, and the survey methodology .

With many around the world closely following the fiercely contested rematch between U.S. President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, a new Pew Research Center survey finds that, internationally, Biden is viewed more positively than his rival.

Across the 34 nations polled, a median of 43% have confidence in Biden to do the right thing regarding world affairs, while just 28% have confidence in Trump. The gap between ratings is quite wide in many countries, especially in Europe. Biden’s confidence rating is at least 40 percentage points higher than Trump’s in Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden.

However, there are exceptions. There is no statistically significant difference in ratings of Biden and Trump in eight nations we surveyed. And people in Hungary and Tunisia give Trump more positive reviews than Biden, although neither leader gets especially high marks there. (The survey was conducted before Trump’s conviction in a state criminal trial in New York.)

Even though Biden gets better assessments than Trump globally, ratings for the current U.S. president are down since last year in 14 of 21 countries where trends are available, including by double digits in Australia, Israel, Japan, Poland, South Africa, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

The survey included a series of questions about how Biden is handling major international issues. Overall, opinions are divided on how he is dealing with climate change and global economic problems.

Across the 34 countries polled, a median of around four-in-ten approve of how Biden is dealing with China and with the war between Russia and Ukraine (39% each).

The president gets his most negative reviews on his handling of the Israel-Hamas war: A median of just 31% approve of the way he is handling the conflict, while 57% disapprove. (The survey was conducted prior to Biden announcing a proposal to end the conflict .)

Research in the West Bank and Gaza

Pew Research Center has polled the Palestinian territories in previous years, but we were unable to conduct fieldwork in Gaza or the West Bank for our Spring 2024 survey due to security concerns. We are actively investigating possibilities for both qualitative and quantitative research on public opinion in the region and hope to be able to share data from the region in the coming months.

Six-in-ten Israelis disapprove of how Biden is handling the war, including 53% of Jewish Israelis and 86% of Arab Israelis. (For more on how Israelis rate Biden, read “Israeli Views of the Israel-Hamas War.” )

Of the predominantly Muslim nations surveyed, large majorities in Malaysia, Tunisia and Turkey also disapprove of Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war. Opinion is divided on this issue in Bangladesh.

The new survey finds that overall attitudes toward the United States are generally positive: A median of 54% across the nations polled have a favorable view of the U.S., while 31% have a negative opinion.

However, criticisms of American democracy are common in many nations. We asked respondents whether U.S. democracy is a good example for other countries to follow, used to be a good example but has not been in recent years, or has never been a good example.

The predominant view in most countries is that the U.S. used to be a good model but has not been recently. Overall, a median of 21% believe it is currently a good example, while 22% say it has never been a good model for other countries.

In eight of the 13 countries where trends are available, fewer people say American democracy is a good example than said so in spring 2021, when we last asked this question.

For this report, we surveyed 40,566 people in 34 countries – not including the U.S. – from Jan. 5 to May 21, 2024. In addition to this overview, the report includes chapters on:

• Attitudes toward the United States
• Ratings of Biden
• Ratings of Trump
• Views of Biden and Trump compared with other world leaders
• Views about Biden’s handling of major foreign policy issues
• Is the U.S. a good example of democracy?

Read some of the report’s key findings below.

At least half of those in most countries surveyed express a favorable opinion of the U.S. Poles are the most positive, at 86% favorable. Of the European nations surveyed, ratings also lean positive in Italy, Hungary and the UK. Elsewhere in Europe, however, opinions tend to be closely divided.

Attitudes toward the U.S. are largely favorable in the Asia-Pacific nations polled, especially Japan, the Philippines, South Korea and Thailand. However, most Australians and Malaysians give the U.S. poor marks.

In the Middle East-North Africa region, a 77% majority of Israelis view the U.S. favorably, although this is down from 87% last year. Large majorities in Tunisia and Turkey offer an unfavorable opinion.

The U.S. gets mostly positive ratings in the sub-Saharan African and Latin American nations surveyed. Two-thirds or more see the U.S. favorably in Colombia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Peru.

Refer to Appendix A  for long-term trends on views of the U.S.

Pew Research Center has explored attitudes toward American presidents for over two decades, finding significant shifts in opinions over the years. Data from four Western European nations that we have surveyed consistently – France, Germany, Spain and the UK – shows long-term trends in views of recent presidents.

George W. Bush received low and declining ratings during his time in the White House, while Barack Obama got mostly high marks. Attitudes toward Donald Trump were overwhelmingly negative throughout his presidency. Biden has consistently received more positive reviews than his predecessor, but his ratings have declined in these four countries during his time in office.

There are nine nations in this year’s survey where six-in-ten adults or more express confidence in Biden. Four are in Europe (Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden), two are in the Asia-Pacific region (the Philippines and Thailand) and three are in sub-Saharan Africa (Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria).

Since last year, confidence in Biden has dropped significantly in 14 nations: Seven in Europe, plus Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, Mexico, South Africa and South Korea. Biden gets his lowest ratings in Turkey and Tunisia, where only about one-in-ten express confidence in him.

The two countries where at least six-in-ten adults have confidence in Trump are Nigeria and the Philippines. Like Biden, Trump gets one of his lowest ratings in Turkey, where just 10% view him favorably.

Confidence in Trump has increased slightly in a few European countries since we last asked about him in 2020, although his ratings remain quite low in Europe.

In contrast, Trump’s ratings have become more negative in Poland since 2019, which was the last year we asked about him there. Israeli views toward the former president have also become more negative over the past five years.

Refer to Appendix B  for long-term trends in confidence in U.S. presidents.  

In addition to exploring confidence in Biden and Trump, the survey asked about trust in French President Emmanuel Macron, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Overall, Macron receives the most positive ratings across the countries in the study, followed closely by Biden. The French president gets higher ratings than his U.S. counterpart in many of the European nations surveyed. Both Xi and Putin receive mostly poor marks across the countries in the study.

• In 17 of the 28 countries where political ideology is measured, people on the right are more likely to have a positive opinion of the U.S. than those on the left. For example, 65% of people on the right in Spain view the U.S. favorably, compared with 26% of people on the left.
• In 18 countries, people on the right are more likely to express confidence in Trump than those on the left. The gap is especially large in Israel, where 75% of those on the right have confidence in him, compared with just 23% of Israelis on the left.
• There are also some sizable ideological differences on views about Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war. In several countries – including about half of the European countries surveyed – people on the right are more likely than those on the left to approve of how Biden is handling the conflict.

• In several countries – including Canada, all Latin American countries surveyed and several countries in the Asia-Pacific region – adults under 35 are more likely to have a positive opinion of the U.S. when compared with adults ages 50 and older. Australia, Israel and Sweden are the only countries where younger adults have a less favorable view of the U.S.
• In Canada, Australia and seven of the 10 European countries surveyed, young adults are less likely than older adults to approve of how Biden is dealing with the Israel-Hamas war .
• Men have more confidence in Trump than women do in many of the countries surveyed. The largest difference is in the UK, where men are about twice as likely as women to trust the former U.S. president. In many of the countries surveyed, women are less likely than men to answer this question at all.

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How Americans and Israelis view one another and the U.S. role in the Israel-Hamas war

In east asia, many people see china’s power and influence as a major threat, how views of the u.s., china and their leaders have changed over time, comparing views of the u.s. and china in 24 countries, poles and hungarians differ over views of russia and the u.s., most popular, report materials.

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Research: Why We Choose the Hard Way to Do Tedious Tasks

• Alicea Lieberman

And how to stop getting stuck in ruts.

In life and at work, we often get stuck persisting in unpleasant activities even when more enjoyable and equally effective alternatives exist. Research shows this happens due to “entrenchment,” where repeating an activity blocks consideration of better options and makes you more likely to keep doing it. The author’s research focuses on enhancing well-being by limiting over-persistence in these tasks and suggests solutions that include reducing repetition, dividing attention, and alternating tasks to break the cycle of entrenchment. By adopting strategies to prevent entrenchment, individuals and organizations can increase employee satisfaction and efficiency.

We often find ourselves mired in unpleasant tasks. And the longer we do an unpleasant task, the more stuck we become — persisting even if there are opportunities to switch to more enjoyable alternatives that would achieve the same goal. For instance, think about the last time you struggled to type a long email on your phone rather than switch to your nearby computer, where you could complete the task more comfortably. Or consider the last time you painstakingly formatted a document by hand rather than using a readily available software that could automate the process. Or even reflect on the last time you had an hour to pass and spent it watching an unenjoyable TV show rather than going outside for a pleasant stroll.

• AL Alicea Lieberman , PhD, MPH is an Assistant Professor in Marketing and Behavioral Decision Making at The UCLA Anderson School of Management. Her primary research focuses on judgment and decision making with an emphasis on self-control, motivation, and behavior change. She uses lab and field experiments and is committed to harnessing social and behavioral research to impact policy and improve societal health and well-being.

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